Look at the last phrase of verse 22. This is God's testimony with
regard to this man named David. I have found David, the son of
Jesse, a man after mine own heart which shall fulfill all my will. Question. Can there be a higher
commendation of a man than that? A man after God's own heart. This is God's testimony. His
heart beats with mine. Now let me say this at the outset. This describes every believer. This is not just a man who's
attained to this high position. This is a description of every
believer. If the Lord has saved you, you
are a man or a woman after God's own heart. It's the heart he
gave you. You know that. But this heart that he gives
in the new birth makes every believer, a man or a woman, after
God's own heart. Now we want to be men and women
after God's own heart. We desire that. That's what we
want. But beloved, that's also what
we are. if God has done something for
us. Now, this verse begins with the
removal of Saul. We considered that last week. Saul, the people's choice. And
why did God remove him? Well, we're given two reasons.
There could probably be more reasons given, but we're given
two concrete reasons. In 1 Samuel chapter 13, he approached
God without a priest and offered up a sacrifice. And that's when
God said, I've rejected you and I'm finding a man after mine
own heart. And then in chapter 15, he didn't
obey God when God said to kill all the Amalekites, every single
one of them. And Samuel tells him in chapter
28, here's the reason God rejected you, You failed to destroy the
Amalekites. You remember God said kill them
all, but he spared King Agag and the best of the sheep and
the oxen, the ones that he could find valuable. Now, this wasn't
just for personal enrichment. This gives us some idea of what
a man after God's own heart does not do. He spares Agag. Agag means I will overtop. Agag
represents man's will overtopping God's will. I will overtop. I think it's interesting, religious
men always, they don't understand this thing of putting no confidence
in flesh. They spare free will. And the
best of the sheep and oxen. Now I know my sins can't save
me, but surely the good things I do count for something. They
kept the best of the sheep and the best of the oxen, what they
considered best, and they killed all the rest, all that was vile
and no good. And that is why he was rejected. Now David, the man after God's
own heart, look what the Lord said of him. I have found David,
the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfill
all my will. Now it was all of his will for
all of the Amalekites to be destroyed and put to death. Somebody says
that's barbaric. No, it wasn't, they deserved
it. They were a wicked bunch of people. And it's not like
the Israelites were better than them, but they were a wicked
bunch of people, and also they represented the flesh, as we're
going to see. This is what the Amalekites represent,
is the flesh. Saul killed some of the Amalekites. He was not a man after God's
own heart. He didn't kill all of the Amalekites. Now, I think
it's so interesting if you read the book of Judges right after
the death of Joshua. Immediately after the death of
Joshua, Israel turned to Baal worship. When Joshua's influence
was gone, they went after Baal worship. Now there's so much
appealing to the flesh in Baal worship. And it plagued Israel
through every judge until you get to David. And during the
reign of David, Baal is not even as much as mentioned. And as
soon as David's gone, it starts again, and it's a struggle all
the way through the end. What is a man after God's own
heart? Language kind of break down,
breaks down and fails here. I don't exactly know how to say
this, but what is it if you can say this? This is a struggle
for words, but if you can say this, what's most important to
God? I mean, he's God. He doesn't have things up here
and things down here, and that's not all that important. He's
God. I realize I'm struggling for
language, But what is most important to God? Now, I can say without
question, His glory. That's what's most important
to God. He said, my glory, I will not
share with another. What is most important to God?
I'm not giving these in order. I'm not giving these in order.
You can't say one's more important than the other. What's most important
to God? His son. This is my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased. What is most important to God? His people. The Lord's portion is his people.
Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. What's most important to God?
Again, I'm not giving an order. What's most important to God?
His word. Thou hast magnified thy word
above all thy name. I don't even know how to comment
on that. What is most important to God? His gospel. It's the Gospel of God. It's
the Gospel that glorifies Him. How He's glorified in the Gospel.
How His Son is honored in the Gospel. How completely saved
His people are in the Gospel. Why His Word is His Gospel. Sanctify them through that Truth. Thy Word is Truth. Now, what is most important to
God's people? And every child of God will amen
this in their heart. What's most important to God's
people? His glory. His glory. And I've said this recently. I'll say it again. I like saying
it. It's helpful to me. I want him to have all the glory
because he deserves all the glory. And I really believe that with
all my heart. No glory goes to me. But secondly, if he doesn't
get all the glory, then somebody else does. If somebody else does,
that means something's required out of me. That means salvation's
by works in some way. If he doesn't get all the glory,
then something is required of me that I can't come up with.
So therefore, God's glory is, oh, it's important. Christ, his
son. I can say this, all that thrills
my soul is Jesus. He is more than life to me and
the fairest of 10,000 in my blessed Lord I see. Oh, he's the altogether
lovely one. I bow down in my heart and worship
him And praise be to his name, his son. Oh, how important is
his word. I wouldn't know who he is without
his word. Thank God for that word that
he uses to magnify above all of his name. And oh, how important
the gospel is to me. I must have the gospel. I won't be saved without the
gospel. how God can actually love me, accept me, and declare
me to be righteous through the gospel. Now that's important
to me. And his people, they are the
excellence of the earth. He that loveth him that begat,
loveth him also that's begotten of him. We love his people. Now, I think of what the Lord
said regarding his people. He said to his father, thou hast
loved them as thou hast loved me. Now, you think of that love. And we love all those who love
his son. Now, this is what is most important
to us. It really is. And if you're a
believer, you're in agreement Your agreement, yep. That's what's
most important to me. Now, this one who is designated
as the man after God's own heart is the one who, unlike Saul,
fulfilled all of God's will. He's such a type of Christ in
fulfilling all of God's will. But turn back to 1 Samuel chapter
15. We considered this last week,
but we need to in considering what it means when David fulfilled
all of his will. Saul failed to do that. David
did. In 1 Samuel 15, Samuel said Undersaw
the Lord sent me to anoint thee to be king over his people over
Israel now therefore hearken unto the voice of the words of
the Lord Thus saith the Lord of hosts I remember that which
Amalek did the Israel how he laid wait for him in the way
when he came up from Egypt now go and smite Amalek and utterly
destroy all that they have spare them not and but slay both man
and woman, infant, suckling, ox, sheep, camel, and ass. Now,
I think it's interesting that people use a passage of scripture
like that and they say, that proves the Bible's not the inspired
word of God, because God would never do anything like that. Oh, you can make a decision like
that? Yes, the Lord did. And they deserved it. And I deserve
it. And everybody else I know deserves
it. God's just. God's just. And this is how these people
were to be dealt with, but it's also because of what they represent. Turn back to Exodus 17. Exodus
17. Now, after Israel has been delivered
from bondage, and they leave Egypt, here is
when the fight began. They didn't have this fight until
they left Egypt, but now the fight begins. And let me say
right off the bat, Amalek represents the flesh. You know when you
have to deal with your flesh, You don't even know your deal.
It's not a problem with you until God saves you. And when he gives
you a new nature, a holy nature, then all of a sudden you have
this flesh that is just a battle constantly. Now look at Amalek
here in verse eight. Then came Amalek and fought with
Israel and Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, choose
this out men and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I'll stand
on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua
did as Moses had said to him and fought with Amalek. And Moses,
Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill and came to pass
where Moses held up his hand. Israel prevailed. And when he
let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. You look to Christ, only you
prevail. You look to the flesh, Amalek. prevails. Now, let me give you
an example of that. You look at some horrible sin
you've committed and think, I must not be saved. Well, you say by that, if I wouldn't
have committed that sin, I would be saved. You say by that if
I was good, all that, there's no justification for that sin,
don't get me wrong. But if you find your assurance by what you
have done or haven't done, you're looking to the flesh, and the
flesh prevails. Now let's go on reading verse
12. But Moses' hands were heavy,
and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat there
on, and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands. Now you know the
way you'll be able to continue to look to Christ? Aaron, the
great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ prays for you. Her, his
name means life, that's the Holy Spirit. He's the one who enables
you to continue to look to himself. And they were steady into the
going down of the sun and Joshua disconfigured Amalek. That's
an interesting word. They didn't kill everybody. They're
still alive and they're going to plague Israel all their days. Joshua disconfined Amalek and
his people at the edge of the sword. And the Lord said unto
Moses, write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse it in
the years of Joshua, for I will utterly put out the remembrance
of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar and
called the name of it Jehovanisi, the Lord our banner. For he said,
because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek
from generation to generation. This is a continual war. There's not going to be a time
when Amalek is not to be battled. He represents the flesh. Now,
what is meant by the flesh? Well, it's what me and you are
by nature. It's the way we're born into this world. It's called
the flesh. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God. Neither indeed can be, so then they that are in the flesh
cannot please God. In Genesis chapter six, verse
12, and God looked upon the earth and behold, it was corrupt for
all. It was corrupt for all flesh
had corrupted itself upon the earth. The carnal mind, the mind
of the flesh is enmity with God. And you don't really understand
this until you got light. Look back in Genesis 25. I think this is such a clear
picture of this. Genesis chapter 25. Verse 20, and Isaac was 40 years
old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuniel, the
Syrian of Danaram, the sister to Laban, the Syrian. And Isaac
entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren. There
was no life. She was barren. She could not
produce life. And the Lord was entreated of
him And Rebekah his wife conceived. There's now life in her womb. Verse 22, and the children struggled
together within her. She didn't realize she had twins.
All she knew that there was a mighty struggle going on within her
womb. Now what all was going on, I
don't know. But the children struggled within her. And she
said, if it be so, why am I thus? Why is this terrible fight going
on within me? And she went to inquire of the
Lord, and the Lord said unto her, two nations are in thy womb,
and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels.
And the one people shall be stronger than the other, and the elder
shall serve the younger. Now this is true of every believer,
two people are in you, the flesh and the spirit. That's teaching
of scripture. Galatians 5, 17, the flesh lusts
against the spirit, the spirit lusts against the flesh, and
these two are contrary one together so that you cannot do the things
that you would. Read Romans 7. Read Romans 7
beginning in verse 14 where Paul begins that passage saying, for
we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under as
a slave to sin. And that was Paul speaking. Somebody
says, well, that was Paul before he converted. Yeah, that's ridiculous.
That's Paul when he was converted. He found out what sin is. And
he said, I'm sold under sin, that which I Hate, I do what
I want to do, I don't do it. I find a law that when I would
do good, evil is present with me. You can read it for yourself.
Romans chapter seven. Well, we're still in Exodus 17.
We'll turn back to Exodus 17. No, I'm sorry, turn to Deuteronomy
25. And this is what the Amalekites
were no worse than the Hittites or the Jebusites or the Hivites
or any of the otherites. But it's what they represent.
Look in Deuteronomy 25, verse 17. Remember what Amalek did unto
thee by the way, this is Moses speaking to the children of Israel
before he leaves. This is toward the end of his
speech before the Lord takes him up. or hides his dead body
somewhere. Remember what Amalek did unto
thee by the way when you came forth out of Egypt. How he met
thee by the way and smote the hindmost of thee, even all that
were feeble behind thee. When thou was faint and weary,
he feared not God. Therefore it shall be when the
Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round
about in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance
to possess it. Thou shalt blot out the remembrance
of Amalek from under heaven. Thou shalt not forget it. You
know, one of these days, isn't it glorious to think that Amalek
is gonna be completely blotted out? You won't even remember
what it's like to be a sinner. What a glorious prospect. But
as long as you're alive, Amalek will be here. Now, back to 1
Samuel 15. Verse 7, and Saul smote the Amalekites
from Havaia into the commons to Shur, that's over against
Egypt. He took Agag, the king of the Amalekites, alive. Now,
like I said, that represents free will. His name means I will
overtop. Man's will overtops Trump's God's
will. He preserved that. He took alive
Agag, the king of the Amalekites, and utterly destroyed all the
people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared
Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings,
and the lambs, and all that was good. So they thought they wouldn't
utterly destroy them, but everything that was vile and refuse, that
they destroyed utterly. Now, kill all the Amalekites.
Don't give the flesh any credit under any condition. No, I'm
gonna keep a gag, and I'm gonna keep what's good and what's beneficial. Why kill that? I mean, that's
good, you know, and not recognizing it for what it is as the flesh. Verse 10, then came the word
of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, it repenteth me that I've set
Saul to be king, for he's turned back from following me. He did
not perform my commandments, and it grieved Samuel. And he
cried unto the Lord all night. And when Samuel rose early to
meet Saul in the morning, it was told Samuel, saying, Saul
came to Carmel. And behold, he set him up a place,
and was gone about, and passed on, and gone down to Gilgal.
And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said unto him, blessed be
thou of the Lord. I performed the commandment of
the Lord. No, he didn't. But he said he did. And Samuel
said, what meaneth this bleeding of the sheep in mine ears and
the lowering of the oxen which I hear? And Saul said, they've
brought them from the Amalekites for the people spared the best
of the sheep and the oxen to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God.
Anybody believe that? I don't. They thought they were
enriching themselves. But he's going to put a religious
slant on it in order to justify and vindicate himself. That happens
all the time. And the rest we've utterly destroyed.
And you know what happened. I do want us to see how Samuel
treated Agag. Look in the same chapter, verse
32. Then said Samuel, bring me hither to Agag, the king of the
Amalekites. And Agag came in to him delicately. And Agag said, surely the bitterness
of death is past. And Samuel said, as thy sword
hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless
among women. And Samuel ewed Agag in pieces
before the Lord in Gilgal. David the man after God's own
heart which would fulfill all of his will we read about that
in chapter 16 and The Lord said unto Samuel how long will thou
mourn for Saul seeing I've rejected him from reigning over Israel?
Fill thine horn with oil and go and I'll send thee to JC the
Bethlehemite for I provided me a king among his sons And Samuel said how can I go?
It's all here to kill me And the Lord said, take an heifer
with thee, and say, I'm come to sacrifice to the Lord. And
call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I'll show thee what thou
shalt do. And thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto
thee. And Samuel did that which the Lord spake to him, and came
to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming,
and said, comest thou peaceably? And he said, peaceably, I'm 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. And it came to pass
when they had come that he looked on the liab and said, surely
the Lord's anointed is before me. He looked like the Lord's anointed.
He's the one Samuel would have picked. But the Lord said unto
Samuel, look not on his countenance or on the height of his stature
because I've refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man
seeth. Is there any way that could be
expressed strongly enough? The Lord seeth not as man seeth. He doesn't see the way I see. He doesn't see the way you see.
And he's the only one who sees right. For man looketh on the outward
appearance but the Lord looketh on the heart. And the heart he
is referring to is the heart he gave David, the new heart
that made David and every other believer, a man and a woman after
God's own heart. And Jesse, verse 8, 8, Jesse
called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said,
neither hath the Lord chosen this. Then Jesse made Shammah
to pass by. He said, neither hath the Lord
chosen this. And again, Jesse made seven of his sons pass before
Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, the
Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel said unto Jesse, are
these all thy children? And he said, well, there remaineth
yet the youngest. And well, we know it's not him.
He wasn't even invited. He didn't even come, we know
it's not him. He's keeping 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 ruddy and with all of the beautiful countenance
and goodly look on. And the Lord said, arise and
anoint him, for this is he. 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. Now here we have the man's after
God's own heart. And in our text, in Acts chapter
13, this is where he's such a type of Christ. God said, he'll fulfill
all my will. Unlike Saul, who spared the Amalekites,
he will fulfill all my will. Now, there's two other scriptures
I want you to look at. Turn to John chapter six. These are familiar
scriptures, but this shows how David is such a type of Christ
who fulfills all of God's will. Verse 38. Now remember, we're talking about
how he fulfills all of God's will. For I came down from heaven,
not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And
here it is. This is the Father's will which
is sent me. Now here the Lord tells us what
the Father's will is. I mean, we don't have to speculate.
Here it is, plain as day. that of all which he hath given
me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at that
last day. It's the Father's will for Jesus
Christ to save all of the elect and raise them up at the last
day. Verse 40, and this is the will
of him that sent me. Now, if all I read was verse
39 and just stopped there, where do I fit in there? I see
that, I believe that, but let's go on reading. And this is the
will of him that sent me that everyone which seeth the son. And that doesn't mean visually
seeing Him. That means perceiving who He
is. You really believe, and I can
say this to every man and woman after God's own heart, you really
believe He is the Son of God, don't you? You really believe
He's Creator. You really believe He is the
Son, the Christ, the Lamb of God. You believe that. You see, you don't stumble there.
He's the only begotten son of the Father. I love that title,
the only begotten son. And this beginning didn't simply
take place when he was raised from the dead, because in Psalm
2, it says, thou art my son, this day have I begotten thee.
This beginning is eternal. It's not an event of time. It's
who He is. He's always the only begotten
Son. His blood is always powerful.
It's always fresh. He's always the only begotten.
I love the way the Scripture says He's the new and the living
way, the freshly slaughtered way. His blood is always poignant
to God. It's always powerful to God.
And I don't care how sinful, how weak you are. It doesn't
make any difference in that sense because his blood is always powerful. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. Every one that seeth the Son
and believeth. Now that doesn't just mean believe
in his existence. That means you're relying on
him as your salvation. He's all of it. You don't have
anything else to look to. Everyone that seeth the Son,
everyone that believeth on him, those are the ones he came to
save and saved. They may have every last thing
off and I'll raise him up at the last day. Now one last scripture,
turn to Hebrews 10. the one who fulfilled all of
God's will. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 5. Now this is a quotation
from Psalm 40, verse 6 through 8, where Christ is speaking in
the first person in Psalm 40. And now it's quoted here in Hebrews
chapter 10. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he sayeth, sacrifice an offering thou wouldest not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. That's talking about the
incarnation of Christ, that body prepared for him. In burnt offerings
and sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Was there
ever an animal sacrifice that did anything to satisfy God?
Absolutely not. He had no pleasure in that. Then
said I, lo, I come in the volume of the book it's written of me.
Now let me tell you something about this book. This book is
a whole lot older than this book. This is the eternal decrees of
God. It's referred to in Revelation
chapter five, that book written within and without, sealed with
seven seals. No room for anything else. All
of God's purpose, all of God's decree. It's all written in that
book. And that's to accommodate our
human weakness. That's the only way we can understand
it. Everything God has decreed has been written in that book. Then said I, lo, I come in the
volume of the book. It's written of me. What? To
do thy will, O God. Above, when he said sacrifice
and offering and burnt offerings and offerings for sin, thou wouldest
not neither had pleasure therein, which are offered by the law.
Law can't do anything for anybody. We love God's law, but you and
I can't be saved by law keeping. There's only one law keeper,
that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And all these sacrifices offered
under the law couldn't do anything for anybody. Verse nine, then
said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
first covenant of works. He's taken it away. It's gone. Can I say that's wrong enough?
He took it away. It's gone. You are not under
law, but under grace. That's the promise. He's taken
away the first that he may establish the second. by the witch will,
by God's will, by Him doing God's will, by Him coming, delighting
in God's will and performing God's will, by the eternal will
of God, by the will of the Spirit, by the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Now the reason that once for
all is there is because in the original, this is in the perfect
tense. Perfectly completed, never to
be repeated. Once for all, no repetition,
no addition, no subtraction, no improvement. Once for all,
we are sanctified. That word means we're holy. That
word means we're other. This is God making us holy through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ. Now this is how powerful
the blood of Christ is. When Christ offered up his blood
for me, the God of glory declared regarding me and everybody he
died for, they're holy. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling. Now, do you remember the words
of the Lord from the cross? It is finished. He fulfilled God's will for God's
glory. By himself, according to his
word, he, the man with God's heart, Jesus Christ, the man with God's
heart, fulfilled all of God's will. When he came, it said,
thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people
from their sins. That's his purpose. When he said,
it is finished, they were saved. I've glorified thee on earth.
I have finished the work thou gavest me to do. And now because
of that, I wish we could, by the grace
of God, believe this. But because of his work, every
believer is a man or woman after God's own heart, holy, unblameable,
and unreprovable in his sight. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you that your
blessed son, our savior, our Lord, Our God, our Redeemer,
fulfilled all your will. And that all you require of us,
we have, because he fulfilled all your will. Lord, deliver
us from being like Saul, sparing anything of the flesh. Cause
us to cry, God forbid that I should glory. saving the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. As we face this coming week,
we pray for grace to walk with our Redeemer. We pray for open
doors to preach your gospel. We pray for grace to look to
him only and to rest in him only for his glory. In Christ's name
we pray, amen. Dwayne.