The Right Heart In A Bad Situation | Tyrone P. Jones | House of David

now you can stand and we'll go to 1st Samuel chapter 16 we're gonna read the same key verses as last week and just build off of that we're actually gonna go do a little bit of background before these verses and then walk into the message today which will be more of a of a teaching to the title of the message is the right heart in a bad situation you'll see a couple of clips from the house of David and we'll share what the Lord is what I believe the Lord has given me 1st Samuel 16 7 through 13 but the Lord said to Samuel do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature because I've 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 then Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel Samuel said to Jesse the Lord has not chosen these then Samuel said to Jesse are all your sons here and he said there remains yet the youngest but behold he's keeping the sheep Samuel said to Jesse send and get him for we will not sit down until he comes here and he sent and brought him in and now he was ready 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 so far the reading of the word can you say man amen you you you may be seated I want you to imagine for a moment and some people may not even have to imagine this but because it's probably been reality you wake up tomorrow morning and you see that somebody has posted something about you on some social media etc it's it's not true hundreds of people have already shared it friends are already texting you about it co-workers start looking at you differently you know exactly who started it and you know because you know that person that you could absolutely destroy their reputation you could send out one post one click one sentence one screenshot and absolutely destroy them the real battle honestly within you is not whether you can strike back the real battle is will you become the kind of

person who God wants you to be or the kind of person you can choose to be and that's that's the battle that David is facing we took last week we talked a little bit about the dynamics of King Saul and David's relationship and and actually the background of that starts in in 1st Samuel 15 that's when we see Saul start to have a real downfall a real downturn it started actually when he rejected God he done so also in the manner of which he rejected Samuel who was the the prophet and the sent one of God and and then we then we see how David handled being in the very presence of a man that was literally losing his losing his mind though David served him faithfully and the big idea that I I I kind of want to express through this message is you just cannot let someone else's sin determine who you become you can't let someone else's sin become who you become when who you're to become when people treat you wrongly you can't allow their sin to really infect your heart in the manner that it could and I'm telling you I know this and many of you also do godly characters actually forged when you go through seasons of injustice or unjustness I'm not because of my English I'm not sure which one is proper but but but that's when when seasons are forged David he was anointed King as we just read in in chapter 16 and it wasn't known to everyone that he was anointed king. Samuel did that kind of in a private sense with just the family. But David was heard about. People knew about him because of his manner and his manner of worship was known. It's just because of the way things travel. And so when Saul began to have this downfall of his whole character and the way he was acting, they wanted to bring somebody in that would kind of soothe him by playing music. And the initial effect upon Saul

was actually pretty remarkable. I think you're gonna see on the screen, you're gonna see a picture of a liar. This is what David used to play. Oftentimes people translate it to be a harp, but it's not quite the same as a harp. But that's what David used to play. That's what David used in his time of singing. I want you to see a brief clip and I want you to see the response of Saul and his family when David would play and sing. The point of that clip was just to show you the effect on Saul. There are a couple of side notes that I do want to say. And one of them is this. Music can absolutely affect your environment. It absolutely can. And I'm telling you, if you change the music that you're listening to sometimes, it'll change the atmosphere. It'll change it. Worship certainly is an agent of that. We ought to fill our ears with worship in your car and in your home. Those around Saul, they knew that. That's why they went to get David. They knew that worship, music unto the Lord can change things. There's just another side note here before I look at 1 Samuel 18,

is that David sung and played when he was out there in the field. And he did that daily, but he did that for his own edification. He didn't do that to get noticed. He didn't do that to think that one day if I keep doing this, I'm gonna be doing this in front of the king. It's always good to know that you want to be faithful in secret when nobody is looking. When nobody is looking. You don't need to come off as being faithful just to be in the spotlight. You do it privately and you watch what God does with that. The scripture is true that your gift will make room for you and we certainly should steward that. But God sees you. God knows where to find you and to use you to do his best work. David, as I look at 1 Samuel 18 now, verse five through nine, David, he shows his loyalty and honor to Saul. He did it faithfully. He did it consistently and he did it without complaint. Here's verses five through nine and this is from the CSB, I believe. David marched out with the army and was successful in everything that Saul did. Saul sent him to do. Saul put him in command of the fighting men,

which pleased all the people and Saul's servants as well. As the truth was coming back, when David was returning from killing the Philistines, the women came out from the cities of Israel to meet King Saul, singing and dancing with tambourines, with shouts of joy, and with three stringed instruments. As they danced, the women sang. Saul has killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands. Saul was furious and resented this song. They credit tens of thousands to David, he complained, but they only credited me with thousands. What more can he have but the kingdom? And watch this line. So Saul watched David jealously from that day forward. From that day forward, he watched him. Saul allowed his perception of David to compound his problem. He already was responding and reacting and doing things in manner that was very public and so anti the manner that he should have been, and now he compounded that problem. The ESV actually used the words, and Saul eyed David from that day on. Oftentimes how you see people and how you see situations can become a bitter poison to your entire soul. How you look at things, how you look at people. That's why the Bible is so particular to remind us over and over that you gotta guard your heart. Here's Proverbs 4.23, and it says,

guard your heart above all else for it determines the course of your life. And then there's James 3.16. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. Now watch how this plays out as I look a little bit further in 1 Samuel 18, 10 through 11. We saw now where Saul hasn't guarded his heart. We saw now where he's let this jealousy sit in. And as the scripture says, now all kind of other disorder can come. I wanna, you're gonna see verses 10 and 11 of 1 Samuel 18 on the screen, but I'm gonna actually read a little bit further than that. Listen to this. The next day a harmful spirit from God rushed upon Saul, and he raved within his house while David was playing the liar. And as he did day by day, Saul had a spear in his hand, and Saul hurled the spear, for he thought, I will pin David to the wall. But David evaded him twice. Saul was afraid of David. This is verse 12. Saul was afraid of David because the Lord was with him, but he had departed from Saul. So Saul removed him from his presence and made him a commander of a thousand. And he went out and he came in before the people. And David had success in all of his undertakings,

for the Lord was with him. And when Saul saw that he had great success, he stood in fearful awe of him. Stood in fearful awe. We see some things that takes place within us when we allow things to get in our heart. We see it very clearly here with Saul, with David. His jealousy became suspicion. His suspicion became fear. His fear became hatred, and his hatred became murder. Just a real downfall because of what he allowed to get into his heart. David kept serving, kept leading, kept winning, and God was with him. I don't know how many of us, after a dude threw a spear at you twice, would just come back and say, here I am, ready to go at it again. I'm working on my ducking skills. I mean, I just don't know how many of us would do that. But here's what David knew. He knew that he was called. He knew that he was appointed. He knew he was chosen. And he knew there was nothing Saul could do to stop that. Hear this. You are immortal until God completes his purposes in your life. You are immortal until God completes his purposes in your life.

You cannot stop God from blessing the people of God, no matter how people act, no matter what the attempt on the assault of the enemy is. Here's Romans 8, 29 through 31, and I hope you can read yourself in this. For God knew his people. in advance and he chose him to become like his son, that his son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And having chosen them, having chosen you, he called you to come to him. And having called you, he gave you right standing with himself. And having given you right standing, he gave you his glory. What shall we say about such wonderful things as this? If God is for you, who can ever be against you? Who can ever be against you? And so the ultimate problem with Saul now is pride. It's not one of those things that we preach much about, because it's not one of those things that we can see on the outward. We oftentimes can see people doing a lot of outward sin and that's usually what we attack. But I'm gonna tell you the gateway of everything, the gateway of everything is pride. It's the gateway of every sin. And when pride gets in you, when it gets in your soul, it will take over, it will take over. Just a few verses from Proverbs.

I don't even know if these will be on the screen, but here are these, Proverbs 16, 18. Pride goes before destruction and haughtiness before a fall. Proverbs 11, two, pride leads to disgrace. Proverbs 13, 10, pride leads to conflict. Proverbs 29, 23, pride ends in humiliation. Saul gradually suspected that David was anointed by Samuel to be the king. He started suspecting this and he started questioning him about it. He tried to kill David or get David killed, catch this, six times. Not once, not twice, not three times, not four times, not five times, six times. And David kept showing up. There was one occasion, and I'll make this as clean as possible. There was one occasion where Saul tried to set David up by having him go kill, to attack the Philistine army and bring 100 foreskins back to him to prove that he had killed him. Do I need to define foreskins? Okay, David didn't do 100, he'd done 200. He'd done 200 and it just infuriated Saul even more. I want you to see this clip here. I want you to see this clip here. I want you to see this clip here. Listen, it's one thing to deal with stuff with your enemies. It's another thing to deal with stuff with people that you're loyal to

and whom you love and whom says they love you, whether it be a fellow worker or a fellow Christian, a family or a friend. What though did David actually do? I can tell you what he didn't do. He didn't go out for revenge. David refused bitterness. He established some distance. If you've ever been David, you already know how you handled it if you've been in this kind of situations, but if you're in a David situation now or will be, I just want to suggest a few things to you that I really think helps us understand why David did what he did and how he did it. And here's the first thing, just understand this. When people come after you. It's par for the course, it's par for the course. You've got to remember what Jesus said. Let me just say it this way. Don't be surprised that you've got Saul's in your life. You're going to have him. That's just the way it goes. Not everyone is going to like you and love you. And if you thrive off popularity and admiration, you're in deep trouble as a Christian. You're in deep trouble. If all of your identity is shaped by how people like you, love you, and you'll find yourself, when people do things to you, you'll find yourself saying, why are they doing this to me? I've never done anything to them.

Folks, that's par for the course. That's just the way it is. Jesus said it this way. Hear this. If the world hates you, understand that it hated me before it hated you. People will hurt you. People will let you down. People will betray you. That just happens. And honestly, as a Christian, you gain a greater chance of getting that kind of hatred and attention just because of your beliefs. Just because of your beliefs. And it's not personal. That's where we mess up. We think it's personal. It ain't personal. It's spiritual. They did this very same thing to Jesus, and Jesus only done good. Acts 1038 says, and you know that God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Then Jesus went around doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil for God was with him. Throughout our times, and we're seeing just an increase of it, honestly, in a whole lot of ways of where Christians have just faced tangible consequences because of their biblical convictions. Christian adoption agencies have lost government contracts because of certain people they won't place in certain homes. Christian universities and professors and employees have been disciplined because they've expressed their Christian beliefs and values about sexuality. We got coaches and teachers who face all kind of employment disputes because they're connected to whatever their expression is of their faith. Small business owners who have been put in litigation because they refuse to do things for same-sex marriages, etc. You know, we got brothers and sisters around the world who are being persecuted unto death, imprisoned, etc. And most of us may not face that here in America, but all Christians, I would say, face some kind of ridicule. If you have a heart and a desire to proclaim, I love this young man's testimony. I don't remember his name, but I love when he said, man, I boldly want to tell people about Jesus. I boldly want to tell people about the Lord. But you're going to face ridicule.

You're going to lose some opportunities. There's going to be some legal battles that you have to face. Reputations may be damaged unfairly because you stand on your biblical convictions. That's probably more so the kind of persecution we face here now. But again, Jesus told us don't. That opposition shouldn't surprise you, and it shouldn't scare you. As a matter of fact, you shouldn't even try to dodge it. I would much rather, and I think the Lord would, would much rather you stand firm in who you are, knowing that he will always take care of you based upon your faith and your confession of faith. Second Timothy 3.12 says, yes, and everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. So here it is, but just remember that Jesus chose you. John 15.16 says, you didn't choose me. I chose you. This is Jesus talking. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for using my name. And so David's choosing, David's appointment, David's promotion, it didn't protect him. As a matter of fact, it provoked Saul more, but David knew that my protection comes from the Lord. Here's the second thing. So first thing is just know that that's par for the course. The second thing, don't become spiteful or vengeful. And that is a temptation. It's a temptation to get even. Part of it is just human nature. Part of that, I didn't necessarily have this verse, but you know the scripture also tells us not to get happy when people who've done you wrong. wrong, go through wrong. Now, that's a greater temptation. Because I got to be honest, sometimes I'm stepping back. Oh, I know God going to get them and I'm stepping right here. Like, oh, there it is. You know, but that's sometimes a greater temptation, right?

But here's what 1 Peter 3, 9 says, don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate with insults when people insult you. Hear this. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. You got to watch this. This is what God has called you to do. He didn't say he asked you to do that and gave you an option. He called you to do that. He called you to do that. And he will grant you a blessing. Can you say amen? So to kill Saul, listen, for David to kill Saul, he would have to become Saul. Some of y'all missed that. For David to kill Saul, he would have had to become Saul. And that's what the enemy wants us to do, to become the person that we're having the struggle and the problem with. And how many of us, honestly, how many of us that are married, we become what we're trying to kill in the marriage. We become that. How many Christians become Saul trying to kill Saul? I'll never forget when we had a season of Christians who were so against abortion that they were out killing abortion doctors. They were becoming the very Saul that they were against. David, he had a chance to do it, but he didn't. I read a statement from an old Anglican priest. He lived in the 1500s, 1600s. I loved his statement.

He says, living well is the best revenge. I love that. Living well is the best revenge. And here's Proverbs 3, 3. Team, I know I'm a little off. Just stay with me. Keep up there what you got. But here's Proverbs 3, 3. Never let loyalty and kindness leave you. Tie them around your neck as a reminder and write them deep within your heart. Never let kindness and loyalty leave you. Here's the third thing. Resist and uproot bitterness. The spear missed David, but I'm telling you, bitterness still could have hit his heart. The spear missed him, but bitterness still could have got in his heart. Proverbs 12, 15, the latter part. I'm sorry, Hebrews 12, 15, the latter part. Listen to this. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many. Bitterness will defile you. And when we uproot, that means you gotta let go. You gotta let go of the deep hurt. You gotta let go of the anger. You gotta let go of the unforgiveness. That bitter root will wound you and it will absolutely destroy you.

And it'll just grow bigger and it'll cause more trouble and it'll hurt people around you. And you can identify the signs of bitterness if you're carrying some unresolved anger, holding on to things in your mind, you keep replaying them, or you're spreading negativity or by criticizing and gossiping or pulling others into the frustration. It is, I know it's an old adage, but it's true. Misery does love company. Folks don't like to go through their mess alone. They wanna convince somebody else why they feel so bad and as a matter of fact, you oughta feel bad with me. And people fall into that nonsense. They fall into it. Instead of identifying who they are and say, dude, I get it, I'm sorry, ma'am. I'm sorry you're going through that, but that's your problem. I ain't taking that home. I ain't carrying that. And then what happens is you start to have emotional distance. When you got bitterness, you start pulling away from people, start pulling away from family, start pulling away, honestly, from the peace of God, but you gotta uproot that thing. You gotta be honest. It's okay to say that there's some pain and some anger, but you identify that instead of hiding it

and you choose forgiveness and you rely on the grace of God. When people treat you wrongly, don't let their sin determine your heart. Don't let their sin determine it. Here's the fourth one, set some boundaries. Set some boundaries. Matthew 10, 16, Jesus is so brilliant. I love this statement. Look, I'm sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as does. That's a brilliant statement. statement. You wouldn't put snakes and doves in the same category, but Jesus knows something about each of those. Wise as serpents, harmless as doves, meaning people ought to be smart and careful like a snake, but kind and pure like a dove. Being alert, being smart, knowing how to avoid stuff like snakes do, and doves, gentle, peaceful, honest, keeping a clean heart. You got to keep that kind of balance. You got to watch out, you know, see bad situations and keep yourself from getting hurt from them, stay kind, be safe. David ducked, and then he got out of town. Protecting yourself is not unloving, it's actually wise. It's not unloving to set boundaries. It's not unloving to set boundaries. And so, you got to set some boundaries. And here's the fifth thing and the last thing. And team, I think you can get ready to, you can come, I guess. I'm not sure how much more I got, but it's kind of up to you. But here's the last thing. Keep going forward in the Lord. Keep going forward in the Lord. David kept serving, trusting God, not letting enemies shut down his purpose and his calling. We saw something very similar to this in the Old Testament with Nehemiah. As you know, Nehemiah was sent back to rebuild, or at least to lead the people into rebuilding the wall, and they needed to move further than that, went on to rebuild the temple. But there were some enemies in that territory. There were some people there who didn't want the Jews to accomplish anything. They didn't want the city rebuilt. They certainly didn't want the temple rebuilt. Tobias, Sanballat and Gishem was their name. But in Nehemiah chapter 6, as they were making progress, Sanballat and Gishem sent a message asking me to meet

them at one of the villages in the plain of Ono. So they said, listen, Nehemiah, man, just come on down here. We want to talk to you. But I realized they were plotting to harm me, so I replied by sending this message to them. I'm engaged in a great work, so I cannot come. Why should I stop working to come and meet with you? Sometimes you got to say, oh, no, to the valley of Ono. You got to say, oh, no. Oh, no. I ain't doing that. I ain't doing that. Nehemiah said, I can't come down from the work that you called me to. There was a, well, he's still alive, but when he was 19 years old, this fellow named Keith Kent, he wrote, this was in 1960 something, he wrote 10 paradoxical commandments of leadership. Kent, Keith, I encourage you to look them up. I'm not going to do all 10, but I want you to hear this as I close this out. This is just a few of them. People are logical, unreasonable, and self-centered. Love them anyway. If you do good, people will accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Do good anyway. People really need help, but may attack you if you don't, if you do help them. Help people anyway. Give the world the best you have, and you'll get kicked in the teeth, but give the world the best you have anyway. And so, as I close out this message, I do want to remind you, David was not perfect by any means, by no means. But it's interesting that God commended David and said he had a perfect heart before him. First Kings 15.5 says this, for David did what was right in the Lord's sight, and he did not turn aside from anything. He had commanded him all the days of his life except in the matter of Uriah. But you know, you got to know by now if you've been at CTC any length of time. Though I reflected about David, walked you through a narrative of David, gave you some points concerning what David did, you got to know though that this message is not about David. This message is about the greater David, and that's our Lord Jesus Christ. Because Jesus served people who hated him. He loved people who mocked him. He forgave people who crucified him. David ducked the spears of Saul, but Jesus died for the Saul's of the world. He died for him. And that's the heart that our God wants to form in us. That kind of heart. And the scriptures is clear, if you want that kind of heart listen to this second corinthians 5 21 and maybe i'll pause to say this you won't get this kind of heart without the lord human nature human flesh is going to always respond the way human nature and human flesh will remember there's the propensity of sin of sin is living in us we got an old nature that old nature will rise up but we need a new nature as we'll always do things according to

the old nature and the only way we get a new nature is by giving our life to the lord jesus christ repenting of the things that we know are not good not right not healthy not godly that takes us away from the things that god wants of us and surrender ourselves to him here's second corinthians 5 21 for god made christ who never sinned to be the offering for watch this so that we could be made right with god through christ so that we could be made right romans 3 22 says we are made right with god by placing our faith in the lord jesus christ and this is true for everyone who believes in him no matter who we are no matter who we are the only way that we're going to be able to do what david did in the midst of all of the stuff that you got to face and the nonsense that people do and waking up and seeing stuff that's not true and and all of that is to have the right heart and that heart comes from christ alone i'm gonna ask you to stand if you would i'm gonna ask the prayer team to come and i i want you to hear me if you hear and you know you need a new heart you know you need a heart to do right you need a heart to do the right thing you need the heart to do the godly thing you need the heart to do what god wants you to do i need i want you to hear this romans 10 9 and 10 it won't be on the screen but hear this if you confess with your mouth jesus is lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead you will be saved one who believes with the heart resulting in righteousness resulting in righteousness because you confess with your mouth that jesus is lord and you believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead that will result in righteousness and one who confesses with his mouth will also result in salvation so if you're here today and you want that new heart i'm telling you where it comes from it comes from christ alone it comes from surrendering your life to him it comes from you making a decision a conscious decision i'm not going to keep walking in the manner that i'm walking i'm not going to keep living in the manner that i'm living i'm not going to keep thinking in the manner that i'm thinking i'm not going to keep behaving in the manner that i'm behaving but i know that i cannot do this alone and that's where repentance come you turn to jesus you turn to the lord and you let him be the one that fix the heart that can be bitter you fix a heart that can be vengeful you fix a heart that can be spiteful you fix a heart that can be one full of unforgiveness and let the lord jesus be the one that changes i'm going to pray now but there's another thing that i want i i'm going to ask you to be honest about if you're saw i mean sorry if you're david living in a saw situation and you know you need you need prayer you you want to get through this you're struggling with it some of you as i preach this message

some of you and you don't need to lie because you got led lights all the way across your face some of you as i was preaching this message names of people was coming across your head don't don't walk out of here carrying that saw in your head you you you let these folks pray for you let these folks pray for you they'll come alongside you and fight the warfare with you in prayer so that you indeed can go forth and leave that stuff alone so you can be like david let kindness be wrapped around you let loyalty be wrapped around you that you can continue to do the good work that god has called you to be to do and not be distracted by the stuff that's par for the course father i thank you for this opportunity lord god to minister i pray lord god that it came forth with clarity i pray lord god that it came forth in such a manner that those who need to hear it that they will embrace it and respond to it father for the ones who who need a change of heart may repentance come may repentance come may they turn to you right now and receive you and accept you as their Lord and Savior. And those, Lord God, who need prayer to get through this battle, through this fight, I pray, Lord God, that they respond in faith and obedience and allow the dear folks to pray for them. Let the blood of Jesus cover them. Father, you're good, you're gracious, and you're mighty. In Christ's name we pray. May the people of God say amen. Listen, as we go into prayer and to worship, the altars are open. If you wanna commit your life to Jesus, if you want prayer, please, please come. God bless you, have a great day.