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Hendersonville Seventh-day Adventist Church, NC

A Man After Gods Own Heart: King David

David Wright

01 The Nobody Nobody Noticed

So glad to be here with you this morning on this beautiful Sabbath day.

And after Saul became king, things started to be revealed.

And as we read through the pages of Scripture there in 1st Samuel, we see very clearly that Saul was selfish, oftentimes angry, hateful, mean-spirited, vengeful.

Saul is remembered most by a terrible decision to make an unlawful sacrifice.

Then Saul is remembered by a rash oath that ultimately incriminated his son.

And finally with Saul, we have open disobedience against God when he spares King Agag.

And every time Saul tried to rationalize what he had done.

Now if you brought your Bibles I want to look we are going to begin a series starting today And so we're going to be looking at the accounts here in 1st Samuel But just as a way of introducing where we're going here.

We first have to paint the stage What the situation was before David comes on to the scene And so if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn to 1 Samuel chapter 15 and we begin reading there.

1 Samuel chapter 15 verse 24 it says, Then Saul said to Samuel, this is Saul speaking, I have sinned for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words because and notice here how he is making excuses for himself I feared the people and obeyed their voice now therefore please pardon my sin and return with me that I may worship the Lord." Can't we just get past this?

Isn't this, this really isn't that big a deal, is it?

Saul was greatly concerned, we could say, about image, about what people thought, his perception, his rating in the polls, we could say.

And so he's saying here, Samuel, why don't you just come with me?

Just return and let's worship like we've always done.

Verse 26, we read, but Samuel said to Saul, I will not return with you for you have rejected the word of the Lord and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel.

And as Samuel turned around to go away, Saul sees the edge of his robe and it tore.

So Samuel said to him, the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.

And also the strength of Israel, talking about God, will not lie nor relent, for he is not a man that he should relent.

Other translations say God is not mortal, he does not change his mind.

Then he, Saul, said, I have sinned, yet honor me now, please, before the elders of my people and before Israel, and return with me that I may worship the Lord your God.

Now can't you just come on back with me and we'll just go on as if nothing has happened.

And as we read on, by divine direction Samuel yielded to the king's request that no occasion might be given for a revolt, but he remained only as a silent witness of the service.

And then Samuel kills King Agag and returns to his home never to see Saul again.

The tragic story of Saul is that he never, ever fully repented of his sin.

His obsession with image continued until the day he died.

The people had elected Saul king, but friends, he was no longer qualified.

Israel is surrounded by enemies and they need someone to carry the scepter.

And I imagine there was a sense of panic.

And that's where we begin our new series that I will be preaching entitled David a man after God's own heart.

David's an interesting figure in Scripture and we're gonna look at a lot of stories down through, I did not realize until this past week, but of all the people written of in Scripture or mentioned in Scripture, more chapters are Dedicated to the man David than any other individual in Scripture.

I find that interesting and Fascinating and this idea that David is a man after God's own heart mentioned both in the Old and New Testament What does that mean?

We're gonna explore that a little bit was David perfect.

Well by no means Were there some things to emulate?

And today's piece is the first, and I've entitled it A Nobody Nobody Noticed.

And so as we saw here, beginning with some of these verses this morning, Israel was not doing well.

Their leader had turned away from the Lord.

Oh, he would give lip service, but it was all about image for Saul.

Samuel didn't know, the people didn't know, and there was a sense of panic.

What Samuel failed to realize, what we often fail to realize is that behind the scenes, before God even flung the stars into space, God had today in mind.

Friends, God had this very week, we could even say the last 2 weeks in mind.

And God knew exactly what he was going to do.

Friends, God is never at a loss to know what he's going to do in your or my situation.

I think it's something we need to keep in mind right now as the news as in the news we have seen the worst act of terror played out since 9-11.

The horrific acts not seen since the Holocaust and then the response to root out this terror group, even this week, Hamas blaming Israel for the bombing of a hospital when there is solid evidence from 4 different sources contrary to that.

But now everyone is getting worked up and using that as a means.

And so we're hearing about Hamas and North Korea and Iran and Lebanon, even Russia and so on.

We can see how this could escalate very, very quickly.

Many are quick to reassign as they do in any type of situation similar to this, all of the prophecies and revelation and so on and so forth.

Well, not exactly, but Could it lead to something that we've talked about and the Bible speaks of very clearly?

It surely could, and war is always horrific, filled with death and suffering and heartache and pain, uncertainty, fear, anxiety, panic.

Absolutely it does, But I think this is also a really good time to remember before God flung the stars into space, God had today in mind.

He knows exactly how this will play out and in fact prophecy reminds us of that Over and over and over God doesn't guess friends.

He knows We can trust him And not just on the world stage.

Friends, God knows what's happening in your life personally.

What you're struggling with, what you're wrestling with, what you're overwhelmed by or perplexed, anxious, what you're afraid of.

Whatever your situation, I have good news for you.

God is never at a loss to know what he's going to do in your situation.

He knows perfectly well what is best for you and for me.

And we want to know, but that's where faith comes in.

Faith is counting on Him when we do not know what tomorrow holds.

And so coming back to our story here in Scripture, It's important to remember when a man or woman of God fails, nothing of God fails.

When a man or woman of God fails, nothing of God fails.

I have a friend who has walked out of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, doesn't call himself an Adventist anymore because of how he was mistreated by church members and even some church leaders.

Now, I don't like to be mistreated by church members or church leaders either.

02 God’s Heart, God’s Man, God’s Ways

Today's scripture reading is found in 2 Chronicles 16, verse 9.

He was speaking to King Asa when King Asa was in a time of trouble with the country of Judah.

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.

You have done foolishly in this, for from now on you will have wars.

Well, we're gonna continue in short today, another piece from David, A Man After God's Own Heart.

And today's piece I've entitled, God's heart, God's man, God's ways.

And so this is part 2, I suppose we can call in this series.

I want to begin by just asking a simple question.

Perhaps you're buying a car, Perhaps you're buying an appliance.

I don't know about you, but for me, 1 of the first things I do is I go to Consumer Reports.

You can purchase even just 1 month subscription, which is long enough to do all the research on which vehicle, which appliance, which gets the best rating, which car is the most reliable, gets the best gas mileage and so on and so forth.

Which washing machine will get our clothes the cleanest or the quietest, maybe the cleanest and the quietest, I don't know, which 1 lasts the longest.

And I'm always amazed that when they show prices, sometimes ones that are priced really high score really poorly.

And so that's why I think I'm gonna keep coming back here to to make some of these decisions Which leaf blower is the most powerful man?

That is the only 1 we're interested in right especially this time of year If you don't know what I'm talking about come see my yard Every couple days we have to blow off some more leaves.

Do they share the same interests that you do?

Do they love the Lord with all their heart?

Do they share your same values, your same thoughts and ideas of raising a family or whatever it may be?

As we read here in 1 Samuel 8, in 1 Samuel 8, verse 7 we read, And the Lord said to Samuel, Heed the voice of the people and all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, Samuel, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.

They saw all the nations around them and they had kings and we want to be like them, we need to be like them, and so in essence they rejected God's original plan that God would be their king, that they weren't going to be like everyone else.

Hosea 13 Verse 11 says, I gave you a king in my anger.

But you said, no, we want to have someone else.

Patriarchs and prophets says this, when men choose to have their own way without seeking counsel from God or in opposition to his revealed will, he often grants their desires, there it is, in order that through the bitter experience that follows they may be led to realize their folly and to repent of their sins." Do we ever do that as parents?

I think you should think about this or think about that.

And we let them do that thing in hopes that they will, in following their own ways, realize, oh, this perhaps wasn't the best idea.

The quote continues, Human pride and wisdom will prove a dangerous guide.

That which the heart desires contrary to the will of God will in the end be found a curse rather than a blessing.

Now don't answer out loud, but have you ever had an experience in your own life where you can say, yep, I can attest to that.

And that is exactly what was the result of their own decision with Saul.

They chose Saul in human pride and human wisdom because he was, well, tall, dark, handsome.

And yes, Saul had a measure of humility to begin with, but before long he became thin-skinned, hot-tempered, given to seasons of depression and even thoughts of murder.

We think it was about 10 years after Saul became king, as the people were on this long drift from God as they were becoming disillusioned with their leader that David was born.

So there's about this 50 year spread or so that we think between Saul and David.

Now if you've ever gotten your own way and it's all wrong, you may understand how it can be a most disillusioning, insecure feeling to recognize that this wasn't the best idea.

And sometimes you can't always put your finger on why.

He graciously intervenes with Samuel, and it is good news for the people, but it's bad news for Saul.

1 Samuel 13, 13, you have done a foolish thing, Samuel said.

You have not kept the command of the Lord your God gave you if you had he would Have established your kingdom over Israel for how long?

All time, but you have acted foolishly You have not kept the command of the Lord So verse 14, but now your kingdom will not endure the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people because you have not kept the Lord's command.

Here we see God choosing a man and what kind of man?

Outside of the Godhead, of course, more has been written about David than any other Biblical character.

Abraham's given about 14 chapters, Joseph is given about the same, Jacob has 11, Elijah 10, but to David is dedicated 66 chapters, if my count is correct.

And that does not include some 59 references to his life in the New Testament.

And it's on 2 occasions he's called, 1 right here that we just read, a man after God's own heart.

And we are told that when he was walking in the counsel of God, that he was called a man after God's own heart.

But friends, this morning I want to ask you, when God chooses a man, When God chooses a woman, a young boy, a young girl, what does he base his choice on?

What is he longing to see in that individual?

1 Corinthians 1 Verse 26 says, consider your own call, brothers and sisters.

Not many of you were wise by human standards.

But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise.

God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

God choose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are, so that no 1 might boast in the presence of God.

I don't know if you've heard of the new Berkeley version, but it translates these last 2 verses this way, God also has chosen the world's insignificant and despised people and nobodies in order to bring to nothing those who amount to something so that nobody may boast in the presence of God." Paul is saying to the Corinthians, look around, you'll find many impressive people, But that's not who God is looking for because he doesn't want someone to be able to boast in their abilities in their talents and so forth and That's a principle that we tend to forget Because many of us are still a lot like the Greeks or a lot like the Jews of old.

We look for role models, for heroes, to be impressed by the best and the brightest, the brilliant people, the successful people.

I mean we have to admit we are terribly enamored with what's on the surface and the superficial impresses us much more than we'd like to admit.

What gives a presidential candidate a huge advantage these days?

Well they look good on TV but I hear God saying in these verses, that's not the way I make my choices.

I take the nobodies and I turn them into somebody.

And in a nutshell, that is the story of David's life, isn't it?

God taking a nobody and God turning that nobody into a somebody.

03 Giant Lessons Worth Remembering

The scripture reading is taken from 1 Samuel chapter 17 verses 45.

Then said David to the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword and with a spear and with a shield but I come with thee in the name of the Lord of hosts the God of the armies of Israel whom thou hast defied.

Well the year was 1918 in the small town of Alton, Illinois which is in the suburbs of St.

Louis, that Robert was born into the Wadlow family.

At his birth, his height and weight were normal, with no signs of anything unusual.

But as time passed, his parents could notice something was different about Robert.

By his first birthday, he was already 3 1⁄2 feet tall, over a foot taller than others his age.

When he was enrolled in kindergarten, he was exactly my height as a kindergartner.

That would be intimidating to be the kindergarten teacher.

Special desks had to be made and certain accommodations.

By 10 years old, he was 210 pounds, 6 feet tall, 17 1 1 2 foot shoe size.

In fact, here is a picture in the paper when he visited Atlanta, Georgia.

He is 13 years old, and he's next to his nine-year-old brother and his father.

And here Robert is standing at 7 feet 4 inches.

Parents, how would you like the challenge?

I have 2 teenagers at home, soon to have 3 teenagers at home.

That would be a little bit daunting to have to lecture my son that was 7 feet 4 inches.

Robert, I need you to go to your room, sit on your bed, I'll be up in a minute and we're gonna talk.

By the time he graduated from high school he was 8 feet 4 inches tall.

Here's a picture with his mom and his dad.

Can you imagine trying to iron those pants on an ironing board?

Let me ask you this question, Can you find Robert in the picture?

That's another thing that I think would be quite interesting to imagine him towering over the witness stand.

Were you or were you not on the scene of the crime on March 6th?

He did tour for a time with Bailey Brothers Circus, had various speaking engagements, was sponsored by some major shoe companies that would supply him with his custom size 37 foot, not foot, size 37 shoe.

A friend of mine, Alan, let me borrow this, Alan Reynolds, some of you might know who he is.

But they wouldn't let, you can tell he actually wore it.

I mean, I thought that this was actually just a, you know, something they make to put in a shoe store.

In fact, if you look inside, There's some nice lining that's starting to rip a little bit, but this is the real deal.

Sadly, he developed some issues with his body continually growing.

His legs, or the braces, made some relatively minor infection in his leg, but it got worse and worse and worse, it wasn't treated.

And so sadly, that is how he met his demise, was simply an infection that went toxic throughout his system.

He died at 22 years of age, unfortunately.

At his death, he was 1 inch shy of 9 feet tall and he had not stopped growing.

The autopsy found that he had a, let's see, hypotrophy of his pituitary gland.

So it just, basically the growth hormone kept being produced, kept being produced, and so he never stopped growing.

And so in 1986, the life statue was erected in his hometown there in Illinois, and there's at least 10 other replicas around the country, Ripley's, Believe It or Not, and various places.

But to this day, he's remembered as the gentle giant.

Well, today we're continuing our series on David, a man after God's own heart.

And today's piece, giant lessons worth remembering.

But this giant that we talk and find in scripture in this next piece of our series is far from a gentle giant.

Now while we don't know his exact size, somewhere between 9 and a half and 12 feet tall, depending on if you're looking at the regular cubit or the royal cubit, and some debate goes back and forth between that, but this morning, metaphorically speaking, what giants are you facing today?

Perhaps there was a class that you just have to pass and it's not looking good.

Maybe it's a financial giant that looks like it will crush you.

Maybe it's a lifestyle habit that you can't seem to give up.

Maybe it's a lump and it's been diagnosed as malignant.

Perhaps it's a serious surgery and the odds are not as good as you would like.

Today I wanna look at 5 survival keys when facing the giants of life.

And I hope you brought something to mark your Bible with.

In fact, All of these points are right here tucked in the text of my Bible.

And if you like them enough, you could do the same.

But I believe they're practical, that they're biblical, and by God's grace, I believe that they are doable.

So we're in 1 Samuel, chapter 17, and while you're turning there, a little refresh.

You may recall leading up to this story that Saul has been doing things his way and not God's way.

And by the time we get to chapter 15, we see the Lord is grieved that He made Saul king.

In chapter 16 of 1 Samuel, Samuel comes to the house of Jesse when the oldest 1 looks the part of the new king.

He is all excited and God says, nope, that's not the 1.

We looked at this a few times ago, until finally, do you have any left?

Oh, well, there's David, but he's just a lad, he's out with the sheep, bring him here.

Now we looked at a few times ago how David, the young boy, perhaps only 16 years of age, is anointed as the next king of Israel.

Not anointed in front of his brothers, we're told by spirit prophecy, it was done in private.

But the brothers are still wondering, why did Samuel come to the house and why is David singled out?

What's going on, what does all this mean?

And then we get to this story, and we're gonna pick up in 1 Samuel 17, beginning in verse 2.

And there we read, and Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and they encamped in the valley of Elah, and drew up in battle array against the Philistines.