Our scripture reading this evening is 1 Samuel 16. 1 Samuel 16. In my Bible, it's on page 304. 1 Samuel 16, the whole chapter. The Lord said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself. a king among his sons. And Samuel said, How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me. And the Lord said, Take a heifer with you and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. And invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. And you shall anoint for me him whom I declare to you. Samuel did what the Lord commanded and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling and said, Do you come peaceably? And he said, Peaceably, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord. Consecrate yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice. And he consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. And when they came, he looked on Alive and thought, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said to Samuel, Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees. man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, neither has the Lord chosen this one. Then Jesse made Shammah pass by, and he said, neither has the Lord chosen this one. And Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel. And Samuel said to Jesse, the Lord has not chosen these. And Samuel said to Jesse, are all your sons here? And he said, there remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here. And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, arise, anoint him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward, and Samuel rose up and went to Ramah. Now the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. And Saul's servant said to him, Behold, now a harmful servant from God is tormenting you. Let our Lord now command your servants who are before you to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the liar. And when a harmful spirit from God is upon you, he will play it and you will be well. So Saul said to his servants, provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me. One of the young men answered, behold, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a man of good presence, and the Lord is with him. Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, Send me David, your son, who is with the sheep. And Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and a skin of wine and a young goat and sent them by David, his son, to Saul. And David came to Saul and entered his service. And Saul loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, Let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight. And whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him. So far the reading. So today is Cadet Sunday. And if there are any new members here or visitors, I'm sure you were wondering, why are all these well-dressed men and boys sitting up at the front of the church? What does this mean? And for this congregation, today is a celebration. Today is a celebration that we can do something that so many churches can't do. We can rejoice in a church full of children and men and women who are dedicated to raising those children in the fear of the Lord. People who are willing to give up their time, Not only to train the hands, but to train the hearts and the souls of children. As Pastor Gordon read from this morning, 1 John 3, I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. Our congregation takes joy from the fact that we have children who are thankful to God for His gifts to them. and who pledge themselves to be ready to serve Him. They have young boys who are pledging themselves to be reverent, obedient, compassionate, consecrated, trustworthy, pure, grateful, loyal, industrious, and cheerful. It's truly a blessing to have such a program. I myself was a cadet once. And I remember one time we were going to make a bench. It was going to be a grand woodworking project. And so we went out to Home Depot and we bought our lumber. We brought it back and we cut it up. And then came the sanding. There was so much sanding with paper that felt like it was 30 years old and didn't feel much different from ordinary paper. And then finally, we had the opportunity to drill, to screw on the pieces of wood, to put it all together to finally get our finished project. But of course, we all just had little hands. You know, we weren't that old yet. And so there comes a point as you're drilling a screw that it gets stuck. And no matter how much those little hands try, you can't push hard enough. So what happens? Well, the drill bit just spins inside the screw head. It spins and spins, and no matter how hard you pull the trigger, it gets worse and worse, and you're slowly but surely destroying the screw. If you keep going, you're going to make it worse and worse, and it's going to become unusable. It's going to be ruined. And in many ways, that is a picture of what we have in our text. That mangled screw head, that cadet trying and trying desperately to make things work is what we see in our text this morning because, brothers and sisters, in the story of Israel, they have rejected God as their king. They want a king who will fight their battles for them. And God has allowed it. God has allowed them to name a king over themselves instead of him. God has allowed them to rebel. God has allowed them to try to make things better on their own steam. But things have only gotten worse and worse. Now God is not passive, and God is not helpless, but He has been permitting them to disobey, and He has been punishing them for their disobedience. But now, now in 1 Samuel 16, God is going to turn them. He's going to turn them from their faithlessness. from their hopelessness, from their rebellion. And He is going to give them a king who has a heart for himself. Like a cadet counselor who takes the drill and finishes the job, God is going to fix it. Only He has the power. In our text, God is the only one who clearly acts. He's the only clear agent. In our text, God takes control on behalf of his faithless people to turn them to himself. And we will see that because God has chosen our perfect king as well, we look to the future with hope despite our rebellion. Because God has chosen our perfect king, we look to the future and hope despite our rebellion. And we'll see this in three movements. First, God pacifies his people. Second, he picks their new king. And third, he places that king where he wants him to be, pacifies, picks, and places. So, a few months ago, I read and preached from 1 Samuel 15. And I'm sure you don't remember, so I'll go over it again. In that text, God commands Saul to go and slay the Amalekites. God says, slay them and don't spare any of them. And what does the text say? The text says, and Saul spared the animals and everything that was good. Saul directly disobeyed. And so now, while Saul remains externally in office, we saw at the end of the last chapter that Samuel took up the sword, that Samuel hacked Agag to pieces, the job that should have fallen to the king. In God's eyes, Saul has already been deposed. He has lost his place as Israel's king. And that does not make Samuel happy. And that brings us to our chapter. Samuel is weeping. He weeps for Saul's rejection of God and he weeps for God's rejection of Saul. Someone who had so much potential. Someone who had the Spirit of God coming to him in power. Who has fallen into rebellion and disobedience. whom God has rejected as king over Israel. But in 1 Samuel 16, the mourning must stop. Verse 1 says, The Lord said to Samuel, How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons. A new king, a better king, A king whom God will choose. A king who will serve him. A man after his own heart. What a contrast. When Saul was selected in 1 Samuel 8, God said, Heed their voice. Make them a king. But now, our text begins, I have provided for myself a king among the sons of Jesse. There is one agent. The decision has been made. And so God wants Samuel to go to Bethlehem, but Samuel's nervous. He's nervous, and we read that in verse 2. Samuel said, how can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me. It's an interesting comment, and at first it seems to make sense. At the end of the last chapter, in verse 34, it reads, Samuel goes to Ramah, which is north. And Saul goes to his house in Gibeah, which is southward. Now, in order for Samuel to get to Bethlehem, he has to go through Gibeah. He has to walk through Saul's hometown. And Samuel is not some unknown person who can walk unnoticed. He has stood before the people of Israel for many years. And he's anticipating the question, Samuel, where are you going? What are you doing? So it seems like a good question, a good thing to ask. And yet, we realize, secondly, is this true? Is what Samuel says true? He says, if Saul hears about it, he will kill me. And when we really think about this question, we realize the state that Israel is in. The hopelessness that Israel is mired in. The prophet of God thinks that God is going to lead him to his death. The prophet of God thinks, God's not going to protect me. God's giving me a command and he's just going to let me die. How horrible. Reminds us of Elijah in 1 Kings 19 who runs for his life in fear of Jezebel. How does God respond to his fearful prophet? does he rebuke him does he curse him no god pacifies his fears god says take a heifer with you and say i've come to sacrifice to the lord and invite jesse to the sacrifice and i will show you what you shall do you shall anoint for me the one whom i declare to you first of all god doesn't directly answer his question. If you were to cut out Samuel's words, you would have a nice flow of thought. You would have a nice set of instructions. Samuel, go to Bethlehem and anoint the one who I tell you to anoint and take a heifer with you and go. Secondly, God is giving Samuel instructions for what he will do when he arrives. Samuel, go. And when you arrive, this is what you will do. Samuel, trust me. God's saying, Samuel, I will not leave you. I will not forsake you. I am in control. So here's the tension. Will Samuel go? Will Samuel trust? How will the prophet respond? Will it be in faith? And he does trust. He goes. And as God has promised, he gets safely through Gibeah without a problem. And this faith, the faith that Samuel shows is the first glimmer of hope in Israel. The first indication that God is doing something massive. He comes to Bethlehem in verse 4, and we see even more deeply the hopelessness in Israel. In verse 4, the elders of the city, came to meet him trembling and said, do you come peaceably? The prophet of the Lord has come to their hometown and the first thing they think is he's coming to bring judgment on us again. Just like he did in chapter 12, just like he did in chapter 15, the prophet of the Lord is coming to condemn us. That's why they walk out trembling before the face of Samuel. Because brothers and sisters, Saul has been an absolute failure. Their first thought is judgment. That's the darkness in Israel. Because they know that they have rebelled against God. They know that they chose a king in rejection of God. They know that they deserve whatever punishment Samuel is coming to bring. And it leads them to trembling, and it leads them to despair. And that's our story as well. That's your story, and it's mine. A story of rebellion against God, our Heavenly Father. Because when God says, husbands and wives, submit to one another, we say, ah, I think I'll take the last word in this argument. When God says, brothers and sisters in Christ, love one another, We say, but I have such a juicy tidbit about that person. When God says, you shall not commit adultery, you shall flee sexual immorality, we flirt with it at work, at home, and behind closed doors. God says, do not take my name in vain, and yet we dishonor it each and every day in thought, word, and deed. God says, my law is good for you. And we say, no thanks. I'll figure this one out on my own. Brothers and sisters, we're just as hopeless. We're just as deserving of punishment as the rebellious people of Israel. But thanks be to God, that's not the whole story. That's not how this story ends. Because Samuel has come to bring hope. He's come to bring hope, not judgment. He's come to pacify the distress of chapter 15. But he hasn't just come to pacify, he's also come to accomplish something. He's also there to anoint the king whom God has picked, to bring Israel back to their heavenly father who has been so gracious to them time and time again. And so in verse 5 we read that Samuel consecrated Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. Now, what we want to read is that verse 5 is a heading. And so what comes after verse 5 is this consecration ceremony. It's a private ceremony with just Jesse and his family. So while the rest of the town has gone to consecrate themselves, Samuel will perform a consecration with Jesse's family. And so one by one they arrive. And Samuel is so eager. Samuel is so ready to anoint a new king. Eliab walks in, and he's tall, and he's handsome. He's perfect. He's the firstborn son. He is the natural choice for the kingship. He's like a dog jumping for a treat, Samuel is. He just can't wait. You can picture him grabbing his horn of oil, snatching it up and saying, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. He's excited. He's so full of hope. Here's the man. here's the man after God's own heart, but he forgot. He forgot that the criteria he's using to choose the new king is exactly the same thing that was ascribed to Saul. He's tall. He's handsome. He looks great. He looks like the perfect king from the outside. Samuel was about to repeat the mistake that the people of Israel made with Saul. Happy to make him a king on outward appearance alone. And of course, that is how human beings work, isn't it? Looking at outward appearance. God says it himself, for God sees not as man sees. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. In so many instances, it's necessary for us to judge on outward appearance. To judge a child by his actions, as the New Testament says. And yet, Samuel doesn't even go that far. Samuel doesn't judge Eliah based on his character or what he's seen of him, just on how he looks. And he forgot God's first words to him when God said, I have provided for myself a king. Listen to me. God rejects it. God rejects Eliah in verse 7. Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature because I have rejected him. And one by one, God rejects the sons of Jesse until there is only one left. And he's not even there. David, out with the sheep. Of course, being out on the farm, he's probably not presentable at a consecration feast. Walking around around animals doesn't make you pleasant to be around. And even more than that, he's the youngest. He's the most insignificant, the most unlikely candidate who would choose him for king. So, Samuel has to motivate them. Samuel said to Jesse, send and bring him in, for we will not sit down until he comes here. You see, part of this feast, part of this sacrifice that Samuel was going to offer would be a feast. Samuel says, we're not going to eat until you bring David in before me. And so they run out and they bring him in. Verse 12 says, Interestingly, now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. Isn't that funny? He had just said, God does not judge by appearances. And the first thing we hear about David is, well, he was good looking too. But there's a difference, isn't there? His outward appearance is coupled with a heart to serve the Lord. As the text goes on to say, the Lord is with him. and so in verse 12 Samuel anoints David as God's choice the Lord said arise anoint him for this is he then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers and the spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward so now God has pacified his people His hopeless and terrified, trembling people. He has chosen his new king and anointed him, despite Samuel's best efforts. But even more, God will place David where he needs to be. We read that the Spirit, at this point, comes on David. It rushes on David, and it leaves Saul. And at one point, we should be a little concerned about that. That's a bit of a curious thing to say because, you know, we confess that we are all dead in sin. We are all hopeless to turn to God of our own accord, except for when the Holy Spirit comes into our hearts and makes us born again. So the Holy Spirit comes on David and it leaves Saul? What does that mean? Does Saul become unborn again? Is that possible? Canons of Dort says that being born again is an incorruptible seed that can never be lost. What is happening in this text? What is the Holy Spirit doing? Well, what we see throughout the Old Testament is that there's this supernatural preparation that is done in a number of people, especially the judges. We read that the Spirit comes upon Othniel and Samson and Jephthah and Gideon and it prepares them for the task that they need to perform. We even read in Numbers 24 that the Spirit comes upon a Gentile. On Balaam the Moabite, the Spirit comes upon him. And so this is not the Spirit of regeneration that changes the heart and turns you towards God. No, this is the Holy Spirit preparing someone for a task. And Saul had that. The Spirit came on him to prepare him to be king, to gift him to be king. And now that Spirit's gone. And with the loss of that spirit, verse 14 says, a distressing spirit comes upon him. Again, another question. What does this mean? Is God wielding various types of spirits, good and evil, and sending some to some people and some to others? I think we can say no. We should not think of God wielding the Holy Spirit and then evil spirits or bad spirits or distressing spirits on the other hand. No, rather, in the Old Testament, the word spirit can be used in the same way as we use it today, to talk about someone's mood, someone's feelings. We read that in Judges 9, 23. And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech. You see, in this text, the evil spirit is a feeling of treachery. It's an emotion. It's an attitude. And so God is not wielding two different sorts of spirits. But rather, the cowardice that we've seen in Saul's character comes back with a vengeance under God's direction. In our text, God puts terror in Saul's heart. We remember when Saul was chosen by Lot, by not Lot the character, but Lot the stones in 1 Samuel 9, he was hiding in the baggage. And that same fear, that same cowardice shows up again. This preparatory spirit that Saul has lost causes him to descend into distress and fear and terror. And so in order to calm this distress, they want to bring in someone who can provide therapy. When Saul becomes distressed, they say, you need some music therapy. You need a spa day. So bring someone in who can play music for you. And then we see exactly why this happens. We see why God places this distressing spirit in Saul's heart. It's so that he, as the primary actor in our text, can place David right where he needs to be, as the armor-bearer in Saul's court. Verse 17 and 18, So Saul said to his servants, Provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me. One of the young men answered, Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is skillful in playing, a man of valor a man of war prudent in speech a man of good presence and the lord is with him wow what a description and one of the one of the characteristics that david shows is he's a noted musician and we're not surprised about this because we still sing his songs to this very day and so they bring david into the court see the servants know that this is more than just a psychological problem. They know that this distress is from the Lord. And so they need a man who has the Lord with them in order to combat it. But what they don't know is that this is God's means of placing David in the court of the king. This is God's way of little by little bringing Israel back into a right relationship with Him. Of bringing in a king who will obey Him. and bring blessing back to Israel again. And with the arrival of David, we see right away, he brings peace. Verse 23, Whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him. With just the playing of an instrument, David shines so brightly in this dark place. In this small way, he brings the presence and favor of God back into the palace of Israel. It's a glimmer of hope in such a hopeless text. A glimmer of hope produced by God. A God who comes not in judgment, but in mercy and in grace. A God who pacifies his people. A God who will establish his own king. A king that the people themselves would never have chosen because he has a plan to restore that relationship, because he has a plan to bless his people through this new king whom he has chosen, King David. And thank God that that's our story as well. That's exactly what he did for us. We who are fallen, we who are rebellious, we who live in a broken relationship, who lived in a broken relationship with our Heavenly Father, We who left to ourselves could never fix it. Like a cadet digging that drill into the screw, we could never fix it. It would never get any better. We had no way to get back to Him. All we can do is break the commandments every single day, fighting against God, taking ourselves down in a spiral of disobedience until God took control. until God said, I love you too much to let you continue this way. Until God said, I will fix this. I will fix this broken relationship. Until this God who we read about in 1 Samuel 16 came down in the flesh. Jesus Christ, God incarnate, who died to change this story, who died to reconcile you to Himself so that while you were rebels, Without deserving it at all, Christ died for the ungodly. And how he takes your hard, rebellious hearts and gives you a heart of flesh once again. If there's someone here who does not know that comfort, who does not know that hope, who does not believe, God offers you this hope. God offers you this salvation if you turn to him in faith. God does not delight in condemning rebels. We read in our text, God loves his people. turning to Him in faith. But He is just. To all who trust in our crucified Savior, He will wash away your sin and rebellion and clothe you in His righteousness. This is our hope. This is the hope of we who believe in Him that all our rebellion cannot turn Him away from us. That He died to renew us to Himself. So brothers and sisters, as you go forward into this week, Do not be yoked by the guilt of your sin or by the hopelessness of your past failures. But go into this week bearing the yoke of Christ, which is easy and light. Because in thankfulness, now not as hopeless people who break God's law, we will seek God's guidance because we know He loves us and because we love Him and are thankful to Him. Not because we fear punishment like slaves, but out of love as adopted children. And at the same time, we go into this week confident that He is working in us who believe to make us more and more conformed to His image. The people of Israel heard and read this story of how God pacified the fears of His people, how He picked and placed David the better king. And so also we hear the story of David's greater son, Jesus Christ, and have confidence that even our own past rebellion and our rebellious hearts cannot separate us from God's all-consuming love. Amen.