All right, let's be turning in our Bibles, please, the book of 1 Samuel, chapter 16. 1 Samuel, chapter 16. We started the week with David. We're going to end the week with David. But several years ago, about 2007, I was flying out west. I was going to be in two meetings in California and then two meetings in Arizona. I don't remember the exact order of the meetings, but the That wasn't the problem. Because I was flying, I wasn't taking my wife and my daughter with me. Now, that's had to happen on some occasions, especially when we fly. A lot of times I'll go by myself so that the church doesn't carry the burden of more than one plane ticket. And so I was going by myself. I was going to be gone from both of them for a month. That's not a pleasant thing, but it's happened on a few occasions over the years, especially some mission trips. I've been gone for longer than a month, but I was going to be apart from them for a month. But the real problem was, I was going to be apart from both of them for the entire month. of February. Now, February has right in the middle of it a holiday. It's not really a holiday. It's a marketing gimmick for the chocolatiers and the florists and the greeting card manufacturers. That's what it really is. But right in the middle of February is February the 14th, that date that we all know as Valentine's Day. Now, I had never been away from my daughter on a Valentine's Day. Of course, before my wife and I even started dating, I'd been away from her on Valentine's Days. I don't think since we'd been married had I been away from her, but I'd never in her entire life been away from my daughter and away from my wife at the same time on a Valentine's Day. And I have to tell you, I was feeling pretty guilty about that thing. I was so guilty, I went to the store and I bought four presents and ordered one other one. I ordered, now I'm not silly, I'm not, let me just put it this way, I'm not stupid. I bought my daughter four gifts, and I bought my wife four gifts, and I bought them the exact same four gifts. I didn't want one of them saying, well, you got her more than you got me or anything like that. And so I bought them exactly the same thing. I bought a little vase with three roses in it. I bought a big old beautiful Valentine's Day card for each of them. a heart-shaped box full of chocolates. I bought each of them the same little teddy bear, and then I also ordered for them, one day while I was gone, they were sitting in the house, and the knock came at the door, and the guy standing at the door was delivering them chocolate-covered strawberries from me. Now, every night before I would go to bed, I'd hid those gifts all over the house, out in our storage building, over in our trailer. I'd hid them everywhere. So, every night before I would go to bed, of course, the time difference and all that, they were long since asleep by the time I would go to bed, I would write them an email. And in the email, I would include a poem. And the poem was actually a map to find what I had hidden for them on that very day. So every morning they would get up, they would run to the computer, they would open up the email, they would read the poem, they would follow the directions, and they would find what I had for them on that day. And so I was gone for five day, I was gone for that whole time, and they did not just have one Valentine's Day. Think about this, they had five Valentine's Day. So for the next 14 years, they both begged me to leave town the month of February every single year. But if you looked at what I bought them, you would draw a specific conclusion about one specific thing. The little card that I got them both was just covered on the outside and inside with hearts. The three roses in the vase for Kimberly and the three roses in the vase for Charity, each of them had a little medallion hanging around the vase and it had a little heart on the medallion. The little teddy bear that I got for each of them holding in his hand like this was a little red heart pillow that said, I love you. The chocolates that I bought for them and hid for them were in a heart-shaped box, and the strawberries that were delivered were delivered also in a heart-shaped box. If you looked at the things that I bought my wife and my daughter that year for that multiple-day Valentine's Day, you would have drawn the conclusion that the heart is the way that we show that we love someone how much we love them. You would think the heart was just about compassion, just about love, just about adoration. If you were to listen to a cardiologist, if we brought one in tonight and set him down on the front row and asked him to describe a heart, he would not describe it as something filled with love and adoration and compassion. He would describe it as a muscle, an organ in your body that pumps blood out through the arteries and back through the veins. And you know, if you live to be 80 years of age, and if you have a normal heart rate, on your 80th birthday, your heart will beat for the three billion, three hundredth million time on your 80th birthday. We certainly are fearfully and wonderfully made. A cardiologist doesn't talk about the heart with those wistful looks off into the distance about how it's the picture of emotion and the picture of love. He knows it's just a muscle. It's just an organ in your body that pumps blood. If we were to ask the executives of Disney, since we're not too far away from Orlando, to tell you what the heart is, they'll tell you that the heart is what you follow if your wicked stepmother is making you clean the house and making you get all their clothes ready. And if you follow your heart, then someday a handsome prince will slip a glass slipper on your foot and marry you and take you to live in the palace and you'll live happily ever after. In modern society, you'll get mad and move to the United States, but that's a different story altogether. By the way, the Disney definition of the heart is the absolute worst definition of the heart. You follow your heart, you end up in a mess every single time because the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things. Who can know it? The simple truth is you follow your heart, you end up in a mess. You follow the Lord, you end up happy. Psalm 37 and verse four, delight thyself in the Lord and he will give thee the desires of thine heart. But you find all these definitions of what the heart is. However, when you get to the Old Testament, let me just point this out for you. When the Bible talks about someone's heart, it's not just talking about a vessel, a muscle in their chest. It's not just talking about the seat of emotion and love and compassion. It's not talking about something that you follow to have all your needs met and all your wishes come true. The heart means more than that. As a matter of fact, it means all of that plus so much more. It means the things that make you do what you do, your motivation, your goals in life, your desires, your characteristics. When the Bible talks about someone's heart, it's talking about the thing that makes you You. It's the thing that makes you different from everybody else. It's the thing that summarizes your character. It summarizes your motivations. It summarizes your goals in your life. It summarizes everything. And in this passage of Scripture, we're going to talk about two men with two different hearts. Two men in the same family, living in the city of Bethlehem, the city of bread, after King Saul has been rejected as being the king of Israel. Remember, the children of Israel came to Samuel in 1 Samuel 8, and they said to Samuel, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways. Now make us a king to go before us, and to judge us that may fight our battles, that we may be like all the other nations. And the Lord told Sam, remember what he said? Hearken to the voice of all that they say, for they have not rejected thee, They have rejected me, that I should not reign over them. Children of Israel have rejected the Lord to choose King Saul. And in 1 Samuel 15 and verse 26, you find God has now rejected Saul. You'll find that the Bible tells us, as Samuel speaks to Saul, thou hast rejected the word of the Lord. He hath also rejected thee from being king over Israel. And now as you get to chapter 16, God is going to send Samuel to anoint the next king over the nation of Israel. I want to preach you a message tonight entitled this, How's Your Heart? We're going to look at a refused heart, and we're going to look at a respected heart as we look at this passage of Scripture. Samuel heads over to Bethlehem to visit with Jesse. Chapter 16 and verse 1, How long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing 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 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 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. 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, 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. If you have social media, you know that there are really only two verses that every single person that has ever claimed to go to church are willing to quote on social media. They like to quote, judge not that you be not judged. That's one of their favorite verses. And the other one that they like to quote is this one right here. And if you hear the way they quote it, or the reasons that they quote it, you would think that this verse says the exact opposite of what it actually says. I want you to look as the Lord whispers in our ear in chapter 16 something that no one else knows. No one around, including Samuel, not David, not Eliab, not Abinadab, not Shammah, not Jesse, no one in David's family, no one in the city of Bethlehem knows what God is going to tell us in chapter 16. He's then going to broadcast it for the whole world to see in chapter 17. You can't read chapter 17 without knowing of the great victory that takes place there between David and the giant Goliath. But let's not forget Eliab's part in chapter 17. I wanna preach you tonight this simple message on how's your heart. We're first gonna look at Eliab's refused heart. Here's the problem that we have, Christian. Whether you're here in this auditorium or you're at home or you're standing behind this pulpit, we all have a heart that is more like Eliab's than we'd like to admit. and less like David's than it ought to be. Let's have a word of prayer before we begin. Father, we thank you for this evening. Lord, we thank you for our time together. Lord, I ask that you bless the message tonight. I ask that you have your will and your way once again in our hearts. Help us as we look at this passage of Scripture. Father, help us as we put ourselves in the scene and watch what takes place in front of us. Father, have Your will and Your way, in Jesus' name, Amen. I want you to notice, here we are in chapter 16. Samuel has shown up. Now, Samuel is the last judge of the nation of Israel. King Saul is over the armies. King Saul is over the government. But Samuel is still responsible for the worship of the nation of Israel as the last judge. And when he shows up at the city of Bethlehem, or if he showed up at any city, he could show up for one of two reasons. He could show up to curse that city because they've been worshiping idols, and if he did that, then that city would then find that their crops would not grow, that famine would break out, and God's judgment would be on them. Or he could come and sanctify that city and sacrifice and come peaceably, and God's blessings would then be poured out on the city of Bethlehem. So when he shows up in Bethlehem and the people ask him that question, Comest thou peaceably? They're standing there, all the leaders of the city, wondering if they're going to have a few good years or a few bad years. And Samuel said, No, I came peaceably. I came to sacrifice unto the Lord." And then he calls Jesse's household to come to him. Now remember this, Samuel has already been told of the Lord that the next king of the nation of Israel is going to be in the city of Bethlehem, in the house of Jesse. He already knows that. And I want you to notice as Eliab comes walking in. Eliab walks in, and Samuel sees him and says, Surely the Lord's anointed is before me. Because Samuel looks like a king. I mean, Eliab looks like a king. He carries himself like a king. He's the oldest son of Jesse, and he knows he's in the right house, and he knows he's in the right town. Surely this must be the next king of Israel. And the Lord said, Look not on the height of his stature, on his countenance, nor on the height of his stature, for I have refused him. For the Lord seeth not as man seeth. And then if you're going to read it the way most people think it should be read, it goes like this. For man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord... You have to have three sniffs right there. It's an actual rule, three sniffs. But the Lord only looketh on the heart. And they will tell you that that means, right then and there, that God says the outward appearance does not matter at all. That is not what it says. First, let me remind you that God does not criticize Samuel for looking on the outward appearance. Let me remind you of this. That's the only place Samuel can look. That's the only place a lost world can look. It's on the outside. They can't see your heart. They don't know if you're born again. They don't know if you're a servant of the Lord. They don't know anything. All they can see is the outward appearance. It is not a criticism when the Lord says that man looketh on the outward appearance. That's the only place man can look. The Bible tells us in Matthew 5, in verse 16, let your light so shine before men, so they may see your good works and glorify your Father, which is in heaven. The entire book of James is written so that we know how to prove to a lost world that there is a difference between us and lost people. Understand this, it is not a criticism that the man looks on the outward appearance. Samuel is not being criticized for that. Plus, the verse doesn't say what they say it says. If this verse were to say what they say it says, it would have to go like this. And in walked Eliab. And Samuel looked and saw Eliab and said, This man could never be the king of Israel. Look at him. He has Hittite hair. He is wearing Canaanite shoes. Oh, he's got his loins girt about with some Jebusite belt there. He looks like the world, acts like the world, and me in my independent, fundamental, Bible-believing, Baptist heart, I'm going to look at him on the outside, I'm gonna look down my nose at him, and I'm gonna criticize him because he doesn't look like me. And God said, Samuel, shame on you for looking on the outward appearance. I want you to know, Samuel, you can reject him, I only care about his little old heart. That is not what this is saying. That is not even in the neighborhood of what this is saying. You have to purposely misinterpret this to make it say what people want it to say. Samuel doesn't judge him negatively by his outward appearance. He looks at his outward appearance and says, wah! This must be the next king. He acts like a king. He looks like a king. He dresses like a king. This must be the guy. And God says, Samuel, the outward appearance isn't the only thing that matters. I've rejected him because I saw his heart. It's not saying the outward appearance doesn't matter. It's saying the outward appearance isn't enough. It deals with a whole other issue that we've had in Bible-believing churches, where we decided someone's spirituality completely and totally by how they looked on the outside without having the right kind of heart. See, here's the truth about it. A refused heart can be concealed. Nobody in this story. Nobody in this man's life. And not even Samuel. Remember this too. Samuel is an old man. And Samuel has been serving the Lord, get this, since he was a toddler. He didn't just fall off the turnip truck yesterday. This isn't his first day in the ministry. And when Samuel looks at Eliab, he can't tell with his naked eye whether Eliab is living for the Lord or not. There's a lot of Christians that think as long as your outside is cleaned up, your heart can be as wicked as you want it to be. And that's just not the case. You're going to fool some people. You might fool other church members. You might even fool your family. You might even be successful in fooling your pastor because the refused heart can be concealed. It can be concealed from just about everybody, but it's not going to be concealed from God. And here in chapter 16 and verse 7, God whispers to Samuel and says, Psst, I've refused him. He's got the wrong heart. At that point in time, only Almighty God, Eliab, and Samuel know that Eliab has the wrong heart. But I want you to notice that God always knew. Hebrews 4 and verse 13. neither's any creature does not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open under the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Or Job 26 and verse two, hell is naked before him and destruction hath no covering. Or Job 34 and verse 21, the Bible says, for his eyes are upon the ways of man and he seeth all his goings. Proverbs 15 and verse three, the eyes of the Lord Beholding the evil and the good. Amos chapter 8 and verse 9, the eyes of the Lord are over the sinful kingdom. Psalm 1 and verse 6, the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous and the way of the ungodly shall perish. The simple truth of it is, you might have everybody else fooled. You might have every person in your life and every person at your church thinking that you are the most spiritual person that ever walked the planet, but you did not fool God, not for a single second. Notice, the refused heart can be concealed from just about everybody. But it can't be concealed from God. But eventually it's going to be revealed to everybody, isn't it? Remember, this is not the end of Eliab. He's found in the narrative of David and Goliath. Saul has conscripted his army. He has taken Eliab and Abinadab and Shammah, the three oldest brothers of David, to be part of his army that he's going to use to attack the Philistines. The Philistines have put their battle in array. on one mountain. We're gonna put the Philistines up there in that section up there where the PA system used to be. Now it's back there in the brain trust right behind us, all right? But then we're gonna put the children of Israel and their army on this mountain. We're gonna put them in the choir loft for tonight, just for the sake of illustration. And these two armies have gotten together right there with the valley of Elah between them, with that little brook that runs down between there, and they're ready to have one of their great battles. But then, as you know the story so well, there's going to come a giant, a champion, out of the camp of the Philistines. We know his name very well, it's Goliath. He's going to walk down in that valley, he's going to stand there in the valley, facing up toward the children of Israel in the choir loft, and he's gonna blaspheme Almighty God. And after he blasphemes God, he's going to challenge them. Choose your man to fight me. If I defeat him and kill him, then shall you be our servants. But if he defeat me and kill me, then we'll be your servants. And just send me a man to fight me. I defy the God of Israel, he says. Finally, after 40 days, you know the story, David goes down, faces the giant and defeats him and kills him right there in that valley. Now you've heard that story all your life and you've heard it just like I told you, but you know, there's something that is not in the word of God that is part of the story of David and Goliath. Do you know you won't find a verse in your Bible where Goliath blasphemed God? So wait a minute, Brother Harper. I've always heard it preached that way. I know you've heard it preached that way. I've heard it preached that way. I'm just more interested in what the Bible says instead of what other people have to say or write about the passage. Look at 1 Samuel 17 with me. We'll show it to you. We don't want you to just believe me just from what I say, but start in verse 4. We're going to meet this Philistine. And it says this, 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. 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. 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? That's not what it says, is it? Remember what the children of Israel wanted when they went to Samuel, we told you a moment ago. They wanted a king to go before them and to judge them and to fight their battles. You want to know the scary part about this passage of Scripture? The children of Israel got exactly what they wanted. And now they're going to be humiliated for 40 days because of it. I am not I, a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul is what it says, does it not? Watch what he says next. Here comes the blasphemous part. Choose your men for you and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me and to kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevalence 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 at all, is it? I defy the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight together." David accuses him of blaspheming the armies of the living God. In verse 22, it says he spake according to the same words. So for 40 days, Goliath went down there and said the same exact thing. Did Goliath at any time in his little speech blaspheme Almighty God? Even later when he curses David, he curses David by his gods, not by David's gods. God. Simple truth is, Goliath doesn't blaspheme the Lord. Goliath gives the children of Israel exactly what they told Samuel that they wanted. By the way, I always had a problem with this story. Now, this might shock some of you, but when I was younger, when I was in my teens especially, I don't know how many of you have ever used this term, but I was often referred to by teachers, et cetera, as what you might call a smart aleck. I don't know why I was called that. To this day, I can't figure it out. I do know this. Once you get into your 40s, what used to be smart aleck now becomes satirical and sarcastic. So it's okay now. It wasn't okay when I was a teenager. I wasn't meaning to be a smart aleck, but I did learn this. If you ask a teacher something that they can't answer, oftentimes you become the smart aleck. So I always had a question about this, and I was always, as a teenager, afraid to ask it. Now, I'm no longer afraid to ask it since I'm nearer 60 than I am to 13, okay? So here's my question. When did the children of Israel decide to make Goliath the king of Israel? When did they vote to make him the head of the armies of Israel, the head of their military strategy? See, watch what happens here. Goliath walks down in the valley and Goliath says, send me one man. And the chill of Israel said, hmm, we can only send one. That's what Goliath said. Why didn't they send down 1,000 guys with swords and chop Goliath into little tiny pieces? Why didn't they put 10,000 archers up on top of the hillside and shoot arrows into Goliath and kill him? Goliath said, send me one man. They don't have to listen to Goliath. He's not the king of the nation of Israel. He's not the leader of the people of God. They should have just gone down there, sent the whole army and killed Goliath. Listen, Christian, we spend a lot of time acting like Goliath's in charge of us. We spend a lot of time acting like the world is the one calling the shots when it's the world that ought to be hunkered down as their gates try to prevail against us, not the other way around. The only thing Satan has is fiery darts, and we've got a shield of faith that'll quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. I'm here to tell you, as we mentioned last night, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. 1 John 4, verse 4. He can't win. He's already been defeated. The Lord made a show of principalities and powers, triumphing over them in it, talking about his cross. This is done. Goliath is not in charge. He's never been in charge of God's people. He's only in charge when we let him be in charge. Goliath stands down there and challenges them. Now, read the next verse with me, please. I want to get this before we go on. Verse 11, When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. That's all the people of Israel. It's not just King Saul, although he's head and shoulders above all the people of Israel. A choice in a goodly young man. But King Saul's not going down there to fight, but neither is anybody else. And when the Bible says that all of Israel is afraid of him, that includes Abinadab and Shammah and our anti-hero from chapter 16, Eliab, David's oldest brother. See, the refused heart can be concealed. It'll eventually be revealed to everybody. Refused heart number two is cowardly. Eliab would not stand up for the people of God. Don't you think as he's standing there, listening to Goliath offer his challenge, that he ought to have said something along the lines of, who does this guy think he is? Who does he think he is blaspheming the armies of the living God? Doesn't he realize we're the nation of Israel and we have beaten the Philistines time and time and time again, and through the power of God, any one of us up here could go down there and beat up on old Goliath. Why doesn't he stand up? See, he won't stand up for the armies of God. He won't stand up against the armies of the Philistines. You think he would say, well the Philistines have never been a problem before, they're not going to be a problem now. Hang on just a minute, let me grab my sword and I'm going to come down there and show you under the power of God that you can't stand up as a Philistine against God. But that's not what he does. This coward won't stand up for the people of God. He won't stand up against the enemies of God. Remember, it is his brother that later on will say, of people that blaspheme the Lord, thy enemies take thy name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee. Yea, Lord, I count them mine enemies. I hate them with perfect hatred. David was willing to stand up when someone said something, but not Oeliab. He's a coward. He won't stand up for the armies of God. He won't stand up against the armies of the Philistines. As a matter of fact, in this entire narrative, there is only one person that Eliab is willing to stand up to, and that's his baby brother. How many of you in the auditorium, you're the oldest sibling in your family? Raise your hand. Do you know why you're the oldest sibling in your family? Because God gave you a head start so you could pick on your little brothers and your little sisters. It's just that simple. I have a baby brother, but I'm contractually obligated not to refer to him as my baby brother. I used to always talk to him, talk about him like that. He's about 12 years younger than me. And I used to always call him my baby brother until we walked in. And that's a little demeaning. You can say it's my youngest brother, my younger brother. You can say it's my little brother, but my baby brother, when a guy is almost 50, that's a little demeaning, isn't it? We walked into a church one time together and they didn't know me or him. And he just came to listen to me preach. And as we walked in, someone looked at us and said, oh, Brother Harper, is that your son? And so he promised never to call me daddy as long as I promised never to call him my baby brother anymore. But I love to pick on my little brother. I remember he called me, he went to the same Bible college I did, and he called me up one day and he said, you know, he says, every time I preach down here, somebody tells me I remind them of you. And I said to him, being the big brother that I am, I said, oh, that's funny. No one's ever told me I remind them of you. I have a lot of fun with stuff like that. It's easy to pick on your little brother or little sister, and that's the only person that Eliab's willing to stand up to. His 17-year-old shepherd boy brother, who can't even grow a beard yet, and Eliab's willing to pick on him. Skip down a few verses. I want you to get to verse 22 with me, please. David has now come to see the battle. He's come to do what his father has told him to do. David is told by Jesse to go and see how thy brethren fare and see how the battle goes. Please understand, they've been in battle now for 40 days. There are no embedded reporters giving away their location. There are no news stories talking about how the battle is going. Jesse doesn't know if his three eldest sons are still alive or not. He doesn't know if the battle's over and they were victorious, or the battle has been lost and they've been defeated, and his sons are lying on a battlefield someplace face down. The simple truth is, Jesse wants to know what's going on, and he sends David to do so. Notice carefully, please, when David gets there, look at 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. And 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. David heard them. Let me remind you before we read any further, this is the first time David heard them. Everybody else has been listening for 40 days. Everybody else has gotten used to hearing Goliath and his challenge. David is not. Notice what happens. David heard them. And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him and were sore afraid. The men of Israel said, Have you seen this man that has come up, surely to defy Israel as 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. 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 knowledge of thine heart. For thou art come down, that thou mightest see the battle. And David said, What have I now done? Is there not a cause? Won't you notice that the refused heart can be concealed? But I think it's pretty much revealed when you read those verses, isn't it? We see more about the heart than what even Samuel knew when God told him that he'd refused him. More than Jesse ever knew probably shocked David to hear him talking this way. Now, everybody who ever reads this story or reads this passage of Scripture will know what God was talking about in chapter 16 when he said, I have refused him because I've looked on his heart. We now see it. right in front of our faces. The refused heart can be concealed, but it will eventually be revealed. The refused heart is cowardly. He wouldn't stand up for the armies of God, wouldn't stand up against the armies of the Philistines. He would only stand up against his little brother. But thirdly, please, not only is the refused heart concealed and cowardly, but the refused heart is critical, isn't it? By the way, we have a whole bunch of cowardly critics nowadays, do we not? You come to church, you sit in the church service, and instead of saying that you disagree with something or talking to the pastor about something that you have a question about, you find it easier to go home, get on your Facebook page and criticize from your Facebook page because somehow you think you're doing that in anonymity, forgetting that your name is on your Facebook page. We have a bunch of cowardly critics, don't we? That's why the Bible says you ought against your brother, go to him. It doesn't say sit at your house in the quietness of your office and send a little note about them and offer some cryptic criticism. No, go to them and do it the Bible way. But the refused heart is critical. Notice he offers three criticisms of David. Number one, notice this carefully. The first criticism is he criticizes David's responsibilities while shirking his own. He says, who keeps those few sheep in the wilderness? What is better, or what is more important, a shepherd who just has a few sheep that has made sure that the sheep have been left with a keeper, or a soldier in an army that's cowering in fear and not fighting? Eliab is not fulfilling his responsibilities, but he criticizes David for the smallness of his responsibilities. All you are is a little shepherd, and here I am, a great big soldier. By the way, don't former Christians and even lost people do that? You'll invite someone to church, maybe someone who used to be a member here. You say, come on out to the revival this week. We'd love to have you come out. And they looked at you and they've become bitter and they've become hate-filled toward the church, and they say something like this. Well, I'll never go to that church. That church is filled with hypocrites. Let me say something first, and please don't take me wrong when I say this. This church, just like every other Bible-believing church in America, is, in fact, filled with hypocrites. Every one of us, at times, is a hypocrite. There's no question about that. It's not that we want to be. It just happens every now and then, doesn't it? But let me ask you a question. Is there a single better place in the entire world for a group of hypocrites to go than church? Here you are, sitting, not going to church at all, not doing anything for the Lord, brazenly disobedient, and you criticize people for going to church because they're the hypocrites. I think somewhere we've got the narrative wrong, haven't we? Notice he diminishes David's responsibilities while shirking his own. Secondly, notice what else he says. Who keepeth those few sheep with their utury in the wilderness? He says, I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart. You ever noticed how now Eliab's gonna project his shortcoming onto David? Have you ever noticed that the biggest liars are the ones that think everybody else is exaggerating? You ever noticed that the guy that's embezzling from his company thinks that everybody else is a thief? Have you ever noticed that? Isn't that exactly what Eliab is doing here? I know thy pride, watch it, and the naughtiness of thine heart. You know, when we read that verse, we know two things. One of them Eliab knows, the other one he doesn't. In 1 Samuel 13 and verse 14, before we are ever introduced to the name David, before his name is even mentioned, he is described as a man after God's own heart. We also know, according to chapter 16 and verse 7, that Eliab's heart has been refused by God. So we know, when we hear Eliab say, I know thy pride and the naughtiness of thine heart, we know David doesn't have a naughty heart, and we know that Eliab does. Eliab just looks at David and says, if my heart's bad, his must be too. He criticizes David's responsibilities while shirking his own. He projects his own shortcomings onto David. But then thirdly, please, he wants to criticize David's motives, doesn't he? Thou camest that thou mightest see the battle. No, David's not there to see the battle. David's there to check on the battle for his father, to bring some cheeses to the captains. and then to bring some lunches to his brothers. He's there for lots of reasons. He wasn't sitting there watching the sheep saying, I think I'm going to sneak away and go see the battle. He's there because his dad sent him. But you'll notice that Eliab wants to ascribe motives to David. We make a mistake when we ascribe motives to people because the truth of the matter is, I can't tell what your motives are. You might be the most faithful person here, but you're doing it so that someone will pat you on the back. It's not my job to discern whether you're doing it for the right reason or not. Every man's work shall be made manifest for the fire shall declare every man's work of what sort it is. God will sort that out. Then we say of people that are doing things that are in direct violation of the word of God. Well, I know what he's doing is wrong, but I think he means well. I'm here to tell you something. I don't care if you mean well. Right is right and wrong is wrong. You can't mean well enough for wrong to not be wrong anymore. If God has prohibited it, it's still wrong. If it's not in the Word of God, it's still wrong. It's not going to be made right because you're a nice guy. It doesn't work that way. So Brother Harper, you're saying motives don't matter? No, no, of course motives matter. That's what's declared when the fire of God falls at the judgment seat of Christ. But what I'm saying is, as a human being, I can't tell what your motives are. I'm not going to excuse sin because I think you have good motives. And I'm not gonna criticize someone for doing something right because you think they have bad motives. It's just that simple. Isn't that what Eliab does here? You just came to see the battle. That's why you're here. We have some cowardly critics out there. We have some people that are just cowardly. We have some people that are just critical. We have some people that have created their own ministry of criticism. I'm not kidding. You can find them. Look them up online. You'll find them. Their whole ministry is a ministry of criticism. Welcome to the wonderful world of Eliab, because that's exactly who you are. Notice carefully, please, the refused heart. The refused heart is concealed, but it's eventually going to be revealed. The refused heart is cowardly. The refused heart is critical. On the other side, we have David. We have the right heart, don't we? A man after God's own heart. You know, it would be wonderful if somewhere David had made a podcast or written a blog that told us how he's able to be the only person in all of the Word of God that is known as a man after God's own heart. No one else has that title but David. Wouldn't it be great if he made some video presentations that we could listen to, or just some CDs that we would pop in our car as we drive down the road? If he had just written something that we could read that would tell us how his heart was, He did write something that we can read that describes his heart, did he not? About 75 of your Psalms are written by David himself. And David talked a lot about his heart in those 75 Psalms. I want you to notice, we saw the refused heart. Now I want you to see the right heart. First thing I want you to see about the right heart is it's Christ-like. He's a man after God's own heart. To have a Christ-like heart, you first have to have, as I see from David, a singing heart. I'm not saying you ought to be able to sing well. That would rule a whole lot of us out, would it not? You might have the worst singing voice on the planet. When you're singing in the shower, cats that are wrestling in the alleyway might stop and come and knock on your door and ask you to stop. I was in a church one time and on Tuesday night, the pastor got up and he said this, he said, I've received a lot of requests about singing the special tonight, but I'm gonna go ahead and sing anyway. You might have that kind of voice, but I'm here to tell you, if you've got a Christ-like heart, there's a song in there. There's a song in there every single time. What did David say in Psalm 4 and verse 7? Thou hast put gladness in mine heart more than in the time when their corn and their wine increased. Psalm 86 and verse 12. I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart. I will glorify Thy name forevermore. Psalm 16 and verse 9. Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. The simple truth of the matter is, David had a song in his heart. You want a heart like David's? David's heart, he's a man after God's own heart. You want a heart like David? It ought to have a song in there. Not only should it be a singing heart, but I want you to notice it should be a surrendered heart, shouldn't it? What did David say about his heart 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. David said, listen, I want everything I say and everything in here to be surrendered to you. I want you to control everything I say and do." See, the right heart is a singing heart. The right heart is a surrendered heart. The right heart, watch this, is a sure heart. David was not the type of person that got afraid of his enemies. Psalm 27, in verse 3, he said, "'Though an host should encamp against me, my heart will not fear.'" When he did find himself a little bit afraid, remember what he said in Psalm 61, in verse 2? "'When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.'" David had a sure heart. So many Christians nowadays are strumming their fingers on their desk saying, oh no, what are we going to do? The world has us outnumbered. The world is gonna be victorious. We cannot possibly win in today's society. Hold on, that's not the kind of heart that's like the man after God's own heart. He said, even though there's a whole host around me, I'm not afraid. My heart will not fear. The right heart is the singing heart. It's a surrendered heart. It's a sure heart. It's a sorry heart. The reason I believe personally, and I can't give you a verse for this, I would if I could, I believe that the reason David is the only person that is mentioned as the man after God's own heart is that no person in all of Scripture confessed their sin the way David confessed his. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. After he had numbered the people, what did he say? My heart is evil. The simple truth of the matter is, no person in all of Scripture humbled themselves and confessed and was more sorry about their sin than David was. What did he say, if you will, in Psalm 57, I'm sorry, it's Psalm 69 and verse 20. Reproach hath broken my heart. We go months and even years listening to the preaching of the Word of God without ever acknowledging one time that God has convicted us. God uses conviction to draw you closer to Him. If He's not convicting you, then He doesn't want you any closer than you already are, and that's just not true. He's not going to become more like us. The Christian life is us becoming more like Him. Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh unto thee. David had a sure heart. David had a sorry heart. He had a singing heart. He had a surrendered heart. And lastly, please, he had a submissive heart. I love what he said in Psalm 40 in verse 8. I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea, thy law is in my heart. He says, with every fiber of my being, I want to serve you. See, our problem is we're more concealed and cowardly and critical than we are Christ-like. This right heart of David's, how many of us could say as we just mentioned those five simple points, well, check that box off, Brother Harper, I've got all of those things right there. It's a wonder that God hasn't referred to me as a man after God's own heart. The truth is we have a heart more like Eliab's than we want it to be, less like David's than it ought to be. Let's go back to our scriptures here. Not only is David the right heart Christ-like, but the right heart number two, watch this, is courageous, is concerned. I'm sorry, notice, if you will, as Goliath has given that great speech of his for the 40th time. David said, what shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine? You notice David doesn't say, what's going to happen to the guy that goes down there and tries really hard and Goliath beats him? It doesn't even occur to David that Goliath can be victorious. It doesn't even make David think twice about that. Whoever goes down there is going to be victorious. Let me remind you though, there's only one person that believes that. I mean, we read this passage of Scripture and we know how the story ends. We know David's victorious. We know the Philistines are defeated. We know Goliath loses his head. We know that. Nobody else around knows that. None of those Philistines up there think that God can defeat their giant Goliath. And by the way, neither does anybody up here in the choir loft. If the children of Israel, if just one guy believed that God could be victorious, Saul has offered them great riches. He's offered to make them part of the royal family. He's offered to make their land free in the house of Israel forever. Never pay taxes again to another Israeli king for the rest of your family's life. Don't you think if anybody up here believed that God would guide them and help them defeat Goliath, don't you think they'd have gone down there for all of the rewards. Nobody up here believes God can defeat Goliath. Nobody up there believes that God can defeat Goliath. Only David. Can you imagine them looking at this 17-year-old, unbearded, fear-complected shepherd boy who just showed up and he says, hey, who gets to go kill the giant? That's what he's asking, isn't it? What shall be done to the man that killeth this Philistine? Take away this reproach from Israel, for who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy, watch it again, the armies of the living God? David's concerned. They give him that answer. Oh, he's gonna get a cash reward, his land's gonna be made free, and he gets to marry the king's daughter. Two of those are definitely good. One of them might not be good. We do not know which daughter King Saul has offered, and she might be the ugly one. I don't know, I'm just speculating. But the truth is anybody who believed that God could guide them to victory would have gone down there in that valley and killed Goliath and collected the rewards. Nobody believes this but David. The right heart is Christ-like. The right heart is concerned. The right heart is convicting. I love what David says. He goes to King Saul. Skip on down a couple of verses, please. And David is gonna speak to King Saul. He says, and David said to Saul, verse 32, let no man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine. Can you imagine this setting now? David has asked this question, Elias has offered his criticism, and David responds. Can you imagine how convicting this would be if you were in that tent listening? We always read our Bibles as if we're reading almost a novel, almost just a book. We fail to acknowledge the emotions of the setting, and I realize you can go too far with that. But here are these men, they've just heard Goliath. They've just fled to their tents. And David says, what happens to the guy that kills him? And they go through this whole list, then he lie him. Instead of getting mad at Goliath, he gets mad at David. And David says, what have I now done? Is there not a cause? I've heard this preached lots of different ways, a lot of topical messages, there's a cause to go soul winning, there's a cause to be faithful to church, there's a cause to read your Bible, all of those things are correct. But David is saying something much more specific than that. You can almost see David motioning to the valley when he says it. What have I done? Isn't there a cause? Didn't you just hear what he said? Didn't you just hear him stand down there and challenge the armies of the living God? Isn't there a cause? What David is really saying here is, why aren't you fired up about this? Why aren't you mad about this? Why aren't you going down there in the valley about this? Why are you letting him get by with this? Any one of us could kill that giant by just going down there in the valley through the power of God. Isn't there a cause? If you're one of those guys that's been listening for 40 days, don't you think down deep in their heart, they're thinking, yeah, it bothered me 40 days ago, but I've kind of gotten used to it now. See, the right heart is Christ-like. The right heart is concerned. The right heart is convicting. But lastly, the right heart is courageous. And I love him going to King Saul. Let no man's heart worry because of him. Thy servant will go and kill this giant for you. Your Highness, just relax. I'll go kill the giant for you. Can you imagine what King Saul must have been thinking at that moment? King Saul tries to put his armor on David. He's relieved that at least someone's going to go down there. But I want you to remember this battle is not just for David to beat Goliath or Goliath to beat David. This battle is over the freedom of the nation of Israel, is it not? Even though the Philistines do not honor the commitment when Goliath dies, the children of Israel would have honored the commitment and been servants to the Philistines if Goliath had beaten David. So this isn't just some little decision. And so Saul slaps his armor on David. You know the story. He couldn't prove it, hadn't proved it, so he took it back off. And now David is going to walk out of the camp of the Israelites. He's going to leave this choir loft and go down into the valley down there. As the Philistines are up there looking, and someone says, look, someone's moving. Oh good, did they get a champion from the Egyptians? No. Is it an Israelite? No. Is it a Hittite? No. I think it's a little boy. It is a little boy. Do you think at that moment the Philistines said, oh no, they've sent a teenager. We're in trouble. Do you think the Philistines are afraid? Do you think the children of Israel are excited? Their freedom hangs in the balance, and King Saul sends out a teenager, a shepherd boy, a 17-year-old kid. Not only that, he's an unarmed 17-year-old kid. Oh, no, he's not, Brother Harper. He has a sling. Yes, but he doesn't pick up the stones until he gets down into the valley. He has an unarmed sling, no ammunition whatsoever, no sword, no shield, no armor, no spear, nothing. Just a shepherd boy with a pouch and a piece of leather strapped to two pieces of string. Do you think the children of Israel, if you'd have taken a gallop pole of King Saul and asked them if they approved of the decision to send a 17-year-old down to fight a giant, do you think his approval rating would have been very high? Do you think the children of Israel are saying, oh goody, a teenager's going down to fight for us. No disrespect to teenagers, but even as King Saul says, he says, thou art a youth and this man's been a warrior since he was a youth. This guy's been fighting battles for years. He's 10 foot tall. David, you're just a little guy. You're the runt of the litter. Nobody's excited. And David gets down there in that valley. And I realize, knowing how this story ends, One of the most motivational things in the entire Word of God. A passage of Scripture that if you can read it and you don't get goosebumps up and down your arms and up the back of your neck, then you're not actually reading what's going on. But if you're there at that setting, not knowing how the story's going to end, I don't think anybody's cheering David on. The crowd isn't up here going, David, David, he's our man. If he can't do it, no one can. The Philistines aren't pacing back and forth. The children of Israel, when they realize a teenager's gone down there to fight for their ever-loving freedom. Don't you think they're hoping, I hope I get to be a slave to a good Philistine family because this is over. They're packing up their things to go and serve the Philistines. There's no way David can win. If they thought David could beat the giant, one of them would have gone down there and collected the reward. Nobody here believes God can win. Nobody up there believes God can win. Everybody involved in this entire scene is just waiting for David to die. David walks down in the valley. Skip over, if you will, please, the verse 41. And the Philistine came on and drew near unto David. And the man that bared the shield went before him. When the Philistine looked about and saw David, he disdained him. You do notice that in this passage of Scripture, there are two people that disdain David, Goliath and Eliab. Kind of tells you why God refused his heart, doesn't it? He disdained him for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and of a fair countenance. The Philistine said unto 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 unto the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field. And you can almost see now the Philistines up there doing the wave. Don't you think that made you excited if you're a Philistine? As Goliath announces, come here, son, I'm gonna rip you to shreds and feed you to the birds. David's now going to speak. Once again, one of the most motivational passages of scripture in all the Word of God, but not if you were there on that day. Not unless you believed God could win this battle and no one else believes God can win this battle. Then said David to the Philistine, thou comest to me with a sword, with a spear, with a shield. Let me stop right there and just tell you what everybody up here and everybody up there is thinking when David says that. Of course, David. David almost says, as a criticism, that Goliath came to battle with a sword and a spear and a shield. Everybody goes to battle with a sword and a spear and a shield, except David. Don't you think everybody is thinking when David says that is, why don't you have one, David? It doesn't even look like he's even trying, does it? If you're just sitting there as a bystander, thou comest to me with a sword, and a spear, and a shield, and 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, under the fowls of the air and 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 saveth not with sword and spear, for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands." And I'm sorry, you've just got to stop right there and say, Amen, David. But David says three things there, does he not? First off, he says, I'm going to kill you, and then I'm going to cut your head off. Now you and I know, and it's gonna be repeated for us here in just a moment, that David doesn't have a sword. How does a swordless David intend to cut off the head of Goliath? Is he some secret martial arts expert that we do not know about, that David is gonna kill him and go, hi-ya, and cut his head right off with his hands, which are registered as a deadly weapon with the Israeli government? I'm gonna kill you and then I'm gonna cut your head off. I love what he says. Then I'm gonna feed the carcasses of the hosts of the Philistines to the fowls of the air, the wild beasts of the earth. When I was in first grade, my dad was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas. We lived in a little town off of post called Killeen, Texas. And they didn't have any post housing at the time, so our family had to rent a house, and the army was very chintzy, if you will, in the pre-Reagan military, when they decided how much you could rent, and so we had a two-bedroom house. There were four of us, mom, dad, me in first grade, and my sister, who was three years of age. So my sister and I had to share a room upstairs. Now, you ever shared a room with a sibling? Sometimes, there's those nights when everything is funny, that no matter how hard you try, you're not going to sleep. You're in a complete giggle mode, and it just happens every now and then. My dad would be downstairs after working all day. He'd be sitting there relaxing while we're supposed to be upstairs asleep, and there we are giggling up a storm. And my dad would yell from his chair downstairs, all right, kids, it's time to go to bed. My dad was a brown belt in karate and a drill sergeant and all that kind of stuff. So when dad spoke, you kind of listened. So we would get quiet for about 15 seconds. then the giggling would start all over again. Dad would yell back upstairs, all right, morning's coming off early, I'm gonna wake you up in just a little while, and we'd get quiet for another 15 seconds, and then the giggling would start again. But then, on the wooden floors, you could hear Dad get out of his chair, and you could hear, as he walked over to the bottom of the steps, and you could hear him put his heavy step on that bottom step, his heavy foot. And he would yell up those stairs these words, don't make me come up there. You could feel chill bumps when he would say that. From that moment on, nothing else was funny. You found yourself going straight to sleep. Isn't that what David just said? First, I'm gonna kill you, Goliath. Then, I'm gonna cut your head off. And then, I'm gonna come up there and kill every last one of y'all. Don't make me come up there. He also says this, don't you love David lays out the whole battle plan? You think that the Philistines are going, oh no, he got five rocks out of that creek. Five rocks, if he ricochets those just right, he could kill every last one of us. Do you think they're afraid that their giant is gonna be headless here in just a moment? Do you think they're worried? Do you think the armies of Israel are going, you tell them, David, or do you think they're saying, oh, David, just be quiet and get this over with so we can go live with our Philistine captors? He also says this, the Lord's gonna deliver you into our hand. Say, Brother Harper, he's talking about the armies of the nation of Israel. No, he's not. Armies of the nation of Israel don't move until after the Philistines flee. till after Goliath is dead, till after Goliath's head's taken off. So who is the our there that David is talking about? The only person that David has talked about helping him in this battle is the Lord. The battle is the Lord's, he said. What David is saying is, God's gonna deliver you into our hand. It's two against one, Goliath. See, everybody else in the PA up there and in the choir loft is looking down, and they're seeing it like this. They're seeing Goliath and David. Goliath, David. Only David is looking at it right. David is saying, oh, poor little Goliath. He doesn't even know who he's messing with. Because me and God, we're going to kill him here in just a minute. Goliath gets furious at this and starts running towards David. Can you imagine this? Verse 48, And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose and came and drew nigh to meet David, that David hastened and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag and took thence a stone and slung it. Let me just take a moment and mention to you for sure that David was absolutely from West Virginia. It does not say he slung it, he will have slung it, he has had slung it. It says he slang it. If it said he washed it and then slang it, then you would know for certain that he's from West Virginia. My father-in-law would wash his clothes before he went to Washington, D.C. That's how they say it, but he slang it. and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sunk into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the earth." Don't you love that? The stone sunk into his forehead. That would be pushing Goliath backwards, and yet Goliath fell forward. You say, Brother Harper, why is that? Because as David's stone was guided by the Lord into the forehead of Goliath, Almighty God was slapping him on the back of his head, knocking him on his face in front of everybody. The Lord will deliver thee into our hands. There's Goliath laying there on his face. And then the Bible, with some poetic justice, says this. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone and smote the Philistine and slew him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. Just in case you forgot, I love how the Lord reminds us of that. Therefore David ran and stood upon the Philistine and took the sword and drew it out of the sheet thereof and slew him, cut off his head therewith. When the Philistines saw their champion was dead, they fled. Can you imagine the Philistines seeing David standing down there in that valley using Goliath's own sword, which is probably bigger than David? He severed the head of the giant. He's got his foot on the chest of Goliath and Goliath's head held up like this. You can almost hear the Philistines say, okay, wait, he said he was gonna kill the giant and he killed him. Then he said he was going to cut his head off. We laughed because he doesn't even have a sword, but cut his head off. And then he said he was coming up here. Uh-oh. They fled. Brother Harper, they're fleeing from the armies of the nation of Israel. Oh no, they're not. Just read what your Bible says. 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. The children of Israel didn't move until the Philistines fled. They're not running from an army. They're not running from a giant. They're not running from an imposing physical specimen. They're not running from a great warrior. They're not running from a heavily armed individual with sword and spear and shield. He does have a sword, but it's Goliath's sword. It's bigger than he is. They're not running from him because he has more armaments than they have. As far as I can tell, he's got four rocks is all he's got left. The entire army of the Philistines is not running from David because they're afraid of David. They're running from one 17-year-old teenage unbearded shepherd boy with four rocks with the right heart. That's what they're running from. And I'm here to tell you, this world will still tremble at our shout if we have a heart like David has. If we're men after God's own heart and ladies after God's own heart, the biggest giant the world has to offer and the greatest army they can put on a battlefield will run from us, no matter what we have in our hand, as long as they understand that the battle is the Lord's, it has always been the Lord's, and it will always be the Lord's. If we have the right heart, no one will stand in front of us. No one was afraid of Eliab. but a whole army is afraid of David. No one, by the way, was afraid of King Saul, but a whole army was afraid of David. See, here's our problem, and we're done. We have a heart more like Eliab's. We're cowardly, we're critical. We don't think anybody knows, but God does. And eventually, he'll reveal it to the whole world. We have a heart more like Eliab's than we want it to be. And if we're all honest, we have a heart less like David's than it ought to be. Are we men and women after God's own heart? Or are we more like Eliab? Let's have our heads bowed and our eyes closed, no one looking around. The Lord and heavenly Father, we thank you for this evening. We thank you for our time once again in your house. Thank you, Father, for the truth of your word. Thank you, Father, for telling us about these great victories, and thank you, Father, that you did not hide from us the great failures either. Father, I pray that you'll help us. Knowing that Eliab grew up in the same home, believing in the same God, just chose to not stand for you. Help us to be less like Eliab, and help us to be more like David. Father, have Your will and Your way in our hearts, in Jesus' name.