David: A Man After God's Own Heart

Have you with us this evening. Tonight, we embark on a great study, study of King David. It'll be a study that will revolutionize the way you think about this man and maybe rearrange some thoughts in your head as to what you've heard about King David. I spent the last several months studying through 1st and 2nd Samuel, trying to put together a series of messages that will help you understand this man. A man that's really mentioned in 62 different chapters in the Bible, more so than any one character outside of Jesus Christ, our Lord.

In fact, there's more about him in the Bible than anybody else, except for Jesus Christ, our Lord. So the information the Bible gives us about King David is overwhelming. And therefore, there are so many things that we can learn about him. And we trust that as you come over the next several weeks into months, you'll be able to learn and take home what you've learned from this man and glean from the scriptures, truth, that will help you understand more about this man, the man of royalty. We have studied the life of Moses.

He was the man of destiny. We studied the life of Joseph. He was the man of integrity. And now we study the man, David. He is a man of royalty. And God did so much in and through this individual. And people have studied the life of David. There are many books written about him, mainly because he was a man after God's own heart. What does that mean? How do you, how do you put all that together in a nutshell to describe a man after God's own heart? Nobody else in the Bible is characterized by that.

Why is David? And so, as you begin to study through the scriptures, you'll begin to understand a little bit more about why the Lord God called him a man after his own heart. A man who was the youngest son of Jesse, a shepherd boy in the fields of Bethlehem, who became the giant slayer. We understand about David and Goliath, at least we've grown up learning the story about David and Goliath. He was a man who at a teenage, as a teenager, he became the king elect of Israel. It would be a quite a number of years before he actually ascended the throne there in Israel.

But as a teenager, he became the king elect. He was a composer of all kinds of psalms. He was a musician. He would be the personal musician of King Saul. And David, of course, was one who was the best friend of Jonathan, the son of Saul. And as we embark on this study, your eyes are going to be open to many things about this man. I mean, he was a man of glorious triumph. He was a man who exemplified royalty at its best. And yet there was great tragedy that surrounded his life, great turmoil, great hardship, difficulties that seemed to encompass almost his every move.

And yet he learned to trust God and to believe in the Lord God of Israel. He was uniquely gifted, uniquely gifted, yet his feet were made of clay. He stumbled badly on many, many occasions. While he was strong in battle and he was a mighty warrior, he was weak at home. Unfortunately, his home life lacked strong biblical leadership. Oh, he was able to lead the nation, but he had difficulties at home. So he will be able to tell us through his life how not to make the mistakes that he made as a father.

We also learn from David as we understand this man so much about the who and the why and the how of his growth and his leadership. And yet the whole design of the study is to help us to understand how we can have a heart that's like God's, that seeks after God's heart. And that's where we want to go. It's not going to happen in a week. It's not going to happen in a month. It might not even happen over a series of months, but at least we can give you the tools and we can give you the fundamental principles that will help you begin the journey of what it means to be a man after God's own heart.

We have three points we want to cover with you this evening, one historically, one spiritually, and one practically. Historically, we want to look at the conditions for choosing the King.

And then spiritually, we're going to look at the contrast in the characters of the Kings. And then thirdly, practically, we want to look at the challenges and the conclusions for those of us who are children of the King.

And this is all introductory comments that will lead us into the study of the life of David. But we need to set some groundwork for you to get you on the right path so you understand where we're going, how we're going to get there. I mean, there's so much in the Bible about David, we just can't cover it in just a few short messages. It's going to take some time, but you'll see your life in his life. And as his life is unfolded before us, you're going to see how your life also is being put on display and how it is God is going to use King David and this young shepherd boy who was the giant slayer to become a very real character that will shape and mold the way you live your life today.

This becomes a monumental study in the life of the church. For those who want to lead in the marketplace, you need to understand King David. For those who need to know how to lead in your family, you need to understand King David. How do you handle people who are out to get you, seek revenge upon you, are jealous because of where you are? How do you deal with those kind of people? David's that kind of man. How do you deal with your son when he rebels against your authority? David gives us some hints.

So there's all kinds of things that will relate to us as we go through our life together. We need to understand this man and what God did in his life. So if you've got your Bible, turn to 1 Samuel chapter 8. 1 Samuel chapter 8, that's where we're going to begin this evening because historically we get the conditions for choosing the king, or should I say the kings, King Saul and King David. You know the world has a way of choosing leaders. It's not like the Lord's way, but it is a way. It's not the best way, but it is a way.

And so therefore the world's way is set in contrast to God's way when it comes to choosing those who will lead his people. And you will see in Israel's leadership the desire they have for their own ends and their own goals. David would be a king that was characterized by honey, and Saul would be a king that would be characterized as a lemon. One was sweet, one was bitter. In Israel, because of Saul's leadership, experienced a bitter lifestyle. Under David they experienced a sweet lifestyle because he led in a way that brought glory and honor to God.

Israel's choice of a king would become their curse as a nation. They didn't know that, even though they were told that, they didn't get it because they had their own agenda. They had their self-centered demands. There were things that they wanted to have that the world had. And usually in the church, when the church wants what the world has, it shows the spiritual decline and decay of the church. Well, the spiritual decline and decay of the nation of Israel began with this leadership who wanted to do things the way the world did them.

So let me read to you 1 Samuel chapter 8, verse number 1. And it came about when Samuel was old that he appointed his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of the second Abijah.

They were judging in Beersheba. His sons, however, did not walk in his ways, but turned aside after dishonest gain, and took bribes and perverted justice. Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah. And they said to him, Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations. But the thing was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed to the Lord.

Israel had become disillusioned, disenchanted with the way things were going. The whole judge thing in Israel wasn't going the way they wanted. So they went to Samuel. He was an older man. Old men don't like to be called old, okay? And they said, Samuel, you're getting old. You're kind of beyond your years. And usually what happens with the judges is that when the judge became too old, his sons then would take his place. And that's what took place with Israel and Samuel. His sons began to judge, but they did it perversely.

They did not walk in the ways of their father, Samuel. They did what they wanted to do for dishonest gain. Well, the leaders of Israel recognized that, and they said, You know what? We want to go a different direction. We want to go the way of the nations. We want to do it like the nations do it. I mean, they have a king. They have a leader. He rides on a white horse. He leads the armies. We don't even have a very good army. We need an army. We need protection. We need someone who will watch over us.

We need someone who will care for us. We need someone we can trust. In other words, we don't need God anymore. We need an earthly, fleshly king. That's what they want. You say, Well, how do you get that out of that? Well, read on. It says, And the Lord said to Samuel, Listen to the voice of the people in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Samuel went to the Lord and said, What do I do? Because he was hurt like any old man would be hurt.

Oh, you're too old. You can't lead anymore. Back off. Your sons, they're no good. They're not walking with the Lord. We need a king. We need somebody else. He was displeased. He was brokenhearted. And God said, Samuel, listen, it's not about you. They're not rejecting you. They're rejecting me as their king. See, this was Israel's continued downfall. God was their king. I mean, the glory of the Lord was there in Israel, and He dwelt in the temple, and they had Him as their king. And all throughout the Old Testament, it was the Lord who fought their battles.

It was the Lord who protected them. It was the Lord who defeated their enemies. It was always the Lord. But you know, they just got tired of that. They wanted to be like the nations. They wanted to be like everybody else. You see, that's always a problem. Because, you see, as Israelites, they were called to be uniquely and distinctly different than the nations. It's like us as Christians, right? We have been called to be uniquely and distinctly different than the world. It's like our worship time.

When we come together to worship, and someone from the outside comes in here, the worst thing they can be is comfortable. That's the worst place they can be. If an unbeliever walks in here and feels at home and comfortable, then our worship isn't uniquely and distinctly different than that which they see and experience in the world. See, we forget that. We have to be so alien in our approach, because that's what we're called, strangers, aliens, pilgrims in this land, right? We're to be so different than the world that when they walk in, they're like, wow, man, this is nothing like I've ever heard or seen before.

What is this? That should be the response to the unbeliever when he walks into this assembly. Not like, oh, yeah, this is great, man. This is a great place to be. I love this place. You see, we forget about that. It's like when you raise your family, right? Our love for our wives, men, should be different than the love the world has for their wives. It should be uniquely and distinctly different. It's sacrificial. It's unconditional to protect, to preserve, to watch over. That should be characteristic of our lives as leaders in our home, and it should be different than the world.

And so when the world looks at us, and they look at our wives, and they look at our families, they should say, they're so odd.

They're just so different. The way we raise our children is not like the world raises their children, right? We are different than the world. We're not like the world. And see, whenever we want to be like the nations, we're in trouble. We're in big trouble. We need to be like the Lord. We need to seek after His will, doing what He has designed for us to do for the glory and honor of the Lord. And Samuel was brokenhearted. He was just broken. And God says, don't take it personally, Sam.

It's okay, buddy. It's all right. It's not about you. See, he's like us. See, we get our feelings hurt. We think it's about us. It's not about you, Samuel. It's about me. They have rejected me as their king. Now, they wanted a king, right? Now, the unique thing about that is that God had promised them a king. In the Pentateuch, to Abraham, to Jacob, He had promised that they would have a king who sat on the throne among their descendants. You can read about it in Genesis 17, Genesis 35. In fact, Jacob named the tribe of Judah as the kingly tribe in Genesis chapter 49.

And then in Deuteronomy 17, Moses prepared the nation for a king when he spoke to the new generation, preparing them to enter the promised land. So they knew that God had promised them a king. Their sin was that they wanted the king now on their terms, in their way, based on their choice, so they could be like the world. That was their problem. That was their sin. They were unwilling to wait for God to reveal to them who that king would be. They were unwilling to wait for God because He was their king.

He was their director. He was their protector. He was their shield. They got tired of the way God did it. They wanted someone they could see, someone they could touch, they could feel, they could smell. They wanted a fleshly king. That's what they wanted. Give us a king. So in verse 8, the Lord God says, Like all the deeds which they have done, says the day that I brought them up from Egypt, even to this day, in that they have forsaken Me and served other gods, so they are doing to you also.

This is the way they are. God says, Look, Sam, this is just the way they are. They've always been this way. Nothing's changed. They have rejected Me. They want to serve other gods. That's the characteristic of this people Israel. Now then, He says, verse 9, Listen to their voice. However, you shall solemnly warn them and tell them of the procedure of the king who will reign over them. He says, Okay, listen.

Do give them what they want. That's always a problem. See, the worst place you can be is in a place where God gives you what you want. Psalm 106, He gave Israel the desire of the heart and sent leanness and a barrenness to their souls. Be careful what you ask God for. Because if you ask Him for it long enough and He gives you what you want, you might think you'd be satisfied, but you will be absolutely barren in your soul. In fact, the Hebrew says, He gave them the desires of the heart and sent a wasting disease to their soul.

That's even worse. They just wasted away inside because they got what they wanted. They didn't get what God wanted them to get. They didn't get what God wanted them to have. See? And so, Samuel tells them. Verse 10, So Samuel spoke all the words of the Lord to the people who asked him and said, This will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you. Real quick. Verse 11, He will take your sons. Verse 13, He'll take your daughters. Verse 14, He'll take the best of your fields, the best of your vineyards, the best of your olive groves.

Verse 15, He'll take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards. Verse 16, He also take your male servants and your female servants, the best young men and your donkeys and use them for His work. He will take a tenth of your flocks and yourselves will become His servants. He's going to take. He's going to take. He's going to take. Sounds like today's government, doesn't it? Just take, take, take, take, take, take, take, take, take. He's going to keep taking from you. That's the way He's going to do.

Now listen to this. Then you will cry out in that day because your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day. God says, Samuel, this is what you tell him.

Samuel goes, I'm the messenger. I'm just going to tell you what the Lord God said. Here's the deal. This is the way it's going to happen. He has got to be able to supply all of his needs. He's got to take care of himself and how he's going to do that. He's going to take the best of all that you have, the best of your sons, the best of your daughters, the best of your slaves, the best of your vineyards, the best of everything you have. He's going to take it all for himself. And then you're going to be upset.

You're going to cry out to the Lord. Guess what? He ain't going to answer. Wow. Now who wants that? Well, verse 19, nevertheless, the people refused to what? Oh, that's the thing we talked about on Sunday morning, right? Remember that? They refused to listen to 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. Hey, you know, it's okay. No problem. As long as we can be like everybody else, we're good to go. That was their response. They didn't listen.

Didn't listen. That was the people's choice. Sure enough, it says in verse one of chapter nine, there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bekoroth and the son of Aphiah, the son of Abedamite, a mighty man of valor. And he had a son whose name was Saul, a choice and handsome man. And there was not a more handsome person than he among the sons of Israel. From his shoulders and up, he was taller than any of the people. There you go. He passed the eyeball test.

He looked good. He looked good. He smelled good. He dressed good. To us, this is the guy. After all, he is the classiest model, the most handsome model in all of Israel. He must be the guy. But his height, his good looks could not hide his cold, hard heart, could not hide his egotism, could not hide his paranoia, his desperation, and ultimately his violence. The outward veneer, perfect. But on the inside, all kinds of problems. And that's why the people's choice versus the Lord's choice are so contrary.

Because the Lord doesn't look on the outer appearance of a man. Where does he look? He looks on the heart, right? He looks on the heart of a man. And when he sees the heart, that's completely his. That's the kind of man that God wants to lead. That's why it says in 1 Samuel 13, 14, the Lord has sought for himself a man after his own heart, and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over his people. Wow. The Lord's choice is not based on human reason or human intellect. It's based on God's sovereign choice as he looks at a man.

That's what the Bible says in 2 Chronicles 16, 9, for the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the whole earth, that he may strongly support those whose heart is completely his.

You got to ask yourself, is your heart completely the Lord's this evening? David's was. David had given his heart to the Lord. He was a true servant of the Lord. Is that the way your heart is? Are you holding things back? Does your heart have another affection, another admiration? Does your heart give attention to something or someone else? David's was all about the Lord God. That's where his heart was. That's what he himself wanted to do. So when God, his eyes run to and fro upon this earth today, does he see someone who's completely committed to him?

Does he see someone who confronts sin when sin is there? Who doesn't want to sweep it under the rug? Who wants to live a life of integrity and honesty and truthfulness and purity and holiness? Is that what he sees? What does he see in your life and in mine? The Bible says in Isaiah 66, verse number two, to this man will I look.

To him is broken and of a contrite heart who trembles at my word. That was David. He was broken at heart. He would tremble under the authority of God's holy word. He was a humble man, a broken man. I mean, think about it. We're going to talk about this here in a minute. You know, he lived in utter obscurity as a shepherd in the fields. All right. He was a man of humble service. I mean, there wasn't anything in the shepherd fields. Believe me, I've been to the shepherd fields in Bethlehem. There's nothing there.

Oh, there's a few roads now that have been built there over the last 2,000 years, but you know, not much in the last 4,000 years. They're barren. And so David, in his isolation, took care of sheep. In fact, even his own father and family had forgotten about him. Even when Samuel came to look for the sons of Jesse, David wasn't even brought in. He was an afterthought in his family. He wasn't in the forefront of his family. He was an afterthought. There were other sons, bigger sons, better sons, sons that were more bold, more beautiful, maybe.

Then little David, a little shepherd boy, taking care of sheep. So when his own family didn't recognize him or didn't see him, God saw him. God was watching. God was seeing all that he was doing. He was a man who in those days in the fields of Bethlehem, in the smelly confines of taking care of sheep, he learned humility. He learned to serve. And he was a man of great integrity. Listen to what the Psalmist says. Psalm 78, verse number 70. It says, He also chose David his servant. It doesn't say he chose David as king.

It doesn't say he chose David as prophet. It doesn't say he chose David a mighty warrior. It said he chose David his servant. Because a man whose heart is after God is a man who truly wants to serve his God, who is humble enough to realize that he really means nothing to anybody, except maybe to God. And therefore, he really wants to serve. And that was David. He took him from the sheepfolds, from the care of the ewes, with suckling lambs he brought him to shepherd Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance.

So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his hearts and guided them with his skillful hands. The word integrity means completeness, wholeness. It was a heart that was completely God's. And because it was God's heart devoted to him, he could shepherd the people of God with that heart. He had learned to serve. He had learned to shepherd because he'd have to be a shepherd of the people. He learned about the people of Israel by tending to sheep. Like Moses learned to shepherd two million disgruntled, moaning, grumbling Jews by taking care of sheep, because people are most like sheep in the animal kingdom.

And so therefore, David would learn to shepherd the flock, thus, of sheep, thus, learning to shepherd the flock that God would entrust to him. So he was a man for God's heart. This was God's choice. This was the man God looked for. This was the man that drew God's attention, not Saul, the handsome guy, the mighty man of valor, not this man who stood heads and tails above everybody else. That's the world's choice. The eyeball test is, man, he's good looking. He's handsome. He's strong. He can fight.

He's aggressive. He's physical. That's leadership. That's what we need. That's how the world saw him. But they didn't see his heart. Their choice became their curse. But God saw the heart of David. God knew the heart of Saul. Which leads us to this. The second point, spiritually, the contrast in the characters of the kings.

Saul had a man-centered heart. David had a God-centered heart. Saul was all about man. Saul was all about himself. But the unique thing about it is he had a humble beginning. In fact, when Samuel went to him in 1 Samuel 9, verse number 21, Saul answered Samuel and said, Am I not a Benjamite of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak to me in this way? Why are you coming up to me? There was a sense of humility there.

And then in chapter 10, when they went to go to anoint him as king, he went to go hide as if he didn't want the position. They had to go search for him to bring him out. Such was his early attitude, his early behavior. But it wasn't soon after he became king that the true colors of his heart began to shine forth. People can look good on the outside, but after a while the heart always manifests itself and manifests the true character of that individual. Is that not true? Just give it some time and the heart's condition will begin to raise its ugly head.

And Saul had a problem with authority. He had a problem in submission to authority. Samuel told him to wait for him to offer a priestly sacrifice, and Saul got tired of waiting. So he decided to offer the priestly sacrifice himself. And Samuel told him, you've lost your kingdom because you've disobeyed the commands of God. Instead of repenting and falling down before the Lord God, just another chapter, if you go to chapter 13 to chapter 15, he begins to outwardly rebel against the authority of God.

He doesn't do what God says. And then he lies to cover it up. We'll talk more about this next week. He lies to cover it up. Okay. And then when it's all said and done, when he confesses, he blames the people for his decision. He says very simply in chapter 15, these words, 1 Samuel 15, verse number 24, I have indeed transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and listened to their voice. Listen, whenever that's characteristic of you, you'll always disobey God.

He feared the people. He feared their response. He feared their reactions. He feared what they would say. He didn't fear the Lord. And thus he disobeyed the Lord. Samuel said, that's it. It's done. Your kingdom is gone. God needs a king who obeys him, who fears him, who serves him, who honors him. And you're not that guy, Saul. You just don't do it that way. And sure enough, from that moment on, the story of Saul is one of psychological, physical, and spiritual deterioration. And it deteriorates quickly because a true condition of his heart is seen.

He became fearful, jealous, angry, violent, vengeful man. His whole life would be consumed with the killing of one man, the next king, David. It would consume him to the point where he would continue to lie, deceive, convince the nation to go after David. This man was evil from the inside out. Proverbs 29, 25 says, The fear of man brings a snare, but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted. Folks, listen, one thing you need to learn from the story of David is that you need to fear only God and nobody else.

And you're going to learn how David had to overcome some of his fears because he had some. And there were some times he didn't really function properly, but he learned. And we'll look at the different Psalms that pertain to his life.

We'll go from Samuel to the Psalms to see what he wrote during the time he was in the cave or the time he escaped from Saul, those kind of things, to see what was going through his mind, to understand his thought process. It's a beautiful, beautiful portrayal of a man who learned to trust God and believe in Him in spite of the fears he faced every day. But whenever you fear man, you fall into a trap. It's a snare. It's going to cause you to stumble. You got to trust in the Lord. You got to believe in Him.

You got to depend upon Him for everything. It says in Psalm 34, 4, I sought the Lord. He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. I sought the Lord. He answered me. He delivered me from every one of my fears. He didn't say, He delivered me from some of my fears. Thank you, Lord. I'm only fearful on Monday instead of Monday and Tuesday. He delivered me from all of my fears because I learned to trust Him and to believe in Him. The Bible says in Luke 12, when Christ said, don't fear the one who kills body, fear only the one who kills body and soul in hell.

That's the one you got to fear. Just fear the Lord God of Israel. That's why the book of Proverbs is all about the fear of the Lord. It's the beginning of wisdom, right? And understanding and knowledge. You got to learn to fear the Lord. And David did. He learned that over time. More and more as time went on in his life, he learned to trust his God. Obedience was not a priority for Saul. Just wasn't a priority. Didn't care that much to obey his God. For David, obedience was a priority. Did he disobey?

He did. There were many times he disobeyed God. But the overwhelming characteristic of his life was not disobedience. Saul, the overwhelming characteristic was one of disobedience. But David, when he disobeyed, he would repent. Saul, when he disobeyed, there would be remorse but no repentance. See? There was a godly sorrow in the life of David that led to repentance. There was a fleshly sorrow in the life of Saul that caused him to continue on down the path of deterioration. There's a difference.

Saul was man-centered. David was God-centered. And so the Lord sought for a man who truly wanted to follow him. David had a heart. Let me tell you the kind of heart David had.

He had a believing heart. Saul did not have a believing heart. He was an Israelite, but he didn't have a believing heart. David did. Psalm 14 1 says, a fool says in his heart, there is no God. First, I'm sorry, Psalm 53 1 says the exact same thing.

But David believed in the existence of God. He believed in the character and nature of God. And Hebrews 11 6 says, he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. And David had a believing heart. Because he had a believing heart, he had a thankful heart, a thankful heart. Psalm 9, Psalm 86, Psalm 138, it says, I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart. That's a heart that's completely God's. I'm going to give thanks to God with all my heart.

In other words, my praise to him is going to be all encompassing. My praise to him includes everything that I have in my heart is going to give thanks to God. He had a believing heart. He had a thankful heart. He had a truthful heart. Psalm 15 verse 1, who may abide in thy tent, who may dwell on thy holy hill, he who works, he who works in his integrity, I'm sorry, he who walks in his integrity, he who works righteousness and speaks truth in his heart. That's a man after God's own heart. He had a believing heart.

He had a thankful heart. He had a truthful heart. He had a transparent heart. Listen to Psalm 26. This is so good. Vindicate me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity, and I have trusted in the Lord without wavering. Examine me, O Lord, and try me. Test my mind and my heart. That's a transparent heart. God, you look at me, you test me, you try me, you purify me.

Psalm 139, the psalmist said, examine me. See if there be any wicked way in me. See, that's a transparent heart. That's a heart that's devoted fully to God. That's a heart that's committed to God. That's a heart that says, Lord, I'm yours. I want to be transparent. Examine me. I've walked in my integrity. You test me, Lord, but I need you to vindicate me. You do it based on your integrity, based on your word, Lord. I want to walk after you. He had a transparent heart, a truthful heart, a thankful heart.

He had a believing heart. He believed in his God. He was one who had an expectant heart. Listen to this. Psalm 37, verse number four, delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your ways to the Lord. Trust also in him. He will do it. An expectant heart. We'll go through the psalms. We'll go through 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, and see David expecting God to answer, expecting God to do what only God can do because he believed in God. He would delight himself in the Lord, his God, and commit his way to God and expect God to do what only God can do.

He had an obedient heart. Psalm 40, verse number eight, I delight to do thy will. Oh, Lord, that's an obedient heart. Is that you? Do you delight to do the will of God? Do you delight to do the will of God over your will? Because the battle comes down between your will and God's will, right? That's the battle. That's why in Romans 12 when it says, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your logical form of service.

And be not conformed to this world, be transformed by the maneuvering of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. See, we don't present ourselves a living sacrifice because we have another will, our will. We have God's will. We have my will. God says, sacrifice.

God says, give it away. Mine says, don't sacrifice, keep it, hold on to it. And I got this battle going on all the time. And David says, I delight to do thy will, oh, Lord. He had a heart that was obedient. He had one that was repentant. Psalm 51, Psalm 51, for thou dost not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it, verse 16, thou art not pleased with burnt offerings and sacrifices of God, or a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, oh God, thou will not despise. He had a repentant heart.

He repented of his ways. This didn't mourn and cry over sin. Saul was sorry he got caught. David was sorry because of his sin. Big difference, right? He was sorry because of his sin. He had a humble heart. Psalm 131, verse number one, oh Lord, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty, nor do I involve myself in great matters or in things too difficult for me.

Surely I have composed and quieted my soul like a weaned child rests against his mother. My soul is like a weaned child within me, oh Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever. He had a humble heart. He had a dependent heart. Psalm 61, Psalm 61, verse number one, hear my cry, oh God, give heed to my prayer.

From the end of the earth I call to thee when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, for thou hast been a refuge for me, a tower of strength against the enemy. Let me dwell in thy tent forever.

Let me take refuge in the shelter of thy wings. That's a dependent heart and that's the kind of heart that David had. He had a devoted heart. Psalm 86, verse number 11, speaks of the fact that he wanted his heart to be united with God's heart and therefore he was a man after God's own heart. Having said that, in terms of conclusion, what does God have for the children of the king? That's us. What do we learn from tonight? Just in a few minutes that we have left, let me give you just a couple of principles.

One deals with the truth of God, the other deals with the training of God, and the last deals with the timing of God. First of all, the truth of God.

The truth of God tells us the kind of people God chooses. Over in 1 Corinthians 1, the Bible says very clearly these words, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26, For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.

And God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. And the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen the things that are not, that he might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God. God's method of choosing people is unlike our method of choosing people. And the truth of God speaks very prominent toward that. God doesn't select people because of their accomplishments. He doesn't select them because of their achievements. He doesn't select them because of their activities, nor their athleticism, nor their applause, nor their accolades.

You can have all that, but that doesn't guarantee that God is going to choose you. He'd choose you not by accident, but always by a divine appointment. It's a divine appointment whereby God chooses his people, which leads me to this, the truth of God to the training of God. I want you to know something about the life of David. His training was in solitude. His training was in utter obscurity. His training was centered around the monotony of his life. This is very important. How did God train David?

What did God do in David's life to prepare him to be the greatest king in the history of Israel? What did God do to prepare him so that when he was a teenage boy, he became the giant slayer, which would cause a nation to erupt in praise over this young man that Samuel would anoint the king of Israel? Well, in the backside of Bethlehem, in the shepherd fields, was this teenage boy, in solitude, isolated by himself. Nobody was watching. There were no TV cameras there to look at a reality TV show of a shepherd in the shepherd fields.

There was no one there to observe him. He was completely isolated with no one but the sheep. So isolated, he became obscured his own family. And there God would begin to do a great and mighty work. God didn't put him in a pampered parochial school for royalty. He just put him in the backside of Bethlehem in the shepherd fields because that's where he would receive his ultimate training to be the king of Israel. And he did it in utter obscurity. He was unseen. He was unknown. He was unappreciated, and he was unapplauded.

You know, I don't know where God has you today. Maybe he's got you someplace on the backside of the marketplace in the back end of the building where nobody can see you. That's the best place you can be for training in God's service. Sometimes we think we need to be out front so everybody can see us, recognize us, so everybody can see how we look and how we work. But in God's kingdom, it only matters if God's watching, and God's always watching. Doesn't matter if anybody else is watching. Doesn't matter if anybody notices you or not because nobody noticed David.

Unseen, unappreciated, unapplauded, but God saw him. And God was looking at this man's life and beginning to examine it. And the unique thing about it is that it was the same thing every day, the monotony of his life, feeding sheep, leading sheep, watering sheep, protecting sheep. And there's lots of alone time, lots of nothing to do time when you're a shepherd, right? Which tells us something, that when he had nothing to do, he honed in in at least two specific areas. One, the area of music, right?

He became the musician of Israel, the songwriter for Israel. He became ultimately Saul's chief musician. But in the backfields of Bethlehem, he didn't just sit around and play video games all day. I mean, after all, what else are you going to do? So you shoot up some bad guys and, you know, run some races and play the Wii and do all that kind of stuff, you know? Didn't do that. Didn't do that mindless activity. He did something that was profitable. He learned to play and play great. But he also learned, he also learned to sling stones.

He was a marksman. That tells us in the monotony of life, you can get caught up just by, you know, my life is so boring. There's just nothing to do, nobody to talk to, nobody to call me, nobody to text, nobody to look on the computer, my Facebook and communicate with, nothing to do. I got nothing to do. I'm bored. Think about David, backfields of Bethlehem. There's nobody there except a bunch of sheep and they can't even talk back to you. And so what did he do? He used his leisure time to the maximum.

He honed in because he didn't know what God had in store for him. He didn't know that when called upon, there'd be an opportunity to be the giant slayer. He didn't know that there'd be an opportunity to have a place with the King of Israel. He never knew that. What did he know? He knew how to play and he got better at what he did every single moment that he was alone. In the monotony of life, he learned to play better and better and better. And he would kill the bear and he would kill the lion when they came upon his sheep, because he was going to protect them.

And he honed in on being a marksman with those stones. So when he went to battle with Goliath, he was not afraid of anything. He was a stud. He knew exactly what he was going to do. Because in that monotony, obscure solitude life, he didn't waste his time. And God was training him for something that would take place at a very early time in his life that would change the direction of his life forever. When you're sitting at home with nothing to do, and you're tempted to be involved in some mindless activity, ask yourself, how would this mindless activity perfect me for the kingdom purpose tomorrow?

Ask yourself that question and rethink the gifts that God's given you. Because the book of Proverbs tells us, and we'll see this in a few weeks, that the gifts that God gives you bring you before great men. So you got to perfect them. You got to work on them. That's what David did. And God used him in an incredible way. He had no idea the plan of God for his life. But when everybody else was partying, everybody else was having fun and playing games, David was on the backfields of Bethlehem perfecting the talents and the skills that were given to him by God.

Because one day he'd be called to do a great work and he was ready. Are you? I would trust that you are because God had a great and mighty plan. David's training exposed him to danger, to threats with lions and bears, but he was ready. And God would use that which we don't think is important, obscurity, monotony, solitude, as the major training ground for the greatest king in the history of Israel. Think about it. Just think about it. And then we move from the truth of the training of God to the timing of God.

Psalm 1830, he asked for God, his way is perfect. God had a time for David. And while he trained himself and he perfected his skill, he was called upon and he was able to go with great authority to slay the giant and was used in the kingdom, in the king's chambers to play music. While he was anointed king of Israel, it would be some 12 and a half years later before he would ever ascend the throne. And once he ascended the throne, it was only over Judah. It would be another seven and a half years before he would be the king of Israel.

Do your math. That's 20 years, 20 years from the time they would sing his praises as a young king anointed before he became the king of Israel. But it was all in the timing of God. And there were times where he thought that it's time to be king. He's in a cave, there in En Gedi, and Saul is in the cave using the restroom. And David has him at knife point. And his men say, God has delivered him into your hands. Kill him and you'll be king. What a temptation. What a temptation. You're right. It's been a long time.

I'm tired. I'm going to become the king of Israel. I'm going to slit his throat, ascend the throne, be the king. But that was Satan's temptation. Satan using his own men to tempt him to ascend the throne at a different time other than the timing of God. God's timing is always, always perfect. But you got to wait. Got to wait for God to lead. And you'll see in David's life, the timing of God and how perfect it always seems to come together for this man. Did he have to wait? Yes, he did. Was he willing to wait?

Yes, he was. But the length of time began to wear on him. He had to learn to trust God, to wait on God, to believe in God like you and I have to do. Because things don't work out in the timeframe that we think they should work out in. And we want to control things. And we want to be the king of our own lives. And God says, I'm the king of your life.

Wait for me. Ask for me. My way is absolutely perfect. And the Bible says these words as a summary of his life.

First Kings 15, verse number five, David did what was right in the sight of the Lord and had not turned aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.

God judges people differently than we do, doesn't he? We take a man's failure and make it his whole life. We take David's sin with Bathsheba, make it his whole life. But God doesn't. God takes a man's failure and makes it an exception to an otherwise honorable life. And that's what God says about David.

He followed the commands of God with all of his heart, except in one case. We all know the case. We'll study it in great detail when we come to 2 Samuel. And yet the Lord used this man in a mighty way. You know what my prayer is for you? Is that God will use you in a mighty way. And that in your solitude, in the hours of loneliness, of isolation, in the monotony of your boring life, that you will sit back in obscurity, dealing with the talents that God's given you, perfecting them for his purposes.

Because one day he'll say, it's time. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord, and he will exalt you in due time, in his time. Let me pray with you.

Father, we thank you for tonight, a chance to be in your word and pray that, Lord, you would teach us much in our study of the life of David. Lord, we have so much to learn. We have to grow so incredibly much. And we know that through your word that can happen. So I pray for everyone who's here tonight, a special, unique blessing upon their lives, that they would walk in newness of life, following the commands of God, learning from this man, David, how to live with a heart that's completely God's.

That's our prayer. We trust you'll answer it for your glory and for your honor. In Jesus' name, amen.