After God's Own Heart

Intro:

Good evening.

Tonight I want to talk to you about a man the Bible calls “after God’s own heart.”

Incidentally, that’s the sermon title tonight.

Of course, that man would be none other than King David.

You can read about the life of David in 1 and 2 Samuel, and his name is brought up in various other verses after that as well.

Of course David wrote a large portion of the Psalms - approximately half of them I’m told.

But this idea that he was a man after God’s own heart - That’s found in Acts 13:22 and 1 Samuel 13:14.

Let’s go to 1 Samuel and read some of that account.

We will begin reading in 1 Samuel 13:11 in just a moment:

What’s going on here?

Saul and the Israelites had been fighting the Philistines and Saul had been waiting for Samuel to come do an offering, but he grew impatient and decided to do the offering himself (even though he was not allowed to do so - [He wasn’t from the tribe of Levi]).

That’s where we pick up with verses 11-14 (Read in Bible).

That’s our introduction of David by way of a prelude to his life, and the fact that David is going to replace Saul for his sins.

(And that’s not even Saul’s only terrible mistake around that time — Fast forward to chapter 15, and you’ll see that Saul did not obey God, but spared King Agag even though God told him to utterly destroy all of the Amalekites).

(That’s the famous chapter where we read “Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in OBEYING the voice of the Lord? Behold, to OBEY is better than sacrifice, and to HEED than the fat of rams!” - 1 Sam. 15:22)

(I’ll let you read the rest of that chapter yourself, but for now take a look at 1 Samuel 16).

This is where we really get introduced to the man that is David.

(Read 1 Samuel 16:5b-13 - Start with “Then he consecrated ...”)

Here we are introduced to the man after God’s own heart!

What I want to do now is look at some other verses about David.

We know David is going to end up experiencing some high points (like defeating Goliath in 1 Samuel 17) and low points (like his sin with Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11 and all the turmoil that followed).

But I want to talk about David from the perspective of his faithfulness for the remainder of the lesson tonight.

David’s Faithfulness:

The first verse I want to look at is actually an indirect reference to David, and it is found in describing his son Solomon:

Take a look at 1 Kings 11:6 — “Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and did not fully follow the Lord, as did his father David.”

Wait a minute — I thought David wasn’t perfect either?

After all, David did sin egregiously with Bathsheba.

Well, take a look at …

1 Kings 15:1-8 - (We’re going to read about King Abijam).

Abijam is the Great Grandson of David.

You had David, then Solomon, then Rehoboam (who split the kingdom), and then Abijam).

(Read 1 Kings 15:1-8, and note especially verses 4-5).

So what’s going on here describing the life of King David?

Was King David perfect? (Yes or no?) (No)

How do we prove that? (The matter between David and Uriah and Bathsheba)

But was King David FAITHFUL?

(Yes) - King David was faithful to God … except for the matter of Bathsheba — That’s when he got off the path.

Which is why by the time we get to Hebrews chapter 11, faith’s hall of fame — We read of David in verses 32-34 which says: “And what more shall I say? For the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak and Samson and Jephthah, also of DAVID and Samuel and the prophets: who through FAITH subdued kingdoms, worked righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, BECAME VALIANT IN BATTLE (David, among others), turned to flight the armies of the aliens, etc. etc. etc.”

Everyone mentioned in faith’s hall of fame in Hebrews 11 was an imperfect person — You can read about all their sins in the Bible — But they were faithful!

David was a man after God’s own heart; David was faithful!

We, too, must be like David as we walk in God’s light!

1 John 1:5-10 - “This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.”

Conclusion:

I’ve got a final question for you tonight, and then the lesson will be yours.

The question is this — Is being a man after God’s own heart something that you’re born with?

Or something that can be developed?

The Calvinist would say that you’re either born with a heart like David, or you’re not.

But the Bible teaches that we can train our hearts in the way of God’s righteousness, thus we can develop ourselves into being people of God’s own heart!

But that’s a subject for another day! :D

What about you?