THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

The Books Of Samuel: God's Shift Of Israel From Apostasy Under The Judges To David's Reign

I. 1 Samuel: From Samuel To The Death Of Saul

P. Effectively Influencing Others As Those "After God's Own Heart"

(1 Samuel 16:1-13a)

Introduction: (To show the need . . .)

In today's world, many seem unable to influence others effectively for the good, a fact we can easily illustrate:

(1) This problem exists in our nation's leadership: Clifford May's op-ed, "What does America owe Iran?" (Republican-American, August 22, 2016, p. 6A) noted President Obama held "the Iran deal" was "vital to his legacy," so his administration paid "$400 million in cash" to "the Islamic Republic of Iran, the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism" as Iran released "(f)our American hostages," what many say was "ransom." Incredibly, "Justice Department officials objected to the payment" and "(f)ormer federal terrorism prosecutor Andrew C. McCarthy argues the transaction involved the commission of several 'felony law violations.'" (Ibid.) Then, a CBS News story cited on msn.com (August 25, 2016, "U. S. paid $1.3 billion to Iran two days after cash delivery") added the White House then paid Iran $1.3 billion in interest on the $400 million! Such an effort to build a presidential legacy can only backfire.

(2) Yet, those who would be president after Mr. Obama don't fare that well, either: (a) Republican nominee Donald Trump "said last summer . . . at" a "Christian forum that he has never asked God for forgiveness," what does not bode well with evangelicals (Jennifer Jacobs, "Evangelical preachers, Trump meet today," Ibid., August 11, 2016, p. 4A) and (b) Jonah Goldberg ("Rubber-necking the campaign," Ibid., p. 12A) wrote that Democratic nominee Hillary "Clinton is corrupt and deceitful. She and her husband operate as if they are some medieval royal family, above the petty rules and customs that govern the little people . . . (T)hey are aloof, entitled graspers and grifters."

(3) The inability to influence others effectively for good affects us locally, too: Kathryn Boughton's story, "Parents: Size does matter" (Ibid., August 18, 2016, p. 1B) told how the initial suggestion that "seven students living on the 'swing line'" between Bakerville School and New Hartford Elementary be "reassigned" from Bakerville to the underpopulated New Hartford Elementary was met by "all seven families" of the students involved objecting to the idea to Superintendant Brian Murphy. To squelch criticism, the Superintendant had come up with another plan that nobody ended up liking, leading to a heated August 16th Board of Education meeting, Ibid. At the meeting, the seven families were defensive while other parents expressed how they felt wronged by the seven who had complained, Ibid.

Need: So, we ask, "What is God's solution to man's failure to influence others effectively for the good?!"

I. God sent Samuel to anoint a man as king in place of king Saul who had become corrupt in disobeying the Lord so that Saul failed to influence Israel for good, 1 Samuel 16:1 with 15:1-3, 7-9:

A. God had called king Saul through Samuel to punish the evil Amalekites by destroying them, 1 Samuel 15:1-3:

B. However, Saul had only partly administered God's required punishment of the Amalekites, 1 Samuel 15:7-9.

C. The Lord thus rejected Saul as king, planning to replace him with another man (1 Sam. 15:28), so 1 Samuel 16:1 KJV shows God sending Samuel to anoint a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite to be king in Saul's place.

II. That selection of a new king focused on GOD'S VIEW of the candidate's HEART as OPPOSED to MAN'S VIEW of the candidate's EXTERNAL attributes, 1 Samuel 16:2-13a (as follows):

A. God led Samuel to go to Bethlehem to perform a public sacrifice while privately anointing another man as king without Saul's knowledge so as to avoid Saul's reprisal against Samuel, and when Samuel went there, he called Jesse and his sons to come to the sacrifice so Samuel could anoint one of Jesse's sons, 1 Samuel 16:2-5.

B. Samuel was impressed by Jesse's eldest son, Eliab, but the Lord told him not to be swayed by Eliab's outward appearance or height as in the case of Saul in 1 Samuel 10:23; God refused Eliab (1 Samuel 16:7a ESV), explaining that man evaluates others based on outward appearance where God views the heart, 1 Sam. 16:7b.

C. Jesse's seven sons present at the sacrificial meal passed before Samuel, but God directed that none of them be anointed as king (1 Sam. 16:8-10), so Samuel asked Jesse if these were all his sons, 1 Samuel 16:11a ESV.

D. Jesse replied that his youngest son was keeping the sheep (1 Sam. 16:11b), indicating he was unimportant.

E. Samuel insisted that Jesse bring him, so Jesse sent and brought the boy to the sacrificial meal, 1 Sam. 16:12a.

F. This youngest son of Jesse named David was actually impressive to view, but regardless of his good looks, God judged his heart to be good, so He directed Samuel to anoint David as king, 1 Samuel 16:12b,c-13a,c:

1. The verb "looketh" in 1 Samuel 16:7 KJV, from the Hebrew ra' ah ("see," Kittel, Bib. Heb., p. 429; B. D. B., A Heb.-Eng. Lex. of the O. T., p. 906-909) has its derivative "look to" in v. 12 KJV (ra'i; Ibid., p. 909), and the Hebrew 'eynayim for "appearance" (v. 7 KJV; Ibid., p. 744-745), is rendered "countenance" in v. 12 KJV (Ibid.), so the good looks man seeks in 1 Samuel 16:7 is what David possessed in 1 Samuel 16:12!

2. Thus, God was not swayed by looks, bad or good, choosing David in spite of his handsome appearance!

III. If we then seek to understand just WHAT about David's HEART so appealed to God, we learn from Paul's Acts 13:22 KJV explanation about David's heart that God saw that he would fulfill God's will.

IV. However, what exactly would lead David as king to fulfill God's will is explained in the Deuteronomy 17:18-20 passage given by Moses that was dealt with Israel's kings (as follows):

A. Deuteronomy 17:18-19a commanded that once a man was chosen as Israel's king (Deut. 17:14-17), he was to write a copy for himself of God's Law that it might be with him that he might read of it every day of his life.

B. Such exposure to Scripture would teach the king to revere God so as to heed all of God's Word, Deut. 17:19b.

C. This reverence for God coupled with obedience to the Lord would be accompanied by humility before one's subjects so that the king would make decisions in the interests of his subjects' welfare in accountability to God (Deut. 17:20a) while heeding the Lord exactly (Deut. 17:20b), with God's resulting blessing (Deut. 17:20c).

V. Yet, if we review Israel's history previous to David's anointing as king, we note how the FAILURE to heed Deuteronomy 17:18-20 had produced repeat influence failure in Israel's past leaders (as follows):

A. In Saul's case, he had started out humble as a king should be only to turn corrupt in pride, cf. 1 Samuel 15:17.

B. The same problem occurred to Gideon in the previous era of the judges, cf. Judges 6:12-16; 8:22-30:

1. When the Angel of the Lord first appeared to Gideon to call him to lead Israel as a mighty warrior, Gideon had claimed he was too small, too insignificant to achieve such a leadership influence, Judges 6:12-16.

2. However, after he led Israel to victory by God's power and Israel's army wanted him to be king, though Gideon first refused to be king (Jud. 8:22-23), he acted independent of Scripture to set up an ephod that became an idol. That led Gideon to see himself as so important, he acted like a king, taking many wives and siring many sons including, by a mistress, Abimelech (Jud. 8:24-31), who troubled Israel, Jud. 9:1-57.

VI. Thus, God selected David as the LEAST of Jesse's sons similar to His first selections of Gideon and Saul that David might not only start out humble and thus start out ruling well, but in reading and heeding Deuteronomy 17:18-20, he might STAY effective by STAYING a humble, accountable servant of God!

Lesson: When Saul ceased reading Scripture and so ceased heeding God in humility before God and man, he ceased being used of God to influence others for good. God then chose another man who would read and heed Scripture in line with Deuteronomy 17:18-20 that God might keep him humbly influencing others for His glory.

Application: To influence others effectively for good, (1) may we trust in Christ to be saved in obedience to God, John 3:16 with Acts 17:30-31. (2) Then, indwelt by the enabling Holy Spirit, may we (a) rely on the Holy Spirit for behavior control (Galatians 5:16, 22-23) that we (b) daily expose our minds to Scripture (c) that God might control our thinking and actions so that we become a consistently positive influence on other people for God's glory.

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . .)

Thirty-four years ago, the founding pastor of what has now become a large evangelical church in our area loaned me a book on Church growth and development, suggesting that it would help me in my new job as pastor here in Nepaug Church. However, when I perused the book, I saw that amid all its ideas, it did not once refer to Scripture!

I knew I would answer to Christ for my ministry, and that Scripture is sufficient for all ministry efforts in our era according to 2 Timothy 3:15-17, so I returned the book, indicating to the pastor that I would not use it!

He just looked at me, expressionless, so I left his office, and as I drove out of his church parking lot, I realized sadly that I could never again have ministry connections with that church! I was driving away never to return!!

Today, that pastor is no longer at that church, and that church has (1) held a joint service with a large Roman Catholic Church in violation of Galatians 1:8-9, (2) that church reportedly relies on experiential testimonies for its final authority instead of written Scripture and (3) that church's leaders reportedly are not countering teaching in the church that favors unbiblical sexual orientations and/or activities.

In sharp contrast to that, after today's worship service, our Church Board is asking our Church members to vote to include a statement in our By-laws that asserts Biblical marriage! The implications of all this in view of the decisions by two pastors thirty-four years ago either to heed Scripture or man's ideas minus Scripture are colossal!

May we trust in Christ for salvation. Then, may we rely on the Holy Spirit and daily expose ourselves to Scripture that we might revere God, heed Him, and relate to one another in humility with His rich blessing.