Good evening. Let's be turning to 1 Samuel chapter 16. This is the chapter where David is anointed king. He's anointed, he's not made the king, but he is anointed king by Samuel according to the will and purpose of God. What's amazing to me as I go through this book of 1 Samuel and going through these accounts of the history of the final judges of Israel, Eli and Samuel, and then the kings, Saul and David, it is incredible to see just the fullness of the salvation of God that reveals Christ and his gospel to us in these pages. For example, one of the doctrines that the Lord brings out to us is that we're not saved by this flesh. The Lord isn't looking to the strength of this flesh and the strength of man to help him. to save him. God doesn't need our help. He's not looking to man for anything. So that we see that doctrine which declares to us that it's not according to our works, it's not according to our will, but it's according to God's will and purpose to save whom he will. God is able. God is able. And if you look there at verse 1, We see this, The LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil, and go. I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons. Now we've been seeing that Saul is a picture of this old man of flesh. When we see Saul, we see what we are in the flesh. And the need he has of grace is the need that the Lord is showing us. This is what you need. This is why you need the Lord to save you. Because by nature, you and I are no different from this man, Saul. And his flesh is rejected. He rejected his flesh. He's not going to work his way out of this. He's not going to gain God's favor by himself. David, on the other hand, we'll see, is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. And our Lord teaches us in his word. He makes this clear that we're not going to reform this flesh. And there's denominations out there. which have an understanding of some of the true doctrines of God and yet in their name they have the name Reformed. And it's about reforming their religion, reforming man, reforming the mistakes made by different churches before them, the Catholic Church or some other church that they are making themselves different from. We're not going to reform this flesh and no amount of religious works, no amount of prayers, no amount of candles, no amount of robes and nice clothes, no amount of anything that we do. You can be the biggest donor in that church building and it's not going to reform your flesh. And there's no amount of anything that we can do. God has rejected this flesh and he has rejected our works as having any influence over whether or not he will save us and what he will do with us. Romans 8, 8 tells us, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. And that is they're led of the flesh, being led of that flesh. And he makes his people to know who their true salvation is, who their true savior is, that it is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he reveals him to us as the horn of our salvation. And the hymn of Zacharias, who was speaking of Christ when his son, his firstborn son, John the Baptist, was born. He makes this connection in Luke 1 verse 67 through 69. His father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people. God has done this, and hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David. And the Lord says to Samuel, Fill thine horn with oil, go. I've provided me a king from among Jesse's sons. And so this gospel reveals that this flesh, the flesh of you and me, it's corrupt. It's sinful. It's vile. It's not going to be reformed. There's no fixing it, and we see it with Saul. God didn't help Samuel figure out how to fix Saul. He can't be fixed. Isaiah 1 speaks of this as well. Isaiah 1, verses 4 through 6. We see this truth repeated throughout Israel's history. The Lord is showing us that the Scripture hath concluded all under sin. Isaiah said, Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors, they have forsaken the Lord. They have provoked the Holy One of Israel into anger. They are gone away backward. Why should ye be stricken any more? And think of Saul. Why should ye be stricken any more, Saul? Ye will revolt more and more, the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. They have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment. And so if the law and Samuel, a godly man, if he can't tame Saul and get Saul to obey the voice of the Lord, to trust and believe the Lord God, well, then who then can be saved? And what remedy has God provided? Has God provided a remedy? Absolutely. Absolutely. Our God has provided the remedy, His Son, Jesus Christ. He is given to the people of God as a Savior. Listen to this from Isaiah 42. He said in verse 6 and 7, I will give thee, speaking to Christ for our benefit and our hearing. He says, I will give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness, out of the prison house. Christ is given by the Father to save us, to bring us out of darkness, to deliver us from the corruption of this nature, this vile nature that, like Saul, goes astray continually. God has done this for us. He has given us the Savior of His people, and He makes this known to us by faith. Turn over to Galatians chapter 2. Galatians chapter 2, and in verse 16 is where we'll pick up. We're just establishing that God has rejected Saul, And he's given us a Savior, a King, whom he's provided. And that King, what David pictures, is our King, the Savior, Jesus Christ. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ. We Jews, even me an apostle, he says, have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ. and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. And some of the things Paul is showing us here is that in Christ, The Lord's gonna show us that we are sinners. He's gonna make known that we are sin by nature through and through. and there's no reformation of it. And if I try to fix that by my works, I make myself a transgressor. And if I look to Christ, I'm admitting, I'm confessing to you, I'm a transgressor of the law and I need God's grace. For I through the law, verse 19, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. And what has God done? He's provided himself the lamb. He's provided himself salvation, the lamb. Verse 20, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, this vile, wretched sinner who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. And so, our Lord gives us These chapters here in 1 Samuel, and these pictures of the judges and the corruption in Israel, these pictures of Saul, a picture of this flesh, and now he gives us a picture of David to show us Christ. And what we see here is that the mystery of God is kept hidden from the world, and yet that mystery is now revealed unto you. who have been called by the grace of God and have heard because he's given you his spirit and Christ has redeemed you and he makes this known unto you, these precious things and how precious you are because he chose you before the foundation of the world and gave you to Christ as his inheritance, as his bride. And Christ loves you and gave himself for you. His bride, he did that for his church and that's sweet and that's why he draws you here, gathers you together to hear this blessed word, this precious word that is life unto your soul. It's the light of Christ and he speaks and you hear his voice and believe him. And so this mystery is given to us, it's revealed to us here in his word, now having the spirit of God. So let's continue back in 1 Samuel 16, going to verses two and three. And Samuel, right, the Lord said, you go and anoint the man I tell you. And Samuel said, how can I go? If Saul hear it, he'll kill me. And the Lord said, take an heifer with thee and say, I am come to sacrifice to the Lord. And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show thee what thou shalt do. And thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee." And so what we're seeing here is Samuel's relationship had indeed become strained with Saul. We were told previously he saw Saul no more. And anything that Samuel did now would be looked at with a suspicious eye by Saul. There was a breach in their relationship and in their fellowship. And he'd be watching them. And so what the Lord is saying here is that this glorious work, this picture of David being anointed king, and that type of who he is, that type of Christ, it would remain a mystery. It would remain a mystery. Saul was not going to know what was going on, because he, if he could have, would have put Samuel to death if he did know about it. Because it was contrary to him. A new king? I'm the king, he's saying. You're not going to make another king. I'm the king, and I'm going to do everything I can to prevent that, is what Saul would have done. And so how is this a picture of Christ? Well, didn't our Lord hide? the glorious redemption that he would accomplish by Christ from the men of this world in order to accomplish that needful redemption for you and I? For his love for his people, didn't he keep it hidden? so that this world, the princes of this world, did not know what the Lord was going to do, that glorious work of redemption by the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. And in doing that, he accomplished the deliverance from our death. He did that. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 2, and put a marker there, because we'll come back to 1 Corinthians 2 a little later. But 1 Corinthians chapter two, In verse 6 we'll pick up, how be it we speak wisdom among them that are perfect. Now he's speaking of you that are redeemed and have been given the spirit and made to know what God has done for you in Christ. 1 Corinthians 2 verse 6, yet not the wisdom of this world nor of the princes of this world that come to naught or to nothing. Verse 7, but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery. even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the foundation of the world, or before the world unto our glory, which none of the princes of this world knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." And so this picture where this was kept hidden from Saul, because had he known it, he would not have cooperated with it. And it's a picture of how the Lord has kept this redemption, kept it a mystery from the world, lest they would have avoided crucifying Christ so that we could not have been redeemed and reconciled to God by the death of His Son. All right, now, back in our text here, verses four and five, 1 Samuel 16, four and five. And Samuel did that which the Lord spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? And he said peaceably, I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. Now again here we're seeing a picture. We now see, having the spirit, we see, wait a minute, there's something about Bethlehem that pictures our Lord Jesus Christ. Bethlehem is where our Lord was born, just as he was prophesied that he would be born in Bethlehem, Judah, a little place. But that's where the Christ would be born. And David was born there. And David, again, is a type of whom Christ is an anti-type, or Christ is the fulfillment of that which David pictured. And the people trembled. They trembled because of Samuel's coming. Why? Well, they feared the jealousy of Saul. You remember, this was happening a lot. I mean, this was the beginnings where we're really seeing there's a strain here. And Saul's acting different now. And the people are concerned. They don't want to get mixed up in this. If you remember, a little while later, I think it's in chapter 21, David went there when he fled from the presence of Saul, because Saul wanted to kill him. He went to Ahimelech, the high priest, or the priest there, and he got bread. And there was a wicked man there that was still in league with Saul. And he reported what Ahimelech had done. giving David bread and so Saul saw it as you helped my enemy and he put Ahimelech and all those priests of that household to death that's just a little while later and so so clearly these people were afraid of that and just remember just go back to first Samuel 15 and look at verse 28 just so you remember this And Samuel said unto Saul, The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine that is better than thou. And you think about that. Saul could have put Samuel to death right then and there. He just wanted to look good in front of the others, and so Samuel relented and went with him to that. And so the people were in expectation of another king, just as Saul was in expectation that it was going to happen at some point. And what are we told? How is this a picture, a further picture of Christ? Well, we're told that when the wise men who saw the star and they began traveling a long distance and they finally get to Jerusalem and they go to Herod, we're told that when Herod the king had heard these things that was reported to them of the child being born, he was troubled and all Jerusalem with him. Jerusalem with them. This is a picture of the mystery of God being revealed to us in the face of Jesus Christ. God is declaring His Word. God is revealing Christ. He is speaking of Christ right here in this seemingly mundane chapter of history. and yet it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we're warned, right? What we see here in Saul and how he was provoked eventually by David and how he was stirred up by this and jealous. Well, we're warned of our enemy. In Revelation, we're told, woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea, for the devil has come down unto you having great wrath, because he knoweth that his time is short. And Saul knew his time is short. And so we see there, there's opposition by the enemies of God to the truth of God. That glorious redemption when Christ returns, that glorious work being wrapped up, we look forward to that. We rejoice at the thought of Christ coming. And the people of God rejoice that God was raising up a king after his own heart. And but Saul wasn't rejoicing. Saul was angry. Saul was jealous. And so he didn't want that to happen. So it remained a mystery in order to bring to pass that glorious redemption work that you and I now rejoice in today and are thankful for. The Lord did that for you. He kept it a mystery for you. Just like he said to Israel, I've overthrown whole nations for you. That's what the Lord does. He does all things to the glory of his name and for the good of his people. Now, back in 1 Samuel 16, verse six and seven, and it came to pass when they were come that he looked on Eliab. That's actually another name for Elihu from Job, but not the same one. But he looked on Eliab and said, surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said unto Samuel, look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as a man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. And so here again, even in Samuel, we are reminded of the weakness of our own flesh, how easily turned we are, how easily fooled we are, and we see it here even in Samuel, this godly man. And, you know, because Samuel's looking at Eliab, and he thinks, well, he's a good strapping tall fella. And so was Saul. Saul was reported to be a head taller than everybody else. And he looked the part. And Samuel was ready to say, oh, well, surely this guy looks the part. And we'll just make him king now. But it wasn't to be so, because though he looked like a king, and just like we can look like we're followers of God, the Lord knows the heart. We can do things on the outward, but it's the Lord our God who sees the heart, and it's the Lord our God who gives a new heart. He knows his creatures because he makes his creatures new creatures in Christ. He brings us into the light, and we are known of him, and we know him even as we are known of him. And so the Lord is teaching us here. He knows the heart. Trust Him. Believe Him. We're not going to get one over on God. He knows all things. And He's able to do all things. Romans 2 verses 28 and 29 says, For He's not a Jew, which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. But He is a Jew, which is one inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God." That's the approval we want, brethren. That's the approval we need, is of God. And we find that approval in one, even in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was chosen of God for that very purpose. Now drop down to verse 10. And Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel, and Samuel said unto Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither. And so that number there, seven, it's a completion. It's a picture of all men having passed before the Lord, and none are found worthy. None of us is found worthy before the Lord. None of us is perfect, and none of us is found worthy. Samuel said of this one whom the Lord looks to and would have us look to, he is worthy. And Samuel tells us we won't sit down till he come. And this speaks of Christ. And until Christ came, we could not rest. We could not sit down, a picture of resting. And that's what he's shown here, is until Christ has come, the nature of man, he's going to be working and working and laboring and spending and doing and trying to get himself saved, fearful and afraid and never arriving, because that's all we are. But when Christ comes, then we're able to sit and rest at his feet. And so what the Lord is showing us here is that no man is fit, no man born of Adam is fit for this work. Christ wasn't born of Adam's seed. Christ is born of incorruptible seed. And he was formed in the womb of Mary. He's the eternal son of God formed in the flesh in the womb of Mary by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost by incorruptible seed, incorruptible seed. And yet he's able to save us and he's worthy to fulfill the perfect will of God for his people. John the Apostle in Revelation chapter 5, he saw this view in heaven. He says, I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven or on earth, no man in heaven or on earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, not even able to look thereon. That speaks of us, those seven sons of Jesse. That perfect number. None of us is worthy. None of us is able. And John, the apostle, wept much. He began to weep. And he was sad at that. Because how then is the will of God for us here on the earth going to be executed and implemented and fulfilled unto us? How are we ever going to get that good will? And he wept much because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders said unto me, Weep not. Behold the line of the tribe of Judah. There's David, again that picture of David, who pictures Christ, the line of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof. Christ has done the work. Christ came. He is the Lamb of God. He accomplished our redemption. He fulfilled all the will of the Father by going to the cross as the mediator between God and his people. And He went to that cross faithfully as the sin bearer to make an atonement for the sins of His people, to put them away forever, to obtain forgiveness for our sins, deliver us from the wrath of God, and to give us life and righteousness in Him so that we're delivered from the law. It has nothing more to say to us. We're not under the law. We're in Christ. We stand complete in Him and all the will of God. is open unto us, given to us, and fulfilled unto us according to the promise of God in Christ. Because He's worthy. He's the one whom the Father chose. And so He's ruling and reigning at the right hand of the throne of God right now, brethren. And God makes known his mind to us through Christ. It's not through religious service. It's not going through the motions. It's not going through the dead letter works of religion that reveals this to us. It's the grace of God who's given us His Spirit, the Spirit of His Son, into your hearts, making you to know what our Lord has done, what He's accomplished for us, and revealing that it's all of Him, causing us to sit, to rest, because He has come into our heart and made known this salvation unto us. Back there in 1 Corinthians 2, 1 Corinthians 2, just look at verse 11 and 12. For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now, we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. And so that's what the Lord has done. He's given us his spirit. That's how and why we hear Christ, and rejoice to hear Christ, and want to hear of Christ, and are given life in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what's witnessed back in our text in verse 12. And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ready and with all of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, arise, anoint him, for this is he. And so here comes David, a young man rejected by his brethren, a man thought unworthy. the father bringing before the prophet of God, a man who's out doing the work of a servant, keeping watch over his father's sheep and taking care of his father's sheep. And yet this man is the one who was chosen by God of God to lead his people. And we're told he was ruddy and with all of a beautiful countenance and goodly to look to. The picture of Christ here in David is that all his life, when he was here as the Messiah, speaking the words of his father, doing the will of his father, doing the works that the father sent him to do, all that time he was despised and rejected. He was the chief cornerstone, yet he was put aside by the builders. cast him aside and they wanted to build the house themselves in their own fallen wicked image. But when he was made ruddy, when he was made ruddy for his people, ruddy means red. That's what the word means. It means red. When Christ was made ruddy with blood, when he was made red, and we were given to see and understand what Christ had done for us on the cross and giving his life, that's when he was good to look to. That's when he was made beautiful. That's when he was made the fairest of 10,000 to us because he is the Savior. He did this work, this glorious work for me. The servant of God came and served God and served his people. ministered salvation to his people, delivering them from death. And that's when we see him with all of a beautiful countenance and good lead to look to, when he was made red for us, red with blood on the cross for your sins, you that believe him, you that have no righteousness of your own. And by the Spirit of God, the Church agrees with God's view of His darling Son. The Father delights in His Son, and we that have been delivered from death agree with the Lord. We give our consent to His Word. We agree with Him. In Song of Solomon, the Church says, My Beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand. This, She says, is My Beloved, and this is My Friend. O daughters of Jerusalem, we delight that Christ is our beautiful, ruddy husband and Savior, our champion, our friend, our all. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. Brethren, Christ has come, and our God has glorified him in our midst. He is justified in the Spirit, being raised from the dead, showing that God is well pleased with that work that the Son has done for you that believe him. You that believe in Him and trust Him are justified in Christ. You are sanctified. You are set apart. You are the inheritance of Christ, and He is our inheritance. And He reveals Him in our hearts by His grace and power, anointing Him before us, showing us that He is the Savior, the salvation for His people. So that's a beautiful picture. I pray the Lord bless it to your hearts forever. Amen.