THE MAN OF GOD’S CHOICE
Martin Brown
1 Samuel 16: 1, 6-13 to “midst of his brethren”
1 Timothy 2: 4-6
It is a wonderful victory as we look around in the world today that God has a Man of His choice. We were affected by that this morning in remembering Him, that there is such a One whom God can have complete rest in: the Man of His choice.
This world is darkening all around us. It is not getting any better nor can we expect it to. We can read in Ecclesiastes that “there is nothing new under the sun”, chap 1: 9. Sin is everywhere. You might look around you, at some great achiever in this world, or see someone you think is good, doing good works or whatever it may be, but the fact remains, the world is full of sin. Romans 3 tells us that there is not one righteous man: “There is not a righteous man, not even one”, v 10. And it says that “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”, v 23. What a thing it is to contemplate that this world is full of sin, the world that God created. He created it for man to enjoy, and yet it has been spoiled by sin. How sad for God to look down and see the creature that He has created in bondage to sin, captured by it.
In the gospel, God is speaking to you as His creature, a creature that He loves, a creature that may be in bondage to sin, maybe disappointed with life, not having fulfilled ambitions or dreams, whatever it may be. You may be struggling with persons, with disappointments, and all that means, and yet God in His love in the gospel tonight would speak to you. As we see in 1 Samuel 16, there were many different men that passed before Samuel. And he said as he looked at one of them, ‘Surely this is the one; surely this man is God’s chosen one’. He looked at the stature and looks, he looked at the height, he looked at his achievements perhaps, and yet Jehovah said, ‘No, not that one; that is not my man’.
You see, God in the gospel, through all of the sin that is in the world, through all of the sin that is in your life, in my heart and your heart, He is wanting to reach through, to break through and to speak to you of His Man, Jesus Christ. There is no other name under heaven, or given amongst men, by which we must be saved but the name of Jesus Christ. Many options are given in the world. I feel especially for the young people at school. They are given what is called ’religious’ and ’moral education’, and many different religions of man’s imagination and philosophy are placed before them; they are told they have many paths to choose, and that none are right and none are wrong: they may choose any one of them. That is not the gospel! That is not the God that I know. God is presenting one Man, one Man for the salvation of sinners, and His name is Jesus Christ.
Here in the Old Testament, we find Samuel in the house of Jesse. The people had previously called for a king. They had called for a leader. It is something that we find within ourselves; we want someone, something, to lead, something to hold on to and connect with. That is humanity, searching and wanting a leader. They want someone, you might say, to fulfil things for them, and king Saul was given. And what had happened to Saul? We read in chapter 13 that Samuel says to him, “But now thy kingdom shall not continue: Jehovah has sought him a man after his own heart”, v 14. “A man after his own heart”: what a man Jesus must be! If this world is full of sin, if my heart is full of sin, what a Man Jesus must be, that He is a Man after the heart of God.
And so Samuel is here looking at all these sons and he says, ‘Are these all of them?’. And Jesse says to him, ‘No, there is one more’. Dear friend, there is one more Man you may not have considered; have you found Him? Have you seen Jesus yet? In all the gospel preachings you have listened to, have you found Jesus or are you still struggling on? You know, dear young or old soul, if you have sat under many gospel preachings or been brought up in a believing household, it might be very easy just to drift along. You might in an outward way ‘conform’; perhaps in an outward way you say, ‘Yes’, and nod. But, in faith, have you found Jesus? Has He made a difference in your life? Have you known what it is to be saved from your sins?
In the Scriptures, it tells us that our life is but a vapour, Jas 4: 14. It has been many years since Jesus was here, and it will not be long till He returns. But in the meantime, while the gospel is being preached, in this relatively short time of your life span, what will it be for you? Will you accept Jesus? Will you find Him and trust Him for yourself as your Saviour? Or will you spend eternity in a place which God has not designed for man, but which exists; that is the lake of fire. I was contemplating this week how it must be a terror to be standing before the great white throne without a righteous Substitute, to stand before a holy sin-hating God without my faith and trust in One who has righteously borne my sins; what a terror. And therefore we persuade souls. We appeal to souls in the gospel preaching that you might accept Jesus as Saviour.
Samuel says, “Are these all the young men?”. Jesse says, “There is yet the youngest remaining, and behold, he is feeding the sheep. And Samuel said to Jesse, Send and fetch him; for we will not sit at table till he come hither”. What a wonderful picture this is. Samuel was willing to wait on this youngest son to come and make his presence known, to wait on Jehovah to find out if this was Jehovah’s chosen one. “And he sent and brought him in. And he was ruddy, and besides of a lovely countenance and beautiful appearance”. This, of course, was in the sight of Samuel - one who was close to God - one who could see the beauty in such a man. We heard in the reading today that there was “no beauty that we should desire him”, Isa 53: 2. That is, in self-will and independence from God, in our sins, there is nothing that we find attractive in Christ. But in the gospel, God makes Jesus attractive to you. He would seek to attract your heart, to affect your heart in such a way that Jesus as a beautiful, moral, perfect man should be made attractive to you, that you might see His beauty. “He was ruddy, and besides of a lovely countenance and beautiful appearance. And Jehovah said, Arise, anoint him; for this is he”.
In one sense, it does not matter what the world says about Jesus, because Jesus is God’s Man. “Arise, anoint him; for this is he”. God has said, ‘This is my Man’. He has expressed this by the exaltation and glorification of Jesus. He is seated at the Father’s right hand. He has been made Lord and Christ. God has done that to Him, but in the long-suffering grace of God He is still appealing to the sin-weary world. He is still appealing to you. Have you trusted in Him?
In the New Testament we have the Man Himself. This passage says, “before our Saviour God”. What a wonderful thing that we can speak of “our Saviour God”. What a title that is; it could only have been possible through the sacrifice of Jesus that God could be called, “our Saviour God”. It could only be possible since Jesus came into flesh and blood conditions and was here, marked out Son of God in power, loved of the Father, as walking before Him, every minute of every day according to His will and pleasure. It could only be according to that way, and the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, that God can be, “our Saviour God”. You think of such a man as Jesus: He was perfect and without sin. We have spoken about the sin in the world, and the sin in each of us, but you think of what it was for God to have a Man walking here before Him who was sinless. He was without sin, holy, harmless, and undefiled, not only walking in a world of sin but completely untainted by it morally. “The ruler of the world comes, and in me he has nothing” (John 14: 30), He could say. What a Man Jesus is, a Man whom the Father loved and loves. What it was then for the Father in Gethsemane, loving Christ, having seen Him in perfection, walking in a path of public service for three years, having walked perfectly for thirty three years, going about His Father’s business every day; what must it have meant for the Father to give a cup to the Man of His choice.
What was in that cup? What was in that cup we shall never fully fathom, but it included all the wrath of God. The wrath of God due to me, due to you, in relation to our sins. But Jesus as the Man of God’s choice, as the Man who did always the things that pleased the Father said, “not my will, but thine be done”, Luke 22: 42. You think of the holy recoiling of His holy soul as He said, “My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me; but not as I will, but as thou wilt”, Matt 26: 39. There was the Man of His choice, faithful and tried.
Where would you have been, where would I have been, in the face of such horrendous horror, as facing that question of sin? Oh my friend, at the very least we would have turned and run. But not Jesus: He went onwards, the Man of the Father’s choice. He went on to the cross, crucified by wicked men, yet completing the whole will of God. In those three hours of darkness there was a transaction between God and man, where Christ as Man, drank that cup, bore my sins in His body on the tree and exhausted the wrath of God. He died and shed His blood for the remission of sins, and took the man that offended God into the grave in being buried. I love that scripture in Romans, where it says, “reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God”, chap 6: 11. Why? Because Jesus has removed the man that offended God entirely, and so I can live, alive to God, happy and free.
Where are you? Do you know Jesus? Have you found Him? Is He the Man of your choice? Of course, we do not present a choice in the gospel, in the sense that there is no choice for salvation, but Jesus. He is the Man of the Father’s choice because of His moral glorious beauty. So it says, “our Saviour God, who desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. For God is one, and the mediator of God and men one, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all”. We were affected by that this morning, not only that He is the Man of the Father’s choice, but that He gave His all. Jesus knew the price that was to be paid. He paid the ransom; He paid for your recovery. He paid, to buy you back for God. You think of that, One who did not deserve to die.
We often read and are told about the scene at the cross. There were three crosses and there were two malefactors on either side, and Jesus in the middle. Both were insulting Him, we are told (Matt 27: 44), and then in one gospel we are also told that one spoke and said, “this man has done nothing amiss”, Luke 23: 41. He also said, “Remember me, Lord, when thou comest in thy kingdom”, v 42. “We indeed justly, for we receive the just recompense of what we have done; but this man” - this Man - “has done nothing amiss”. What a wonderful man is Jesus. He is available now as a Saviour having been in the grave and having been raised from amongst the dead. The glory of the gospel is, as it tells us in 1 Corinthians 15, that Christ has been raised from the dead. He has been raised for our justification, Rom 4: 25. What a glorious thing that is for the believer, to realise that we have to do with a risen, glorified Saviour.
Have you seen Him raised from the dead? What does it speak to us of? It speaks to us of the satisfaction that God has in Christ, that He has been raised by the glory of the Father (Rom 6: 4), and now He is seated at God’s right hand. God has completely forgiven your sins if you have trusted in Jesus: He has completely removed them from His sight. They will never be remembered any more. Indeed it tells us in Galatians therefore, “Christ has set us free in freedom”, chap 5: 1. We could not be freer because of the work of Christ. If you have trusted in Him, if you have believed Him, if you are practising the principles of Christianity in having Him in your life, you could not be a freer person. You may be surrounded by this world of sin, yes, but having victory over it because of a link with a risen glorified Man, and having the blessed power and gift of the Holy Spirit.
I think that is suggested in coming “to the knowledge of the truth”. Knowing and having relationships with divine Persons, and coming “to the knowledge of the truth” suggests the blessed gift of the Spirit. How wonderful is God that not only has He a Man of His choice but He has others like Him. Think of what is often said that on the mount of transfiguration Christ was morally fit to be taken up to glory. Of course, He was! He was a perfect Man, but He would have left every sinner here in our sins, and He did not do that. Christ laid down His life for us, giving Himself a ransom for all. But more than that, He has given us the wherewithal to have a link with Himself, a Man in glory, through the giving of the Spirit. You think of the wonderful words of Christ - you wonder and marvel at them, “It is profitable for you that I go away”, John 16: 7. You say, ‘How is that possible, Jesus, a perfect Man here, saying to His disciples, “It is profitable for you that I go away”? Why? Because He was going to send you another Comforter, the One who will lead you into the truth, guide you in the truth, give you strength, help you to overcome, give you joy, give you refreshing’. You could write a huge list about the things that the Spirit does and is willing to do for the believer here. But most of all He wants to magnify Christ in your life. He wants to magnify Christ in your heart, the Man of the Father’s choice. He wants to help you see Jesus. What a wonderful thing this is.
Well, ask for the Spirit. Dear soul, ask for the Spirit. Prove Him in your life, and do not grieve Him; He is very sensitive. In type He is a dove in the Old Testament, suggesting sensitivity, with the sensitive sole of its foot, Gen 8: 9. The Spirit can be easily grieved, and we know what that is if we allow our wills to be active, and yet the glory again of God’s wonderful mercy and grace is that He is a forgiving God. How He loves to forgive. He loves to welcome back, dear friend, the sinner who answers to the gospel.
The gospel goes forth and the simple word is to repent towards God, and have faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, both for now and for all eternity.
May it be the portion of everyone for His Name’s sake.
Edinburgh
27th August 2023