A MAN AFTER GOD’S OWN HEART

The Life of David — Part 1

1 Samuel 16:1–13
What we’re about to do is start looking at the life of David in the evening services, because from
now through the summer … It doesn’t feel much like summer out there, but we actually are
heading on into the warmer months. As a result, people come and go. Even I come and go in the
summer months, so what we do is take a series and develop …
Last year we talked about the life of Moses. All the different preachers on our staff will take
turns working on that. You may be here sometimes and you may not be here sometimes, but
we’re going to find it gives us continuity during these months.
We’re going to be looking at the life of David together, and I’m going to introduce you to not
just the first event we have in the Bible in the life of David but also how we’re going to be
looking at him. In fact, how you can study a figure from the Old Testament. Let me read this
passage to you, 1 Samuel 16:1–13.
1
The LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him
as king over Israel? 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.” 2 But Samuel said, “How can I
go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.”
The LORD said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the
LORD.’ 3 Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint
for me the one I indicate.” 4 Samuel did what the LORD said. When he arrived at
Bethlehem, the elders of the town trembled when they met him. They asked, “Do you
come in peace?”
5
Samuel replied, “Yes, in peace; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Consecrate
yourselves and come to the sacrifice with me.” Then he consecrated Jesse and his sons
and invited them to the sacrifice. 6 When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and thought,
“Surely the LORD‘s anointed stands here before the LORD.”
7
But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I
have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at
the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
8
Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass in front of Samuel. But Samuel said,
“The LORD has not chosen this one either.” 9 Jesse then had Shammah pass by, but
Samuel said, “Nor has the LORD chosen this one.” 10 Jesse had seven of his sons pass
before Samuel, but Samuel said to him, “The LORD has not chosen these.” 11 So he asked
Jesse, “Are these all the sons you have?”
“There is still the youngest,” Jesse answered. “He is tending the sheep.” Samuel said,
“Send for him; we will not sit down until he arrives.” 12 So he sent for him and had him
 brought in. He was glowing with health and had a fine appearance and handsome
features. Then the LORD said, “Rise and anoint him; this is the one.”
13
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 powerfully upon David. Samuel then
went to Ramah.
This is God’s Word

Sometimes introductory studies or introductions very often are important, not necessarily the
heart of things. I’d like to give you some introductory ideas not just about David and not just
about that but actually how you go about studying. If you’re reading the Old Testament and you
have these great stories, how do you go about and why should we today study these figures?
Why should we study Moses? Why should we study David? Why should we study Abraham?
Why should we study these people? Why should we study them at all?
It’s typical to say there are two reasons, and I’m going to try to put it this way. It’s true, but
I’m going to put it this way. You study one of these people, because first of all David tells us
something about us. When we see him fail, which he often does, it tells us about us. It poignantly
points out our own flaws. When you see him succeed it tells us about us. It shows us how we
should live our lives, but primarily we shouldn’t study this to learn about us.
Primarily, we need to study the life of David to learn about Jesus, because the Old Testament
and the history of David are primarily about Jesus before it’s about us. If you see it as about
Jesus primarily, then when you turn and look to see what practical relevance there is to you, it
will be far more. If you read the Old Testament moralistically, if you read it like a set of Aesop’s
fables, if you read it and say, “What does this teach me? I need to be like this …”
If you go right from David to you, you will find, I think and I certainly can say I’ve read the
Bible this way in the past and I’ve certainly heard it preached this way many, many times and
you probably have as well, you’re not going to get that much out of it. You may feel kind of
guilty, frankly. The lessons you get will be rather shallow, but when you go from David to Jesus
to you, there is far more wisdom, and the story will actually have a transforming power instead
of simply just beating you over the head.
That’s my thesis, and I’d like to spend some time showing you here tonight, really as an
introduction … Let me tell you a little bit about the thesis, and then I’ll start to look at the
passage and just give you some ideas about it. It occurred to me when I was studying in another
venue, Luke 24, after Jesus was raised from the dead, he shows up in Luke 24, and he speaks to
two disciples on the road to Emmaus.
These two disciples don’t recognize Jesus. Jesus says, “What are you talking about? What’s
upsetting you?” They say, “Well, you know, it’s this Jesus. We thought he was going to redeem
Israel. We thought he was the Messiah the Old Testament spoke of. We thought he was going to
redeem Israel, but instead he suffered and died. We thought he was going to redeem us, but
instead he suffered and died.”
We’re told, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [instructed them and]
explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” He instructed them on
what all the Scriptures had to say concerning him. Do you know what this means? Jesus realized
… Jesus knew … these two men knew the Bible very, very well, and of course, at that point the
Bible meant the Old Testament.
All of his disciples did. Later on in the same chapter, in Luke 24, he shows up with the
disciples, and what does he do? He takes them on a very long Bible study. It says again, he starts
with Moses and goes through the Prophets and the Psalms. He explains to them how all of the
Scripture is really about him, because they’re not in any condition to understand who he is, and
they’re in no condition to go out into the world as witnesses.
They don’t know which end is up until they see the Bible is not primarily a series of moral
fables, but it’s primarily about him, about Jesus. You might say, “How could that possibly be?”
Let me just give you a couple of examples. Somebody says, “Sure, there are prophecies in the
Old Testament about Jesus. There are places where Isaiah talks about One to come, and there are
places where Moses talks about One to come, and those are about Jesus,” but not just that. No,
no, no.
First of all, look at the Law. You read the Law. How do you read it? The Law tells us not just
about you but about Jesus. The Law shows us the righteousness Jesus Christ personally
embodied, but more than that, there is a place in the book of Hosea where God says, “… out of
Egypt I called my son.” It’s talking about Israel, and he called Israel out of Egypt through the
exodus. Remember, the parting of the Red Sea and Moses and so on.
In Hosea, God says, “Yes. In the exodus I called my Son.” He calls Israel his son. Israel?
Who is Israel? Israel is all the people who obey the Law, all the people who are in covenant with
God, all the people who obey the Law. He brings them out, and he calls them his son. Matthew,
in chapter 2 as many of you know, applies that text, which is really about Israel, just to Jesus
himself and says when Jesus and his parents went to Egypt to get away from Herod, then of
course, he came back out of Egypt.
Matthew says, “Yes. That’s really what the Bible was talking about when he said, ‘… out of
Egypt I have called my son.’ ” When you see what Matthew does … Probably you haven’t done
this, but I remember at one point I had to do it. I forget what made me do it. Over the years, you
read Matthew and you see that place. It’s a very, very common Scripture passage that is read at
Christmastime, so it’s very, very well known.
Every Christmas you might see the place where it says Joseph and Mary went into Egypt to
get away from Herod, and later on they came back to Nazareth, and “As it is written, out of
Egypt I have called my son,” but when you go back to the Old Testament and see where it’s
quoted, look at the little reference at the bottom of your Bible’s page and it will say this is a
quote from Hosea.
You go back to Hosea and it’s not talking about an individual; it’s talking about Israel, but
Matthew is able to apply it to Jesus. Why? Because Jesus Christ is a remnant of one. Jesus Christ
is the only true Israelite. Jesus Christ is the only person who ever actually obeyed the Law, loved
the Lord his God with all his heart, soul, strength, and mind, and loved his neighbor as himself.
Therefore, all of the Law …
Read the Law. Do you know what it’s all about in the Old Testament? It says, “Do this, and
you will be blessed. Do this, and you will have the blessing. Obey these things. Do these things
and you will live and have a blessing.” Jesus Christ is the only person who has ever done that.
He’s the only one who has ever fulfilled the Law. He’s the only one who has the blessing the
Law promises to the obedient. As a result, only he and those who believe in him get that
blessing.
When you read the Law, it’s about Jesus. When you read the ceremony, it’s about Jesus. You
know all those strange rules in Leviticus and Numbers? It’s talking about the priestly vestments,
and it’s talking about the sacrifices, and it’s talking about the altar, and it’s talking about the
shewbread and the lampstand, and it’s talking about all the clean laws: “You can eat this, but you
can’t eat this. If this happens to you, you can’t go in.” What’s all that about?
 What does Jesus say? It’s about him. Jesus is the sacrifice. Jesus is the Priest. Jesus is the
Bread. He is the Lampstand. He is the Light of the World. He is the Temple. He’s the way to
God. He’s the sacrifice who opens the way. The ceremony is all about Jesus. The Law is all
about Jesus. The history of the Old Testament is all about Jesus.
Every prophet is just pointing to the great Prophet. There is a place where Jesus says, “Jonah
knew this, and a greater-than Jonah is here. Solomon knew this, and a greater-than Solomon is
here.” Did you know there are a couple of places where he says that? What is he saying?
“Solomon is about me. Solomon points to me. I’m the true Solomon. I’m the true Jonah. I’m
the true David. I’m the real David. Even David wasn’t the real David. I’m the real David. Read
about David and see what happens to him and how he lives, and you will be learning about me,
because everything in the Bible, everything in the Scripture is about me. Everything.”
Why do I put this in this way? If you read the Old Testament and you read these stories, you
can read them like Aesop’s Fables. What is the moral? What is the moral of David and Goliath?
Somebody’s going to say, “I’m not going to take away Jeff’s thunder, because he’s speaking on
that next week.” If you read it moralistically, what are you going to say? You’re going to say,
“What is the moral of the story of David and Goliath? I guess the bigger they are the harder they
fall. That’s what that Bible passage is teaching.”
Or maybe you should say, “See, if you really try hard you can do anything. You can be
anything you want to be. No matter who you are, you can bring down the great giant.” You could
read the Bible saying, “Yes, if I really try and if I trust God somehow, the great giants in my life
will be knocked down.” I’ve heard it preached that way, and I’ve read it that way.
That’s not what it’s about. In a sense, it is about that, but it’s not what it’s about. It’s about
Jesus. I’ll let Jeff tell you about that. I won’t go any further. What is this story about? You say,
“What is the moral of this story?” I guess the moral of the story is you can’t judge a book by its
cover. See? That’s what it says there. The Lord says to Samuel, “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.”
Well, it’s true you can’t judge a book by its cover, but that’s not primarily what it’s about.
Let me show you what it’s about. Here’s the point. You can either read the Bible as if it’s
primarily about you, or as if it’s primarily about God. You can either read the Bible as if it’s
nothing but examples and things you have to do … In other words, you can read the Bible as if
it’s primarily about what we have to do, or you can read the Bible as if it’s primarily about what
God has done.
If you think salvation is primarily what you give to God and that’s what connects you, you’re
going to read the Bible that way, but if you read the Bible basically saying, “Primarily, it’s about
what God has done and what he gives us that connects us,” you’re going to read the Bible in a
whole different way. You’re going to see Jesus everywhere. You’re going to say, “This is about
Jesus, not just about David, not just about ‘the bigger they are the harder they fall,’ not just about
‘you can’t judge a book by its cover.’ Yes, I need to do a better job at that.”
You’ll just walk out with a little inspiration or just feeling kind of crushed. “Boy, I could
never do that. I could never face down those Goliaths in my life.” You’ll just be crushed by it.
The Bible is not primarily about you. It’s not primarily about me. It’s primarily about Jesus,
always. Let me give you an example. Let’s just take a look at this.
First of all, let’s kind of explain the story itself. “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘How long will
you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and be
on your way …” Well, Saul had been rejected. Samuel had anointed Saul as king, but Saul had
turned out to be a king like all other kings. He was a worldly king.
Back in the early part of the winter, there was a sermon I did here in the morning about 1
Samuel 15. It’s the chapter before. There we see God had given Saul, through Samuel, a
prophecy and said, “Go wipe out the Amalekites.” God specifically said to Saul, “Don’t leave a
single survivor. Kill all the Amalekites and kill all of their livestock, all their sheep, all their
cattle, everything.”
When you first read that, you think, “Oh no! How terrible! This is what I don’t like about the
Old Testament. Thank goodness in the New Testament we have a God of love. This is terrible.”
That’s missing the point. The Amalekites were a wicked, vicious people, horribly oppressive,
terribly brutal, and guilty of all sorts of atrocities.
God comes to Saul and says, “Saul, I want you to wage war against them, but I want this to
be an act of justice not imperialism. I don’t want you to be a king like all other kings. Other
kings say they go to war for justice, but actually they always go to war to accrue power and
wealth. I don’t want you to be like that.”
When he said, “I want you to take no prisoners …” The reason you would take prisoners is to
ransom them. He says, “The reason I want you to kill all the livestock is because the livestock in
a culture like that was their wealth.” What God was saying was, “I want you to wage war against
these brutal people who need to be stopped.” It was very much like going to war against the
Nazis.
“They need to be stopped. It’s a matter of justice, but I will not have this being an act of
imperialism. You must not in any way … in any way … accrue power or wealth. No prisoners.
No taking the livestock. None at all.” Saul didn’t do it. He won the battle, but he kept the king,
Agag, as a prisoner, and he kept the livestock, which believe it or not, means he was being
exactly the same kind of king as Agag and he was doing the very thing the Amalekites were
being punished for.
God wanted and Samuel wanted Saul to be a king after God’s own heart. What does that
mean? Saul was supposed to be a king with God’s heart. God’s use of power is different than the
world’s use. When Hannah, who was Samuel’s mother, went to the Lord very upset because she
was barren and said, “Give me a son,” God gave her a son. When she had gotten that son, the
Spirit of the Lord came upon her, and she prophesied. This is in 1 Samuel 2. She began to say:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. […] There is no one holy
like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. […] The Lord brings
death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. […] He raises the poor from
the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a
throne of honor. For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; upon them he has set the world.
[…] It is not by strength that one prevails … He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn
of his anointed.”
Hannah got this prophesy from God, and she got a vision of a king. This word anointed …
There was no king in Israel when Hannah did this. Therefore, it was a prophesy. The word
anointed in Hebrew is Messiah. The word anointed in the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint)
is the word Christ. She gets a vision of a king with the heart of God, a king who uses power the
way God uses power.
In other words, she gets a vision of a king who lifts the poor up; a king who condescends, in
the best sense of that term; a king who serves in order to lead and attracts our allegiance by
serving us; a king with God’s heart; and a king after God’s own heart, which is the same thing.
Saul has turned out not to be that king.
The reason Samuel is weeping this way is because Samuel must have gotten from his mother
this vision of a true king, a king on earth who reflects the heart of God, who uses power like God
does to save, not himself, not to accrue power, but to lift the poor up, to lift up the needy, and to
put them on his own throne.
There is no king like this in the world, and Samuel had this hunger for a king like that, a king
who humbled himself, a king who served, and therefore, a king who had complete allegiance and
incredible strength with his people. The ultimate leader. A leader people would utterly die for
because they knew their leader would die for them. The leader wasn’t into leadership for himself.
A servant leader, a leader they would die for because they knew he would die for them. A real
king.
Therefore, when Samuel went and anointed Saul, he thought this was the one. Saul had
turned out to be like all the rest of the kings of the world. We’re told in 15:11, that God comes to
Samuel, tells him what Saul has done, and says, “I have rejected Saul as king over Israel.” We’re
told Samuel was up all night crying. He was up all night crying. He was in utter grief.
Here in verse 1 we see he’s still in utter grief. He’s in such grief God has to come and shake
him out of it. That must mean it’s been a while. The grief he experienced is the grief of a loss of
the king he really wanted but he found he really didn’t have. He had this passion for a king he
had gotten from his mother, and he was in absolute and utter grief, and God wakes him up.
By the way, it’s pretty interesting. God is not rebuking him for grief. You should never
rebuke somebody for grief. If somebody has lost a loved one or if somebody has lost somebody
in this way, somebody who you thought was going to be this to you and turns out is not, that’s
grief too. You’ve lost that person. God doesn’t rebuke Samuel for his grief; he rebukes him for
the length of his grief.
It’s hard to know when you cross the line, but when you’re sad you should cry. You should
weep. God never says, “Don’t cry.” Look at Jesus. He was always crying. What God says is,
“There is a limit. How long will you cry? Come. Be on your way.” There is a point at which
good friends come to people who are grieving and say, “You’ve grieved for a long time now. It’s
time to be on your way.”
He comes to Samuel and he says, “Be on your way. I’m going to give you somebody else.”
Somebody is going to say, “Wait a minute. What’s this?” I might want to make a comment. It
says, “But Samuel said, ‘How can I go? Saul will hear about it and kill me.’ The Lord said,
‘Take a heifer with you and say, “I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.” ’ ” Is that a white lie?
No. He really is going to sacrifice to the Lord.
He says, “Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do.” It’s interesting God
doesn’t say to Samuel, “It shouldn’t bother you. Safety? Who cares about safety? I’ve sent you
on a mission. Throw safety to the wind.” God doesn’t say that. He says, “That’s a problem.” I
love God. He says, “Oh, that’s a problem. Yeah, you’re right. Well, here’s a great way to do it.”
Of course, Samuel had a ministry, because when he went to Bethlehem, they came out and
said, “Do you come in peace?” which means as a prophet he would go to places and he would
either warn them … He’d come in judgment and warn them about their sin, or he would go and
offer a sacrifice. He would hold a worship service.
This was something he did. He comes in, and at Bethlehem they say, “Are you coming in
peace?” He says, “Yes. In peace I’m going to offer a sacrifice, and I’m going to do it with Jesse
in his home.” He says, “Consecrate yourselves …” which simply means just the way you get
ready for the Lord’s Supper, in many ways. You look at yourself. You examine yourself. You
pray. You confess your sins. You get ready.
Finally, obviously Jesse and Samuel know what’s going on because Jesse calls them in front
of Samuel. Jesse knows Samuel is going to anoint a new king. It’s tremendously risky. Not only
is Samuel’s life at stake, because you have Saul still on the throne, but so is Jesse and any of his
children. They obviously know what’s going on, and Jesse starts to send his sons by him. The
first one Samuel sees is Eliab, who is very, very tall.
I just noticed the other day there was actually a special on one of those news magazines. I
think it was Barbara Walters. I don’t even know the name of it, but there was a special on why
short people are discriminated against. Did you see that? Short men … They showed all these
studies that a shorter man is less believed than a tall man. The shorter man is less desired by
women than the tall man. It was a very discouraging (for some people) program.
I thought about this passage right away. Here is Samuel, and he sees the tallest guy and says,
“This has to be God’s anointed.” Do you know what? Here he is in grief over Saul, all upset, and
he’s making the same mistake. Saul was a giant. Saul was huge. Actually, that was really one of
the reasons why a person could command respect in those days.
Do you know William Wallace, the Braveheart guy? You know Mel Gibson’s character? A
real guy at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in the 1300s. He was a warrior leader of the Scots against
the English. That movie is about him. William Wallace, I understand, was six and a half feet tall,
and he could take a big, broad sword and beat anybody. The strength and the towering stature of
a man in those days was something that really made it easier for him to command and to gain
respect and so on.
Saul was a giant. Saul was huge. When Samuel had anointed Saul, he said, “Surely this is the
Lord’s anointed.” He anointed Saul. Even though he was in grief and he said, “Oh, my word!
Saul turned out to be such a disappointment,” Eliab goes by, and Samuel is making the same
mistake. He’s looking at the outside.
This is very, very New York, by the way. There is no place I’ve ever been in the world where
outsides are more important, where people make snap judgments. There’s also no place where
you just get barraged every day walking down the street with images of absolute beauty. Not
only are they in the pictures and in the ads and so on … I was just looking at them on my way
over here. They come at you from every place, in all the ads, in all the windows and all that.
A lot of them are alive and walking around on the streets in New York. The people whose
pictures were taken are walking around. People put enormous amounts of time and incredible
amounts of effort and a tremendous amount of money, certainly, and in many cases, really,
practices which, as you know, can destroy your health for this incredible appearance.
God comes to Samuel, and he says, “Samuel, when are you going to learn? The outside
doesn’t matter a bit. Money, beauty, power, stature, size, it doesn’t matter a bit. It’s character.
It’s substance. It’s the spirit. It’s the heart.” He looks through all of them and finds out none of
them are there. He turns to Jesse. It’s astonishing, is it not? Jesse knows one of his sons is going
to be anointed king. Jesse brings all of his sons and doesn’t even think to bring David, the little
one, the youngest one.
Samuel turns around and says, “Jesse, is this it? How could this be?” “Oh, there is one more.
Davey, you know. The little one.” Of course, Jesse has made the same mistake. Samuel says,
“Call him in here.” By process of elimination he has this figured out and in comes David. The
Lord says, “He’s the one.” God anoints him. The Spirit of God comes on him. What do you get?
In the Bible, when you see the anointed … There are a number of people who are anointed. A lot
of the judges are anointed. The prophets are anointed. In general, here’s what you get.

1. The anointed tends not to be the world’s choice

Before you go from David to you, let’s go to Jesus. Nobody believed this could be the Messiah.
Just read the Gospels. They couldn’t believe it. He wasn’t beautiful. He wasn’t political. He
wasn’t military. He wasn’t rich. He wasn’t intellectual. He didn’t come through channels.
The anointed of the Lord is not the world’s choice. The world doesn’t understand it. The
world doesn’t get it, because the world looks on outward appearances. Jesus was missed by the
world because the Lord’s anointed is someone who, from the world’s point of view, is weak, but
from God’s point of view is invincible.

2. The anointed is given a message

The message is God can deliver by the few or by the one. Again and again, and you’re going to
see this throughout the life of David, when everybody thinks that it’s lost, God will show …
Look at Gideon. He was anointed. He was a judge. Gideon is going to go out and deal with the
Midianites, and what does God continually do to Gideon? He says, “Gideon, I want to show I’m
the Savior, and therefore, I don’t want you to have hardly anybody in your band. I want you to
go up against the Midianites with just a few people.”
The story goes on and explains how God eliminates all but the most stouthearted and
truehearted people. There were only 300 of them with Gideon to go up against the Midianites in
incredible force. Why? God says, “I’m going to show I am the real Savior, and therefore, I’m
going to deliver through the weak. I’m going to deliver through the unexpected. I’m going to
deliver through the few. I’m going to deliver through the One.” That’s the message. God is your
salvation. Not your might. Not your strength. That came out in the story of Hannah.

3. The anointed always suffers

The anointed are not who the world thinks, and the anointed are given a message, that is God
(salvation) is of the Lord. That’s the message. The anointed always suffer, and David is anointed
as a kid when Saul is on the throne and his son, Jonathan, is a very, very clear heir and, really, a
great guy. As a result, David has to wait patiently for years and years and years and is persecuted
terribly as an outlaw.
In this, you see the Lord, because the anointed are always redeemed through suffering. David
becomes a king with God’s heart, because, you see, Saul never went through what David went
through. Saul came right into power, and it seduced his heart, but David had to depend on God.
David had to trust in God. David became like David’s greater son, mature through suffering,
perfect through obedience.

4. The anointed is given a promise, God’s presence, and a job to do

In order to suffer, in order to take the message, and in spite of what the world thinks, the
anointed of the Lord is given a promise (“I will make you king”), God’s presence (do you see
that?), the Spirit, and a job to do (“Go and prepare to be king”).
 Whenever God anoints somebody, he’s anointing this person for a job, giving them a job,
giving them the presence of God, giving them a promise, and sending them out, but sent out to
suffer, sent out with a message the world isn’t going to understand. In David you see the Lord.
Jesus Christ above all was one who was misunderstood, and everybody said, “This can’t be the
Messiah. How can this be the Messiah?”
Secondly, Jesus Christ as the anointed was persecuted by his own people, and he redeemed
us through suffering. This is the reason why on the road to Emmaus the disciples said, “We
thought he was going to redeem us, but he suffered.”
Jesus says, “You don’t understand. You’ve been reading the Old Testament. You’ve been
reading the Bible as if it’s about you; it’s about me. You’ve been reading the Bible as if salvation
comes through power and might, through accomplishment, through performance, so every story
of the Bible you’ve read as an example, and you said, ‘I can do it. I’m going to be like that.’ You
misunderstand. The Bible is about me. The Bible is not about how you’re redeemed without
suffering. No, no, no. You’ll be redeemed through suffering. I will redeem you through suffering.
I have redeemed you through suffering.”
That’s the reason why you’re so upset on Easter Sunday. You’re upset because you don’t see
that. Then, of course, if you understand that, now we can turn to ourselves and realize, as
Christians … Do you see what this means? First of all, it means you and I are anointed. The
Bible says we’re anointed in 2 Corinthians 1:22. Every Christian is anointed. We’re anointed
with the Holy Spirit.
We’re given a promise: “… all things work together for good …” We’re given a promise:
“You will rule and reign with me.” We’re given a promise: “I will be with you to the ends of the
earth.” We’re given a promise: “Never … never will I forsake you.” We’re given a promise:
“You’re now righteous in my sight.” We’re given all these promises. We’re given the Spirit.
But we’re sent out, and because we are anointed like the Lord, because of his messiahship,
because of his career as the anointed, we have a kind of mini-career as anointed. We, too, will
very often be chosen by God even though the world looks at us as rather unimportant people.
You can’t let the world’s standards influence your understanding of who you are, nor can you let
the world’s standards influence your understanding of other people. You can’t look at other
people in the same way the world has, because they miss Jesus.
Therefore, you have to change that. You also have to realize if you’re anointed there is going
to be suffering, and that suffering will be redemptive. Be very careful. I’m not saying you
redeem yourself through suffering. Just remember this. When you become a Christian, you are
saved from the penalty of sin. That redemption is over. God has saved you from the penalty of
sin. “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
But when you become a Christian, you will find you still need to be saved from the power of
sin, don’t you? You still need to be redeemed in that sense. Only through your hurts in general,
only through your problems in general, only through the wisdom that comes from a heart that has
suffered will you find you’re not only being redeemed from the power of sin, but you’re of use to
other people.
In tiny ways, you will find the persons you can help most you’re only able to help because of
the troubles you’ve had. Isn’t that true? Why? Because the Lord’s great anointed to which David
points … Now you look at your life and you will see you are little teeny anointeds who also
point to the Lord.
We have to recognize the Bible is about him first. If you go from David to Jesus, then you
come to yourself and you’ll say, “Oh, my! I’ve been anointed, and what really matters is my
heart, not my outside. Therefore, I have to be very careful about keeping my heart. I may be
called, like David, to be patient for a long time before these promises seem like they’re coming
true, but I will. If I have to suffer as he did, I will realize God is going to work redemptively
through it.”
Don’t you see? If David is telling us about Jesus, then it tells you so much about us, but if
you go from David to you, you’ll just get these little drippy Aesop’s fables. “The bigger they are,
the harder they fall.” You’ll go out a little inspired but not redeemed. Jesus says, “It’s all about
me.” The more you see it about Jesus, the more you’ll understand about what it has to do with
you. Let’s pray.
Now Father, we thank you that you’ve given us some guidance here. We thank you that your Son
was the anointed One, and we pray as we read about David and study about David we will come
to see more and more the face of our Lord in the face of David and that we will find ourselves
becoming transformed more and more into the likeness of your Son. In his name we pray, amen.