Good evening. Let's be turning
to 1 Samuel chapter 16. This is the chapter where David
is anointed king. He's anointed, he's not made
the king, but he is anointed king by Samuel according to the
will and purpose of God. What's amazing to me as I go
through this book of 1 Samuel and going through these accounts
of the history of the final judges of Israel, Eli and Samuel, and
then the kings, Saul and David, it is incredible to see just
the fullness of the salvation of God that reveals Christ and
his gospel to us in these pages. For example, one of the doctrines
that the Lord brings out to us is that we're not saved by this
flesh. The Lord isn't looking to the
strength of this flesh and the strength of man to help him. to save him. God doesn't need
our help. He's not looking to man for anything. So that we see that doctrine
which declares to us that it's not according to our works, it's
not according to our will, but it's according to God's will
and purpose to save whom he will. God is able. God is able. And if you look there at verse
1, We see this, The LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou
mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over
Israel? Fill thine horn with oil, and
go. I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have
provided me a king among his sons. Now we've been seeing that
Saul is a picture of this old man of flesh. When we see Saul,
we see what we are in the flesh. And the need he has of grace
is the need that the Lord is showing us. This is what you
need. This is why you need the Lord to save you. Because by
nature, you and I are no different from this man, Saul. And his
flesh is rejected. He rejected his flesh. He's not
going to work his way out of this. He's not going to gain
God's favor by himself. David, on the other hand, we'll
see, is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And our Lord teaches
us in his word. He makes this clear that we're
not going to reform this flesh. And there's denominations out
there. which have an understanding of some of the true doctrines
of God and yet in their name they have the name Reformed.
And it's about reforming their religion, reforming man, reforming
the mistakes made by different churches before them, the Catholic
Church or some other church that they are making themselves different
from. We're not going to reform this
flesh and no amount of religious works, no amount of prayers,
no amount of candles, no amount of robes and nice clothes, no
amount of anything that we do. You can be the biggest donor
in that church building and it's not going to reform your flesh. And there's no amount of anything
that we can do. God has rejected this flesh and
he has rejected our works as having any influence over whether
or not he will save us and what he will do with us. Romans 8,
8 tells us, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please
God. And that is they're led of the
flesh, being led of that flesh. And he makes his people to know
who their true salvation is, who their true savior is, that
it is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he reveals him to us as the
horn of our salvation. And the hymn of Zacharias, who
was speaking of Christ when his son, his firstborn son, John
the Baptist, was born. He makes this connection in Luke
1 verse 67 through 69. His father Zacharias was filled
with the Holy Ghost and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God
of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people. God
has done this, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David. And the Lord says to Samuel,
Fill thine horn with oil, go. I've provided me a king from
among Jesse's sons. And so this gospel reveals that
this flesh, the flesh of you and me, it's corrupt. It's sinful. It's vile. It's not going to
be reformed. There's no fixing it, and we
see it with Saul. God didn't help Samuel figure
out how to fix Saul. He can't be fixed. Isaiah 1 speaks of this as well. Isaiah 1, verses 4 through 6.
We see this truth repeated throughout Israel's history. The Lord is
showing us that the Scripture hath concluded all under sin. Isaiah said, Ah, sinful nation,
a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children
that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord. They have
provoked the Holy One of Israel into anger. They are gone away
backward. Why should ye be stricken any
more? And think of Saul. Why should ye be stricken any
more, Saul? Ye will revolt more and more, the whole head is sick,
and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even
unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sores. They have not been closed, neither
bound up, neither mollified with ointment. And so if the law and
Samuel, a godly man, if he can't tame Saul and get Saul to obey
the voice of the Lord, to trust and believe the Lord God, well,
then who then can be saved? And what remedy has God provided? Has God provided a remedy? Absolutely. Absolutely. Our God has provided
the remedy, His Son, Jesus Christ. He is given to the people of
God as a Savior. Listen to this from Isaiah 42. He said in verse 6 and 7, I will
give thee, speaking to Christ for our benefit and our hearing.
He says, I will give thee for a covenant of the people, for
a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out
the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness,
out of the prison house. Christ is given by the Father
to save us, to bring us out of darkness, to deliver us from
the corruption of this nature, this vile nature that, like Saul,
goes astray continually. God has done this for us. He
has given us the Savior of His people, and He makes this known
to us by faith. Turn over to Galatians chapter
2. Galatians chapter 2, and in verse
16 is where we'll pick up. We're just establishing that
God has rejected Saul, And he's given us a Savior, a King, whom
he's provided. And that King, what David pictures,
is our King, the Savior, Jesus Christ. Knowing that a man is
not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of
Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ. We Jews, even me an apostle,
he says, have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified
by the faith of Christ. and not by the works of the law.
For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if
while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also
are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God
forbid. For if I build again the things
which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. And some of the
things Paul is showing us here is that in Christ, The Lord's
gonna show us that we are sinners. He's gonna make known that we
are sin by nature through and through. and there's no reformation
of it. And if I try to fix that by my
works, I make myself a transgressor. And if I look to Christ, I'm
admitting, I'm confessing to you, I'm a transgressor of the
law and I need God's grace. For I through the law, verse
19, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. And what
has God done? He's provided himself the lamb. He's provided himself salvation,
the lamb. Verse 20, I am crucified with
Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me,
this vile, wretched sinner who loved me and gave himself for
me. I do not frustrate the grace
of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ
is dead in vain. And so, our Lord gives us These
chapters here in 1 Samuel, and these pictures of the judges
and the corruption in Israel, these pictures of Saul, a picture
of this flesh, and now he gives us a picture of David to show
us Christ. And what we see here is that
the mystery of God is kept hidden from the world, and yet that
mystery is now revealed unto you. who have been called by
the grace of God and have heard because he's given you his spirit
and Christ has redeemed you and he makes this known unto you,
these precious things and how precious you are because he chose
you before the foundation of the world and gave you to Christ
as his inheritance, as his bride. And Christ loves you and gave
himself for you. His bride, he did that for his
church and that's sweet and that's why he draws you here, gathers
you together to hear this blessed word, this precious word that
is life unto your soul. It's the light of Christ and
he speaks and you hear his voice and believe him. And so this
mystery is given to us, it's revealed to us here in his word,
now having the spirit of God. So let's continue back in 1 Samuel
16, going to verses two and three. And Samuel, right, the Lord said,
you go and anoint the man I tell you. And Samuel said, how can
I go? If Saul hear it, he'll kill me.
And the Lord said, take an heifer with thee and say, I am come
to sacrifice to the Lord. And call Jesse to the sacrifice,
and I will show thee what thou shalt do. And thou shalt anoint
unto me him whom I name unto thee." And so what we're seeing
here is Samuel's relationship had indeed become strained with
Saul. We were told previously he saw
Saul no more. And anything that Samuel did
now would be looked at with a suspicious eye by Saul. There was a breach
in their relationship and in their fellowship. And he'd be
watching them. And so what the Lord is saying
here is that this glorious work, this picture of David being anointed
king, and that type of who he is, that type of Christ, it would
remain a mystery. It would remain a mystery. Saul
was not going to know what was going on, because he, if he could
have, would have put Samuel to death if he did know about it.
Because it was contrary to him. A new king? I'm the king, he's
saying. You're not going to make another king. I'm the king, and
I'm going to do everything I can to prevent that, is what Saul
would have done. And so how is this a picture
of Christ? Well, didn't our Lord hide? the glorious redemption that
he would accomplish by Christ from the men of this world in
order to accomplish that needful redemption for you and I? For
his love for his people, didn't he keep it hidden? so that this
world, the princes of this world, did not know what the Lord was
going to do, that glorious work of redemption by the Lamb of
God, Jesus Christ. And in doing that, he accomplished
the deliverance from our death. He did that. Turn over to 1 Corinthians
2, and put a marker there, because we'll come back to 1 Corinthians
2 a little later. But 1 Corinthians chapter two,
In verse 6 we'll pick up, how be it we speak wisdom among them
that are perfect. Now he's speaking of you that
are redeemed and have been given the spirit and made to know what
God has done for you in Christ. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 6, yet
not the wisdom of this world nor of the princes of this world
that come to naught or to nothing. Verse 7, but we speak the wisdom
of God in a mystery. even the hidden wisdom which
God ordained before the foundation of the world, or before the world
unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would
not have crucified the Lord of glory." And so this picture where
this was kept hidden from Saul, because had he known it, he would
not have cooperated with it. And it's a picture of how the
Lord has kept this redemption, kept it a mystery from the world,
lest they would have avoided crucifying Christ so that we
could not have been redeemed and reconciled to God by the
death of His Son. All right, now, back in our text
here, verses four and five, 1 Samuel 16, four and five. And Samuel
did that which the Lord spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the
elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest
thou peaceably? And he said peaceably, I am come
to sacrifice unto the Lord. Sanctify yourselves, and come
with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his
sons, and called them to the sacrifice. Now again here we're
seeing a picture. We now see, having the spirit,
we see, wait a minute, there's something about Bethlehem that
pictures our Lord Jesus Christ. Bethlehem is where our Lord was
born, just as he was prophesied that he would be born in Bethlehem,
Judah, a little place. But that's where the Christ would
be born. And David was born there. And
David, again, is a type of whom Christ is an anti-type, or Christ
is the fulfillment of that which David pictured. And the people
trembled. They trembled because of Samuel's
coming. Why? Well, they feared the jealousy
of Saul. You remember, this was happening
a lot. I mean, this was the beginnings
where we're really seeing there's a strain here. And Saul's acting
different now. And the people are concerned. They don't want to get mixed
up in this. If you remember, a little while later, I think
it's in chapter 21, David went there when he fled from the presence
of Saul, because Saul wanted to kill him. He went to Ahimelech,
the high priest, or the priest there, and he got bread. And
there was a wicked man there that was still in league with
Saul. And he reported what Ahimelech
had done. giving David bread and so Saul
saw it as you helped my enemy and he put Ahimelech and all
those priests of that household to death that's just a little
while later and so so clearly these people were afraid of that
and just remember just go back to first Samuel 15 and look at
verse 28 just so you remember this And Samuel said unto Saul,
The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day,
and hath given it to a neighbour of thine that is better than
thou. And you think about that. Saul
could have put Samuel to death right then and there. He just wanted to look good in
front of the others, and so Samuel relented and went with him to
that. And so the people were in expectation of another king,
just as Saul was in expectation that it was going to happen at
some point. And what are we told? How is this a picture, a further
picture of Christ? Well, we're told that when the
wise men who saw the star and they began traveling a long distance
and they finally get to Jerusalem and they go to Herod, we're told
that when Herod the king had heard these things that was reported
to them of the child being born, he was troubled and all Jerusalem
with him. Jerusalem with them. This is
a picture of the mystery of God being revealed to us in the face
of Jesus Christ. God is declaring His Word. God
is revealing Christ. He is speaking of Christ right
here in this seemingly mundane chapter of history. and yet it
speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we're warned, right? What we see here in Saul and
how he was provoked eventually by David and how he was stirred
up by this and jealous. Well, we're warned of our enemy.
In Revelation, we're told, woe to the inhabitants of the earth
and of the sea, for the devil has come down unto you having
great wrath, because he knoweth that his time is short. And Saul knew his time is short. And so we see there, there's
opposition by the enemies of God to the truth of God. That
glorious redemption when Christ returns, that glorious work being
wrapped up, we look forward to that. We rejoice at the thought
of Christ coming. And the people of God rejoice
that God was raising up a king after his own heart. And but
Saul wasn't rejoicing. Saul was angry. Saul was jealous. And so he didn't want that to
happen. So it remained a mystery in order to bring to pass that
glorious redemption work that you and I now rejoice in today
and are thankful for. The Lord did that for you. He
kept it a mystery for you. Just like he said to Israel,
I've overthrown whole nations for you. That's what the Lord
does. He does all things to the glory
of his name and for the good of his people. Now, back in 1
Samuel 16, verse six and seven, and it came to pass when they
were come that he looked on Eliab. That's actually another name
for Elihu from Job, but not the same one. But he looked on Eliab
and said, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said
unto Samuel, look not on his countenance, or on the height
of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth
not as a man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but
the Lord looketh on the heart. And so here again, even in Samuel,
we are reminded of the weakness of our own flesh, how easily
turned we are, how easily fooled we are, and we see it here even
in Samuel, this godly man. And, you know, because Samuel's
looking at Eliab, and he thinks, well, he's a good strapping tall
fella. And so was Saul. Saul was reported
to be a head taller than everybody else. And he looked the part. And Samuel was ready to say,
oh, well, surely this guy looks the part. And we'll just make
him king now. But it wasn't to be so, because
though he looked like a king, and just like we can look like
we're followers of God, the Lord knows the heart. We can do things
on the outward, but it's the Lord our God who sees the heart,
and it's the Lord our God who gives a new heart. He knows his
creatures because he makes his creatures new creatures in Christ. He brings us into the light,
and we are known of him, and we know him even as we are known
of him. And so the Lord is teaching us
here. He knows the heart. Trust Him.
Believe Him. We're not going to get one over
on God. He knows all things. And He's
able to do all things. Romans 2 verses 28 and 29 says,
For He's not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither is that
circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. But He is a Jew,
which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the
Spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but
of God." That's the approval we want, brethren. That's the
approval we need, is of God. And we find that approval in
one, even in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was chosen of God for that
very purpose. Now drop down to verse 10. And
Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel, and Samuel
said unto Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel
said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There
remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep.
And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not
sit down till he come hither. And so that number there, seven,
it's a completion. It's a picture of all men having
passed before the Lord, and none are found worthy. None of us
is found worthy before the Lord. None of us is perfect, and none
of us is found worthy. Samuel said of this one whom
the Lord looks to and would have us look to, he is worthy. And Samuel tells us we won't
sit down till he come. And this speaks of Christ. And
until Christ came, we could not rest. We could not sit down,
a picture of resting. And that's what he's shown here,
is until Christ has come, the nature of man, he's going to
be working and working and laboring and spending and doing and trying
to get himself saved, fearful and afraid and never arriving,
because that's all we are. But when Christ comes, then we're
able to sit and rest at his feet. And so what the Lord is showing
us here is that no man is fit, no man born of Adam is fit for
this work. Christ wasn't born of Adam's
seed. Christ is born of incorruptible seed. And he was formed in the
womb of Mary. He's the eternal son of God formed
in the flesh in the womb of Mary by the overshadowing of the Holy
Ghost by incorruptible seed, incorruptible seed. And yet he's
able to save us and he's worthy to fulfill the perfect will of
God for his people. John the Apostle in Revelation
chapter 5, he saw this view in heaven. He says, I saw in the
right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book written within
and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong
angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open
the book and loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven
or on earth, no man in heaven or on earth, neither under the
earth, was able to open the book, not even able to look thereon.
That speaks of us, those seven sons of Jesse. That perfect number. None of us is worthy. None of
us is able. And John, the apostle, wept much. He began to weep. And he was
sad at that. Because how then is the will
of God for us here on the earth going to be executed and implemented
and fulfilled unto us? How are we ever going to get
that good will? And he wept much because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. And one of the elders said unto
me, Weep not. Behold the line of the tribe
of Judah. There's David, again that picture
of David, who pictures Christ, the line of the tribe of Judah,
the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose
the seven seals thereof. Christ has done the work. Christ
came. He is the Lamb of God. He accomplished
our redemption. He fulfilled all the will of
the Father by going to the cross as the mediator between God and
his people. And He went to that cross faithfully
as the sin bearer to make an atonement for the sins of His
people, to put them away forever, to obtain forgiveness for our
sins, deliver us from the wrath of God, and to give us life and
righteousness in Him so that we're delivered from the law.
It has nothing more to say to us. We're not under the law.
We're in Christ. We stand complete in Him and
all the will of God. is open unto us, given to us,
and fulfilled unto us according to the promise of God in Christ. Because He's worthy. He's the
one whom the Father chose. And so He's ruling and reigning
at the right hand of the throne of God right now, brethren. And
God makes known his mind to us through Christ. It's not through
religious service. It's not going through the motions.
It's not going through the dead letter works of religion that
reveals this to us. It's the grace of God who's given
us His Spirit, the Spirit of His Son, into your hearts, making
you to know what our Lord has done, what He's accomplished
for us, and revealing that it's all of Him, causing us to sit,
to rest, because He has come into our heart and made known
this salvation unto us. Back there in 1 Corinthians 2,
1 Corinthians 2, just look at verse 11 and 12. For what man knoweth the things
of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the
things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now, we
have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit
which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely
given to us of God. And so that's what the Lord has
done. He's given us his spirit. That's how and why we hear Christ,
and rejoice to hear Christ, and want to hear of Christ, and are
given life in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what's witnessed
back in our text in verse 12. And he sent and brought him in.
Now he was ready and with all of a beautiful countenance and
goodly to look to. And the Lord said, arise, anoint
him, for this is he. And so here comes David, a young
man rejected by his brethren, a man thought unworthy. the father
bringing before the prophet of God, a man who's out doing the
work of a servant, keeping watch over his father's sheep and taking
care of his father's sheep. And yet this man is the one who
was chosen by God of God to lead his people. And we're told he
was ruddy and with all of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look
to. The picture of Christ here in
David is that all his life, when he was here as the Messiah, speaking
the words of his father, doing the will of his father, doing
the works that the father sent him to do, all that time he was
despised and rejected. He was the chief cornerstone,
yet he was put aside by the builders. cast him aside and they wanted
to build the house themselves in their own fallen wicked image. But when he was made ruddy, when
he was made ruddy for his people, ruddy means red. That's what
the word means. It means red. When Christ was
made ruddy with blood, when he was made red, and we were given
to see and understand what Christ had done for us on the cross
and giving his life, that's when he was good to look to. That's
when he was made beautiful. That's when he was made the fairest
of 10,000 to us because he is the Savior. He did this work,
this glorious work for me. The servant of God came and served
God and served his people. ministered salvation to his people,
delivering them from death. And that's when we see him with
all of a beautiful countenance and good lead to look to, when
he was made red for us, red with blood on the cross for your sins,
you that believe him, you that have no righteousness of your
own. And by the Spirit of God, the
Church agrees with God's view of His darling Son. The Father
delights in His Son, and we that have been delivered from death
agree with the Lord. We give our consent to His Word. We agree with Him. In Song of
Solomon, the Church says, My Beloved is white and ruddy, the
chiefest among ten thousand. This, She says, is My Beloved,
and this is My Friend. O daughters of Jerusalem, we
delight that Christ is our beautiful, ruddy husband and Savior, our
champion, our friend, our all. Then Samuel took the horn of
oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit
of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose
up and went to Ramah. Brethren, Christ has come, and
our God has glorified him in our midst. He is justified in
the Spirit, being raised from the dead, showing that God is
well pleased with that work that the Son has done for you that
believe him. You that believe in Him and trust
Him are justified in Christ. You are sanctified. You are set
apart. You are the inheritance of Christ,
and He is our inheritance. And He reveals Him in our hearts
by His grace and power, anointing Him before us, showing us that
He is the Savior, the salvation for His people. So that's a beautiful
picture. I pray the Lord bless it to your
hearts forever. Amen.