Sermon Tone Analysis

Leader Guide ESV, Unit 11, Session 1

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Edited by Rev. Lex DeLong, M.A.

Summary and Goal

When Samuel’s career as prophet and judge was winding down, the people of Israel demanded that Samuel appoint them a king so they could be like the nations around them.

God warned them of the foolishness of this demand and gave them over to the consequences of their request, consequences that did not take long to manifest under King Saul’s failed reign.

In this session, we will look at David and see how he became the second king of Israel.

In David we see the kind of king that God desires while also catching a glimpse of the future King God would one day provide.

David won the battle over Goliath, one of the most dangerous enemies Israel ever faced, but Jesus, our perfect King, won the ultimate victory in His battle with sin and death.

Session Outline

1. ++God’s king is measured by the Lord’s standard, not the world’s (1 Sam.

16:1,6-7,11-13).

2. ++God’s king trusts in the Lord’s deliverance (1 Sam.

17:23,26,34-37).

3. ++God’s king participates in an improbable victory for the Lord and His people (1 Sam.

17:45-51).

Session in a Sentence

God delivers His chosen, not by sword or spear, but by His strong hand, so that all the world may know that He alone is God.

Christ Connection

In David we see a picture of an unexpected warrior and king.

David defeated a seemingly unbeatable enemy with courageous faith in God’s power.

Jesus is the greater King whom no one expected to win the victory over sin and death, but through His death and resurrection, He is mighty to save.

Missional Application

Because we have been forgiven through the power of the cross, we don’t pursue the nations in judgment but with the message of grace that all may hear the good news and be swept up into the glorious love and grace of God.

page 39 (DDG) we all serve someone or something, most often a functional king of some kind.

American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan penned the broad-sweeping lyrics to “Gotta Serve Somebody,” saying everyone sits under the rule of someone or something, and he was absolutely right.

No matter the decision we make, big or small, we all look somewhere to give our lives guidance.

In fact, it’s safe to say that we all have a functional king in our lives.

Many of us balk at the idea of an actual king sitting over us on a throne with a scepter and a crown.

But when we examine our lives closely, we see that we all have something in our lives that rules us, even if it is somewhat more abstract.

Ask

What are some functional kings that can rule over our lives?

How are these functional kings dangerous and destructive?

(relationships; appearance; health; influence; power; career; success; money; possessions; grades; sex; entertainment; man-centered religion)

The problem is not that we serve a king but that we serve the wrong king much of the time.

· Instead of serving the Creator God as King, we usurp His authority and put part of His creation on the throne of our lives in His place.

These misplaced, illegitimate kings may vary, but the result is always the same—each of these kings leads to frustration, despair, and ultimately to our own destruction.

· We are made for more.

Our hearts long for the true King, the One who will secure us and satisfy us in ways that no other king can.

Thankfully, God has provided that King for us in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the King our hearts long for and the only One whose reign over us does not enslave us and lead to destruction but rather frees us and leads us to life.

In this session, we will look at David and see how he became the second king of Israel.

In David we see the kind of king that God desires while also catching a glimpse of the future King God would one day provide.

David won the battle over Goliath, one of the most dangerous enemies Israel ever faced, but Jesus, our perfect King, won the ultimate victory in His battle with sin and death.

Point 1: God’s king is measured by the Lord’s standard, not the world’s (1 Sam.

16:1,6-7,11-13).

Chapter 16 serves as a turning point in 1 Samuel, and in Israel’s history.

The Lord had rejected Saul and had a new king in mind (13:14; 15:28).

What kind of king would you choose?

Someone similar to Saul, only taller, stronger, and even more kingly in appearance?

If so, you would be in good company because that’s who the prophet Samuel had in mind.

Read 1 Samuel 16:1,6 (DDG p. 40).

1 The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over 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, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.”

…………………………..

6 When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before him.”

DDG (p.

40)

Each of us has a picture in mind, a standard, of what a king is supposed to look like.

They need to be good looking or athletic or intellectually inclined or skilled in some particular field.

In fact, we’d prefer they have all of these visible qualities and more.

Why is that?

Because we are quick to judge people strictly by appearance.

This outside-in approach to life is often how people measure value and success.

· We all see certain qualities as essential for someone to be successful in leadership.

If someone looks good, they must be good.

If they look powerful and strong and courageous on the outside, then they must be that way on the inside.

The key to a better interior life is seen as a better exterior life.

· We cannot underestimate how important it is to recognize the flaws and dangers of this outside-in approach.

Jesus reserved some of His hardest sayings for those who focused on looking good on the outside while ignoring what was on the inside (see Matt. 23:25-28).

Samuel learned quickly the lesson that God sees people differently than we do.

After seeing Eliab and thinking he must have been the Lord’s anointed, God spoke to Samuel about the kind of king He had in mind.

Read 1 Samuel 16:7,11-13 (DDG p. 40).

7 But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him.

For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

…………………………..

11 Then Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?”

And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.”

And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.”

12 And he sent and brought him in.

Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome.

And the Lord said, “Arise, anoint him, for this is he.” 13 Then 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 rose up and went to Ramah.

What does it mean that “the Lord looks on the heart” (16:7)?

God doesn’t merely look at a person, He looks into a person.

He takes an inside-out approach, not outside-in like we do.

When God looked through Eliab’s impressive exterior, He didn’t see the interior He desired.

But when God looked through David’s modest exterior, being the youngest of his brothers, He saw something different, something He desired in the one who would be Israel’s next king.

· Even though David had an attractive appearance (16:12), there was something deeper and much more significant about him.

No one who saw David that day imagined they were looking at God’s next anointed king of Israel.

Why?

Because they all judged him by the world’s standards.

They were taking an outside-in approach, one which would have placed Eliab, and even Saul, above David when it came to choosing a king.

But the Lord judged David by a different standard, a higher and truer one—He began with his heart.

The Bible speaks of the heart as the center of who we are.

It’s certainly more than just our emotions.

The heart drives all that we do.

Our motives, intentions, and desires all reside in our heart, which is why we are told in Proverbs to guard our heart above all (Prov.

4:23).

Ask

How can believers evaluate someone with an inside-out approach?

(follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit; examine the fruit of someone’s actions and words; evaluate people based on the teachings of Scripture; view people through the lenses of grace and humility; evaluate people based on their expressed heart of devotion to Jesus)

Point 2: God’s king trusts in the Lord’s deliverance (1 Sam.

17:23,26,34-37).

Sometime after David was anointed the future king of Israel, he went to a battle against the Philistines.

Jesse had sent David not to fight but on an errand to check in on his brothers in the army (17:17-19).

For forty days, Saul’s army had been listening to the Philistines’ giant champion, Goliath, shout against Israel in defiance, taunting them to send one of their best men to fight him.