FBCWest 735 | The Lord Looks at the Heart
Recorded On: 10/25/2026
Bulletin
Hymn # 481 “Just a Closer Walk with Thee”
SCRIPTURE READING – Psalms 115:1 - 8
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
OFFERTORY PRAYER
OFFERTORY MUSIC – Pru Hungate
Praise and Worship
“What an Awesome God”
“Raise a Hallelujah”
“This Is amazing Grace”
Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“The Lord Looks at the Heart”
PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection
“At the Cross (Loe Ran Red)”
Acknowledgements and Announcements
Sermon Notes
1 Samuel 16:1 Lord tells Samuel to stop grieving about Saul and anoint a new king
1 Samuel 16:2 & 3 Samuel is afraid Saul will kill him, so God gives him an action plan
1 Samuel 16:4 & 5 Samuel does what the Lord commanded him. When Samuel arrives the people are concerned about his presence
1 Samuel 16:6 Samuel thought the oldest son of Jesse would be king
1 Samuel 16: 7 The lord does not look at the appearance of a person, but the heart
1 Samuel 16:8 – 10 None of the sons present are chosen
1 Samuel 16:11 The youngest, David, is tending the sheep. He does not even participate in the sacrifice
1 Samuel 16:12 & 13 David chosen as king and is anointed in front of his family
Romans 8:26 & 27 The Spirit of God searches the heart
Matthew 5:27 & 28 The heart can cause sin even without the physical action
Psalm 51:10 – 17 God can cleans and make the heart right
Scritpures
Transcript of Service
You've heard it said you should not judge a book by its cover. That can have a negative implication of one. But God doesn't just judge by the book of by the cover of the book. As a matter of fact, he's read your book. And the awesome thing about God is he has the power and ability to change your story. We're going to take a look today at that. We have a difficulty determining who people are. We oftentimes judge them by their appearance or how they speak or how intelligent they seem to be.
But if they're deceived, they may seem honest and trustworthy. But then again, they may be a con person. Or we may not think that they are trustworthy and can be. But not only do we have difficulty determining who other people are, we can even deceive ourselves as who we are. Oftentimes we think we would do something that we end up not doing or that we wouldn't do something that we end up doing. God sees more than just what we do and what we say. So we're going to take a look at that. So if you have your Bibles and you should, please turn to 1 Samuel chapter 15 and 6, I'm sorry, 16.
And we're going to start with the first verse. And it says this. Now the Lord said to Samuel, how long will you grieve over Saul, rejected him from being king over Israel? Now I want to stop there in the middle of this verse because remember, Samuel was rejected by the people. They wanted a king because they said Samuel was old and that all kings and they wanted one. Samuel took it personal, but God said, don't take it personal. They're rejecting me as king over them. And usually when somebody succeeds you and it's in a success and that you aren't happy about, you kind of hope they don't do well.
That's not Samuel. Samuel wants Saul to do well because he's a representative of God and he's leading God's people. So he seems still to be grieving over the fact that God has rejected Saul as being king.
And so it's just not, oh, I had asked him whatever I said at one time and I go on my with my life. Samuel seems to be truly bothered by the fact that Saul has been rejected. Then God goes on and says, I've got something for you to do. Fill your horn with oil when I will send to you to Jesse the Bethelmite for I have selected a king for myself among his sons. So God tells Samuel, stop grieving and start taking action into my plans of a future king. And similar to when Saul anointed king, God told Samuel, I'm going to show you who I'm going to select but he doesn't tell him immediately. Now in this case, he's kind of limited to Jesse's sons but he doesn't tell him which one.
He just says, go fill your horn with oil so that you one that I'm going to give you that information. But I want you to wait until you actually go there and see them for yourself. And then I will tell you who I have selected as king. But Samuel said, how can I go when Saul he will kill me. So Samuel said, if I go, it's going to be known that I'm going to anoint another king and Saul's not going to want another king. So he's going to try to stop me by killing me.
So God doesn't review him, say, well, oh, God gives him a plan. And the Lord said, take a half with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. And you shall invite Jesse to the sacrifice and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me the one whom I designate to you. And is you're to go to Bethlehem, you're to offer a sacrifice and you're to invite Jesse and that will give you the opportunity to meet his sons and I will tell you and designate to you who's going to be the king that you're going to anoint. So God gives him a plan of action and go without fear of Saul's intervention.
So Samuel did what the Lord said. And again, Samuel consistently follows the word of the Lord. He doesn't continue to offer him excuses.
He says, okay, he goes. And he came to Bethlehem. And he came trembling to meet him and said, do you come in peace? Samuel is a judge. He has been judging Israel all these years of his life. And when the judge shows up, it's usually not uninvited a good thing. And so they're afraid to judge them.
And so there's, are you coming in peace? Are you coming to offer a judgment against us? And he, Samuel said, in peace, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.
Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. Now notice, we are going to be consecrated by the fact that our worship. Samuel tells them to consecrate themselves first and then come to the sacrifice. We don't become holy by just showing up. We are to be holy and then show up. So he says, and come with me to the sacrifice.
He also consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. And again, a part of God's plan invite Jesse and his sons so that I can dexinate who it is that's going to be the new king. And when they entered, he left him and thought, surely the Lord annoyed it is before me. I'm sure that he is the similar to Saul in since he's probably tall, enhanced him and looks like a king. And so he meets the physical characteristics that would think a king would be. But the Lord said to Samuel, do not look at the appearance or at the height of the his stature because I have rejected him for God's sees not as man's sees for man looks at the outward appearance. The Lord looked part.
Now it says, everybody thought Saul should be king because they looked the part and A.L.A. looks the part. Maybe he should be king. And the Lord is so unseemull. The problem with Saul was even though he looked the part, appearance of a king, he did not have heart after God. And that was his problem in his rule because he did not follow and take what God's word was seriously. So God says, I'm don't look at what a person looks like is in their heart.
And again, that is very difficult because you and I can't see what's in a person's heart. And so God can, so he got says, I'm looking at the heart. Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before and he said the Lord has not chosen this one either. Next, Jesse made some awe passed by and he said the Lord has not chosen this one either. Thus Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. But Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord has not chosen these. Now seven sons have passed by and none has been chosen. But God told Samuel it's one of Jesse's sons.
So at this point it's looking like, well maybe God got it wrong or you'll miss heard God or whatever. But all seven have been rejected by God. And Samuel said to Jesse, are these all of the children? So again, he's a little worried. Wait a minute. God told me to anoint one of your sons. And he said, there remains, he holds, he is tending the sheep.
Now we fathers sometimes have short-sightedness when it comes to our children. We sometimes think of them better than they are or worse than they are. I mean, how is it that not only is so not considered a possibility but they don't even give them the day off? They're there offering a sacrifice and being a part of this worship time. But David has to be tending the flock. He doesn't even get an invite by his own father. Again, it's the well. He's the the little one, the youngest one, certainly he's not going to be it.
So you can stay, be busy, take care of the family business and all your other brothers who probably are going to be significant. We'll let them go to the sacrifice. And the remains yet, the youngest and we hold, he is sending the sheep. Then Samuel said to Jesse, send in bring him, but we will not sit down until he comes here. Samuel is taking this as an urgent situation. He's not saying, I'm not going to be passive. I'm not going to sit and we'll take all the gods in essence sent me to do accomplish something to anoint one of Jesse's sons.
I have not seen all of Jesse's sons and God has not anointed any of them yet. So I want this to be done quickly. So we're not going to rest until one comes so that I might see him and see whether God designated him or not.
So we sent him and brought him in. Now he was ready, which means kind of a reddish of complexion with beautiful eyes and a handsome appearance. So we had this appear pleasant, but he was young. And the Lord said, arise, anoint him for this is he. God picks the youngest of eight sons. We tend to think, well, it's always the oldest.
And he had God oftentimes is the younger. He chose Jacob over his brother, Esau. He chose Joseph over all the other children to bless Israel.
God will oftentimes choose those things that man doesn't seem to honorable. And yet God chooses that because again, God sees the heart. So I mean, it took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of the Lord came mightly upon David from that day forward. I think there's a giant and we're going to see this in the future. David is anointed in front of his family to be king.
And yet it doesn't seem to change the opinion of his family of who he's going to be. They will treat him as often treat other, there are other brothers. But God has designated. And so the people who are aware that now the king will be David and David knows and Samuel knows and his seven brothers know and his father knows. They are the ones who are aware of this that God has anointed David because the Lord looks at the heart. So then this is Samuel Rose and Renta Ramah. Samuel did his job, did what the Lord had commanded to do.
Lord Anoint David to do other things. So once he did what he was told to do by the Lord, he goes home. Unless the Lord handle whatever is going to be the future of David. Now David is not a perfect man.
And we will see that. But as God looks at the heart, I want us to think about how God looks at our heart. So in Romans chapter 8 verses 26 and 27, this is this. In the same way the spirit also helps our weakness. But we do not know how to pray as we should.
Self intercedes for us with groanies too deep for words. So there are times and we're not sure how we should should we pray this way or that way, which is the best way. And Jesus is teaching on prayer tells us that we should ask for the Lord's will.
So that should be a part of our brains. And so the spirit helps us to pray the way we should, which is in keeping with the Lord's work. But then notice what it says. And he who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the spirit is because of the saints according to the will of God. So notice that not only does he pray for us according to the will of God, he searches our hearts. Now notice it didn't say he searched our heart. It's a continuing process.
God continues to search continues to search our heart so that we might know what the mind of the spirit is. Are we truly saying, your will be done? Or am I saying this because I'm supposed to say it as opposed to in my heart, do I really mean it? And because of this, he intercedes. Make sure that the will of God is accomplished according to God's will in our lives.
But our hearts. We tend to think, well, it's kind of who we are, but there's a difficult, truly unusual aspect of the heart. In Matthew 527 and 28, Jesus says this, you have heard it said, you should not commit adultery. But I say to you that a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Jesus is saying, your heart can cause you to sin even though you may not physically commit to sin. Now he's not saying you should physically commit to sin because you spiritually did, but it's so wicked that we can actually sin without doing anything because we don't have a heart that's after God's own heart. We have a heart that wants what we want and desires what we want even though it's against God's will. Heart can cause us to sin.
David fully understood this. David committed numerous violations of the 10 commandments. And when he was confronted with his sins, instead of offering excuses, he was repented. And a part of that repentance we find in Psalms 51. And a part of that repentance is part of verse 10 through 17, which says this, again, rather than offering excuses like Saul had, he said, created me at clean heart. He says, take this heart that can be corrupted and sinful and clean it. Make it as white as snow.
My sin is as scarlet, but you can make it God as white as snow. David doesn't try to self-help routine because person the God who can do that. So it goes, God created me a clean heart and renew a steadfast spirit within me. I want to be able to stand firm in your spirit. So give that spirit where it isn't in weak.
It doesn't to temptation and evil, but I want to have that steadfast spirit. Do not cast me away from your presence. And do not take your Holy Spirit from me. David understands the importance of being in the presence of God. We've seen with Saul when he would be confronted by sin. He goes, Samuel, pray for me, the Lord, your God. David, even though he's a sinner, understands, he goes, he's still the Lord, my God.
And I want to be in his presence. The most significant and important thing in my life is to be in the presence of God. That's the God had mightly appeared upon David after being anointed.
He understands the difference he had having been anointed by the Holy Spirit and that spirit coming up on. He goes, don't take that away from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Now I want you to see this. Oftentimes we think because we sin that we lose our salvation. That's not what the scriptures teach. The scriptures teach.
Once we have been saved, we are eternally saved. However, we can lose the joy of that salvation when we have sinned and separated ourselves. So David said, I don't want to just be saved. I want to have that joy of salvation that has been a mark of my life being with you and sustain me with a willing spirit. God, whatever you want I want that.
Let me sustain so that I am sustained, that is constant in my life, that I want what you want. Then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will be converted unto you. All too often, we don't teach people because we have gone away from God. We have sinned. But when we get right with God, when we are doing the things that God wants us to do, then we are more than likely to tell others of what the Lord has done in our lives and the lives of others.
So not only therefore, am I going to teach transgressors your ways, as a result of that, they will, sinners will be converted to you. They will trust you as I have trust you because my life is showing the joy of your salvation, the presence and my clean heart and my willing spirit. Then he says, deliver me from blood, guiltness, O God, the God of my salvation. Then my tongue will joyfully sing of your righteousness. Oftentimes we come to church or play Christian music on the radio and there are times we just sing the words. David is saying, when I have that clean heart, when I have that steadfast spirit, I'm going to sing joyfully.
I'm going to speak joyfully. Unfortunately, one of the reasons a lot of non-believers, stay non-believers, is we Christians seem to have very joyless lives and even in our worship as it ought to be. Open, O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare your praise. For you do not delight in sacrifice otherwise I would give it. You are not pleased with bird offerings. The sacrifices of God, spirit, it broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
You see, God remembers because of your spirit, your heart. God sees that. He sees when you are to be spiritual, pretending to be religious, pretending to be righteous. Instead, he sees whether your heart is broken and contrite. When God sees that, he will not despise it. God reads us. He doesn't just see the outside. He just doesn't read the cover.
He reads our book. And unfortunately, our book without him has a very unpleasant ending. But God can change our story. And he has done it through the offering of his son, Jesus Christ, who died that our heart may be made that he might give us not only a clean heart, but a new heart. One that seeks him, one that has a heart like his. Your story can be just as David was from being a shepherd boy to the king, a sinner to a saint because of God's looking on his heart and acting. And you can have the same story and all of God's people stand.