Book of Acts.
Acts Chapter 13, Verse 22. We will read just the last sentence:
I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who shall do all My will.
Let us have a further word of prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, we want to thank You for gathering us together this afternoon. We know that we are in Thy presence because we are gathered in Thy name. We pray that Thou wilt remove any veil that may be upon our hearts, that we may truly hear Thy voice.
May all the glory be unto Thee. In the name of our dear Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I do thank the Lord for giving me another opportunity of seeing the dear brothers and sisters. The burden that the Lord has put upon my heart is on David.
We know that David’s life is very rich, and it is impossible to cover his whole life within two sessions. But we will find, throughout his life, he was a shepherd; he was also a fugitive; and he was a king.
In the Bible, in a sense, he is a type of Christ—the Son of David, but greater than David, our Lord Jesus. At the same time, we find in the life of David principles governing the making of a king.
We know that, as believers, God has made us both priests and kings. We are not only priests unto God, but we are also kings unto God. So, if we want to know the making of a king, we can find these principles in the life of David.
But for our time together, we will just use the witness of God concerning the life of David. We find in Acts Chapter 13 that the Holy Spirit bears witness concerning David and says:
I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who shall do all My will.
So this afternoon, we will consider together David, a man after God’s heart. God willing, next morning we will speak on, “Who shall do all My will?”
We know that when God created man, He created man in His own image, according to His likeness. Now we want to ask this question: Why is it that, out of all the creation of God, God should create man in His own image and after His likeness? There must be a reason for that.
God created heaven and earth, and all the things in heaven and on earth. All these created things manifest the glory of God. But God could not find anything, or anyone, that could really answer to His heart.
All these things are created by His hands. They manifest His glory, but they do not have the life of God. They are His works. However magnificent they are, they can only manifest the glory of God; they cannot really answer to the heart of God.
Because of that, God created man in His own image according to His likeness, that He might find someone whom He created who could respond to Him and answer His own heart. From the very beginning of the creation of man, God wanted man to be a being after His heart.
God created man with a spirit, because God is Spirit, that man might communicate with God. He created man with a heart, and He created man also with a body, that man might carry out the will of God.
After He created man, He put man in the garden of Eden. It is a garden of pleasure. God planted all kinds of fruit trees, and God told man that he could eat of every tree of the garden.
In the midst of the garden, God planted the tree of life. In other words, God was suggesting, as it were, to man that he should eat of the tree of life. Every tree in the garden you may eat, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Evidently, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil stood by the side of the tree of life. God’s purpose was that man, created in His image and after His likeness, might receive God’s own divine life.
Heaven is magnificent, but heaven does not have the capacity to receive God’s life. Even the angels are not created with that capacity. All the animals upon this earth do not have that capacity. Only man, being created in God’s own image, has the capacity to receive God’s life into him.
That is God’s indication that man should receive His own life. With that same life, man can really be a man after God’s heart. There can be heart-to-heart fellowship.
So that is God’s original purpose in the creation of man. In other words, this is why you and I were created. We are created to be men and women after God’s heart.
But I believe we all know the story. When man and woman were placed in the garden of Eden, instead of taking the fruit of the tree of life, they rebelled against God’s command.
Because of this, man was lost. What God originally purposed for man was lost. But thank God, He did not give up.
We find that God came into the garden, and He said, “Adam, where art thou?” God began to seek after man, and He began to work to restore man to His original purpose.
Throughout the centuries, God has been doing this work. He is trying to recover man to His original idea—that we may be men and women after God’s heart. Throughout the centuries, He has been searching, trying to find that man or that woman.
Here we find a man whose name was David, and God said, “I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after My heart.”
Now, with this introduction, we can go into the life of David. The first mention of the name David is found in the book of Ruth.
In Ruth Chapter 4, as you come to the end of that chapter, I think it is in Verse 17 and Verse 22, you find the name of David appears. David is the son of Jesse, and Ruth is David’s grandmother.
David means “the beloved.” If you read 1 Samuel Chapter 16, you find that David is the eighth son of Jesse. But when you come to 1 Chronicles Chapter 2, he is said to be the seventh son of Jesse. Most likely, one of the sons passed away.
Now, we know that if you are the youngest son in the family, usually you are the darling of the family. I think that is human nature. But strangely, in David’s case, it was different. He was the youngest son of the family, yet his father neglected him and his brothers despised him.
Those who study the Word of God try to find out whether there is any reason for that. A man called J. N. Darby offered an explanation. He said that David was not born of the same mother as his brothers, that he and his brothers were half-brothers.
It is suggested that David was born through the wife of Nahash, who later married Jesse. This is offered as an explanation for the difference between David and his two sisters.
If you turn to 1 Chronicles Chapter 2, perhaps we may read from Verse 15:
David the seventh;
And their sisters were Zeruiah and Abigail: and the sons of Zeruiah were Abishai, and Joab, and Asahel, three.
And Abigail bare Amasa; and the father of Amasa was Jether the Ishmaelite.
You find the two sisters of David. One sister was the mother of Joab, the captain of the host under David. The other sister was the mother of Amasa, who was also captain of the host. So you do find that the age difference between David and his two sisters was very great.
Still, that does not really explain why David was despised and looked down upon by his father and by his brothers. Some try to find an explanation in Psalm 51:5:
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity;
And in sin did my mother conceive me.
Some take this very literally and suggest that David was born in sin, that there was adultery involved. Others refer to Psalm 27:10:
For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
But the Lord will take me up.
From all these things, people begin to think that perhaps this was the reason why David, though the youngest son in the family and one who should have been the darling of the family, was neglected by his father and despised by his brothers.
Of course, we know this was not David’s fault. But we find that he was in a very adverse situation. His father simply sent this youngest son into the field to watch the sheep.
But because of all these situations, God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform. David was in such an adverse situation that he was shut up to God. He was shut out from everything, so he was shut up to God.
There he was in the wilderness, watching the sheep. In that natural environment, he turned his whole heart toward God. In the quietness of the wilderness, he communed with God.
God became his only comfort. As he was communing with God, he began to understand God’s heart.
David knew that God’s heart toward His own people was like his own heart toward his family. David must have longed for his father and his brothers while he was in the wilderness, yet they did not accept him. David’s heart was hurt.
So he began to understand God’s heart. God’s heart is toward His own people. God wants to commune with His own people. He wants to be close to His people.
Yet at that time, the ark of God was hidden in the fields of the wood. You remember, during Eli’s day, because the children of Israel rebelled against God, there was a battle between Israel and the Philistines.
When the Israelites were defeated, they said, “Let us bring the ark of God into our midst,” because the ark had gone before the children of Israel in earlier days.
You remember when they first entered into the promised land. The ark of God led them into battle, and that was how Jericho was taken. But now they had rebelled against God. They tried to depend upon something outwardly, and God would not work with them.
So even the ark of God was taken into captivity. The ark of God represents the presence of God. Because of the sin of the children of Israel, God allowed even this symbol of His presence to be taken by the Philistines.
But the ark could protect itself. The children of Israel could not protect the ark, but the ark would protect itself.
After six months, the Philistines were so troubled by the ark that they had to send it back. But when the ark came back, they put it in a hidden place, in the house in the forest.
It was as if God had come back, but they did not care. They did not inquire before the ark. Even in the time of Saul, who was king for forty years, he never inquired before the ark of God. That shows how the children of Israel had forgotten God completely.
But David was a man after God’s heart. He knew God’s heart, how God’s heart was longing for His people. David wanted to see the ark of God coming back among the children of Israel.
That is why the Bible says David was a man after God’s heart. His heart and God’s heart were in tune.
We find that even today, God is doing the same thing. God is looking for a man after His heart.
You remember when God sent Samuel to anoint one of the sons of Jesse to be the future king. Jesse gathered his seven sons, but he completely neglected David.
In such an important occasion, Jesse did not even call David back. One son after another passed before Samuel. Some of them were men of stature, and even Samuel said, “Now, this must be the man.”
When Samuel anointed Saul, Saul was a man of stature. Saul was head and shoulders above all the other people. So, in a sense, even Samuel was deceived.
But God said to Samuel:
Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him:
for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
All the seven sons passed by, and Samuel asked, “Are these all thy children?” Jesse said, “There is yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep.”
God said, “This is the one I have chosen.” And David was filled with the Spirit of the Lord.
So, brothers and sisters, you find that man always looks at outward appearance, but outward appearance is very deceiving. God does not look at outward appearance.
God does not look at whether you are a man or a woman of stature. God does not look at how clever you are naturally, how influential you are, how talented you are, or how dynamic you are. God does not look at all these things.
The only thing that God looks upon is our heart.
Brothers and sisters, do you know that our heart is the centre of our spiritual being? We are not talking about the physical heart, although, in a sense, the physical heart has the same kind of relationship.
In our whole body, the heart is the centre of our physical being. If something happens to your heart, you are in danger, because all the blood goes through the heart, and life is in the blood.
I know that because I have just experienced it. But we are talking about the heart as the centre of our spiritual being. It is the centre of our moral being, if we may put it that way.
You find in Proverbs Chapter 4, Verse 23:
Keep thy heart with all diligence;
For out of it are the issues of life.
Our heart is so important. It is the very centre of our moral being, and out of it are the issues of life. All that concerns our moral or spiritual life comes out of the heart.
You also remember that our Lord Jesus Christ, when He was on earth, spoke about the heart. He said:
For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Whatever is in your heart will eventually come out from your mouth.
You remember when the disciples of our Lord ate without washing their hands. The Pharisees said to the Lord, “How is it that Thy disciples do not wash their hands before they eat? They violate the tradition of the elders.”
Our Lord Jesus said that what goes into a man does not defile him, but what comes out. Later Peter asked the Lord what He meant by this parable. The Lord explained that what a person eats is eventually passed out, but what comes out from the heart, that defiles the man.
So, brothers and sisters, we know that our heart is very, very important. The Bible says that we need to guard our heart above all things. We need to keep this heart in good condition.
If we do not do that, then we will find that the issues which come out of it will be damaging. Have we ever paid attention to our heart?
Probably we pay attention to our outward appearance. We want to appear good, but we often neglect our heart. Yet God looks upon the heart. He does not look upon our outward appearance; He looks upon our heart.
Strangely, the Bible says in Jeremiah Chapter 17, Verses 9 and 10:
The heart is deceitful above all things, and it is exceedingly corrupt: who can know it?
I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins.
In other words, the heart itself is so deceitful. After we have fallen, this heart has become a very deceitful thing, and it is incurable. No one can remedy his own heart.
The Bible says, “Who can know it?” You do not even know your own heart. There is only one Person who examines our heart and proves our heart: God is the only One who examines our heart and proves our heart.
Thank God, when we believe in the Lord Jesus, the Bible tells us that the blood of our Lord Jesus cleanses our heart from an evil conscience.
Before we believed in the Lord Jesus, we carried an evil conscience, because the conscience of our heart accused us. Yet the blood of the Lord Jesus cleanses our heart from an evil conscience.
Not only that, but when we believe in the Lord Jesus, He gives us a new heart. Formerly, our heart was a heart of stone—very cold towards God. There was no reaction to God, no feeling toward God.
But now He has given us a heart of flesh, a new heart. With this new heart, we can love God. With a new heart, we can know God. We can be men and women after God’s heart.
But unfortunately, even though God has given us a new heart, a heart of flesh, when we first believe in the Lord Jesus we are very tender in our heart toward God. Some people even experience that, whenever the name of Jesus is mentioned, they begin to weep, because they have been given a new heart.
But unfortunately, as days go by, our heart can gradually be hardened by the world, by sin, and by our own flesh. Gradually, our heart may become hardened, and we do not even know it.
That is the reason we find David praying as he did. David was a man after God’s heart. He knew that he was not able to keep his own heart. He knew that he was not even able to know exactly what his heart condition was.
Therefore, he prayed a prayer. You find it in Psalm 139, Verses 23 and 24:
Search me, O God, and know my heart:
Try me, and know my thoughts;
And see if there be any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
Brothers and sisters, David needed to pray that prayer because he knew our heart is deceitful. We may be deceived by our heart. We do not know where our heart really is—whether it is still in tune with God’s heart or whether it has been hardened toward God.
So David prayed, “Examine my heart, and know my thoughts. See if there is any wicked way in me.” This “wicked way” is translated in another version as an “idolatrous way.”
That is to say, whether my heart is not fully toward You; whether I have a double heart, a divided heart. That is an idolatrous way.
What is idolatry? It means that, aside from God, you worship something else.
So David prayed. He wanted God to keep him pure toward God, that his heart might be perfect toward God. He would not allow any foreign gods in his heart, that he might always walk in the way everlasting.
Because David prayed such a prayer, we find that David became a man after God’s heart.
Brothers and sisters, I believe this is a prayer that we should pray every day, because our heart is so important to our spiritual life.
Number one, we need to be humble enough to acknowledge that we do not know our heart. Number two, we need to ask the Lord to examine our hearts every day, so that our heart will be kept pure and perfect toward God.
Then our heart will always be in tune with God’s heart. What He loves, we love. What He desires, we desire. What He rejects, we reject.
The Bible says:
Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
If our heart is pure, we shall see God daily. Brothers and sisters, how many days have you passed without seeing God?
We need to have a pure heart toward God, because this is the one thing that God is looking for in us. The comment of the Holy Spirit concerning David is this: “I have found David, a man after My heart.”
That very word, “I have found,” shows us how difficult it is for God to find such a person. We should all be men and women after God’s heart, because that is why we were created. This is the will of God.
Yet God has to search to try to find someone whose heart is really toward Him. May God find in us men and women after His heart.
Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do want to thank Thee, because Thou dost desire to restore man to be a man after Thy heart. Thou didst even send Thine only begotten Son into this world to seek and to save that which was lost.
O dear Lord, we pray that Thy love will constrain us, that we may desire to turn our hearts toward Thee.
Allow Thee not only to examine us, but even to cure us, that we may have a pure heart toward Thee; that we may see Thy face day by day; that we may know Thy will and do Thy will.
We pray that Thou wilt bless the brothers and sisters here, and bring every one of us into that place where we can satisfy Thy heart.
We give Thee all the glory. In the name of our Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.