1 Samuel chapter 16. Let's begin reading in verse
1 and we'll read down through verse 13. 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, and I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have
provided me a king among his sons. And Samuel said, How can
I go? If Saul hear it, he will 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
me him whom I name unto thee. 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 yourself, and come with
me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his
sons, and called them to the sacrifice. And it came to pass,
when they were come, that he looked on Elab, and said, Surely
the Lord's anointing is before him. And the Lord said to Samuel,
Look not on his countenance, nor on the height of his statue,
because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man
seeth. For man looketh on the outward
appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. Then Jesse called
Abinadad and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, Neither
hath the Lord chose this. Then Jesse made Shammah to pass
by. And he said, Neither hath the
Lord chose this. And again, 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 he sent and brought him in.
Now he was rudy, and with all of a beautiful countenance, and
goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint
him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of
oil and anointed him into the midst of his brethren. And the
Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.
So Samuel rose and went back to his home in Ramah." This morning
in these verses, we'll be looking at God providing a king and God
anointing David to be the king. It's amazing that here in this
chapter we begin the history of David, and if you'll notice,
it doesn't begin with his birth, but it begins here. The first
record we have mentioned of David is here when he's anointed and
set apart to be king. There's different opinions of
how old David was. I don't know that it really matters.
He's either between about 20 or 25, and we do know that he
was 30 years of age when he became king and actually sit upon the
throne. So whenever time it was between
now and then is the things that he went through before that he
was actually brought to the throne. But in David, it's amazing that
he is such a distinguishing character, especially in the Old Testament.
In every point of view, whether he's set forth as a patriarch,
a prophet, a writer, a warrior, or a king, and above all, as
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, everything relating to him is
interesting. and it's important because of
who it presents and who it pictures and who it points to. Here in the life of David, God
begins to show by choosing David, the one whom he would set apart
from among the other men to become the redeemer of his people. It pleased God to announce that
this particular person from all the tribes of Israel. They were
12 tribes. And you remember God picked out
Judah. He said, the scepter or the rule shall not depart from
Judah till Shiloh come. That means that they would not
cease to be a nation till Christ would come. And God from that
tribe chose out one man. David and set him apart to be
a picture and be the one through whom the Lord Jesus Christ the
King God's King would come a mark of distinction was placed upon
this man God Distinguished him we're gonna see that from all
his brothers. God distinguished him and God
set him apart and This was all done to point to the work of
redemption now listen I God is like planting a root from which
a branch of righteousness would afterward spring up. Let me give
you a few scriptures. Did you know thy Lord the King
is called the branch from the stem of Jesse? Isaiah 11 beginning
in verse 1. Now listen, there shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow
out of his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the
fear of the Lord. And he shall make him quick understanding
in the fear of the Lord. And he shall not judge after
the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after hearing of his
ears, but with righteousness shall he judge the poor. and
reprove with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall smite
the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of
his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the
girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins." Then
in Jeremiah 23, 5, now listen, Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch. and a king shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his
days, in his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell
safely. And this is the name whereby
he shall be called that root and that branch of David. How's
he going to be distinguished? The Lord our righteousness is
going to come from this stem right here. It's like God plants
a root. You ladies that's ever planted
anything, Sandy loves to plant and she'll say, I want a cutting
from that plant. You know what she does? She takes that little
cutting and she plants it. You know what God did right here?
He planted it. From this little family, God
planted it. And from this root came this
branch, like a root out of dry ground, who come forth the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is the King that shall rule and reign and
prosper. And how's he described? The Lord,
the Lord that rules and reigns, our righteousness. Now that's
something to think about. Now that's what's all set forth
here. You said that's set forth in
David. That's what God's doing. There have been centuries since
God made the promise to Abraham and to Jacob and to Judah that
come through In Egypt, 430 years. They'd come through the, wandered
in the wilderness 40 years. Joshua brought them in the Canaan.
And then the judges reigned. And read the book of Judges.
It was awful. Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Why? They had no king. And now, God
says, I'm going to raise me up a king which is after my own
heart. Christ is called the root and
offspring of David. You know, one of the, almost
the last verse in our Bible, in Revelation chapter 22, verse
16, here's what he says. I, Jesus, have sent my angel
to testify unto you these things in the churches. And here's what
he said. I am the root and the offspring
of David and the bright and the morning star. How did he describe
himself? I am the root and the offspring
of David. There must be something pretty
important about this man, David. There must be something pretty
significant about this man, David. God distinguished him. God set
him apart, and God's going to do something. And when God sets
out to do something, He does it in such a way that He gets
the honor, He gets the glory, not flesh. Listen. David was what he was,
he did what he did, and he is what he is in heaven today because
of and by the power of Jesus Christ, our eternal God. David only existed because of
Christ, not vice versa. Christ didn't exist because of
David, David existed because of Christ. Most people don't
understand this. Christ is the offspring of David. Christ Jesus is a man born of
the lineage of David, and he is rightful heir to that throne. You know, in Matthew chapter
1, when it gives that lineage, Why does it say he's of the,
it says he's of the offspring of David. You know why? Matthew
presents him as the king. He is the rightful king heir
to that throne. He's the prince. Rightful heir. And he rules. That's what it
says in Romans chapter 1 beginning in verse 1. Paul, a servant of
Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel
of God, which he had promised to for by the prophets in the
holy scriptures. And the gospel is concerning
his son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. which was made of the seed of
David according to the flesh. He was made as a man of the seed
of David according to the flesh and declared to be the son of
God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by the
resurrection from the dead, by whom we have received grace and
apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations and
for his name. And the gospel is the proclamation
of the accomplishment of the Son of God in his incarnation. That's what the gospel presents.
It's the gospel. The gospel is the declaration
of who Jesus Christ is, who came in the flesh, who is of the seed
of David, and he's the rightful king, and he now sits as king
on a throne at the right hand of the Father. You see the significance
of all this? He's Lord. What does Lord mean?
That means He's sovereign. Lord means He's king. Lord means
He rules. He reigns. He earned and he bought
the sovereign right to sit on that throne. God established
David's throne. That's what we see here in these
verses. God's going to send Samuel to David and to anoint him as
king. Why? God told him to. God set
David apart. God distinguished him. God distinguished
him. The nation, as we saw last week,
Wanted a king, and God gave them Saul. They said, we want to be
like everybody else. We want to be like every other
nation. We want a king that looks like every other king. We want
a king that dresses in pomp, dresses in splendor, rides upon
a big horse, lives in a big palace, and oh, everybody's impressed
with him. That's what they wanted. And
you know, when Christ came, that's the same thing they still wanted.
One day they came and they wanted to take the Lord Jesus Christ
by force and force him to be their king and he wouldn't do
it. He said, because my kingdom is not of this earth. But this
is what they want. Here's what God said, Hosea chapter
13 verse 11. I gave thee a king in mine anger
and took him away in my wrath. You know why God gave him a king?
You know why God gave him king Saul? That's what they wanted,
and God gave them exactly what they wanted. Now, there's a lesson
here. You be careful what you wish for. God may give you exactly
what you think you want, and he'll be just like King Saul,
nothing but a thorn in the flesh, a product of the flesh. And God
gave them to him. That's what they wanted, and
God said, okay. And he gave it to them. Now, listen. This is one of the
darkest times in the nation of Israel. Who's reigning? King Saul is. Wicked, vile, selfish
king. And Israels, you know, as we
read last week when they went into battle, said they followed
Saul trembling. That's what's going on in this
dark period, in this dark history. A wicked king now reigns, the
people's choice, who had rejected the counsel of God and was reigning
over the nation. Everything seemed hopeless, but
even in that dark hour, God had made ready the instrument of
deliverance, and that was, God said, I'm going to anoint me
a king. You know what David was? He was
king, and he was the one that delivered them. They needed a king. They did,
and God gave them one. God raised up a deliverer. David's
kingdom is just a picture of Christ's kingdom upon this earth.
But who was he? And where was he located? Where's
this king at? No one knew but Jehovah. Samuel
didn't even know. Saul still reigns, but his days
are numbered. And you know when David came
to the throne? When God killed Saul. God let
him reign a few more years. God left him there. And God removed
him. Remember one time, we will see
this. Remember when David came to a cave one day, and he's actually
running from Saul, and they're in here back of the cave hiding,
and just all, coincidence, Saul comes into the cave. And David's
men are saying, whispering David's ear, and Saul's laying over our
sleep. David, now's your opportunity. Why don't you just go over and
just chill him, and be done with him, and you won't have to deal
with this anymore. Now, doesn't that sound good?
We'd all done the same thing. We'd say, you just let me at
him. And what he did, he cut off part of his skirt. What part?
I don't know. Some people believe he cut off
the back part and humiliated him. I can see that. We love
to humiliate our enemies. And he said, David's heart smote
him. And he said, I will not touch God's anointing. You said,
well, how can a wicked king be God's anointing? The man sitting
in the White House is God's anointing. The powers that be are ordained
of God. You understand this? You see where I'm going? And
David would not touch that man. God put him there. God set him
there. And God used him as that wicked king. And when God was
done with him, God took him off the throne. And God not only
removed Saul from the throne, He removed everybody else from
his family. Nobody else from that family
would rule and sit on that throne. Now listen, there's an important
lesson that we can learn from this. A person, a company, a
church, a nation is often rejected by God secretly. And for a while,
they may go on for a while before it's displayed that God's rejected
them. But listen, did you know the nation of Israel that when
Christ came, here's what he said, behold, your house is left unto
you desolate. And it was another almost 40
years. They stood for another 40 years,
went right through the motions, kept going to their temple, offering
up their prayers and their sacrifices, doing all these things. But in
AD 70, God brought Titus, a Roman general, into that little town
and destroyed the whole thing. But God let it go on for another
40 years. God may let stuff go on for a
while, but don't think he won't take care of it. Wicked calls
Saul still sitting on the throne, but in due time, God will bring
him down. Now look at verse one. And the Lord said to Samuel,
Samuel, how long will you mourn for Saul? God seems to be reproving
Saul for not for just mourning for Saul. I believe Samuel loved
Saul. I believe he hoped that he would
repent and turn from his sins and that he would become a good
king, but he didn't. And God says, how long are you
going to mourn for him? How long are you going to mourn for this
man? How long are you going to mourn over the dead past? God
said, arise and go. And you're going to go to Jesse's
house, who lives in Bethlehem, and you're going to anoint me
a king. Samuel's time to get up. And what I can understand,
this is the last act that Samuel ever did publicly. Now, he was
several years before he died, and you know, he run the school
of the prophets, he took care of those things, but it's the
last act publicly that we read until I think it's 2 Samuel 19,
somewhere along in there, the last thing he did. God used him. God raised up this prophet. This
whole book, 1 Samuel, begins with Samuel. Remember how God
gave Hannah this child and she gave him to the priest? And God
raised him up. Oh, he was a great prophet. But
his last act, public act, was to anoint this man king. And God says, Samuel, arise and
go. God had rejected Saul. Let me
just read on. And the Lord said unto Samuel,
How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected
him from reigning over Israel? Now what does that word reject
mean? It means God had refused him. And if you want to look
up the definition, it also means that God reprobated him. Romans 128. And even as they
did not like to retain God in their knowledge, and Saul would
not retain God in his knowledge, he would not do what God said.
God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which
are not convenient. And when God gives anybody or
an individual, or a church, or any society, when God turns them
over and gives them over to a reprobate mind, what is a reprobate mind?
It's a mind that has been rejected by God Almighty and they have
no conscience, no feeling whatsoever. None. They cannot repent. Like somebody said, they're dead
men walking. They're in hell as good as being
in hell, but they're not in there yet. That's King Saul. Now that's a serious picture.
God said, I've rejected him. I've refused him. I've refused
him. What did God do to that nation
of Israel? God reprobate them. Send them strong delusions that
they would believe a lie. And God allows that man to sit
on the throne. a reprobate. Read it. We're going
to see it in his life. Why did Saul hate David so? That's why
I'm right here. Despised him. Reprobate. People
don't like that word. They know exactly what it means.
He said, reprobate silver shall they call you because the Lord
hath rejected you. He said, I've rejected him from
being king. Let me say it again. God rejected
him from being king. And you know what? God rejects
everything your flesh can produce. He rejects it. He will not receive
it. He will not accept it. It's refused. It's rejected. You know what
made Cain so mad? That God rejected his offering. Isn't that right? God refused
it. And God would not receive Saul
because he says, I want to obey God. I want to do what I want
to. And that's what the flesh does. And then you know what
God does? God pulls back his restraints
and lets you do exactly what you want to do. That's a reprobate. There's no restraints. No, that's
scary. We're talking about the flesh.
So tell them what this flesh might do. God gives you restraints. God puts godly parents over you.
God gives laws in a nation. Laws to constrain us. But let
God pull the laws back. You'll be like a wild beast.
You'll be just like Saul when he was out there searching for
the donkeys of his father. He never lost that donkey nature. Most of you have seen a donkey.
They're probably one of the most stubborn animals they are. And it describes
men by nature. But watch this. I rejected Saul. He said, fill thine horn with
oil and go. Now he took a flask, which was,
as we saw last week, which was a fragile vessel that contained
a little bit of oil, and that's how he anointed Saul, and Saul's
kingdom was fragile, and God rejected it. But he says, you
fill your horn with oil. Why a horn? A horn represents
strength and power. Most of Danny Belcher's cows
don't have horns, but that's because it's been bred out of
them. Most of them by nature have horns, and you don't want
to get in a ring or anything, especially, it's bad enough with
any cow, but you don't want to get in there with one with horns
on. Why? That's its strength, and that's its power. Listen, I thought this was ironic. When Lord revealed to Zacharias,
And he was going to call his son that was just born, John.
It says, And he is John the Baptist's 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, and has raised up a horn of salvation for us in
the house of his servant David." What's he done? He said he's
raised up a horn, strength, and power of salvation. Our Lord is not some weak Savior.
And what he's saying is David's kingdom is not going to be like
Saul's. It's not going to be something that's fragile and
can be broken. It's strong, it's stable, it's established. A horn of salvation that enables
him to push down his foes and triumph over all of his enemies.
This horn denotes the abundance of gifts bestowed upon David
and the firmness and the duration of his kingdom. What did I say?
The scepter. You know what a scepter is? It's
what the king uses. You know, he holds a scepter
out. The scepter shall not depart from Judah. It shall not depart
from that tribe to Shiloh. Christ shall come. Why wouldn't it depart? God anointed
him with the horn of oil. He's the horn of salvation. Zacharias knew it. He said, God
hath raised up a horn of salvation. His kingdom will be an everlasting
kingdom. There will be no end. In Luke chapter 1 verse 30, and
the angel said to her, unto Mary, now listen, fear not Mary, thou
hast found favor with God. And behold, thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and shall bring forth a son, and shall call his
name Jesus. He shall be great, and he shall
be called the son of the highest. And the Lord shall give unto
him the throne of his father David." God's going to give him
that throne. And he shall reign over the house
of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Do you see it? Take your horn,
and you go anoint him king. And Samuel goes to see Jesse. He says, you go down to Jesse
the Bethlehemite, and he doesn't tell him now which son it is.
He said that I provided me a king from one of his sons, and he
has eight. But listen, in Micah 5 verse 2, You know Bethlehem
we saw in the book of Ruth means the house of bread. It's the place where Christ was
born, the house of bread. And where do we get the name
Ephrata? That distinguishes this Bethlehem. Bethlehem, Ephrata,
or Ephrata means fruitfulness, and was the name also of the
city of Bethlehem that was close to Jerusalem and supposed to
have been so named from Ephrata, Caleb's wife. You remember Caleb,
the faithful dog? In 1 Chronicles, 219, and when
Azub was dead, that was Caleb's first wife, he took unto him
a Frada, which bare him her. And hath not the scripture said
that Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town
of Bethlehem where David was?" That's amazing. He said, Samuel,
you go down to Bethlehem. which is little among the thousands
of Judah." What's that saying? Bethlehem was an insignificant
place. Probably the least likeliest
place you would have ever said a king's coming from. And what
I understand, Jesse's family was probably one of the least
in that least town. He had eight sons, and you read
he had two daughters. Now that's a strain on any family.
And God tells him to go to his household. And in that little
place, in that little insignificant place, is where I provided me
a king. And our Lord worked it out. Mary
and Joseph was from the town lineage of Bethlehem. And they're
living in Nazareth. How are they going to get back
to Bethlehem? God's going to make a wicked king, make a decree
that all nations, all people have to be taxed, and you've
got to go back to your hometown. In our day, they'd say, you have
to go back to your hometown. I'd have to go back to Wilkesboro,
North Carolina. And God did all that to get them to Bethlehem.
And the Lord Jesus Christ, the root of David, was not born in
a palace. There was no room for him in
the end. He was born in a stable. That's what they're saying. You
go to Jesse, you go to Bethlehem, you go to that little, insignificant,
no place. Come on. God always does everything. That no flesh, glory in his sight. That no flesh, that no flesh,
that no flesh. Why would God do this, that no
flesh would glory in his sight? Why did he pick out Bethlehem
that nobody would ever glory in their flesh? He said, I have provided me a
king among his sons. The first king was established
in wrath, this one in love. This king God provided. His kingdom
shall never end and he will seek the will of God. What did God
say? I've sought me a man. after mine own heart." Now that's
amazing. Salt the heart and will and mind
of God. Why did he do that? God made
him so. Psalms 45 verse 6, Thy throne
of God is forever and ever. Thy scepter of thy kingdom is
a right scepter. What is God telling this old
prophet Samuel? is telling him here that God,
now listen, that God will establish his kingdom. He will be an everlasting
kingdom without end. This is not a fragile kingdom.
He will rule in sovereign strength with his horns. He will be God's
king, God's anointed, and God set him apart before the world
was made. Samuel doesn't know or realize
who this new king will be. And God at this time doesn't
tell him which son of Jesse will be the king, only that he is
among the sons of Jesse. You see how God even teaches
his old prophets, they have to walk by faith. God's given him
this much light and he must act on it. And when he gets there,
God will give him a little more light and a little more light. Verse two, as Samuel said, how
can I go? If Saul hear of it, he will kill
me. And the Lord said, take an heifer with thee and slay, and
say, I'm come to sacrifice to the Lord." See how wicked this
is? Samuel's afraid. This is a man
that believed God. This is a man that worshiped
God. But he's still a man of unbelief. We all can have times
of unbelief. He said, if I go and Saul hears
about it, Saul's going to kill me. If Saul hears that I'm going
to anoint another king, he won't stand for that. He'll kill me.
Samuel knew it And he would have now listen This shows how wicked
Saul had become that even this so prophet was afraid for his
life Let me read you this Matthew 2 verse 1 now when Jesus was
born in Bethlehem Judah in the days of Herod the king Here it
was a wicked vile King and And listen, behold, there came wise
men from the east, saying, Where is he that is born king of the
Jews? For we've seen his star in the eastern come to worship
him. And when Herod the king had heard these things, he was
troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. Because it says on down
in the verses that when Samuel came to Bethlehem, they said,
Samuel, are you coming in peace? They was all terrified. And they
were here when Jesus Christ was born. You know why? He's king of the Jews. So Herod
said, there's no king but me. And Saul would have said, there's
no king but me. And David's the king. Christ
is the king. Where is he born? Bethlehem.
Isn't that amazing? Amazing. Okay. Now, verses 6 through 11,
we see David, he comes to Jesse's house. And they're going to bring,
get the scene, he brought the sacrifice, they've come to the
sacrifice, they're worshiping God, and Jesse's going to bring
all his sons before Samuel. And they bring the first one
in. And I can just see him, he's the oldest, he's probably the
biggest, the most, he was a man's man. And Samuel said when he
came to pass, you know what Samuel thought in his heart? Surely
this must be God's anointing. Now you would have thought after
Saul he would have learned better. You would have thought after
two or three times we would learn better. You know what he's doing? He's looking at the outward appearance. Saul was a man from shoulders
up taller than any man. He was a robust of a man. He was a giant of a man. And
David's first son looks the same way. And Samuel says, surely
this must be God's anointing. This is not only the biggest,
this is the firstborn. And God said, Samuel, don't look
at his countenance. He said, you look on the outside.
And this is how we judge things. But God said, I see a man's heart. I see what's on the inside. God
didn't say, I'm choosing me a man that's bigger than everybody
else. God says, I'm choosing me a man that is after my own
heart. And God, you know what it says?
Look at it in verse seven. Don't look at his statute because
I have refused him. What'd that say? Who refused
him? God did. What did I say? God will always, always, every
time, refuse your flesh. He'll never accept it. Religion
today, this is what makes them mad, that God will not accept
their big show. It looks appealing to the eyes,
it looks promising to the flesh, and God says, I've refused it.
So he makes the other son pass by. God says, I've refused him. He makes the third one pass by.
I've refused him. He makes all seven. I refuse
him. I refuse him. I refuse him. Can
you imagine what Samuel's thinking? God told me that one of these
sons of Jesse's is going to be the next king, and you've rejected
every one of them? And he said, let me find it. Verse 11, and Samuel said unto
Jesse, Are here all our children? Is this all of them? And he said, Now I want you to
see this. There remaineth yet the younger. He never even called
the young lad by his name. So insignificant. When they called
the other seven boys, why didn't they call David? They never even
called him to the feast. His name's not mentioned and
he also says, and we can't bother him, he's out somewhere watching
a few sheep. But let me tell you this, God
put that boy on the backside of that desert watching his father's
sheep and I believe that's where God revealed himself to that
boy's heart. You read some of the Psalms, he says, The heavens
declare the glory of God. He said, the sun coming up in
the morning is like a great man to run a race and I can just
see my God speaking to his heart. God's preparing this man to be
his shepherd over his sheep. You see this? Where was Moses
at? He was on the backside of the desert for 40 years, leading
God's sheep. And David and Jesse says, there's
a younger son, he's out somewhere. And you know what Samuel says? Samuel said to Jesse, Fetch,
send and fetch him. We will not sit down until he
comes. We're not going to do one more
thing until that boy comes. And I can see him sending a messenger
or a servant out there, and he's running with all his might to
get to where David is, and David sees him coming, and when he
comes up to David, he's out of breath, and David said, what's
wrong? He said, Samuel's come to the house, and they've called
for you. They've never done this before. And David comes in, in verse 12, and he's sent, and
brought him in. I don't think that he changed
his clothes. I think he had on exactly what he had on when he
was out there watching those sheep. He said when he came in,
he was rooty and with all of the beautiful countenance and
goodly to look to, and the Lord says, Arise, anoint him. This is he. This is the one. This is the
one they didn't even call his name. This is the one that they
didn't invite to the festival. David. You know what God did?
God refused all the rest. And He chose David. And God will
always refuse the flesh, and He chooses His people, elect
according to the foreknowledge of God the Father. According
to His own will and purpose. He picked him out. the least of this family. Why,
that no flesh glory in his sight. What's mean he was rudy and of
a beautiful countenance and goodly to look to? Some said he had
a clear complexion, a good eye, a lovely face. His features were
extraordinary, and that there was something in his look that
was charming. In what it said in the songs
of Solomon, my beloved is white and rudy, the cheapest among
10,000. I believe when Samuel saw that
boy come in, he said, oh, there's something different about this
boy. There's something different about
this boy, because what was on the inside was on his face. Oh, he said, oh, there's something
different about him. He's not like all those other boys. Theirs
is just outward beauty. His comes from within. From within. Listen, Genesis 39 verse 6, you
know, you remember the story about Joseph. And when Joseph
was in Potiphar's house, he said, and he left all that he had in
Joseph's hand, and he knew not all that he had, save the bread
which he did eat. And Joseph was a goodly person.
and well favored. You know what it says? He knew
that God was with that man. How did he know it? God revealed it. Listen, I think that what this
is saying is that the old prophet could see that there was something
special about this lad that his father and his brothers could
not see. There was something different
about him. He was fairer than all the children of men. He could
see what the others could not see, the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ. You remember, Jesus' own high
brothers and sisters couldn't see him. They rejected him, but
not God. Now listen, let me read on. And
he anointed him with this oil, verse 13, and Samuel took the
horn of oil and anointed him in the midst or above his brethren,
and the spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.
So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. I don't believe that this
is when David was converted. I believe that God had already
done a work in his heart, a work of grace, and God had been teaching
him and training him out there on the backside of the desert.
But this anointing was God setting him apart. And it says, the Spirit
of the Lord came upon David from that day. We're going to read
when he goes to fight Goliath, how could he stand against Goliath?
He's just a mere lad. The Spirit of the Lord came upon
him from that day. Let me give you a few verses.
Psalms 89, 20, I have found David my servant. With my holy oil
have I anointed him. David was found long before Samuel
ever sent for him. Long before. God set him apart. Psalms 45, 7, thou loveth righteousness
and hateth wickedness. Therefore, God, thy God, hath
anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. He
anointed him. Listen, Luke 4, 18. And here's
what our Lord said. The spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captive, and recovering of sight to the blind,
to set at liberty them that are bruised. Even though now David
is set apart and is rightful king, he had to endure many trials
before he was brought to the throne. You remember our Lord? Our Lord was God in human flesh,
filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. But listen,
before he started his public ministry in Luke 3, verse 22,
and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape like a dove
upon him, and a voice came from heaven which said, this is my
beloved son. and whom I am well pleased."
David, God anointed him. The Spirit of God came upon him. God set him apart. That's God's
anointing. The world perverts that. You
know, they say, oh, he's got the anointing. They try to say
it in some religious fashion. But David was anointed of God.
The Lord Jesus Christ in human flesh was anointed. The Spirit
of God descended upon him. What happened on the day of Pentecost?
What happened on the day of Pentecost? Peter and James and John, those
men, they were already converted. But what came on the day of Pentecost?
And our Lord said, do not leave Jerusalem until you be endued
with power from on high. On the day of Pentecost, the
Spirit of God came upon them to do what? To empower them to
preach His gospel. And when we preach His gospel,
we preach the horn of His salvation, His strength, His glory. And
it cannot be done without His power. It says in 1 John, you
have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. Did you hear that? You have an
anointing, you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know
all things. How do you know all things? He's
anointed you. with the oil of gladness. What
a picture of our Lord and His people. Amen.