Series: Questions
Title: How Long Will You Mourn?
Text: 1 Samuel 16: 1-13
Date: February 5, 2017
Place: SGBC, New Jersey
1 Samuel 16: 1: And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?
Here we have another question that God asks a man. As we have seen in this series, when God asks a man a question, it is not to provide the all-knowing God with information. In almost each case, God asks a question to convict and convince the man of his sin. Here again, we find the same thing. Samuel was mourning for Saul but God had rejected Saul from being king of Israel—“And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?”
Samuel liked Saul. Samuel was the prophet the LORD had used to anoint Saul, the first king of Israel. Saul had credentials to be a king—of the tribe of Benjamin, head and shoulders above other men, with great military skill. But Saul disobeyed God’s command. And God rejected him from being king. To Samuel, this like us having a beloved brother prove himself false. Samuel pitied Saul—“it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night.” (1 Sa 15: 11)
But by the time we come to our text, a lot of time has passed. Samuel is still mourning over him. So God chastens Samuel and turns him from this ungodly king and sends him to anoint the king that God had chosen and provided.
Though this passage deals with king David being God’s choice, we see something else here in God’s dealing with Samuel.
Proposition: God turns his child from walking by our carnal sight and keeps us worshipping God in spirit and in truth through faith in Christ our King.
THE ERROR OF JUDGING BY CARNAL SIGHT
1 Samuel 16: 1: And the LORD said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel?
When we attempt to walk by carnal sight, by natural judgment, by sentimental attachment, it will cause us to choose what God has rejected.
While dead in sins we only walked by carnal sight and only choose that which God rejected. We had no spiritual discernment as natural men.
1 Corinthians 2: 14: For the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
Sadly, after God creates a new heart within us, we still find ourselves, at times, attempting to walk entirely by sight rather than faith. Such was the case with Samuel. At this point, Samuel is an aged believer. He is almost finished with his public ministry. By God’s grace, Samuel knew what kind of king Saul was. Years before, God told him what kind of king he would give if the people chose a king to reign over them rather than God. When the people wanted a king like the other nations, God sent Samuel to declare the kind of king man always chooses,
1 Samuesl 8: 9: Now therefore hearken unto their voice: howbeit yet protest solemnly unto them, and shew them the manner of the king that shall reign over them. 10: And Samuel told all the words of the LORD unto the people that asked of him a king. 11: And he said, This will be the manner of the king that shall reign over you: He will take your sons, and appoint them for himself, for his chariots, and to be his horsemen; and some shall run before his chariots….14: And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your oliveyards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants….17: He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. 18: And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day.
So God gave them Saul. But over time, Saul deceived Samuel. Samuel had grown fond of Saul so that he had a natural attachment to Saul. Just like we do for our flesh. That is why a believer can be in the faith a long time yet still find ourselves, at times, attempting to walk entirely by sight rather than faith.
For example, far too often, we look at our sins and begin doubting if we even know God. This is from looking at ourselves, at the outward appearance, rather than keeping the eye of faith on Christ alone. Or we do something we ought to have done then get puffed up in self-righteousness. Again, we do so from looking at the outward appearance rather than Christ alone. At times, a believer makes choices which we know is not the will of God, according to his word. It is the same as what Samuel was doing in mourning over Saul. Our sinful flesh is our Saul. We mourn over it, when we know it is an ungodly tyrant like Saul was.
Romans 7: 19: For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Thanks be to God’s unchanging grace, thanks be to the blood of Christ our Redeemer, thanks be to his sovereign Spirit, God says of our sin what he said of Saul, “I have rejected him from reigning over you.”
Romans 6: 14: For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
So we see that we should never judge by carnal sight. Believer, walk by faith in Christ, not by carnal reason.
THE OIL OF THE SPIRIT
1 Samuel 16: 1: 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.
This was oil by which Samuel was to anoint the new king. This “horn” was a vessel to carry the oil.
Yet, it is true that this is what our heavenly Father does for his child when we are attempting to walk by carnal sight rather than faith. Be it the first hour or many years into the faith, our heavenly Father pours into the new heart he has created the oil of the Holy Spirit and God takes the reign over his child.
God fills his child with the oil of the Holy Spirit and speaks effectually into our inner man and says, “Fill thine horn with oil and go!” He makes his child to be like one of the wise virgins who made sure to have oil in their vessels. God must first create us anew and pour in the oil. But by this he effectually commands us and makes us attend the hearing of his gospel and read his word that we might stay on Christ that we might be sure to have this oil in our vessel.
God reveals to us and continually reminds his erring child that God has provided a King among the sons of Jesse. His name is, King Jesus. Christ is Jesse’s son, according to the flesh, of whom king David was a type.
Christ is the King God provided for his people. Christ our King makes all his people in his kingdom righteous in him. Christ our King gives a holy heart by taking up abode within his people. God turns us to Christ our King and keeps us looking and resting in Christ alone.
THE LUST OF OUR FLESH
1 Samuel 16: 2: And Samuel said, How can I go? if Saul hear it, he will kill me.”
Oh, what a warfare within the child of God. Scripture says “our flesh lusteth against the Spirit.” (Gal 5: 17) As we hear Samuel object to God’s command is this not an example of what we do when we walk by sight rather than faith? Is this not an example of our flesh lusting against the Spirit? Is this not what we do when we look on the outward appearance rather than believe God? This is the LORD of heaven and earth speaking. This is the LORD of hosts saying turn from the ungodly tyrant which he has rejected and flee to King Jesus whom he has chosen! Yet, this too is the folly of our sinful flesh which makes us object in unbelief, saying, “how can I go? If Saul hear it, he will kill me.”
Samuel had a legitimate fear. He had no power against an enemy as great as Saul. Is anyone here afraid the law will condemn you if you attempt to come to God? Do any fear that your sin is too great to come to God? You have a legitimate fear. You and I have no power against so great an enemy.
THE WORD OF THE LORD
1 Samuel 16: 2: And the LORD said,…
There is only one way we can be saved from the lust of our flesh. There is only one way we can come to God safely—“And the LORD said.”
The only sure refuge from our sinful flesh is to obey the word of God. The only way God will receive a sinner is if we obey the word of the LORD! God’s word is sure. God’s word is always what is best for you and me. We ought never listen to the voice of our flesh but heed God’s word.
Someone will say, “All right then, tell me what God says in his word and I will do it! What work must I work to be saved? If you knew, would you obey God’s word? Someone asked Christ that same question one time and he told them exactly what God says for us to do.
John 6: 28: Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? 29: Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.
That’s right! Would you heed God’s word, indeed? Then hear this! God says sinners will be safe and secure only if we come through faith in the one sacrifice God commands we come to him with.
THE SACRIFICE GOD COMMANDS
1 Samuel 16: 2: Take an heifer with thee, and say, I am come to sacrifice to the LORD.
Here was God’s word to Samuel. This was God’s answer to the fleshly objection Samuel put forth. This is the one way God says that we can come to God safely and insured that no harm will come to us. It is only by coming with the sacrifice God commands. Who is represented by this heifer, by this sacrifice God commanded Samuel to take with him?
Hebrews 9: 13: For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
The sprinkling of the ashes of the red heifer holds much vital instruction for us. (Nu 19: 1-22) God gave a law that any who came into contact with the dead would be unclean. In that law, there was no way a man could keep from becoming unclean. The point was to show you and me that in all that we think, say and do we are unclean because our flesh is sinful and defiled by nature. God provided one way for the people to be made clean. It was through the red heifer, without spot and blemish, which never wore a yoke, which was slain and burned without the camp. The red heifer typified Christ Jesus the Lord who was crucified under the fire of God’s justice without the camp in place of his people. The Hebrew writer says “if the ashes of the heifer sprinkling the unclean purified their flesh ceremonially then how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”
It does not matter if you are coming to God for the first time or if you are a Samuel who has been in the faith a long time who God is turning from some enemy. Sinners can only come to God through faith in Christ. And we never stop coming to God through faith in Christ!
MEETING IN THE SACRFICE
1 Samuel 16: 3: And call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will shew thee what thou shalt do: and thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto thee.
God commanded Samuel that when he took the sacrifice which God commanded then he was to call the king’s father to the sacrifice. Get the picture. On one side is Samuel. On the other side is the father, Jesse. In between is the sacrifice. Samuel calls on the father to meet him in the sacrifice. What does the show us spiritually?
When a sinner comes through faith in Christ, he comes asking God the Father to have mercy on us, meeting us in Christ the Sacrifice. Come believing on Christ. As you do, call on God the Father of King Jesus. And God promises he will meet a repentant sinner in that one sacrifice, Christ Jesus.
1 Timothy 2:5: For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
So Samuel obeyed God. When God speaks effectually in the heart that is always the result. So Jesse and his sons came to the sacrifice.
THE LESSON
1 Sam 16: 6: And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD’S anointed is before him. 7: 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 man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
God taught Samuel the problem that caused his mourning and his reluctance. This is our problem. We must be taught of God not to look on the outward appearance, “for man looketh on the outward appearance—BUT GOD LOOKETH ON THE HEART!”
The Pharisee—the legalist, the law-monger, is concerned with the outward appearance.
Luke 11:39: And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.
Brethren, we were Pharisees while dead in our sins; and our old fleshly man is still a Pharisee. That is why while dead in our sins we saw Christ like the Pharisee’s saw Christ when he walked this earth.
Isaiah 53: 2:…he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
But we loved our touch not, taste not, and handle not which is nothing less than choosing an ungodly rebel like Saul to be our king. But God rejects our works and the Saul-Pharisee of our flesh. God must create in us a new heart, form Christ in us and continue to speak effectually in us like he did Samuel. Only then will we do what God brought Samuel to do.
Samuel passed by all Jesse’s big, strong, kingly-looking sons until at last they called David from tending sheep.
1 Samuel 16: 12: And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. 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 brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.
Outwardly, David looked nothing like men wanted in a king in that day. He was “ruddy” (red, probably red-haired) “and of a beautiful countenance” (beautiful in the face, probably of a fair-complexion), “and goodly to look to.” (in that day men wanted a rugged man for king, not someone goodly to look to)
But when God spoke and said this is he, David appeared beautiful to Samuel. And so it is when God verifies in our hearts that Christ is his King in whom God is well-pleased. When God calls a sinner by his grace and power he makes us agree with God that the King of his choosing is the King of our choosing. God makes us submit to the King that God has chosen to be our king rejoicing in our Lord Jesus alone, worshipping him in the Spirit alone, and God makes us put no confidence in the flesh.
Christ alone served God with a perfectly holy heart in perfect righteousness unto the death of the cross. And he alone is righteousness and our acceptance with God. All who truly fear God rest in Christ our King alone!
Psalm 147: 10: He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: he taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man. 11: The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in those that hope in his mercy.
Amen!