Today on the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel. And 1 Chronicles are largely devoted to the life of David.
So, if you want to learn about David, you need to read 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, and 1 Chronicles. He is Israel's greatest king. All other kings are going to be compared to David, a man after God's own heart. Welcome to the verdict, featuring the Bible teaching of Pastor John Monroe, senior pastor of Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. King David is one of the outstanding figures of the Old Testament, described by scripture as a man after God's own heart.
Today on the verdict, we begin an exciting new study on the life of David. Discover how you too can become a person after God's own heart. To begin, let's join Pastor John Monroe. I've been anticipating this new series for some time. It's about one of the outstanding characters of the Old Testament.
In fact, this man is Israel's greatest king. He's a shepherd, a warrior, a poet, a musician. a man who literally faced and killed a giant. but also himself had a fall, a very dramatic one. Yes, I'm talking about King David.
His life is described in the Old Testament, but he's also mentioned in the New Testament more than any other Old Testament figure. Today we begin looking at David. He's not a dusty, boring historical figure, but an intriguing and vibrant person who lived a very full life. You're going to find it fascinating. As we look at David.
A man after God's own heart. In scripture, various people are described as men of God, servants of God, friends of God. Even those who walked with God and who are loved by God, but only David. And this is remarkable, isn't it? Only David.
In all of Scripture, Old Testament and New Testament, is described as a man after God's own heart. If you have your Bible there, turn with me first to 1 Samuel chapter 13. And we'll read that there, and then we'll read the parallel passage in Acts chapter 13. That's 1 Samuel. Israel's first king was Saul.
We'll learn about him in a minute. Verse 13: And Samuel said to Saul. You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever.
But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man. after his own heart. There it is. Notices.
The Lord. Has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be a prince over his people, because you, Saul, have not kept what the Lord commanded you. And so, Saul. Is set aside. And now in Acts chapter 13, where Paul rehearses some of the history of ancient Israel.
Acts chapter 13. And he's talking about the nations going into Canaan. Verse 20 of Acts 13, all of this took about 450 years, and after that, he gave them judges until Samuel the prophet. Then they asked for a king, and God gave them Saul, the son of Cash, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years.
Now, notice how Paul, writing under the inspiration of Scripture, puts this. And when he, God, had removed him. He raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my own heart, who will do all my will. Of this man's offspring, God has brought to Israel. A Saviour, Jesus.
as he promised. A man after God's own heart. Surely there is no higher. Accommodation. It wouldn't be wonderful.
If it could be said of you, And me. That you're a man, a woman, a boy, a girl. After God's own heart. 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel. And 1 Chronicles are largely devoted to the life of David.
So, if you want to learn about David, you need to read 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, and 1 Chronicles. He is Israel's greatest king, he's Israel's greatest leader. All other kings are going to be compared to David. David. He is As he himself describes himself as the sweet psalmist of Israel.
One of the major writers of the 150 Psalms, writing over half of them. the Psalms, the Psalter, which was the hymn book of ancient Israel. And he's mentioned In the New Testament, more than any other Old Testament character. In fact, the New Testament begins and ends with a reference to David. The first verse in the New Testament, Matthew 1, verse 1, begins by Matthew describing the genealogy of Jesus Christ.
What's the first thing he says after this? As he begins the genealogy of Jesus, who is the Messiah, the Son of David, the Son of David. Abraham. Abraham is before David chronologically, but David is first. mentioned.
A man after God's own heart. When Gabriel tells Mary, That she's going to bear a son who's going to be called Jesus. The angel Gabriel says to Mary, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there is no end. That's Luke 1, verses 32 and 33. And in the last chapter of the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, Jesus says in Revelation 22, verse 16: I am the root and the descendant of David.
He is the root of David, but he's also the offspring, the descendant of David, the bright morning star. It is clear from the Old Testament and the New Testament that David is one of the most outstanding characters in all. of the Bible.
Now, David lives a very full life, and I think in order to get the big picture, I want to think of David in the three main chapters of his life. First of all, as the shepherd. We think of David, first of all, as the shepherd. That's how we first meet David. We're going to meet him in a minute.
When he's looking after his father's sheep. These are years of obscurity, years of solitude, years of preparation, years when David, as a young boy, as a young man, as a young adult, began to know God. And it was then, as he was looking after his father's sheep, that he's tested by God. And ever before he's anointed by Samuel to be the future king of Israel, God saw. David's heart.
A heart of love. for the Lord. And the Lord saw that. Turn to 1 Samuel chapter 16. First Samuel sixteen, verse one.
The Lord said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul? Since I have rejected him from being king over Israel, why was Saul rejected? His disobedience. He disobeyed the commandment of the Lord. Disobedience is serious to God.
Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehem Notice this: for I have provided for myself a king among His sons. God is going to call. David. And before David is anointed, God saw his heart.
He saw a young man who had a heart. For the God. David Huh. prepared themselves spiritually for this immense task. That lay ahead of them.
And as a young boy looking after his father's sheep, he had no idea. of what God had. for him. I believe that for all of us there is a time Of preparation. God has a time of preparation for us.
Martin Lloyd-Jones, the Welsh preacher, said that the worst thing that can happen to a man is to succeed before he is ready. That is, what does he mean by that? That means when someone is thrust into the spotlight. In the spiritual realm, In whatever sphere of service, and his heart is not ready. He may be talented, he may be gifted, he may be well educated, he may be very, very popular, but if his heart is not prepared, Martin Lloyd-Jones says, that is not a good thing.
to succeed before You ready? All of us here want to do great things for God. We want to be used by God. I would suggest we wouldn't be here if you didn't have a desire to do that. But the quiet time of preparation is essential.
Our society doesn't emphasize that. Our society likes to make instant celebrities. How important, if you're going to be effective for God, that there is a time of preparation.
Some of you are in that place right now. You don't feel you're doing anything particularly significant for the Lord. You're living, as it were, in relative obscurity, but God knows you, God knows your heart. And God is preparing you. Jesus said in Luke 16, verse 10: One who is faithful in very little is also faithful in much.
Do you think God would have called David to be a shepherd of his people if he had not been a faithful shepherd of sheep. David was faithful. To the task which his father gave him. As the youngest son, this is given to him. David, I want you to look after the sheep.
And David did that. And David did that. We don't know how long, but what we do know is that God was watching David. And of all of the men in Israel, Among the thousands and thousands of them who could have succeeded Saul as king, including Saul's own sons. God in His sovereign purposes chooses the sea of man.
Why? Because he has a heart. For God. No, looking after sheep is not that easy. They have to be fed.
They have to be led, they have to be protected, they have to be cared for. But can you imagine? We would never have done this. that God calls to be king of Israel. A shepherd.
A young Shepherd. Probably in his mid to late. Tens. Let me ask you, are you faithful? Person You say, well, I don't have big responsibilities.
Okay. But are you faithful in what God has given you? Can people depend on you? In ministry, here when you say you're going to do a particular task, are you a faithful person? Are you faithful at work?
Would your employer describe you as a person who is reliable, who is hardworking, who is honest, dependable? And in this quiet time, What use are you making of the time you want to do something big for God?
Well, God wants you to sit and do something very little and to test your faithfulness in the small thing. Do you use that time in the Word of God? What about your prayer life? Do you love God? Are you growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Are you presently serving God? I sometimes meet people, they tell me they would love to be a missionary away at the other end of the earth, and I say to them, That's wonderful. But what are you doing now for the Lord? Oh, not much. Dev is not like that.
David is faithful. To the ministry that God gave him. Isn't that the way God calls his servants? Think of how brief The ministry of John the Baptist was Very short. Possibly not even a year in terms of his public ministry.
Most of his life is spent growing up. Alone in the wilderness, knowing God, and then God calls him. And John comes. and preachers. repentance and is the forerunner of Christ.
Think of our Saviour. himself. Who lived 33, 34, 35 years. How long of that was in a public ministry? Three years.
Many years of preparation. Years of communion with his father. And then he bursts into the scene and comes and announces that the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel, for the kingdom of God is at hand. Isn't that the way?
That God often works. Don't neglect the time of preparation. David as the shepherd. But secondly, Much of 1 and 2 Samuel and Chronicles is to do with David as the outlaw. For several years after David is anointed king, he is in rejection.
He's an outcast. He's an outlaw. Why is that? Because he's persecuted for Saul. No, he's not immediately Comes to the throne after being anointed.
No. It's going to take years before he is going to be king. And during that time, Until the death of Saul. David is hounded and persecuted and hated by Saul. These were excruciatingly difficult years for David.
As he deals with the jealousy and the sheer hatred of King Saul. And if you're familiar with the Psalms, Many of these Psalms are written by David. During these times of isolation, these times of persecution, these times of despair, these times of darkness. These times when he's crying out to the Lord, how long is this going to last? Serving God isn't easy, is it?
If you've been following Christ for any length of time, you know that is the case, isn't it? Yes, there are the mountaintop experiences, but there's also the valleys, aren't there? And as you serve God. You're going to experience like David times of suffering. Times of misunderstanding, perhaps by your own family, perhaps by fellow believers.
Times of loneliness, times of disloyalty, times of betrayal, times of isolation. That was David. What tremendous preparation spiritually. As we come to the third phase, which is, of course, the time when he was king. The shepherd.
the outlaw and then the king.
Now when David is first anointed by Samuel, and we're going to read it in a minute. He knew he would be king, but he had to wait many, many years before he came to the throne. He was going to reign as king for seven years in Hebron, and then he was going to come to Jerusalem. He is the great shepherd king of his people. He is a mighty man of valor.
He's a man of war. He's a tremendous administrator. He rules with justice and equity. Israel's greatest king, as I said, and under his reign, he brings peace to the people of Israel. What a king, what a tremendous shepherd king David was.
You say, oh yes, he failed. Isn't that amazing how quickly we want to point out the failure of people? Yes, I know David failed. It's true. He fell very badly, he transgressed.
But in the mercy of God and the grace of God, he's restored and stands in scripture according to the testimony. of God himself that this is a man after my own heart. He is the shepherd The outlaw and the cake.
Now I think, like me, you're intrigued by why God would call David a man after his own heart. Not a common description, in fact, a unique description. What a description. And I want to mention four things that may help us understand why he's called a man after God's own heart. First of all, He is God's choice.
Let's read that. In 1 Samuel 16, I read the first verse. Let's read the first 13 verses of 1 Samuel Mm-hmm. Verse 1, the Lord said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul? Since I've rejected him from being king over Israel, Fill your horn with oil.
And I will send you to Jesse the Bethlemite. For I have provided for myself a king among his sons. And Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take a heifer with you and say, I've come to sacrifice to the Lord, and invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do.
And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you. Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to him trembling and said, Do you come peaceably? And he said, Peaceably, I've come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.
And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. Do you get the picture? When they came, He looked on Eliab and thought, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look on his appearance. Or on the height of his stature.
Eliab must have been a big fellow. Because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as a man sees. Man looks on the outward appearance. But the Lord looks on the heart.
Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel, and he said, Neither has the Lord chosen this one. Then Jesse made Shemma pass by, and he said, Neither has the Lord chosen this one. And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, The Lord has not chosen these. Then Samuel said to Jesse, Are all your sons here?
She said, There remains yet the youngest. But behold, he's keeping The shape. I mean, he's there, but. He's kidnapped to the ship. You get the picture?
Samuel said to Jesse, Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here. And he sent and brought him in.
Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him. For this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.
And Samuel rose up and went to. Roman. A man after God's own heart. Why? He has chosen.
by God for a unique and a special Task. Who was Saul? His predecessor Saul was the people's choice. Look back to chapter 8 of 1 Samuel 8. First Samuel Eight.
Verse 19. But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, no. But there shall be a king over us. that we also may be like all the nations. You know, it's not cool that we don't have a king.
So I mean everyone else has got one. We just want to be like everyone else. That our king may judge over us and go out before us and fight our battles. Problem is, when there is a battle to be fought with Goliath, Saul isn't the one who does it, is he? And when Samuel had heard all of the words of the people, he repeated them in the ears of the Lord.
And the LORD said to Samuel, Obey their voice and make them a king. Samuel then said to the city of Israel, To the men of Israel, go every man to his city.
So most of you know the story. Saul, Israel wants to be like other nations. They want a king.
Now God was to be their king. God was to be their commander. God was to lead them into battle. But they wanted a human leader. And God gave them their desire.
Saul is chosen and he's a very impressive man physically. He's handsome, he's head and shoulders above everyone else. He would make a magnificent quarterback, wouldn't he? Saul. Do you know a team?
That could do with one like Saul, he is there. I mean imagine this guy on your team. Head and shoulders above everyone else. Very impressive physically. Looks good.
Is tough. The kind of man that you would follow into battle. The kind of man, if there is a giant wanting to fight against you, that would go and say, Well, I'll deal with him. That is, you think, Saul. But it's marked By arrogance.
It's true initially he shows some humility, but later he's marked by arrogance and disobedience. He disobeys the voice of God, and the Lord rejects Saul from being king. We saw that in chapter 16, verse 1. And he is going to come to a sad end by taking his own life and being beheaded by the Philistines. You can read it at the end of 1 Samuel.
David, in contrast, was not the people's choice. But he was God's choice. This is the verdict with Pastor John Monroe. Today's message is titled A Man After God's Own Heart. And John will be right back with closing remarks in just a moment.
So keep listening. Today's lesson is the beginning of a study on the life of David. where we'll be exploring the incredible highs and lows of this wonderful biblical figure. We'll also be learning from the Psalms of David about the faithfulness of God and the reliable truth of God's Word. To help make sure you make the most of this exciting series, we'd like to offer a custom listening guide.
This printable PDF will walk you through each lesson of this meaningful study. Highlighting key points, providing thoughtful questions as well as personal questions to help you apply the material to your day-to-day life.
So download your copy of the Life of David Listening Guide today. by going online to theverdict.org. And while you're there, consider helping other listeners in their walk of faith. by giving a one-time donation of any amount to support the Verdict Ministry. With your financial gift, you're helping us share God's word with new listeners across the globe.
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Again, that's theverdict.org.
Now, here's Pastor John Monroe.
Well, what's your verdict? What do you think about this man, David? When we first meet David, he's living an obscure life. But I love that David was an excellent shepherd, And even as a young man, he showed integrity, courage. and faithfulness.
How about you? Most of us live life out of the public spotlight. But God sees you. live a life of integrity. Serve God faithfully wherever He has placed you.
Thanks so much for listening to this first message on David. Make sure you join me next time. Thanks for joining us today on The Verdict. I'm Michelle Davies. Today's program with Pastor John Monroe was produced and sponsored by Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.
