#1065

 

Title:                 GOD, GIVE ME SUCH A HEART!

 

Text:                 Acts 13:22

 

            And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.    -- Acts 13:22

 

Subject: David - A Man After God's Own Heart

 

Date:    Tuesday Evening - January 5, 1993

 

Introduction:

 

David was a remarkable man. He is one of the most prominent figures in the history of the world. Even among the characters of the Bible, among the great men of faith, David stands tall. He was both an eminent type of Christ and the most prominent of our Lord's ancestors as a man. The Lord Jesus is not called the Son of Abraham, the Son of Isaac, the Son of Jacob, or the Son of Moses; but the Son of God, the Son of Man is called the Son of David.

 

When the Prophet Samuel was sent to the house of Jesse to anoint a king for Israel, he was given this word of instruction: "The LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart" (I Sam 16:7). You know the story. All the sons of Jesse were called to pass before Samuel, one by one. Seven times God said, "I have refused him." At last, David, Jesse's youngest son, was brought before Samuel; "and the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he" (I Sam 16:12).

 

When the Apostle Paul described this anointing of David in our text, being inspired by the Holy Spirit to do so, he translated God's word's to Samuel like this - "I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will."   -- Acts 13:22

 

When God, who looks upon the heart, looked upon David's heart he said, here is "a man after mine own heart." I have read that statement hundreds of times. I never cease to be astonished by it. Every time I read it, my heart cries out, "GOD, GIVE ME SUCH A HEART!" I want to be that kind of man. I want David's heart. While I live in this world, I want to live as a man after God's own heart. How about you? Are you interested this subject?

 

GOD, GIVE ME SUCH A HEART!            Page 2

 

In spiritual things the heart is the matter of utmost concern. We must not neglect our outward conduct. We must not fail to maintain good works. We must not ignore our responsibilities in outward things. But true religion is an inward thing. We can get everything right on the outside and yet be lost. Things have got to be made right on the inside. "The LORD looketh on the heart!" Will we ever learn that? God is not impressed with those things that impress men! Our Lord Jesus said to the Pharisees, "Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God."    -- Luke 16:15

 

God looks on the heart! God searches the heart! God demands heart faith, heart obedience, heart worship! God requires the heart! He says, "My son, [give me thine heart], and let thine eyes observe my ways."    -- Prov 23:26  God alone knows the heart, and the heart alone knows God!

 

Proposition: The heart is the matter of primary concern.

 

When the Lord God looked upon David's heart and declared him to be a man after his own heart, what did he see? What did God see in David's heart that set him apart from other men?  I have searched the Scriptures and found seven answers to that question. When the Lord looked upon David's heart, this is what he saw...

 

I. A BELIEVING HEART

 

Into thine hand I commit my spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth.    -- Psa 31:5

 

But I trusted in thee, O LORD: I said, Thou art my God.    -- Psa 31:14

 

We are not told when, or where David began to believe God, only that he did. At some point in time, when he was still a young man, David committed himself to the Lord God. Like Abraham before him, like his father, Jesse, David believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness. To believe God is simply to trust him, to take him at his word.

 

A. David trusted God for the forgiveness of sin through    Christ, the sinners' Substitute.

 

Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD GOD, GIVE ME SUCH A HEART!            Page 3

 

imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Selah.    -- Psa 32:1-5

 

Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.    -- Rom 4:4-8

 

Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O LORD. Lord, hear my voice: let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications. If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the LORD: for with the LORD there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities.    -- Psa 130

 

 

B. David  trusted  God's  rule  of  all  things  in        providence.

 

Not only did he acknowledge God's sovereignty, he trusted it and rejoiced in it. It gave him great delight to know that his times were in God's hands. He said, "My times are in thy hand"    -- Psa 31:15   Even when he had reason to be afraid of his enemies, he sang, "What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee" (Ps 56:4).  Even when his life appeared to be in jeopardy, he said, "Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased. I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety."    -- Psa 4:7-8

 

C. David trusted God's immutable,covenant faithfulness.

 

When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD GOD, GIVE ME SUCH A HEART!            Page 4

 

will take me up.    -- Psa 27:10

 

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.    -- Psa 37:23-25

 

David was a man of faith. He believed God. And, believing God, he was a man after God's own heart, a man pleasing to God. It is written, "Without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."    -- Heb 11:6

 

We please and honor the Lord our God by faith. We cannot honor him with our works of righteousness, for the very best that we can produce is filthy rags in his sight (Isa 64:6). We honor him and please him wen we trust him, when we trust...

 

            -His Son!

            -His Providence!

            -His Faithfulness!

 

II. When the Lord looked on David's heart, secondly, he     saw A BROKEN AND CONTRITE HEART.

 

Psalm 51 is a psalm of true repentance, written by a man with a heart broken heart, broken because of his sin. David's heart was not broken because he had been caught in his sin, but because he had committed it, because he had dishonored God whom he truly loved. He saw his sin in the light of God's holiness and in the light of God's great mercy in forgiving sin by the redeeming blood of Christ, and his heart was broken. When he heard those words from God's prophet, "The LORD hath put away thy sin" (II Sam 12:13), he fell down on his face before God. With broken heart, yet full of joy, he wrote Psalm 51.

 

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came unto him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou GOD, GIVE ME SUCH A HEART!            Page 5

 

judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness. O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall show forth thy praise. For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.    -- Psa 51:1-17

 

Brokenness, humility and contrition of heart are essential. God thinks most of the person who thinks himself least!

 

Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the LORD: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.    -- Isa 66:1-2

 

Rowland Hill once said, "If you want to see the height of the hill of God's love you must go down into the valley of humility."

 

Humility is nothing but a just estimate of ourselves. It is simply an honest, heartfelt sense of our utter nothingness.  Humility and contrition are the knees of the soul. Christ will never take you into his arms until you lay yourself at his feet, broken, like David, with a sense of your sin.

 

Children of God, my brothers and sisters in Christ, let us ever seek this brokenness. Pray for a broken, contrite heart. God uses "broken" things to accomplish his work (Acts 27:44). Brokenness is the beginning of the life of faith. Brokenness is the root of all true revival in the soul. It is painful and humiliating, but GOD, GIVE ME SUCH A HEART!            Page 6

 

we must be broken. We will never break ourselves. We must be broken by grace. Our wills must be broken to God's will.

 

A. Brokenness is dying to self.

 

It is the response of the renewed heart to Holy Spirit conviction. "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."    -- Zec 12:10   Because conviction is continual, brokenness is continual.

 

B. Brokenness is the spirit of Christ.

 

Christ, who is himself God, took upon him the form of a servant. God became a servant! He willingly gave up everything for us. As a servant, he had no rights of his own, no home of his own, no possessions of his own. He did not have so much as an hour to call his own. When he was reviled, he reviled not again, but committed himself to God. He went willingly, but with broken heart, to Calvary. There he was made to be sin for us. Hanging there upon the cursed tree, he cried, "I am a worm, and no man" (Ps 22:6).

 

Shall we, for whom he suffered and died, esteem ourselves higher than he esteemed himself? Yet, we act more like snakes than worms. Strike at a snake and he will lift his head, hiss at you, and strike back. Strike at a worm and what does it do? Nothing! The worm is a humble creature, without any inclination to defend itself or attack another. It is totally dependent upon it Creator.  May God give us that spirit. It is the spirit of Christ.

 

C. This brokenness can be found only at the foot of the    cross.

 

Lord, bend this proud and stiffnecked I,

Help me to bow the head and die;

Beholding Him on Calvary,

Who bowed His head and died for me.

 

Brokenness means having no plans, no time, no possessions, no money, no life of my own. It is a constant yielding to God. We must seek it; but only God can give it. If we are his, he will. He receives none but those whom he breaks.

GOD, GIVE ME SUCH A HEART!            Page 7

 

When God looked on David's heart, he saw a heart broken before him.

 

III. Thirdly,  David's   heart  was  A  SUBMISSIVE  AND      OBEDIENT HEART.

 

Every believing heart is a submissive heart. There are no exceptions.  The believer prays continually, with his Savior, "Not my will, thy will be done."  Believing God, David was patient and submissive to the will of God, submissive to his providential rule.

 

            -In the Persecutions of Saul.

            -In the Death of His Son (II Sam 12:20).

            -In the Cursing of Shemei (II Sam 16:10).

 

NOTE: Submission to God's providence is not a prayerless, effortless, lazy, indifferent fatalism. It is bowing to the will of God with willingness and confidence.

 

A. The  initial  act of faith, the beginning of life in    Christ,  the  commencement of life in the Spirit, is    Submission to Christ.

 

And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.  Mark 8:34-35

 

If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.    -- Luke 14:26

 

And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.    -- Luke 14:27

 

So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.    -- Luke 14:33

 

B. The  Spirit  filled  life  is  a  life of deliberate    submission to the will of God.

 

When Paul admonishes us to be filled with the Spirit, he is simply telling us to yield ourselves to the rule of Christ by his Spirit (Eph 4:18-20).

 

C. Because  his  heart  was  submissive  to the rule of GOD, GIVE ME SUCH A HEART!            Page 8

 

   Christ, David was obedient to the Word of God.

 

            -When Rebuked for Sin, David Submitted (Nathan).

            -When Chastened of God, David Submitted (Uzzah).

            -Living in this World, David Bowed and Gave       Obedience to the Word of God.

 

IV. When,  the  Lord looked on David's heart, fourthly,     He saw A PEACEFUL HEART.

 

David was a man at peace with himself, at peace with his circumstances, and at peace with the world, because he was at peace with God.

 

            -The Peace of Redemption

            -The Peace of Reconciliation

 

If you would find peace, you must find it where David found it, in Christ.

 

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.    -- Mat 11:28-30

 

Because his heart was a believing, submissive heart, David's heart was peaceful.

 

V. Fifthly, When the Lord looked on the heart of David,    He saw A DEVOTED, LOVING HEART.

 

David was a man with many faults and sins. They are plainly recorded for us to read upon the pages of Holy Scripture. David openly acknowledged them. Yet, when all was said and done, he was a man of genuine love and devotion to Christ. When his heart was pricked and grieved by his sin, he wrote, "Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."    -- Psa 73:23-26   Because of his love and devotion, he refused to offer God that which cost him nothing (II Sam 24:24). He would not worship without sacrifice.

 

A. His  heart was full of love, adoration, and devotion    toward his great and merciful God.

 

1. He adored God.

GOD, GIVE ME SUCH A HEART!            Page 9

 

2. He admired the works of God.

3. He loved the Word of God.

4. He cherished the worship of God.

5. He  rejoiced  in God's  great  salvation,  ascribing    it to him alone.

 

B. David demonstrated his  love  and devotion to Christ    by acts of love and devotion to his people.

 

            Illustrations:      -Johnathan

                                    -Mephibosheth

                                    -The Men Who Risked Their Lives   To Bring Him A Drink of Water

                                    -Those Who Stayed by the Stuff

 

VI. Sixthly, when the Lord looked  upon  David's heart,     he saw A COMMITTED HEART.

 

Cost what it may, David was committed to God. I admire that. Like Caleb of old, he followed the Lord fully. He was committed to the cause of God, committed to the truth of God, committed to the worship of God, committed to the people of God, committed to the glory of God.

 

            Illustration: "Is there not a cause?" (I Sam                    17:29)

 

There was nothing halfhearted about David.! He was a faithful, loyal, dedicated, dependable, committed servant of God in his generation. His life reflected the commitment of his heart. God declared that he would fulfill all his will, and he did. "For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep."    -- Acts 13:36

 

VII. Lastly,  I want  you  to  see  that  when the Lord      looked on David's heart, he saw A CONTENT HEART.

 

When he lay on his deathbed and surveyed his life's history, David was content with what God had done. Believing God, he believed him to the end. Read his last words. "Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, The spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear GOD, GIVE ME SUCH A HEART!            Page 10

 

shining after rain. Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.    -- 2 Sam 23:1-5

 

Application:

 

When the Lord looked on David's heart and declared him to be a man after his own heart, this is what he saw...

 

            A BELIEVING HEART

            A BROKEN, CONTRITE HEART

            A SUBMISSIVE AND OBEDIENT HEART

            A PEACEFUL HEART

            A DEVOTED, LOVING HEART

            A COMMITTED HEART

            A CONTENT HEART

 

David was a man approved of God. He did not have such a heart by nature. He did not develop it by discipline. Grace had made him a new creature in Christ. Grace had given him a new heart. And grace kept his heart renewed. Now this is my prayer, GOD, GIVE ME SUCH A HEART! May the Lord God give you such a heart. Let us give him our hearts, and this is what he will make of them. Amen.