God sees the heart
1 Samuel 16:1-7
Introduction – It is good to have our online church with us this morning. Pray the Lord speaks clearly to us.
Did you ever think about the way God sees us?
That is both frightening and comforting at the same time.
God sees the heart and knows what is in our hearts.
We cannot fool God when it comes to the heart.
The world may be fooled but not God. Ray Comfort is an evangelist that speaks to crowds about salvation. I have seen him get with some tough people who say that they love people but were ready to rip his head off as he would tell them their thoughts were not Godly thoughts and that they do not line up with the Lord and His word.
1 Samuel 16:1-7 if you want to work your way there.
Illustration-
I was in a restaurant eating lunch at the counter and I strike up a conversation with the guy next to me…that is what preachers do because I like to talk. We begin talking about some life things and current events and then he asks the ultimate question. What do you do? That always goes one of two ways.
After I tell them I am a pastor, they get really spiritual and tell me everything they do for the church. They hide their cigarettes, they stop telling off color jokes, they start singing old hymns. They let me know that they are one of us!
The other side is one of shutting down. They get quiet and they start backing up and only give one word answers.
You can sense that they are attempting to exit as fast as they can and not make it obvious that they don’t want to talk anymore.
Life can get complicated- Amen?
We have to deal with all we have been given- Some of us could relate to having the name trouble because trouble seems to follow us everywhere we go.
Some are waiting for their “big” break in life.
Some feel like they let life slip away and now it is gone to never return.
Which one are you? Are you still looking for the break?
Are you the one that thinks life has passed you by?
Do you think that you have made so many bad decisions that God won’t ever give you another chance?
In our text this morning, God is so big that God helped the one that thought he was washed up and depressed.
How big is your God?
How big is your expectation that God wants to work in your life?
Really if we had the time I would have had you read 1 Samuel chapters 16 through18. Because they all work together to show us how big God is and how much God will accomplish in us if we will let him and we not give up on him or ourselves.
Prayer-
Text- 1 Samuel 16:1-7 Read from bible
The prophet Samuel is not morning King Saul death but is morning his disobedience to God and Samuel the prophet having to go to Saul and tell him that God is removing him as king. 1 Samuel Chapter 15- “Then Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned. I violated the Lord’s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the people and so I gave in to them. Now I beg you, forgive my sin and come back with me so I may worship the Lord. But Samuel said to him, I will not go back with you. You have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you as king over Israel.”
Samuel goes back to his home town (Ramah) and gives up the idea of being a prophet and is content that his work for the Lord is finished because he was given a hard assignment.
Anyone still morning a hard thing the Lord has brought you through and think He is finished using you?
That what is in the past will keep you from having a future?
The Lord speaks to Samuel, in his state of depression, and says how long are you going to stay in this state of mind? (depression)
He doesn’t blame him for morning, morning is normal.
He just said how long you going to do this because this is starting to drag out and I am ready to use you again and get you back in the game.
“Fill your horn with oil and be on your way.”
I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.
With hesitation- Samuel said- “How can I go? Saul will kill me.”
Just in case you don’t know this Lord- I told Saul that you rejected him as king because of the sin and disobedience in his life.
Just in case you forgot- Saul tore my robe off of me when I told him that you will be replacing him as king.
First of all if the Lord calls you to be a prophet or spokesman for Him, he will give you what you need to accomplish the task- let that sink in!
You have to move in the right direction and do what the Lord tells you.
Samuel hears a word from the Lord - take a heifer and sacrifice it to the Lord.
While you are sacrificing, invite Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice…AND I WILL TELL YOU WHAT TO DO NEXT. YOU ARE TO ANOINT FOR ME THE ONE I INDICATE.
So let me get this straight- Samuel, don’t forget who you are and who has called you to himself- stop lying around and having a pity party for yourself and fill your horn with oil and go to Jesse and his sons. Don’t worry about how I am going to accomplish my task, just make sure you do what I have told you to do. You are to anoint for me the one that I show you who will be the next king!
Couple thoughts
Stop living in the past as if there is no future-
This is for some this morning
The past is no place to park if you want to have a future.
You cannot be in two places at once- the past and the future.
There is a reason that you have a big front window on your car and a small rear view mirror.
Looking back can be quicksand to moving forward.
Samuel thought his future as a prophet was finished because He had failed. He believed that Saul’s wrong actions was his fault. He believed his future was based upon someone else’s actions.
For a very long time, I suppressed my call from God because of the actions of someone else who I thought made me ineligible.
Put the past where it belongs- in the past and don’t let it stop you from enjoying the future.
Stop thinking that the Lord is finished with using you.
This one is tied together with not dealing with the past.
If you think your past has kept you from the future- than you probably believe that the Lord can no longer use you.
The Lord having rebuked Samuel for staying in the past- tells him to fill his horn with oil and go! That is an action statement and shows that the Lord has not left him in the past but strongly wants to use him in the future.
The lesson here is that the Lord is sovereign over everything! When things appear dark, we can watch him do something marvelous by His power and His glory!
A.W. Pink- “Man’s extremity is always God’s opportunity.”
You may be going through a difficult time, but it just might mean the Lord is preparing you for something great in the future.
The good old days aren’t that good- leave them in the past.
Quotes-
“Nothing is more responsible for the good old days than a bad memory”.- Franklin Pierce Adams
“The best part is still ahead of me. I haven’t experienced my good old days yet.” Luther Vandross
Here one from your pastor- 50 years from now, I don’t think 2022 will be considered … the good old days”- Pastor Tony Zibolski
The Lord to Samuel- Go to Bethlehem and anoint the next king- you are not going to pick him, I AM, you are for me going to anoint him and prepare him for his position.
“Samuel did what the Lord said”- How many know that is a good start- do what the Lord has told you!
Samuel arrived in Bethlehem and the elders met him at the edge of town and asked him “if he came in peace”?
Samuel forgot who he was and who he represented, but the elders didn’t. Samuel, have you come to pronounce judgment on us?
I come in peace- consecrate yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.
Samuel goes to Jesse house and invites Jesse and his sons to be consecrated and attend the sacrifice.
Samuel has probably gone to Bethlehem before as a prophet of God.
Jesse was probably a prominent member of community and maybe Samuel even stayed at his house before.
This has become a town event- the prophet of God coming to sacrifice and wanting to meet with Jesse and his sons.
When Jesse and his sons arrived, scripture says that Samuel saw Eliab, and thought “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.”
Eliab was not the one to be king- the Lord spoke to Samuel and said “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.
“The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”(Repeat)
Eliab might have been the choice of man but God has rejected him because God knows and sees the heart.
Man goes by appearance- man can clean up the outside and conceal true motives and ideas on the inside, but God sees a man’s heart- his inner being.
Eliab is rejected and so are the next six brothers that came before Samuel- All rejected by God- Samuel looked at seven eligible men but not the one God has chosen.
(10-13)
“Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, The Lord has not chosen these. So he asked Jesse, are these all the sons you have? “There is still the youngest, Jesse answered, but he is tending the sheep. Samuel said, send for him, we will not sit down until he arrives. So he sent and had him brought in. He was ruddy, with fine appearance and handsome features. Then the Lord said, rise and anoint him, he is the one.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the presence of his brothers, and from that day on the Spirit of the Lord came upon David in power. Samuel then went to Ramah.”
So here is where we will finish this morning- God looks at the heart- Man can clean up the outside but God sees the heart.
The heart is the window to the soul! It reveals our true nature.
Our check book reveals where our money goes and what is important- we don’t go running around showing people our checkbook, but we can see what is important to people- even when the doors are closed and nobody is watching.
God sees the heart and sees what we do.
Samuel thought he was finished- but God was not finished.
It is not over till it is over. Do not count God out if your hear is right with Him because He can change a circumstance in a moments time.
He can move on someone else’s heart and change things.
He can put His anointing on someone including you to be the change factor and doors that you thought would never open are now being opened to you with the blessing of God behind them.
God is not done till He is done- don’t go by what you see, go by what he has told you. Make sure that you are listening for his voice.
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.- prov. 4:23
You seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart – Jer. 29:13
Create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a right Spirit in me- psalm 51
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not unto your own understanding, in all your ways submit to him and he will make your path straight. Pro. 3:5-6
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew Mt. 6:21
See where this has landed- for Samuel, and for us, it lands that God is not finished with us- he desires to use us. Allow him into your heart and into your life. For some of us this morning, he is like Samuel telling us to stop grieving over the past and look and move into the future- “take our horn of oil and move forward.
To do what he has told us to do- put ourselves in a position of obedience because obedience is better than our sacrifice because it shows God and us where our hearts are and where he wants to take us.
Get up saint! It is a new day. The future is bright when Jesus is in it!
Prayer-
