God's selection of David as king, despite outward appearances, highlights that God looks on the heart, not the outward man. The sermon contrasts Saul's rejection due to disobedience and self-will with David's humble beginnings as a shepherd, emphasizing God's choice of the least likely. The core lesson is that true worth and divine selection are based on inner character and faithfulness, not external factors. The message concludes by showing David's anointing and the subsequent departure of God's Spirit from Saul, illustrating the consequences of obedience versus disobedience.
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I was enjoying it so much I wasn't ready. Yes, my countenance changed when they changed at ten-thirty hour. I thought I could start at seven-thirty and go to ten-thirty. And hoping it was the law of the Medes and the Persians, which all harsener changes now, I found out that it was different. Probably David Adams would have gotten away with it. Not me. Where's John? John, how many people do you have in the choir? About thirty. Good. Well, Cy sang for us this morning, and it must be a great sense of satisfaction to him to know it took thirty people to replace him.
Or twenty-nine anyway, because he was in the bunch, wasn't he? Yes. Yes. Amazing what you see when you sit on a platform. Oh, yes. Amazing what you see when you sit on the platform. If you wear a brown sock and a gray sock, somebody sees it right away. Well, we've worked our way up now to First Samuel. I'd like to read chapter sixteen tonight. That is the first eighteen verses thereof. This means that when we come together Tuesday morning, Lord willing, if He gives it to us, we'll want to look at some verses in First Samuel chapter seventeen. which probably is the best known story in the life and times of David.
And that's when that boy, who we judge was about seventeen years of age, has to fight that great big tall giant who stands about nine and a half or ten feet tall. And that's probably one of the first lessons that the kids learn in Sunday school. And so that will come to us, Lord willing, Tuesday morning. First Samuel chapter seventeen. Tonight we're in First Samuel chapter sixteen, the first eighteen verses. The Lord said unto Samuel, How long will thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil, and go. I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons.
Samuel said, How can I go? As Saul heard, he will kill me. The Lord said, Take a heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. and call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will 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, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comeest thou peaceably? And he said, Peaceably. I am come to offer 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.
It came to pass, and they were come, that he looked on Eliab and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. That the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, Let the Lord looketh on the heart. Did you underline that in your Bible? Okay, you did. I don't have to suggest it then. What about something else? I also have underlined that same verse, the section, the Lord seeth not his man seeth. That affects our prayer ministry, doesn't it?
Lord, according to your will. You know, I think I know the way the Lord's going to do it, but the Lord doesn't always, in fact, most of the time, he doesn't do it the way I think he's going to do it. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart. A while back, we went through a time in our chapel of raggedy cut-off jeans. I'm talking about clothing, not people now. And some of the elders dealt with the young men. We said, we don't think that's very appropriate for you to come to the Lord's table that way. And they quoted this verse to the elders. Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart, and God can see in my heart that I'm ready to worship.
The elders said, yeah, but we have to look on the rest of it. But the young men weren't convinced until we showed them where the resurrected Christ is on the shore, and John looks over and says, it is the Lord. And Peter put his fisherman's coat upon him, and then he jumped in the water. and swam to see the Lord. Now the coat's going to be all wet by the time he gets there, but he recognized when I go into the presence of the Lord, I have to dress differently. I said to the young man, I've married most of you to your wives, and I remember you didn't come to the wedding and cut off jeans. You have Robin Egg's blue tuxedos with blue ruffled shirts.
You mean I got to wear those? No, you don't have to wear those. But you dressed up a little extra special because of the one into whose presence you were going to go. And that sold them the bill of goods. Now they say, yes. And they can quote this verse, but they recognize there's also your outward testimony. That's not the end of the text. We'll go on reading. This is the second sermon tonight. Verse number eight, then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And Samuel says, neither hath the Lord chosen this. And Jesse made Shama to pass by. And he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this.
And again, Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest. And behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither. And he went and sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and with all of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look to. 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 brethren. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward.
So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. But the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. And this verse troubles many people. The word here is distressing, a distressing spirit. Don't be afraid of it, you know. Because after all, you only have two spirits available, don't you? You've got the Holy Spirit. And according to Romans chapter six and verse number sixteen, if you don't yield your members to obey the Lord Jesus Christ, you're obeying the devil. You don't have a third alternative. It's like the two gates and the two roads. It's either the one or the other. I talked to a man not too long ago, and I talked to him, he said a few things, and I said, oh, you're a Christian then.
He said, no, I'm not a Christian. I said, so you're a sinner then. He said, no, I'm not a sinner either. I said, You're not a believer and you're not an unbeliever? No. I said, what third alternative do you have? He said, I straddle the fence. I said, I can remember when I was a boy on the farm, and when I straddle the fence, it was the most uncomfortable position, especially when it was a barbed wire fence. Get the point? And there may be people that you talk to today thinking, well, no, I'm not a Christian. I've never asked the Lord to save me, but I don't consider myself one of those sinners either.
I have sort of a nodding relationship with God, you see. And you point out to them it's either or. There's no middle road. There's no alternative. There's no fence straddling, you see. And we have this sort of thing. So don't be upset by that word there in verse number fourteen. Lord departed from Saul and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him. Because it's either or, you see. If you don't have the Lord, you don't have the peace and the joy and the satisfaction and the knowledge of sin forgiven and all of those good things, you see. So you do have a distressing spirit. I wonder if I died today, where would I go, you see. This is the distressing spirit that people have to face, you see. Well, I went to church for an hour this morning, but I don't feel any differently now than I did when I went.
You know, that's a distressing spirit. Well, we go on to other things here. Verse fifteen. Saul's servant said unto him, Behold now an evil, a distressing spirit from God troubled thee. Let our Lord now command thy servants, which are before thee, to seek out a man who is a cunning player on a harp. And it shall come to pass when the evil spirit from God is upon thee. that he shall play with his hand, and thou shalt be well. And Saul said unto his servant, Provide me now a man that can play well and bring him to me. Then answered one of the servants and said, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that he is cunning in playing, and a mighty valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the Lord is with him.
Which one of those descriptions is the best? I think like the fellow at the feast, he said, you've kept the best wine till last. And the Lord is with him. The Lord is with him. Now, try to remember the facts given to us there in chapter sixteen. I want to go back to chapter nine to see about the rejection of Saul, because I think there's some things to be learned there. And I've alliterated all these under P. We have the rejection. Saul's place. Now that's chapter nine of first Samuel verse two. Speaks about this man. Says he had a son whose name was Saul.
A choice young man and a goodly. And there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he. From his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people. So Saul then starts out that's his place. And it's a good sort of a report given to him. Now remember this is not what his mother says about him. This is not what his good school teacher says about him. This is what the Holy Spirit says about him. And when the Holy Spirit gives you a report, it is always exactly honest and it is also always exactly accurate. This is the type of person he was. He's not loaded down with a lot of compliments and saying, boy, he's a good-looking fellow and he always does everything well.
The Holy Spirit says this is the kind of person he was. And you remember how he started out and you remember how he's going to end up and you say, what can happen in between? So this is Saul's place. You notice his parentage. Verse number one of chapter nine. There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abile, the son of Zerah, the son of Beccora, the son of a Benjaminite, a mighty man of power. That's his parentage. So he comes from good stock. Apparently his father is a very wealthy man and not only very wealthy, but very well known in the community. And so part of this route, you see, has been passed along to Saul.
He has a goodly heritage, we might say, you see. That's his place. That's his parentage. His pursuit is in verse number four of First Samuel nine. He passed through Mount Ephraim, passed through the land of Shalisha, but they found them not. Then they passed through the land of Shalim, and there they were not. And he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they found them not. Do you remember what he's doing here? He's looking for his father's loss. asses. And apparently there's a diligence about Saul. A while back I heard the story of a godly man who was a professor in a college. And he was a godly man and he had a long white beard and three of the young fellows who were there.
Now Dr. Luke in the book of Acts would call him certain lewd fellows of the baser sort. They were going to have fun at the expense of this dear godly gentleman. And they went by and said, Good morning, Father Abraham. And The second one by good morning, Father Isaac. And the third one by good morning, Father Jacob. And he stopped the boys. And he said, I'm neither Abraham nor Isaac nor Jacob. I'm Saul looking for his father's asses. And I think I just found them. I like that. I wish I could think of things like that. And I was thinking of him when I read the scripture. But you notice in verse number four, he is a diligent young man and he keeps going and he keeps going until finally he tells his companion who is with him, we'd better find some way to get back where father will leave off caring for the asses and will be concerned about us.
We've been gone a long time. But he goes to Ephraim, which means doubly fruitful. He seems to have what is called today a positive spin on the thing. I know where they are. They're down in Ephraim. They get down in Ephraim. They're not there either. Ephraim, he passes through the land of Shalasha. That means the third place. This is the third place where we'll be, and that's providential because that's where we're going to find these lost animals. But they weren't there either, you see. And they pass through the land of Shalem. That means hands fall. God's going to bless us. We're going to find these animals. And he has this positive attitude. He passed through the land of the Benjamites. What does Benjamin mean? Son of my right hand.
And now it seems to be rather, what do I say, rather, well, sort of a mockery type thing. Like the fellow in Acts chapter number three, such a cripple fellow, been crippled all his life. And he sat by the gate that is called, do you remember what it's called? It's called beautiful. And I often wonder if a fellow said, boy, what a mockery that is. What's beautiful about the temple of the Lord, you see? Here I've been crippled all my life, and I have to depend on somebody to bring me and somebody to take me back home again. And here I sit every day at the beautiful gate. And that word is repeated twice in that passage, because again, as I said this morning, sometimes you and I don't always get it the first time.
And he said, I think there's some sort of a mockery. And I bring that out because sometimes you have to deal with people who feel, well, there's nothing to it. You say, well, come along with me to the meeting. And they'll say, I've tried religion, it doesn't work. I said, I know, it didn't work for me either. Before I was saved, I thought I was going to heaven. I was on my way. How do you get to be in heaven? Will you die? That's the way you go to heaven. I was taught all sorts of wrong things, you see. I was baptized as an infant. Mother said I cried all the way through. I said, Mother, even in those days I knew it was the wrong thing to do. But I couldn't talk. I couldn't tell her, so I had to anyway. And you kind of like Saul up to this point, you see.
He comes from good stock. He has a good spirit about him. He puts a positive spin on things, you see. All these sorts of things. That's his pursuit, his priority. Chapter nine, verses seven and eight. Saul said to a servant, behold, if we go, what shall we bring them in? The servant said, I understand there's a preacher down the road there, ways. And maybe we can go down and ask him and he will know where those lost animals are. And Saul says, well, we can't go unless we give him something. I'm going to spend the rest of the week on this one passage here. We better give him something. And you see, you take that and you say, well, how can I fit into these two verses? Think of all that the Lord has given to you. Don't you owe the Lord something?
Later on, this same David that we're looking at this week, if we ever get to him, David is going to say, I will not give unto the Lord that which doth cost me nothing. That's the way it is. The Lord Jesus Christ has saved us. What do we owe him? We owe him everything we are and have, you see. One fellow said to me not long ago, I became a Christian, and boy, it cost me a lot to become a Christian. I said, it only cost me my sins, and I didn't want to keep those anyway. By grace are you saved through faith, and that and out of yourselves, you see. How much do you owe the Lord? You owe the Lord's everything oh oh oh the Lord everything and that's what their their situation here is is in verses seven and eight and the potential you come over to chapter ten the potential chapter ten verse number seven let it be when these signs are come unto thee that do thou do as the occasion serve thee for God is with thee is told do the will of God in your life because God will bless you because God is with you that's the potential And the same potential here, dear friends, is the potential that you and I have.
We are ears of God and join ears with Jesus Christ. We have the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We have the promises of the Word of God. We have the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have the sustaining fellowship of the saints. How can you not serve the Lord successfully? What more do you need, you know? All we do have to do is to do it. It's to obey what the Lord wants us to do. For God is with thee. But the doing is left up to Saul. That's the potential. The problem, you come over here to chapter ten, verse twenty-two. The problem is, therefore they inquired of the Lord further if the man should yet come hither. And the Lord had to tell them where Saul was.
The Lord had to say, behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff. He was so apparently amazed at the door that was opening before him that he just couldn't believe it. And sometimes that's the way we are today in the church. Somebody comes along and says, I want you to, and they'll give you a job to do. And the first thing is, you get panic-stricken. Two young fellows came to me recently and they said, Mr. Morgan, we want you to pray for us. And I said, I will. I don't need to know what the problem is, but I'll pray for it. And they said, the elders have just asked us to head up the youth group. I said, and you're terrified, aren't you? Oh, boy, are we ever. You're intimidated, aren't you? Boy, are we ever.
I said, that's one of the best indications that that's the job you're supposed to do, because you won't depend on yourself, because you know you don't have the strength. You really look to the Lord. Woe unto the man that feels he is qualified in himself to do the will and the work of the Lord. He's going to fail miserably. These two young fellows were petrified. One of the best qualifications you can have for doing a job for the Lord is to feel totally unqualified for it. And you'll round up your friends and say, pray for me. I've got this tremendously impossible job to do, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, you see. And that's the way Saul felt. I can't do that. He didn't have any precedent. What's a king supposed to do? I don't know.
We never had one before, you see. So he hid himself among the baggage and the Lord had to tell them where he was. That's the problem mentioned there. Principles, come over to chapter fifteen. Chapter fifteen of verse number nine. Look at the principles mentioned here. Verse number nine of chapter fifteen. Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and the best of the oxen and the best of the fatlings and the best of the lambs and all that was good and would not utterly destroy them but everything that was vile and refuse that they destroyed utterly. Here's a real problem, isn't it? You're not following the Lord anymore.
Now it's His will versus the will of God, and it's His will that gets done. The problem is, you see, number one, to not follow the Word of God. The problem is to think that you know more about the situation than God does. The problem is that you separate out that which is good from what you think is vile. God says the whole thing has to do, and I tell you, friends, that's happening today. We are trying to out Hollywood, Hollywood in some of our meetings. We think we can do better than they can do, you see. And I'm amazed when Christmas comes along or Easter comes along, the pageantry that we put on. And a lot of people come into meetings that are unsaved.
What do we do? We entertain them. We entertain them, you see. We make it religious entertainment. And a lot of it is religious entertainment. A fellow said to me a while back, there was something going on, one of our liberal assemblies, and And I said, well, I understood that you were having it. It was a successful meeting. Was it a spiritual meeting? Oh, yeah, I said, we had over five hundred people there. I don't think that's what I asked him, but that's what he said. I said, you know, last February, we had the biggest religious convocation in Daytona Beach that it was ever held. There was over two hundred thousand people there. And the whole thing started with a prayer. And as soon as the prayer was over, somebody said, gentlemen, start your engines.
He says, you're talking about the running of the Daytona Five hundred. I said, you're telling me that the more people you have there, the more spiritual the meeting is. You know I didn't mean that. I said, that's what you're telling me. Well, we live in an age. When the Lord started out with eleven men, we think the bigger it is, the better it is, and it ain't necessarily so. Now, you see, you have Saul here. Lord says, everything has to go. Saul says, well, I'll save out the good stuff. Who determines what stuff is good and what isn't? It's Saul that does that. And then later on you have the bleating of the sheep and the lowing of the oxen, which is always an embarrassment, you see. Now here's where the problem comes in. I know more about the situation than God does.
Friends, that's always dangerous. And the devil will step right in and help you make that decision, you see. That's a dangerous sort of a thing. Principle, verse nine. He mentions people in In verse nine and verse fifteen and verse twenty one, still in chapter fifteen. He always says, this is what the people did. This is what the people did. Now where did we get that idea from? We got that idea from our first parents. And it doesn't take us long, does it, to learn how to pass the buck? Adam, what is this that thou hast done? It's not my fault. The woman now gave us me. The woman now gave us me. He might have said, Lord, you are the one who said it is not good for man to be alone.
I didn't say it, Lord, you said it. And if you hadn't put her in the garden, we wouldn't have this trouble. Today, everything is basically God's fault, isn't it? I have this lifestyle because this is the way God has made me. So it's God's fault. God ought to give me a better job, a better maid, a better whatever you see, this sort of... We're still doing the same thing that our first parents did. Eve, what is this that thou hast done? Well, it's the snake's fault. We didn't have a problem with the dog or the cat or the elephant or the rhinoceros, but if you hadn't put a snake in the garden, we wouldn't be in this awful mess today. And don't people say that today? It's not my fault. We haven't learned a thing since man was first introduced on the face of this earth.
And Saul, when it begins to get a little hot, you know, and Samuel says, I don't think you should have done some of this stuff. Saul says, not my fault is the people's fault. They did this sort of thing. The people mentioned here, and the past also, verses fifteen and seventeen, you see, they have brought them down. But the thing that impressed me was in verse fifteen, he says, sacrifice unto the Lord thy God. That's sad, isn't it? He doesn't say sacrifice unto the Lord my God, or sacrifice unto the Lord our God. He says, sacrifice unto the Lord your God, Samuel. as if he has divorced himself from this relationship that he once had and enjoyed between his heart and the Lord, you see, when he would prophesy with the prophets and these sorts of things.
Now, you have that there in verse number fifteen. You have it in verse twenty-one. The people took to the spoil and so forth to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God and Gilgal. You have it there over in the, well, that's in verse twenty-one and so forth. And then in verse number thirty, he had the same thing again, that I may worship the Lord thy God. He says to Samuel, Pray that the Lord won't allow these things to come upon me, because I don't want the people to think less of me. That's the whole import of that verse. The Lord thy God. And I think Samuel picked up on that. I think he's picked up on that.
Well, that's the rejection. That's why we have to have a second king, and that's why we need to look for one. So that's the rejection. Now we have the selection. We finally come over here to this passage in First Samuel chapter sixteen. Now there's a new beginning here. David is the eighth son, you see, of Jesse the Bethlehemite. He's the eighth son, and eight in the Bible is a number of beginning again, this sort of thing. Seven is a number of perfection. Eight is a number of beginning again. And this is the eighth son. And I would like to have been there. I see a lot of interest in it. And people say, I don't read the Bible because there's no drama in it.
Boy, there's drama in almost every page in your Bible. And Samuel has been directed to go to the house of Jesse, you see, because the next king, the second king of Israel, is among his sons. And even Samuel is fooled, you see, by Eliab isn't he? Oh, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. Here's a fellow who looks like a king. He looks like royalty incarnate. This is the one that God has chosen. And Samuel is impressed with the fact that man looks on the outward appearance. And God says, no, he's not the one. Oh, well, we have others. So he goes to number two and he works his way all through seven sons. And God says, none of these, none of these. And that bothers Samuel.
The Lord told me that the next king is in Jesse's family. And we've gone through all of them one by one. Now, did I misunderstand what God was saying? Is there another Jesse, you see? And Samuel seems to say to Jesse, Now, I don't mean to tell you how many children you have, but are you sure these are all the kids? And Jesse almost forgets about it. Then, yeah, these are all the... Oh, well, there's another kid that's left, he says, you see. But we don't pay any attention to him. Because that's the word, because he is the youngest, not only age-wise, but in importance in the family. That's what that word means.
We don't even bring him to these family reunions. We don't even bring him to these times when the family gets together to have the sacrifice with Samuel. He's not important to be taken away from the sheep. We don't even include him in this stuff. And I think then Samuel begins to realize that he's captured something here. And he says, the proceedings will go no further until this other son, whoever he may be, is here in the family circle. And so they have to send for David. And David's brought in. And God says, now you've got it. And now you've got it. That which everybody else had rejected. Even Samuel was fooled. And God says, this is the one. But then you think about the one that they call the son of David.
Didn't he have a similar experience? We've just gone through the Christmas season. How much non-Christian or unchristian stuff you see associated with Christmas time. And I think the ultimate Christmas is coming. When in the book of the Revelation, when those witnesses are slain in Jerusalem, people have a counterfeit Christmas. They send gifts to one another, your Bible says. That's going to be the ultimate. That's going to be the evolution of this whole Christmas thrust, you see. And you see things that just shatter my mind. My wife knows this. I can complain about more things at Christmas time. And we read about the three... In fact, you and I sing about the three wise men.
We three kings of Orient are. And I said, how do you know there were three wise men? The Bible says men that's in the plural could have been two could have been forty-seven. We don't know. How do you know there were three? Because there's always three on the Christmas cards that I get. Because they brought three gifts. Go frankincense and myrrh, but maybe each one of them brought all three gifts, you see. We sure believe a lot of wrong things, I think, at Christmas. And then one of the things that bugs me is to see the wise men kneeling there at the manger. And by the time they got there from the east, Mary and Joseph and the Lord are in a house, aren't they? They didn't live for two years in the stable there, but here they are the wise men.
So I have to watch the nativity scenes at our house. My wife sets it all up and I say, now where are the shepherds in the manger? They're over here on top of this bookcase. Where are the wise men? They're on top of the piano. It's going to take them two years to get from the piano to the bookcase. Okay, now we're all set. Okay, now we're all set. But don't we run into those sorts of things. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild. We read about him being despised Jesus, you know, and he is in our world today. He is in our world today. And I talked to a man a while back in Philippians chapter two, I said, the word says there that every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess him to the glory of God, confess him as Lord to the glory of God the Father.
And that's going to happen. So it's a matter of when are you going to bow the knee, you see. You can do it voluntarily. Receive him as your Savior and as the Lord of your life where you can wait till that day and have to do it, you see. But everybody is going to believe it. Everybody's going to do it, you see. And this man that told me that, I said, I wish I had your theology back in April of nineteen ninety. And he said, why? And I said, because that's when I tumbled off the garage roof and hit the concrete driveway and broke my hip and my wrist. And if I had your theology, on the way down, I could have said, I don't believe in the law of gravity. I don't believe in, and I could have floated right straight back up on top of the garage roof again. He says, that ain't what I'm saying. I said, you think you do away with it because you say you don't believe it.
Friends, that doesn't make it true, does it? And when the Lord in the Bible says it's going to happen, bless your heart, it's going to happen. It's going to happen. The church is going to be raptured. We're going to have the judgment seat of Christ or the reward desk of Christ. There's going to be the lake of fire. There's going to be all these things in your Bible because the Lord has said this is the way it's going to be. And that's what we have in the Word of God. And we rejoice in the goodness of the Lord in this way. The new beginning, the eight sons brought in. the least notice when you have that in chapter sixteen verse number eleven there remaineth yet the youngest as i said not only age-wise but in importance in the family circle we don't even consider him you see he's not in the family circle now is he no we considered him not valuable enough to us to bring him into this family confab and samuel says send for him i think we got something going here send for him i think i think this is this is the possibility now Let me read something for you.
You don't have to follow if you don't want to, but it's over in Psalm verse eighty-nine. Psalm eighty-nine, verse number twenty. Psalm eighty-nine, verse number twenty. David, the Lord says in Psalm eighty-nine, twenty. I have found David my servant. With my holy oil have I anointed him. Long before Samuel anointed him, deity had already anointed David. That's a good thing. But I think there's a better one back here in Psalm seventy-eight. Psalm seventy-eight. A few more bits of information are given to us here. Psalm seventy-eight and verse seventy-one towards the close of that Psalm.
Psalm seventy-eight verse seventy. He chose David also his servant and took him from the sheepfolds. From following the youths great with young, he brought him to feed Jacob his people, and Israel his inheritance. So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skillfulness of his hand. Now you can take those, especially those first two verses apart, and you can see some of the information that God has. God knows everybody by name. God knows exactly where that person is. God knows exactly what job that person does.
And God knows exactly the integrity with which that person does that job. He found them from following the use that were great. And, you know, this is going to come out a little bit later on, you know, in our next chapter. This sort of thing. God knows the name. He knows where you are. He knows your job. He knows how well you do your job. And this is the same God you see that we serve and the one that served David. I want to close with this. And that is coming back to First Samuel chapter sixteen. chapter sixteen. While you're finding that, let me read you something. Almost the last verse of the Bible. It's in the book of the Revelation. I think this is David's response. Revelation chapter twenty-two in verse sixteen.
Let me read it for you. Lord says, I Jesus has sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David. And the bright and morning star. David. I am the offspring of David. What a realization that must have been for David to have the incarnate Son of God refer to himself in this matter. That must be one of the greatest compliments a human being can have. You think of Simeon coming in that instant. And there's Mary and Joseph and the Christ child. And your Bible says Simeon took the Lord up in his arms.
Here's a human being holding deity in his hands. Marvelous. No wonder Simeon then said, Now let thy servant depart in peace, for I have seen the Lord's salvation. He is saying, Lord, anything you do for me from now on the rest of my life is going to be anticlimactic, because I have held the Messiah, the Savior in my hands. And I think David must have felt that way, too. The deity would allow himself to be called the Son of David. David's description is given to us here in I Samuel chapter sixteen. Verse number eighteen. They're looking for a musician. A fellow who works in Saul's court says, I think I found a guy.
Verse number eighteen of first Samuel sixteen. Then he answered one of the servants. Behold, I've seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehem. Now you add up those descriptions and you find that there are six mentioned there in that verse. Six we know is a number of man. Not six, six, six. We don't look forward to that. But number six that we suggest to you, here is the perfect believer. Here is the perfect Christian. Because there are six things mentioned here in verse number eighteen. He is cunning and playing. That's his composition. We're going to study that a little bit later on in one of our lessons. He is cunning and playing. He is a mighty valiant man. That's his conviction. Mighty valiant man. A man of war.
That's his courage. a man of war, prudent in manners. That's his communication. He knows how to keep his mouth shut. Now we need to pray more for that. Said the preachers, he concluded his message. But you know, I've been in prayer meetings when prayer meeting has been used to pass along gossip. Now so-and-so asked me not to say anything about this. But I believe the more people we get praying for this, the better off we are. And so here comes some dirty laundry. And you can tell who is involved in it by looking around, see who's got in the red face trying to crawl under the pew. A lot of things can be done, a lot of wrong things can be done under religious auspices.
This sort of a thing. And sometimes we do that in our praying. Lord straighten out so-and-so. He's got this terrible sin in his life and so on and so forth. Or of a more... entertaining nature. I like, Brother McNeil, the way we tell God things, you know. Now, Lord, in Romans chapter three, every time this word is used, it's all, and we're telling the Lord what's in the Bible. And I always have the Lord smiling, well, thank you. I didn't know that. Or we tell the Lord what the original Greek is, as if the Lord, well, anyway. It says, David is prudent in matters. He would be a good friend to have because anything you told him wouldn't go any farther. Matter of communication.
A comely person, that has his command, the way he conducts himself, and the Lord is with him. That's his companion, capital C. It would be a wonderful fellow to have, you see, as a friend. That's our introduction to David. It's only taken us two lessons to get there. But more, Lord willing, Tuesday morning. Shall we pray? Our Father and our God, we give you thanks again for the word of God. We thank you, Father, for the promise that it will not return unto thee, boys. And Father, we would pray that our hearts and our spirits might continue to be open, though we dismiss from this place and go to a time of fellowship, that Father the Holy Spirit might find it easy to continue to work with us and communicate to us concerning the things of which we have particular and individual need.
Bless, Father, we pray that the outcome of all the things that we have enjoyed this Lord's Day. Father, we would pray that you might be with those who, in a real way, need our intercessory prayers tonight. Father, may this truly be a wonderful day also in thy sight. We pray these things, Father, with thanksgiving in Christ's name and for his sake alone. Amen.