Anyway, open your Bibles to 1 Samuel, the book of 1 Samuel. We're going to get in just a moment to the 16th chapter of the book of 1 Samuel. Remember in 1 Samuel chapter 15, Saul has rebelled against the Lord. Saul has decided to be disobedient to Almighty God, and so he has...this is off. Saul has disobeyed God, and he is told, remember, to go and fight the Amalekites until they be consumed, and yet he has not done so, and so God has rejected Saul. In 1 Samuel 15 and verse 26, Samuel says, Thou hast rejected the word of the Lord. He hath also rejected thee from reigning over Israel. And Saul's reign in the mind of God is over. Israel had chosen him for all of the wrong reasons in the first place. They chose him based upon his outward appearance. They chose him based upon his reputation. They chose him because his dad was a mighty man of valor, that he was the son of Abiel, the son of Baccharath, the son of Kish, a Benjamite, and he was head and shoulders above everybody else, and a choice young man, and a goodly. And yet, the nation of Israel having rejected the Lord, chose him." Remember, they came to Samuel in 1 Samuel 8 and verse 4, and they said, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king, that we may be like all the nations, that our king may go before us, and judge us, and fight our battles. That's what they asked for, and the thing displeased Samuel. And the Lord said, They have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. And now King Saul, although he has been an abysmal, selfish failure, has now been rejected. It's at this point that we meet the next Bible character. He's already been mentioned one other time, and we'll get to that in chapter 13, but now we're going to meet the next king of the nation of Israel. There are only four men ruled over the 12 tribes, and this is the second of the four men that ruled over the 12 tribes. And God is going to tell Samuel to go and anoint him to be king. In this passage of Scripture, it's one of the most famous passages of Scripture in the Word of God, and I want you tonight to indulge me, if you will, and pretend like you don't know the outcome. We're going to put ourselves squarely in the field there, in the Valley of Elah, between the two warring nations here in just a moment. But for right now, before we get there, we're going to look at one of the most misused, misapplied, and most often quoted verses in the Word of God. If you post something on Facebook and you say, boy, didn't that group look beautiful? All those men dressed in their suits standing up and singing, all those ladies dressed modestly, Somebody is going to post on your Facebook page, they're going to respond with one of two incorrectly used Bible verses. Probably the one that's known the most is this one, judge not, that you be not judged. As soon as you say that someone did something good, they're going to say, judge not, that you be not judged. They're going to tell us that we shouldn't have any standards at all. By the way, everybody has standards, whether they want to admit it or not. You've never seen anyone walk into the White House wearing a bathing suit on their way in. Everybody has standards. It just depends on where you draw the line. But you're immediately going to get faced with that verse, judge not, that you be not judged. And then you're going to get met with another verse, and that's the one we're going to look at tonight. I want you to look at two different men in this passage of Scripture. Not just two different men, but two different hearts. Several years ago, I was flying out west. I was going to have four weeks of meetings, two in California and two in Arizona. And because the churches were flying me, I went ahead and went by myself. I didn't want the churches to pay for three airline tickets and all that kind of stuff, so I went by myself. That's not the problem because I've been apart, unfortunately, for several weeks before. A few times I've been overseas and my family wasn't able to go with me because of different constraints and safety concerns and things like that. So being gone for four weeks was not the real issue. The real issue when I was gone for four weeks in the month of February. Now right in the middle of February, there is a holiday. It's not really a holiday. It's a marketing gimmick. It's a marketing gimmick by the chocolatiers and the florists and the greeting card manufacturers. And they put this thing there in the middle, St. Valentine's Day or just Valentine's Day. It was the first time in my daughter's 12 years that I was ever going to be apart from her on Valentine's Day. And that thing eat me up with guilt like I cannot even describe to you right now. I was feeling so bad about that, I went and I bought five presents for my daughter for Valentine's Day, because I was sad I was going to miss her. By the way, because I'm not silly, I bought five exact matching gifts for my wife. I didn't want one to say, well, you bought her more than me, or you spent more money on her. I didn't wanna hear that, and so five exact gifts. I bought, number one, I bought a box of chocolates, one for each of them. I bought a big beautiful card, one for each of them. I bought three roses in a vase, one for each of them. I bought them a little stuffed teddy bear, again, one for each of them. And then on Wednesday, there was a knock at the door and a man showed up at the door and gave them or delivered to them a box of chocolate covered strawberries. I left, I went to the West, and each night before I would go to bed, I would sit down at my computer, I would send my wife an email, and in that email, I would include a poem. The poem gave them directions to find what they were supposed to find each day as they went through those five days of Valentine's Day. Every day, they'd get up, they'd run to the computer, both of them, they'd check the email, and then they'd start searching through the house, and find the present that I left for them. They were excited about it all week. So because I was gone, my daughter and my wife didn't just get one Valentine's Day present, they got five. Every year from that year until this, both of them asked me to leave town in February. But if you looked at those five gifts, you would have noticed something significant about those five gifts. The little stuffed teddy bear was holding a little heart in his hand that said, I love you. The roses had a little medallion there with a heart hanging there that said, I love you. The card was covered on the outside and inside with hearts, the chocolates and also the chocolate-covered strawberries were delivered in heart-shaped boxes. So if you saw what I bought my wife and daughter that year for Valentine's Day, you would draw the conclusion that the heart means I love you. You would draw the conclusion that the heart is the source of all emotion and certainly all love and adoring and all that kind of stuff. However, if we brought a cardiologist in and sat him down right here and we asked him about the heart, he would say, it's nothing more than a muscle, an organ in your body that pumps blood out through the arteries and back in through the veins. And by the way, if you live to be 80 years of age and you have a normal heart rate, on your 80th birthday, your heart will beat for the 3,300,000,000th time in your lifetime. Aren't we fearfully and wonderfully made? If you brought in an executive from one of the movie companies, they would tell you that the heart means this, especially if it's one that's located here in Florida, I won't mention Disney's name. But if you brought them in, they would tell you that the heart is what you follow when your wicked stepmother and your wicked stepsisters are making you clean the house. And if you follow your heart, a prince is gonna show up and put a slipper on your foot and whisk you away to the palace and you're gonna live as the princess of the entire land until you get mad and move to California. That's a different story. I'm sorry, I got confused. By the way, the Disney version of the heart is the worst one. The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. Who can know it? You follow your heart, you end up in a mess. You wanna really be happy? Then delight thyself also in the Lord and he will give thee the desires of thy heart. Psalm 37 and verse four. There are all kinds of different definitions about what the heart is. But when you read it in the Old Testament, the word that is typically used is a word that describes more than just your emotions. It describes more than just your loves. It describes more than just an organ pumping blood in your body. When you read someone's heart described in the Old Testament, it's describing their personality, their goals, their desires, it's describing all of that. In other words, when someone's heart is described, it's describing what makes you, you. It's that simple. In this passage of Scripture, we're going to look at two distinctly different hearts. We're going to look at the way God reveals those two distinctly different hearts. As a matter of fact, in chapter 16, God is going to whisper something to one man. And by the end of chapter 17, the whole world will know it forever. I want you to notice the text with me, please. I'm gonna ask you to keep your Bible open, because we're gonna start in chapter 16, but we will get over to chapter 17. Notice what the Bible says. Remember, in the context that Saul has just been rejected, chapter 16 and verse 1, and the Lord said unto Samuel, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, saying, I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil, and go, and I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided me a king among his sons. And Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hear it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take in 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 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. And it came to pass, when they were come, that he looked on Eliab, that's David's oldest brother, he looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before me. 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. Anytime you post something about something, some kind of separation on your Facebook page, someone is gonna jump in and say, the Lord doesn't look on the outward appearance, he only looks on the heart. To hear every one of them describe this verse, we should read it with three sniffles. It should say this, He said, Look not on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature, for I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth. For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord only looketh on the heart. They'll tell you that your outside can look any way that you want it to look, just as long as your widow old heart is right. If your heart is right, the outside will be right as well. I'm gonna preach a message tonight entitled, How's Your Heart? We're gonna look at the heart of Eliab. God is telling Samuel something in 1 Samuel 16 that nobody else knew. And then he's gonna broadcast it for the entire world to see. Let's have a word of prayer before we begin. Dear Lord and Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening. Lord, we ask you that you bless the service tonight. We ask you that you help Kids Club. We ask you that you help us to pay attention. And Father, do what you would have us to do with this passage of scripture. Have your will and your way in our hearts in Jesus' name. Amen. I want you to know this, that we have on one side a refused heart. Later we're going to talk about the right heart. The refused heart, the first thing you see about the heart of Eliab is that it is concealed. Nobody knows when he comes walking in. And by the way, if this verse said what they say it says on all the social media, the verse would go like this. And there sat Samuel in his wicked, self-righteous, independent, fundamental heart. When in walked innocent little Eliab, and Samuel looked at him and judged him with his fundamental judgment and say, that boy could never be king. He's wearing Hittite hair. He's got Jebusite shoes on right there. I think that his actual sword was made by Canaanites. He could never be king. I've looked on the outside and I don't like him. And all of a sudden, God said, how dare you, Samuel, be such a stick in the mud? How dare you to be so self-righteous that you're gonna reject this man based on his outward appearance? Don't you know that you're the only one that's worried about the outward appearance? I only look on the heart. Now you get up, Samuel, and you anoint him to be the king of the nation of Israel. It said the way they quote it to say, that's how the passage would read. Eliab comes walking in. Samuel looks at him. Samuel says, wow, he looks like a king. He walks like a king. He dresses like a king. He knows he's at the right house. He's supposed to go to the home of Jesse the Bethlehemite. He knows he's looking at the right family. He knows this is the oldest son of Jesse's family. And he walks and talks and acts and does everything just like a king. And Samuel says, wow, surely the Lord's anointed is before me. Samuel doesn't know that there's a problem with Eliab. Jesse doesn't know that there's a problem with Eliab. David, Abinadab, Ashamah, his other brothers, they don't know that there's a problem with Eliab. And God whispers in the ear of Samuel and says, not him. Samuel was accepting Him based upon his outward appearance. This verse isn't saying that the outward appearance doesn't matter. As a matter of fact, the Bible is pretty clear that that's not true. Let your light so shine before men so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. The whole book of James is in there to show us that our faith without good works is dead to the world. It's not dead to God, but it's dead to the world. We're supposed to be the mirror image of our God so that the world sees us and glorifies Him. That's not what we do most of the time, but that's how it's set up to do it. Samuel looks at him and says, hmm, I like him. And God says, no. See, Eliab has hid his wicked heart from everybody, his refused heart from everybody. See, you can hide a bad heart from just about everybody. You can hide it from your pastor. You can hide it even from your spouse. You can hide it from every single person in the world. There are people sitting in church after church after church. You look fine on the outside because this passage isn't saying the outside doesn't matter. This passage is saying that the outside isn't enough. It's not just being right with God on the outside. It's being right with God on the inside as well. He's got it concealed. Nobody knows. Nobody looks at Samuel and says, well, he's not going to choose Eliab. Look how bad he looks on the outside. No, he cleaned up pretty good. He looked pretty good. See, the refused heart can be concealed from just about everybody, can't it? Samuel did not just fall off the turnip truck yesterday. Samuel's been in the ministry. Remember in chapter 8, the verse we quoted a few moments ago? Thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Samuel is an old man now, and remember, he's been serving in the house of the Lord since he was a toddler. He's not some right behind the ears rookie that can't tell when the bad person's standing in front of him. No one can tell because Eliab has hid this from everybody. And if you've hid it from everybody, I have to tell you this, the refused heart can be concealed from almost everybody, but the refused heart can't be concealed from God. Hebrews chapter four and verse 13, neither is there any creatures not manifest in his sight, for all things are naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Psalm one and verse six, the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous and the way of the ungodly shall perish. Proverbs chapter 15 and verse three, the eyes of the Lord in every place beholding the evil and the good. Job chapter 34 and verse 31, he seeth all the ways of man, he knoweth all his goings. Amos 8 and verse 9, the eyes of the Lord are over the sinful kingdom. God is always watching. God is not guessing about Eliab's heart. He knows Eliab's heart intimately. And God says, don't anoint him. I've refused him because of his heart. Notice, the refused heart can be concealed from just about everybody. The refused heart can't be concealed from God, but watch this, in just a moment, the refused heart is gonna be revealed to everybody that has ever lived. Notice, number one, the refused heart can be concealed. Number two, the refused heart is cowardly. Go to chapter 17 with me, please. Now what has happened, Saul has put his battle in array. We're gonna put King Saul and the armies of Israel, for the sake of the object lesson tonight, we're gonna put them in the choir loft. The Philistines, their hated enemies, have put their battle in array, and we're gonna put them in that balcony back there where the PA is. I'm not picking on the PA guy, but most people think that the PA guys are Philistines anyway, all right? Now my mic's gonna go mute here in just a second. He's gonna get me back. We're gonna put them back there just for the object lesson. In between is the valley of Elah and there is a brook there. They're ready to go into battle. And all of a sudden, before they can go into battle, and you've heard this story all your life, out comes a giant of a man by the name of Goliath. He is of the region of Gath. He walks down in the valley and he begins, number one, to blaspheme God. Number two, he begins to challenge the children of Israel. Choose you a man that we may fight together. If I defeat him and kill him, then shall you be our servants. But if he defeat me and kill me, then we shall we be your servants. He says, let's go ahead and have a fight right now. Send me down someone to fight me. First observation about his speech, and we'll read it here in just a moment. The first observation about his speech is when did the children of Israel get together and have a vote and make Goliath the commander in chief of the armies of Israel. So, Brother Harper, what are you trying to say? Well, you have to understand a little bit about me. When I was young, I was what some have lovingly and graciously called a smart aleck, all right? Are you familiar with that? Some of you have probably described some of your kids and grandkids that way. I was a smart aleck, at least that's what I was told. What I found, if you ever asked an adult a question they couldn't answer, there was gonna be a meeting with your parents because you were a smart aleck. So oftentimes, by the way, I will tell anybody in the auditorium that if you're right now being called a smart aleck, wait till you turn about 45, because then you're just satirical and sarcastic. So I had this question. Every time I would hear this passage of Scripture taught on or preached on, I would want to ask the question. I would want to bring it up. But I was always afraid that my parents would be called in and I would face the wrath of my mom or dad when I got home because I asked a smart aleck question. When did the children of Israel vote for Goliath to be the leader of the armies of Israel? I said, what do you mean, Brother Harper? Because Goliath comes down in that valley and he says, you send me one man. And the children of Israel said, whoa, we can only send one. Why didn't Saul send 3,000 guys down there at that moment and chop Goliath into little tiny pieces? Yes, he might kill a few of them. He's not going to kill them all. Why didn't he put 2,000 archers on either side and send arrows into Goliath so he looked like a pincushion by the time they were done? Why was it that the children of Israel immediately said, well, we've got to do what Goliath said? Who put him in charge? By the way, Christian, let me point something out. Goliath wasn't in charge of the nation of Israel, and Goliath isn't in charge of the church today. Goliath acts like he's in charge. The world acts like they can tell us what to do. The simple truth of the matter is, we march in the same army, and our Savior, Jesus Christ, is our captain. We don't have a commander-in-chief, if you will, over us that isn't him. Notice the second thing. Over and over you've heard that story about Goliath, about all those things that he did. And they always say one thing that just isn't found in Scripture. Do you know they'll tell you every time you hear this passage preached on that Goliath blasphemed God? You know Goliath didn't say a single word in recorded Scripture about God. Notice what it says. Let's just read it because I know you're looking at me funny and you're saying, well, all the Bible storybooks say that he blasphemed and all the sermons I've heard said he's blasphemed. I'm not concerned about what Bible storybooks say or what sermons say. I just wanna know what the Bible says. So let's look at chapter 17. Start with me in verse four. And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had a helmet of brass upon his head and he was armed with a coat of mail. And the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And one bearing a shield went before him. And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? Am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to God? Oh, that's not what it says, is it? By the way, can I tell you something scary about this passage of scripture? The scariest thing about this entire story is that sometimes God gives us exactly what we think we want. The children of Israel wanted a king to go before them and to judge them and to fight their battle. The children of Israel rejected God's leadership for a king's leadership. And now all of a sudden, they're no longer known by the Philistines as the servants of God. Now they're the servants of Saul. He goes on. I'm sure I stopped too early. The next part is the blasphemous part. Let's read what it says. And that I, a Philistine, and ye servants of Saul, choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If you are able to fight with me and to kill me, then will we be your servants? But if I prevail against him and kill him, then shall you be our servants and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the God of Israel. No. That's not what it says. I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together. When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. By the way, in a few verses, the Bible is going to tell us that Goliath spake according to the same words for 40 days. He didn't blaspheme God a single time. Oh, he defies the armies of the living God. He criticizes the armies of the living God, but he doesn't say a word about Jehovah. But he gets down there and he gives them this challenge. The refused heart can be, number one, concealed, but number two, it's going to be cowardly. Notice what happened when Goliath gives his challenge. All of a sudden, verse 11, when Saul and the people heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. It's not just Saul that's afraid. It's Abinadab and Shammah and Eliab, David's three oldest brothers that have been conscripted into Saul's army. They all cower in fear. You would think that Eliab, being this guy that looks so kingly, that he would have said, now wait just a minute. I'm not going to let anybody say anything negative about my country. I'm not going to let them challenge us, because I know that God can deliver. And since I know that God can deliver, I'm going to go down there and fight Goliath. And even if I lose, I will die in the service of God. See, Eliab was not willing to stand up for the armies of Israel, was he? He also wasn't willing to stand up against the Philistines. This is their hated enemy. We can understand Eliab saying, well, I'm just gonna sit in my tent and be afraid. If he were a Hittite, if he were a Jebusite, if he were a Canaanite, but no, no, this is a Philistine. This is their lifelong enemy. I'm gonna let a Philistine say negative things about my nation, not on your life. Hang on, big boy, I'm coming down there right now. No, Eliab won't stand up for the armies of Israel. He won't stand up against the armies of the Philistines. As a matter of fact, in this whole passage of Scripture, Eliab's only willing to stand up to one person and one person only, his baby brother. I have a baby brother. He called today while we were at lunch today. I apologize. I should not have referred to him as my baby brother. That's actually a deal that we have. I would always refer to him as my baby brother. I will admit that that is a little demeaning. And to be honest with you, I did it on purpose. How many of you are the oldest sibling in your family? Raise your hand. Do you know why you're the oldest sibling in your family? Because God put you here earlier so you could pick on your little brothers and sisters for the rest of their life. My little brother called me up one time. He'd preached at chapel. We went to the same Bible college. And he said, you know, every time I preach here, someone tells me I remind them of you. And I said, you know, that's funny. No one's ever told me I remind them of you. I have fun like that. But I did make an agreement with him. We walked into, he went with me to a church and I walked in and I hadn't been there before. And he, at that time, looked younger than me. He's 12 years younger than me, but he looks about seven years older nowadays when we walk in together. But back then he still looked young. And so we came walking in together and someone looked at me and then looked at him and said, Brother Harper, is this your son? So he made a deal on that day. He would never call me daddy and I would never call him my baby brother, all right? So he is my youngest brother. The only person that Eliab is willing to stand up to is his baby brother. The only person he's willing to call down is his baby brother. The only person he's willing to correct is his baby brother. He only wants to correct someone that he thinks he has power over. Notice the refused heart can be concealed. The refused heart, number two, is cowardly, but the refused heart is also critical. Now remember what's happened here. Let me fill you in on the time between the verse we just read and the next verses we're going to read. Forty days have gone by. Jesse has three of his sons in the army of King Saul. He does not know anything about what's going on. There is no news media reporting exactly the stations, the locations of the Israeli troops. There's no words coming back. No one knows what's been going on at the battlefield. Jesse doesn't know if his sons are dead or alive. He doesn't know if the victory's been won or if Israel has been completely defeated. He doesn't know if he's going to three of his own sons' funerals. And he says, David, go see how the battle fares. Take these cheeses to the thousands, captains to the thousands, and take these box lunches to your brothers and go. David immediately got up and went. He gets there and watch what happens when he gets there. All of a sudden, David has shown up at just the wrong time, if you will. Verse 22, and David left his carriage in the hand of the keeper of the carriage and ran into the army and came and saluted his brethren. As he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the armies of the Philistines and spake according to the same words and David heard them. I will point it out, David heard it for the first time. Everybody else has heard it for 40 days. There may have been some that on that first day, they had a problem with it. But after 40 days, they're just used to it now. It doesn't bother anybody anymore. They're not looking at God, they're looking at Goliath. Watch what happens. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were sore afraid. And the men of Israel said, have you seen this man that has come up? Surely to defy Israel is he come up. And it shall be that the man who killeth him, the king will enrich him with great riches and will give him his daughter and make his father's house free in Israel. three wonderful, two wonderful awards, and maybe a third one. His family's never gonna pay taxes again. He's gonna get a cash reward. He's gonna marry the king's daughter. We do not know. She might've been very ugly, but still, it could be a good thing. He's gonna be part of the royal family. And David spake to the men that stood by him, saying, what shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine and take away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God? And the people answered him after this manner, saying, So shall it be done to the man that killeth him. And Eliab, his eldest brother, heard when he spake unto the men. And Eliab's anger was kindled against David. And he said, Why camest thou down hither, and with whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know thy pride, and the nunnish thy heart, for thou art come down, that thou mightest cede the battle. And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? I want you to notice his criticisms of David. First off, he diminishes David's responsibilities. Well, who's keeping those few sheep in the wilderness? You're nothing but a little shepherd boy, and here I am, a giant soldier in the army of King Saul. By the way, which is better, a shepherd boy who actually watches the sheep or a soldier that cowers in his fear and is in a constant state of retreat? He diminishes David's responsibilities. I've had the choice to preach in conferences and things like that. And most of the men that I've preached with have been just princes among men. But every now and then you'll see one that'll talk to a pastor. There he is, I'm Dr. So-and-so. And this pastor comes up from Hazard, Kentucky and shakes his hand. And he says, well, where do you pastor? And he says, I pastor in Kentucky. And how many do you have in your church? And they say, well, we run about 30. All of a sudden, he is completely dismissed and waved off. There's nothing right about that at all. Eliab diminishes David's responsibilities. Isn't that what we do in a church house sometimes? Well, you know what? All she does is clean the bathrooms. All he does is show up for visitation once a month. All he does is run around and make sure the hymnals are straight. Listen, stop diminishing someone else's responsibilities and just make sure you're doing yours. The refused heart of Eliab is critical. He criticizes David's responsibilities. He criticizes David's motives. You came just to see the battle. That is not why David is there. That's what he was told to do when he got there. The reason David is there is because his dad told him to do it and he was obedient. By the way, I would not have been as obedient as David. David has already been anointed king. So when Jesse comes to David and says, go and check out how your brothers are doing, I would have said, where's the your highness? But not David, he just got up and went and left the sheep with the keeper. By the way, we're quick at that. We're quick to justify people because of their motives, and we're quick to diminish people because of their motives. Well, the only reason that he comes to church is so that everybody will think he's spiritual. The only reason that she cleans the church is so that everybody will brag about her. Isn't that what we say? You don't know someone's motives. There's no way you can tell someone's motives. Then you'll have someone that does something completely unbiblical, and you'll hear someone say something like this, well, I know he probably shouldn't be doing that, but he's got a good heart. First off, you can't see his heart. Secondly, you don't know his motives. The simple truth of the matter is, wrong is wrong, even if it's done for the best of intentions, and right is right, even if it's done for the wrong reason. God will decide that, will he not, when the fire falls on every man's work of what sort it is? Let God decide if they did something right for the wrong reason. That's not up to you. Eliab criticized David's responsibilities, he criticized David's motives, but he also criticized David's heart. Now this is an amazing thing to me. We're watching, remember this is the story of David and Goliath. The only person that criticized David in the story of David and Goliath is Eliab. Are we not seeing on full display the heart that God told Samuel that Eliab had? What's he say to David? I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart. You know, by the time we get to this passage of Scripture, we know two conclusive things in Scripture. Number one, God's rejected Eliab's heart. Number two, God likes David's heart. Remember what the first thing God ever said about David in 1 Samuel chapter 13 and verse 14. Samuel says to Saul, the Lord has sought for him a man after his own heart. We know, as we're reading this story, that David has the right heart, Eliab has the refused heart. But have you ever noticed that someone that is arrogant thinks that everybody else is bragging? The thief thinks everyone else is embezzling money. The guy that's looking at the wrong thing on the internet thinks that everyone else is looking at the wrong things on the internet. The guy that's always lying thinks that everybody else is exaggerating. We project our sins on someone else. Isn't that exactly what Eliab just did here? I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart. No, Eliab, you're the one with the naughty heart. We already know. We heard God whisper it to Samuel. Notice, first thing we see is the refused heart of Eliab. It can be concealed, but not from God, and eventually it's gonna be revealed. Everyone that ever reads the whole story of David and Goliath will know there are two bad guys in the story, Goliath and Eliab. The refused heart is cowardly. He won't stand for the right. He won't stand against the wrong. He'll only stand against those weaker than him. The refused heart is also critical. They criticize your responsibilities, they criticize your motives, and they criticize your heart. By the way, unfortunately, in churches nowadays, we don't just have cowards and critics, we have cowardly critics. You'll come to church and you don't like something, so rather than talk to someone about it, you'll go home and post it on your Facebook page in anonymity. You forget that your Facebook page has your name on it. If you have fought all against your brother, go to him. Notice, as you look at this passage of scripture, the sad truth of the matter is, in most churches, most Christians have a heart more like Eliab's than they'd ever want anyone to know about. On the other side we have David, the man after God's own heart. The only person in all the Word of God that is described as the man after God's own heart. What a title! I wish there was some way, as we looked at the refused heart, now let's look at the right heart. I wish there was some way we could study a little bit about David. If there was some kind of podcast that he did, or maybe a DVD set, or even a reel-to-reel or eight-track set that he did that we could go back and watch. I wish there was some way we could listen to him. I wish there was some way we could read something that he wrote. Oh. 75 at least of the Psalms were written by David. And do you know David describes his heart in a whole lot of those 75 Psalms? See, first I want you to see the right heart. The right heart is first Christ-like. It's Christ-like. Think about David, what he said about his heart. He said he had a singing heart. He said, Thou hast put a song in my heart in Psalm 40 and verse 3. David had a singing heart. By the way, you might not be able to carry a tune in a bucket, but if you have the right kind of heart, you've got a song in there. Nobody might ever want to hear you sing it. I was in a church in Abilene, Texas, and the pastor got up on Tuesday night, and he said, I've received many requests about singing the special tonight, but I'm going to go ahead and sing anyway. The Lord pulled a mean trick on me. For 30 some years or 20 some years, I told everybody just how mean of a father-in-law I was gonna be. I had all kinds of father-in-law jokes. I loved it. I couldn't wait for my daughter. I didn't want her to get married, but when she got married, I was gonna be that father-in-law in all the jokes. Like the young man that shows up to pick up his date for the evening. And the father is sitting there in his easy chair when the young boy walks in. The dad says, all right, listen, son, I want my daughter home at 11. I don't want to call from you at 1059 and telling me you're going to be five minutes late. I don't want to hear that you had a flat tire. If you have a flat tire, you carry her and you get her home here at 11. I won't accept any excuses. I won't accept anything except her being here exactly at 11 o'clock. Do you understand? And the young man looked at him and said, yes, sir, I do. At that point, the man reached down beside of his easy chair and picked up a 12-gauge shotgun shell, and he threw it right at the young man's face, and the young man dodged out of the way. He said, what was that for? He said, they go a lot faster at 1101. That's the father-in-law I was planning on being. I mean, all of my whole life since my daughter was born, that's who I was gonna be. And then my daughter went and married a guy that's awesome. It's miserable. He's a wonderful guy. He's a hard worker. He loves the Lord. He's talented. He's got all kinds of gifts, but there are two problems with my son-in-law that I can tell you about. Number one, he eats like a three-year-old. Chicken nuggets and cheeseburgers with just ketchup. He doesn't eat anything else. My son-in-law eats like a three-year-old. He eats dry Cheerios. Every night he'll sit there with his big hands and eat a whole handful of Cheerios. Do you know who else eats dry Cheerios? You go to a restaurant on a Sunday afternoon and there's a whole family sitting there of eight people. And at the very end of the table, they've got the high chair sitting there. And there's a 14 month old child sitting there and they're doing just fine while everybody's waiting for food. But all of a sudden they get a little bit rowdy. They start making noise. Mom reaches down in that diaper bag. She pulls out a little Tupperware about this big, she pops the lid off and she puts dry Cheerios on that little tray for that high chair, and that baby with its hands starts eating dry Cheerios. That's my son-in-law! I'll tell you, he doesn't like vegetables. Now, we're simpatico on that. I don't care much for vegetables. I think what people have convinced us to do is to eat something that looks more like grass. And they said, well, just eat it, it's good for you. Okay, who gets to decide what's good for you? Should I eat hay? Should I eat grass? I don't know. You get to pick the vegetables, but that's a little diatribe there. My son-in-law does not like vegetables. My son-in-law does not like fruit. any fruit. I took him to Trinidad with me, ate a mango straight off of a mango tree. He almost threw up. Not only does he not like vegetables, not only does he not like fruit, but listen carefully and try to contain yourself when I tell you this. My son-in-law does not like chocolate. Not white chocolate, not milk chocolate, not dark chocolate. He does not like chocolate. He doesn't like a Reese peanut butter cup. That's exactly right. Now you know my torment, all right? But there's a second problem with my son-in-law. He can't sing. If my son-in-law is in the shower singing, and there are two cats in the alleyway fighting behind the house, they will stop fighting, they will go to the door, knock on the door, and say, can you please stop singing? We can't hear ourself fighting. He called my wife on January the 5th this year on her birthday and sang a song to her. And if I didn't know the words, I would not be able to figure out it was happy birthday. He can't sing happy birthday on key. Do you know what though? He's got a song in his heart. If you have the right kind of heart, there's a song in there. People might be lining up to ask you not to sing it out loud, but it's gonna pop out every now and then because David said he had a singing heart. He didn't just have a singing heart, he had a surrendered heart. What did he say in Psalm 19 and verse 14? Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. He said, I want everything I say and everything I do and everything I feel to be acceptable in your sight. That's a surrendered heart, isn't it? He had a singing heart, he had a surrendered heart, he had a sure heart. David didn't worry about what the world was doing. He was never concerned about that. Remember what he said in Psalm 27 and verse three, though in host should encamp against me, my heart will not fear. Remember what he said in Psalm 61 and verse two? He said, when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. David had a singing heart. He had a sure heart. He had a surrendered heart. He also had a sorry heart. My personal belief is, and I stress that, that the reason David is called the man after God's own heart is that David confessed his sin better than anybody else in the Word of God. Remember after his sin with Bathsheba and his sin against Uriah the Hittite, what did he say? Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in me. Now, it's easy to say. He also said, against thee have I done this evil in thy sight. Now, we would all agree that rape, adultery, and murder is evil. But do you know David used the same word to describe his sin when he numbered the people? It is I that have done this evil in thy sight. When's the last time you and I used the word evil to describe ourselves? We use the word evil. We reserve it for only the people that are the most heinous and wicked in all the world. And we look at ourselves and we describe our sin instead of evil. We describe our dishonesty as little white lies. I just lost my temper a little bit. Oh, I just spoke out of turn. When's the last time any one of God's people said, Lord, I'm not going to sugarcoat it. It's just evil, Lord, and I'm sorry. That's the kind of heart David had. See, the trouble is most Christians are more like Eliab than we'd ever want to be. But we're all less like David than what we ought to be, aren't we? See, this right heart is first Christ-like. This right heart is then concerned. Notice what he says. Watch what he said. He said, what's going to happen? Who's going to kill this guy? David probably thinks for the last 40 days they've been killing one giant every single day. Nobody, remember this now, nobody up here thinks that whoever fights Goliath is going to defeat him. Nobody believes Goliath can be defeated. If they believed they could defeat Goliath through the power of God, they'd have already gone down, got the cash reward, got their father's house free in the land of Israel for the rest of their life, and gotten married into the king's family. They don't believe God can win. Nobody back there is afraid of any of the children of Israel. Everybody agrees that Goliath is greater than anybody up here or anybody back there. David says, well, Who gets to kill him? He doesn't say, what shall be done to the man that goes down there and gives it his best and dies. He said, what shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine? He's a 17-year-old beardless shepherd boy. And his first response is, well, somebody needs to do something about this. I want you to notice that the right heart is not just Christ-like. The right heart is concerned. Who's gonna kill him? The right heart is also convicting. Think about this. After Eliab gives him his little speech and criticize him, David doesn't even defend himself. He just asked the question, what have I now done? Is there not a cause? Now I've heard that preached on lots of different ways. There's a cause to read your Bible. There's a cause to go soul winning. There's a cause to pray. All those things are true. It's not what the passage is saying. Can you imagine the moment here, Goliath's words still hang over the armies of Israel, and David says, hey, what's your problem with me? Didn't you hear that? Is there not a cause? You know what he's saying here, Christian? He's saying, why aren't you upset? Why aren't you mad that this man is standing and challenging the armies of the living God? Why are you willing to go along with it? Don't you think the other men that are listening to this conversation are thinking in their hearts? Yeah, that's right. Forty days ago, it really bothered me when Goliath said this, but now I've become used to it. The right heart is, number one, Christ-like, number two, concern, number three, convicting, number four, though, courageous. David goes to Saul, and we know how the story goes, but I want you to read it with me, please, as if you don't know the outcome. Note, if you will, verse 32, just I want to point this one out. And David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. My servant will go and fight with this Philistine. David basically says in modern day vernacular, your highness, just chill. I got this. And King Saul gives one of those fallacies of logic. Well, you're just a youth and he's been a warrior since he was a youth. How come Goliath was allowed to be a warrior at his youth, but David isn't? Finally, Saul puts his armor on David, and we know David says, I haven't proved it, and he takes it off. Then David is finally given permission to go down and fight Goliath. Now we have to remember this, don't we? That this is not just a battle to see if David can defeat Goliath or not. This is a battle for the freedom of the people of Israel. The stakes of this battle is, if I kill him, then you'll be our servants and serve us. David goes walking out of the armies of Israel. Do you think all the Israelites saw this 17-year-old, watch me now, unarmed shepherd boy walk out going down into the valley to fight for their entire freedoms and their liberty? Do you think if you took a poll up here that Saul's approval rating would be in the 50s or in the teens? I said, Brother Harper, wait a minute, he's not unarmed. Oh, yes, he is. Oh, he's got a sling. Yes, he does. But he doesn't get the rocks until he gets down in the valley. He walks out with an unloaded sling. You think the children of Israel are saying, oh good, David'll get him. They don't believe anybody can defeat Goliath. They don't believe anybody, even in the power of God, can kill this giant of a man. Do you think the Philistines are up there in the PA box going, okay, they're sending somebody. Who is it? Is it a Hittite? No, doesn't look like a Hittite. How about an Egyptian? No, doesn't look like an Egyptian. It actually looks like it's a teenager. It is a teenager. We only send teenagers to do the job when we're having problems with our iPad or our remote control. They're sending, he's sending a teenager. Do you imagine now he walks out, well he's got the sling there, and then he stops at the bottom of the mountain and reaches down and picks up stones. Don't you think people said, he didn't even have any rocks when he left. Do you think the children of Israel are going, David, David, he's our man, if he can't do it, no one can. Do you think the Philistines are up there going, oh no, oh no, they've sent a teenager, he's got five rocks, we're in trouble. Nobody thinks David can win. Nobody thinks David has a chance. The children of Israel are packing their bags, hoping they get to live with a really good Philistine family when the battle's over. Watch what happens, skip down to verse 42. Let's read verse 41. And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David. And the man that bared the shield went before him. And when the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him. Two people disdained David, Goliath and Eliab. He disdained him for he was but a youth and ruddy and of a fair countenance. That means he couldn't even grow a beard. Now, most people think he's 17, but I'm 60, I'll be 61 next month, and I still can't grow a beard, so he might've been 61. I don't think so. And the Philistine said to David, am I a dog that thou comest to me with staves? And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. And the Philistine said to David, come to me, and I will give thy flesh into the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field. Then said David, now, stop for just a minute and look at me. When we read this, you know the outcome. When you read this knowing the outcome, it is one of the greatest statements of faith that has ever been uttered anywhere in the world by anybody. But if you're sitting in this choir loft or you're up there in the PA box, you're not thinking it's a great statement of faith. You're thinking it's a loud mouth teenager just running his mouth towards Goliath. If you don't believe that God can win, because if you believe that God can win, you'd have gone down there and defeated Goliath a long time ago. If you don't believe that God can win, and you don't believe that God can win, David's speech just sounds like a lot of words. David's gonna speak. In this insurmountable battle, he says this. Then said David to the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a shield. Now, this is the one time in the entire passage where the people up here and the people back there all said the same thing. David looks at a man on a battlefield and said, you come to me with a sword and a spear and a shield. And everybody up there and everybody back there said, duh. Of course he's got a sword and a spear and a shield. You make it sound like Goliath is the one unprepared. David, you're the one that doesn't have a sword and a spear and a shield. Don't you think everybody up here is saying, well, of course. Why don't you have a sword and a spear and a shield, David? comes to me with a sword and a spear and a shield. But he says this, But I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied. This day will the Lord deliver thee into mine hand, and I will smite thee and take thine head from thee. And I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air and to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. And all this assembly shall know that the Lord shaveth not with sword and spear for the battle is the Lord's and he will give you into our hands. Three things about this amazing speech. Number one, who is the hour? Now you'll hear people say it's the children of Israel and David, the children of Israel have nothing to do with the death of Goliath. I believe that David is looking at this battle in a way unlike everybody else is looking at this battle. Everybody else is looking and going, David, only David looks and says, oh, poor little Goliath. He doesn't know he's fighting me and God. David says, the battle's the Lord's. He's going to deliver you into our hands. Second thing I want you to notice is that David says, first, I'm going to kill you. He gives his whole battle plan. First, I'm going to kill you. Second, I'm going to cut your head off. The Bible just told us that David doesn't have a sword. It's going to reiterate that here in just a moment. How is David going to kill Goliath and take his head off? Oh, he's going to kill him with the sling that's his plan. But how's he going to take his head off? Is David some secret martial arts expert whose hands should be registered with the government as lethal weapons? And after he kills Goliath, he's going to go, hi-ya, and cut his head right off of him? Don't you think everybody back there and up there is rolling their eyes at David? But then David says a third thing that I want you to notice. When I was in first grade, my dad was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. We could not get on post to live there. And so we had a little apartment that we were renting off the post. And so it had two bedrooms, one bedroom for my parents, and the other one, which was actually a glorified walk-in closet, was for me at five and my sister at three. You ever had to share a room with a sibling? When something gets funny, it just keeps staying funny. My dad would be downstairs. My dad spent the last four of his 21 years in the army as a drill sergeant. He was a black belt in karate, and he was a pretty tough guy. Two tours in Vietnam. My dad would be sitting downstairs asleep, and we're upstairs. We're supposed to be going to bed, and we're giggling and laughing, and my dad would yell up the stairs, all right, kids, it's time to go to bed. Then you'd get quiet for about 12 seconds, and then the laughter would start again. Then dad would say, all right, kids, morning's going to come off early. We'd be quiet for a second or two. Then all of a sudden we'd start making noise. Then you could hear dad get out of his chair. He sat in the same chair every night. You could hear his heavy drill sergeant footsteps across the wooden floor downstairs. Then you could hear him as he put one foot on the bottom step. And then he yelled up the steps these words, Don't make me come up there. Now at that moment in time, nothing in the world was funny again. You drifted off straight to sleep. Isn't that what David says here? He said, well, here's my battle plan. One, I'm gonna kill you. Number two, even without a sword, I'm gonna cut your head off. Number three, then I'm gonna feed the carcasses of the host of the Philistines to the fowls of the air and the wild beasts of the earth. He says, after I kill you and cut your head off, he said, I'm coming up there. Don't make me come up there. Do you think though, seriously, put yourself in that situation. Do you think there's one single Philistine that is up there in the army going, oh no, he'll have four rocks left. He's gonna come up here and kill all of us. Do you think they're afraid? Do you think that the children of Israel are saying, you get them David. No, they think they're slaves. They think they're victorious. No one thinks that the 17 year old shepherd boy in the valley is gonna defeat the giant. Watch as it finishes here quickly. And it came to pass when the Philistine arose and came and drew nigh to meet David, the David hastened and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. David put his hand in his bag and took thence a stone and slung it. He didn't slung it, slinged it. He didn't have slung it. He didn't do anything like that. David was from West Virginia and there's no question about it, he slung it. and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth. How's that possible, Brother Harper? The velocity of the stone hitting the forehead would have knocked Goliath back. Why does he fall on his face? Because David said, the Lord's gonna deliver you into our hands. While David's rock was hitting Goliath in his forehead, Almighty God was slapping him on the back of his head, knocking him on his face. Goliath falls on his face, David runs. We know what he does. And I love how the Bible once again mentions this. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling or with a stone and smote the Philistine and slew him. But just in case you forgot, there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of the sheet thereof and slew him and cut off his head therewith. When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled and the men of Israel and of Judah arose and shouted and pursued the Philistines. David said he was going to do three things. Can you imagine the Philistines standing up there watching David put his foot on the chest of Goliath and hold the giant's head above his head? I'm sure one Philistine said, okay, okay guys, hang on just a second. He said he was going to kill Goliath and he killed Goliath. He said he was going to cut his head off even though he didn't have a sword and he cut his head off. And he said he was coming up here. Uh-oh. They fled over the harbor. They're fleeing from the armies of Israel. No, we read the verse. The children of Israel pursued. After they fled, the children of Israel went after them. They fled. Why did they flee? They fled from David. Did they flee from David because now he's nine foot tall? Did they flee from David because now he's an archer and a great spear thrower? Did they flee from David because he's a great mighty looking man of valor and he grew a beard overnight? Did they flee from David because of all of his military training? Oh yes, he killed a bear and a lion. And by the way, you know how he killed the lion? He grabbed him by his beard. David was Chuck Norris before there ever was a Chuck Norris. Why did they flee from David? The entire army of the Philistines fled from one 17-year-old boy carrying a sword that was bigger than he was, with four rocks in his pouch and a sling on his hip, because he had the right heart. If you have a heart like David, the world will tremble at our shout. The world will fear us. Our hearts are more like Eliab's. We'd rather stay in the tent and let someone else do the fighting. Unfortunately, there are those even amongst us that would rather stay in the tent, watch someone else do the fighting, and then criticize the one that's doing the fighting. We mock those that are willing to stand. We mock those that aren't willing to compromise. Isn't that what we do? The truth of the matter is, and there's no escaping it, our churches are filled with people that are more like Eliab than we ought to be. And our churches are completely populated with people who are less like David than what we should be. You want the world to fear you? Be a man after God's own heart. Let's bow our heads and close our eyes, no one looking around. Dear Lord, Heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening. Lord, we thank you for our time together. Lord, we pray that you'll bless this time of invitation. Help us to do what you would have us to do. In Jesus' name.