A Resilient Remnant 2: The Importance of Anointing

1 Samuel 16:1–13 NASB 2020

Now the Lord said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, because I have chosen a king for Myself among his sons.” But Samuel said, “How can I go? When Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ And you shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will let you know what you shall do; and you shall anoint for Me the one whom I designate to you.” So Samuel did what the Lord told him, and he came to Bethlehem. Then the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said, “Do you come in peace?” And he said, “In peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” He also consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is standing before Him.” But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” Then Jesse called Abinadab and had him pass before Samuel. But he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one, either.” Next Jesse had Shammah pass by. And he said, “The Lord has not chosen this one, either.” So Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen these.” Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are these all the boys?” And he said, “The youngest is still left, but behold, he is tending the sheep.” So Samuel said to Jesse, “Send word and bring him; for we will not take our places at the table until he comes here.” So he sent word and brought him in. Now he was reddish, with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.” So Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel set out and went to Ramah.

Intro

Acts 1:8 NASB 2020

but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and as far as the remotest part of the earth.”

For believers, the power to live up to our calling in Christ is always tied to our anointing.

Anointing is God’s mark which distinguishes us from the world. That mark is the Holy Spirit who lives within every believer, but also comes on us to empower us to live out the full implications of the gospel, to equip us for good works, and to give us boldness to witness for Christ in this crooked and perverse world.

Ephesians 1:13–14 NASB 2020

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of the promise, who is a first installment of our inheritance, in regard to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Our Baptism along with our confession of Jesus as the Christ marks us outwardly, but Christ marks us inwardly with the Spirit and His presence in us is our ultimate confidence.

If we have the Holy Spirit then we know we belong to Him, that we are a new creation, that we are no longer under sin and death, and that our ultimate future and hope are tied up in God who cannot lose nor will He ever fail to bring about all He has promised.

Philippians 1:6 NASB 2020

For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work among you will complete it by the day of Christ Jesus.

Tension

Israel was afraid because they forgot the God who had redeemed and renamed them, who had fought their battles, and who always wins. They forgot their anointing.

We too are prone to falling back into our old victimized and sin riddled mindset when we forget our anointing in Christ.

Often we do we find ourselves staring down giants which are big, but not as big as God, and fearing those giants even though God who is with us has every intention to bring them all to nothing. He has even promised that we will rule over those giants with Him.

Why do we do this? Because we so easily forget that Christ has marked us and we are His. The only way we can be freed from this fear and walk in confidence, is if we get our eyes on Christ and always remember who we are in Him, and the power we have at our hands through Him.

The enemy, no matter how big, doesn’t stand any chance when we are walking in the anointing which we have in Christ.

Truth

A few important observations about David’s anointing that can help us understand our anointing better...

Context

1 Samuel 16:1–5 NASB 2020

Now the Lord said to Samuel, “How long are you going to mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, because I have chosen a king for Myself among his sons.” But Samuel said, “How can I go? When Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” But the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ And you shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will let you know what you shall do; and you shall anoint for Me the one whom I designate to you.” So Samuel did what the Lord told him, and he came to Bethlehem. Then the elders of the city came trembling to meet him and said, “Do you come in peace?” And he said, “In peace; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” He also consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

I. David was chosen and set apart by grace alone (6-11)

While Saul was the king everyone expected, David was a king no one would have expected.

David was small, young, and forgotten even by his own family.

Based on appearance and perceived equipping alone, David would not have been anyone’s choice to be king.

Yet God does not look at what we are, or what we can produce, but rather what He can produce in and through us.

A willing heart is bigger to God than our current level of preparedness for the role He has planned for us.

“Because David was ordinary, God could be extraordinary through David.” -Dr. Heath Thomas

II. David was prepared and qualified by God Himself (11-12)

God knew what He was doing with David long before He anointed him as king.

During David’s time tending sheep, the Lord was teaching the young man to trust in Him.

The Lord also taught David courage through the challenges He allowed him to face.

Remember that it is often in the place of trial where the Lord teaches us the most about who we are in Him.

As we said last week, God does not test us for His sake, but for ours. God already knows everything but He knows that we are weak and we need to know that we are able to face anything thorough Him.

Testing is a tempering process and as tempering hardens a blade, so it strengthens a person.

No one believed that David was the right man for the job, but David knew it wasn’t about him. He knew it was about the God who was with him and that if God was with him he could do anything.

Christian, know for certain that if God has called you to be a son or daughter in His family, He has qualified you in Christ to carry that identity and he is preparing you as we speak to walk in it.

III. David was anointed and he knew it (13-14)

Samuel put the mark of anointing on David, but God went further by putting the Holy Spirit on him.

In church history this coming upon people by the Spirit has been referred to as the baptism with the Spirit, the anointing with the Spirit, or as the sealing work of the Spirit.

They recognized that once a person has had this sort of deep experience of the Spirit’s presence, it changes everything about how we see ourselves, the world, and our relationship with God. It gives us true confidence in the Lord.

With that sort of confidence in God, a believer becomes much bolder, open to the Lord’s will, and is able to walk more clearly in His power.

The most profound thing about you or me, is what Christ thinks about us. If He has given us His Holy Spirit, what more could possibly be said?

There was no doubt to David that God was with him and that God would do all that He said He would do for him.

David was not confident in himself. He was confident in God who was with him.

Our world is all about self-confidence but that is for weaklings. If you want to be a real champion, you need God-a confidence.

Because David walked in his anointing, he became an overcomer.

He defeated enemies through the Spirit. He repented from sin through the Spirit. He served God well and died righteous in God’s eyes through the Spirit.

I want you to know that if a regular shepherd boy like David can become a champion by the Spirit, so can you.

Even further, that is precisely God’s vision for you life. He wants to show the world how powerful and glorious Christ Jesus is through your life.

The Father intends to put Christ the Son on display in you through the power of the Holy Spirit operating in and through you.

David’s uncommon strength was from God

One thing we consistently see from David’s story is that he is not the hero of it, God is.

When David walked in the power of the Holy Spirit, he was uncommonly bold, powerful, and effective.

When David chose to walk in his own strength, he was a failure.

Application

Like David, we have been chosen to follow Christ not on the basis of who we are or what we have produced, but by grace alone.

Do you find yourself crippled by self-doubt? That’s okay. God did not call you to have confidence in yourself. He called you to be confident in Christ and who Christ is in and through you.

Some of us need to stop acting like this Christian life, our calling and our work, is about what we alone can produce.

If God called you to be in His family, He will absolutely empower you to live up to His name but you have to let Him.

In David’s day the anointing of the Spirit was for a select few but in our day it is for everyone who is in Christ.

Do you realize that you are every bit as anointed as King David was? In fact, you have more than what he has in one distinct way: the Spirit does not merely rest on a Christian. He perpetually lives in us.

Do you realize that you have a special anointing in Christ which empowers you to live a Christian life in the midst of this crooked and perverse world?

1 John 2:20 NASB 2020

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.

1 John 2:27 NASB 2020

And as for you, the anointing which you received from Him remains in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you remain in Him.

You are much more in Christ than the enemy, the world, or your human nature would lead you to believe.

You may be a weak human, but in Christ the weak are strong which really is the theme of David’s life. God wants that to be your theme too.

If we are to be a resilient remnant people in a broken, ungodly, and rebellious world we must learn to walk clearly in the knowledge and the power of our anointing with the Holy Spirit by Christ.

Have you given your life over to Christ, trusting in Him alone for salvation and the restoration of your broken life?

Have you recieved the anointing/baptism of the Holy Spirit?

Here’s the deal, without the anointing of the Spirit you won’t have power to do all that Christ has calling and prepared you to do in this life.

I truly believe this is one of the primary elements missing from the lives of most American Christians. As Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said, it would be a shame if we settled for less that what God has intended for us.

This morning I am inviting you to surrender to Christ’s will for your life. We want to pray for you. If you have not recieved the fullness of the Spirit, we want to ask the Lord to do this for you today.

If you have not entrusted your life to Christ, we invite you to come and receive His grace today.