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

Turn your Bibles to 1st Samuel chapter 16. 1st Samuel chapter 16. We're going to continue our series on uh titled King Me, looking at the kings of the Old Testament and what we can learn from their lives. 1st Samuel chapter 16. And we're going to look at verses 1-7 to begin with. 1st Samuel chapter 16, beginning with verse number one. The Bible says, "And the Lord said unto Samuel, how long wil thou mourn for Saul, seeing I've rejected him from reigning over Israel? fill thine horn with oil and go, and I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlite, for I have provided the mee among his sons. And Samuel said, "How can I go?

If Saul hear it, he will kill me." And the Lord said, "Take a heer with thee, and say, I have come to sacrifice to the Lord, and call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show thee what thou shalt do, and thou shalt anoint unto him me him whom I name unto thee." And Samuel did that which the Lord spake and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town uh trembled at his coming and said, "Comest out peacefully." And he said, "Peace I come to sacrifice unto the Lord. Sanctify yourselves and come with me to sacrifice." And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and called them to the sacrifice. And it came to pass when they were come that he looked on Elijah and said unto said, "Surely the Lord's anointed is before him."

But the Lord said unto Samuel, "Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his statue statue, because I have refused him. For the Lord look seeth not as man seeth. For man lookth on the outward appearance, but the Lord lookth on the heart." And then I want you to skip down to verse number 11. And Samuel said unto Jesse, "And here are here all thy children." He said, "There remainth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep." And Samuel said unto the Jesse, "Send send and fetch him, for we will not sit down till he come hither." And he sent and brought unto him him onto him. And now he was ready and with all of the beautiful countenance and goodly to look at.

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 brethren. And the spirit of the Lord came upon David from the dead that day forward. So Samuel rose up and went to Rama. So, David was the second king of Israel. Of course, Saul was the first king and he was rejected by God because he was not doing what God told him to do. And and then God called David to be the king. And so, we want to look at the life of David, but how do you narrow down? How do you take the life of David and and make it bring it down into one message?

Uh Spurgeon, a great preacher of the past, wrote two full books about David. So, how do you take his life? Uh D. You could talk about David being a shepherd boy. You could talk about David and Goliath. You could talk about David and his friendship with Jonathan where their souls were knit together. You could talk about David as the writer of most of the Psalms. Or you could talk about his great victories in battle. Or you could talk about his sin. There's so much about David's life that we could talk about. But what I want to talk about tonight is David's heart. David's heart. Acts 13:22. It says when he removed him, he raised him on up unto him, 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 my own heart, which shall fulfill all my will.

And so God described David not as the victor over the giant Goliath, not as a shepherd boy or as a great king and a great conqueror, but God described David as a man after my own hearts. You know, um I like to use object lessons and illustrations. I wanted to have a heart to illustrate the message today, but I couldn't find one. I didn't have one. I thought I did, but I didn't. But I do have a brain. And so, uh you know, but you say, "Well, what's a brain got to do with a heart?" Well, the Bible says in Proverbs 23:7, "For he thinkketh in his heart, so is he. Eat and drink, sayith he thee, but his heart is not with thee."

We think of the heart today as the seed of the emotions. But back in the day of the Bible, the emotions, they considered emotions to come from the gut. You know, you feel your emotions in your gut, don't you? You get butterflies in your stomach or your stomach starts churning because you're upset about something. And we feel our emotions in our gut. But the heart, they considered the heart the place of the will of decisionmaking. And and we need to not only think with our brain, but we also need to think with our heart. And and David was a man after God's own heart. David was a man who had a heart of integrity in first kings chapter nine and verse number four.

And it says, "If thou will walk before me as David thy father walked in integrity of heart and in uprightness to do accord commanded thee, and I will keep and will keep my statutes and judgments." See, David was a man of integrity, integrity of heart, the Bible says. Now, one of the things that bothers me and I I struggled with is I read this verse. This is in First Kings chapter 9. And this is after David's sin with Bashibba. And it's after he had her husband murdered. And I'm thinking, how could God call David a man of integrity when he had done such wicked and terrible things? And and the word integrity means sincerity of purpose and singlehearted devotion, not sinlessness.

sincerity of purpose and single-hearted devotion, not sinlessness. Uh JJ talked about this man uh in California in Pastor Jonathan's church who had murdered somebody, was in prison, got saved, and came out of prison, a changed man. And and and it's not about the fact that we've never done anything wrong, but it's a fact of a heart that has a purpose. And David ch his heart changed and he had a purpose towards God. He had a sincerity of purpose. Integrity is like a compass. If you'll look at Psalms chapter 26, put a marker in 1 Samuel, but go over to Psalms chapter 26 and look at begin verse number one.

First of all, Psalms chapter 26 and verse number one. Psalms 26:1 says, "Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in my integrity. I have trusted also in the Lord. Therefore, I shall not slide." Now what's interesting is David talked about walking in his integrity. But this was before his sin with Bashibba. After the sin with Basheba, he no longer talked about his own integrity. He understood he had done wrong. He understood he had failed and messed up and and he never went back and talked about but God talked about his integrity. But he said, "I've walked in my integrity. I shall not slide." And then go down to verse number six.

I will wash mine hands in innocy, so will I compass thine altar, O Lord. And then verse number 11, but as for me, I will walk in mine integrity. Redeem me and be merciful unto me. You see, integrity is like a compass. You know what a compass is? That's what guides you in the woods. Before we had GPS and everything else, we had compasses. And a compass, you would use it to find where north is. And once you found what north is, you could figure out what direction that you needed to go and the compass would guide you. And David said, "My integrity will guide me as I walk in mine integrity." And so integrity is like a compass that will guide you through life.

You need to have a a compass that always points north. In John 12 and verse number 32, Jesus said, "And I will be lifted up in upon the earth and will draw all men onto me." You see, my compass here, the arrow of the compass is drawn to the north. And if you are walking integrity, your life is drawn to God. That he is your north. He is the the guide of your life. And we need to have a heart that is drawn towards God, you know, and and you need to when you when you use a compass, you set a course. What you do is you look at the compass, figure out where north is and get that down. And then you can figure out, okay, I need to go west or south or east or whichever direction.

And I can then turn the compass and set the compass. I have a little little line on my compass. I can set that to tell me this is the way that you need to go. And you set a course for your life. In acts chapter 28 verse 13 it says from thence we we fetched a compass. Uh Paul was taken as a prisoner to Rome and he was on a ship and the ship they they they fetched a compass. That doesn't mean they went and got a compass but they used the compass to set their course and and you need to have a course for your life. You need to set a a path for your life. In Matthew chapter 6 and verse number 33, the Bible says, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you."

When you seek God first, when you set your compass towards God, when you set a course of your life that I'm going to seek after God in my life, that's setting a compass. That's integrity. A compass will guide you. And you know, when you're out in the woods and you don't know which way, excuse me, you don't know which way things are. You've got uh you you maybe you can't see the sun and you can't figure out where you're at. The compass will guide you in where to go. And the Bible says in Psalms 26 and verse number one, "Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine integrity. I have trusted also in the Lord.

Therefore, I shall not slide." You see, God says, "When you follow this compass, when you follow this guide, in Proverbsap 11, verse number three, it says,"The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but the perversess of transgressors shall destroy them." For those of you in the military, if you ever done one of those courses where they put you out in the woods and you got to find your way back, you know, you you got to follow that compass. You got to use that compass to guide you to where you need to go. And and when you're in life, you need to have a compass to guide you through life to guide you as you walk through this life.

And that's your integrity. You see, you need to turn yourself, not your compass. When my compass is to pointing north, I I don't turn I don't turn the compass around. I turn myself around to get in the right direction. And you need to turn yourself into the right direction. When you realize you're going the wrong way, you need to turn onto the right way. In 2 Chronicles chapter 7 and verse number 14, if my people which are called by my name shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then and then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and will heal their land.

You see, when you turn when you realize, you know, I've used the compass in the woods was a boy scout and and I was going along in the path and all of a sudden realized, well, I'm not going the right way. I don't turn the compass. I have to turn myself to go the right way, to turn to the right way. And that's what your integrity does. Your integrity says, listen, you're going the wrong way and you need to get back unto your north. You need to get back and going the right way and seeking first the kingdom of God. You need to find your true north. In Psalms chapter 75 in verses 6 and 7 the Bible says for promotion cometh neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south but God is the judge.

He puteth down one and setth setth up another. See God is the one that sets our course in our lives. You need to establish God as your north. You see it says here that promotion cometh neither from the east nor the west but from God. And you need to realize that God needs to be the north. You know, I've seen some people in the military that they get that time when they are ready to get a promotion, they get so focused on that promotion, they forget about God. They stop coming to church. They stop reading their Bible because now the promotion becomes their north instead of God. Now, there's nothing wrong with working to be promoted.

There's nothing wrong with doing the things that you need to do to be promoted, but you can't let that become your north. And so often our lives, we allow something else to become our north. Whether it's promotion or sports or whatever else it is, we allow that to become the north and to take us off the path that God wants us on. You see, you cannot have two north. You cannot have two north. In Matthew chapter 6 and verse 24, it says, "No man could serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

You see, you cannot have two norths. You got to have one north established in your life. So, let me ask you a question. What is drawing you away from your north, from God? What is drawing you away from your north from God? You know, the Bible tells us, you know, well, you know, if I have a magnet here, if I take this magnet and put it next to the compass, what's going to happen? the arrow is going to point towards the magnet instead of pointing towards north. And that's what happens so often in our lives is we allow something else become that magnet in our lives that pulls us away from God. And and it doesn't have to be bad things necessarily, but there are things that have become our north.

There are things that we've allowed to take us off of our course and become the focus of our lives. The Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter in Deuteronomy chapter 30 and verse number 17. But if thine heart turn away so that thou will not hear but shall be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them. Don't allow your heart to be drawn away from your north. Don't allow things to come in your life that are magnets that will pull you away from God. And don't allow them to become your focus. You know, again, there's nothing wrong with those things necessarily. Promotion is not a bad thing, but don't allow it to become the focus of your life.

Keep your north as you work on that path to pro promotion and keep God as your north. Make sure you are going the right way. In in John 14 and verse number 6, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the father but by me. And you need to make sure that you're on the right way to heaven. Now, you may think, I think I'm on the right way. You may, it may seem right to you. In fact, the Bible says in Proverbs 14, verse number 12, there is a way which seemth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. I want to try experiment right now. I want everybody in here when I say go to point north.

All right? Don't think about it. Don't look at anybody else. This is it. Everybody right now, point north. Oh, you guys are pointing a lot of different Some of you are not are not pointing anywhere, but a lot of you pointing different directions. All right. North is that way right there. So, a lot of you were wrong, weren't you? A lot of you thought, I know where north is. I I remember as a boy scout, we had to do a a thing through the woods and finding our way. And I remember thinking, okay, I know where I'm going. I know the right way. And all of a sudden, I realized, you know, I'd looked at the compass, whoa, this is not the right way.

and and you get on your own path and that's not the way to heaven. You see, it may seem right to you. You may think, well, the way to heaven is religion. The way to heaven is rituals like baptism or catechism or church membership. The way to heaven is my own righteousness, and I've got to do all kinds of good works to get to heaven. But the Bible says in Titus 3 and:e 5, "Is not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy has saved us by the washing and regeneration, excuse me, of the Holy Ghost." You see, we need to be on the right path to heaven, the right way to heaven.

And we need to make sure we're on that right path. And you may think you know the right way, but you need to look to the the north. Jesus said, "Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me." And you need to go back to the word of God and make sure you're on the right way to heaven, which is Jesus Christ as your savior. It's not your own way. It's not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but it's according to his mercy. You need to make sure that you have Jesus as your savior because he is the way, the truth, and the life. In Romans chap 10 and:es 9 and 10 it says that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in thine heart that God has raised the dead thou shalt be saved.

For with the heart man believeth under righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. In Romans 10:13 it says, "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." When you're out in the middle of the woods and there's no one around, you can't you can't you got to call onto God and you got to find God's way to heaven. And that's only through Jesus Christ as your savior. He's the only one that can get you to heaven. And you need to make sure you're on the right way. You know, when you're lost, you want to make sure you're on the right path. I was behind a car one time and the bumper sticker on their car said, "I'm lost, but I'm making good time."

And you know, a lot of people are that way in life. They're lost, but they're making good time. But you know what? If you're lost, you're going the wrong way. No matter how good time you're making, you're going to end up in the wrong place. In 1 John 5 12 and 13, it says, "He that hath the son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may believe on the name of the Son of God." You see, when you know that you have Jesus Christ as your savior, you know that you have eternal life.

And the only way you can know that is by having Jesus Christ as your savior. By putting your faith and trust in him. And are you on that right path? You want to make sure you want to make sure you're on the right path to heaven. But you also need to establish a compass point. You say, "Well, pastor, what is a compass point?" A a compass point is a is a you you remember one of these things here. Remember that from about seventh grade in in school? You get one of these little things right here and you stab all your friends with it. You remember that? All right. But it was it's a compass. This is also called a compass.

It's different from this compass, but it's called a compass. And what do you do with that compass? You put it on the paper and you draw a circle with it. And you got a compass point. You put the point on the center of where you want the circle and you draw a circle around that point. And if you want to have integrity, you need to have a compass point in your life. You need to make God the center point of your life. In Psalms chapter 26 and verse number six, he the psalmist said, "I will wash mine hands in innocy. So will I compass thine altar, oh Lord." See, what the psalmist is saying is, "I'm going to compass thy altar.

I'm going to make the altar of God the center of my life. and I'm going to make that the center of everything in my life. And that's what integrity is. Integrity is when you make God the center of your life. In in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse number 15, it says, "See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise." The idea of that word circumspectly means to have a circle around you. that you put again God at the center of your life and you keep him at the center of the circle of your life to walk with God at the center of everything in your life to keep him as the north of your life.

You see integrity is easy to lose and hard to keep. Integrity is easy to lose but hard to keep. In Job chapter 2 two and verses 9 to 10, then said his wife unto him, "Dust thou still retain thine integrity? curse God and die. But he said to her, "Thou speakest as one of the foolish woman speaketh. What shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" In all this did not Job sin with his lips. You see, Job understood it'd be easy just to curse God. It'd be easy to lose your integrity if something's easy to lose, but it's hard to keep. And it doesn't have to be big things that we can lose our integrity with.

I remember years ago when I was in the military in the Air Force, we had our day room and in the day room there was a vending machine for sodas. And one day some guy came running to me and said, "Hey, Surface Surface, you you got to go in the day room. The soda's giving out the machine's giving out free sodas. You don't have to you just push the button and it comes out. You don't have to put any money in there." And he had a bunch of sodas in his arms. And he said, "Go in there and get some." And I said, "No, thank you." He said, "They're they're free. They don't cost anything." Yeah, it'll cost me something.

It'll cost me my integrity. It'll cost me my integrity. And see, integrity is something that's easy to lose, but it's hard to keep. David started out well in 2 Chronicles 17 verse number three. This is interesting. It's long after David was dead and God was talking to the king Jehoshaphat at the time. And and the Lord was with Jehoshaphat because he walked. Listen now. He walked in the first ways of his father David and sought not unto Balum. He walked in the first ways of his father David. You see, a lot of people, they start out well, but then they mess up. And you may be a man or a woman of character and of integrity, but understand it doesn't take much to lose it.

There's a great book we have in our bookstore called Fourth Quarter. It's a book that was written by Pastor Don Cisk. Some of you know him. And he was talking about how in the fourth quarter of life, you know, in a football game, you have four quarters. And you could be losing the game in the first three quarters, but that doesn't matter as long as you win the game in the fourth quarter. Or you could be winning the game in the first three quarters and then you lose it the fourth quarter. We saw that in the basketball playoffs, didn't we? you know, that the the Knicks were losing the whole game through and then the fourth quarter they came back and won it.

And and folks, you got to realize that the fourth quarter, by the way, I would recommend that book highly if you're over 45 years old. I'd recommend reading that book and we've got some copies you can purchase at our bookstore. But the point is is integrity is easy to lose. You can be a man, you can be a woman of integrity and make one bad decision and that decision can lose your integrity. Now, David showed us that you can get back integrity. God called a man of integrity even after he was long gone, even after his sin. But he paid consequences for that. You see, when you lose your integrity, you pay a price.

You pay consequences for that. David started out well. And David had a a lifetime struggle. In Hebrews 12 and:es 1 and two, it says, "Wherefore, seeing we are compassed about by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which has so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy uh that was set before him endured the cross and despise the shame who sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." And what I want you to see there is they set aside the weights.

the weights so easily beset us. Now there are sins in our life and he goes on talking about the the sin which so easily beset us and there's weights. The weights are like the magnet that draw us away from God. But there's also the sin which does so easily beset us. These are sins that we struggle with. These are sins that you you repent of, you confess and then you do it again and you repent of and you confess and say I'll never do it again but you do it again. you struggle with all your I call them the holic sins. You you you can be an alcoholic and and be have 30 years of no alcohol, have your 30-year chip, and then fall right back into it.

They're the ones that so easily reached out and grabbed you and you struggle with your whole life. And David had his besetting sin and and that was a sexual sin. He had a problem with women and uh he struggled with that. You know, it's very interesting. You read about David in First Kings chapter 1. We won't turn there, but you read about him. He's at the end of his life. He's about ready to die. He's very, very sick. And the people around him, all the people that know him well, are trying to figure out what can we do to help him to get better. He's he's he's shivering. He's got he's cold at night.

He can't get warm. And so they thought, you know, they put blankets on, but didn't help. So they said, "Oh, we know what we'll do. will find a young maiden and and bring her in and put him in bed with him because you know why they they thought that because David throughout his life struggled with sexual sin and they thought well if we give him a girl that'll warm him up and that he'll do something with and and I I I praise God that when you read that passage at the end of the passage it said that David knew her not. I believe that David after his sin with Basheba finally got this right with God and got it settled and I believe he was no longer struggling with that sexual sin.

When you read about his life, he struggled with it up till time of Basheba, but after that it was no longer seemed to long no longer a problem. But the point is that that the people thought when they thought about David, they thought what's going to make David happy and they thought we'll get a young girl. You let me ask you a question. What do people think will make you happy? Well, you know, if we just got we'll just go get them more food, that'll make them happy. Or we'll just get them a get put turn on TV. That'll make him happy. You know, you we got these besetting sins, these things that we built a reputation around.

But David's besetting sin was sexual sin. In 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 18, it says, "Flee fornication." The word fornication there is a word comes from a Greek word porna where we get our word pornography from. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body. But he that committh fornication sinnth against his own body. You see David's struggle his besetting sin was with porn and pornography was was sexual sin. Now maybe that's the struggle that you have today. A lot of men struggle with pornography and sexual sin. And that was David's struggle throughout his life. And integrity is getting victory over that sin.

Those besetting sins that so easily beset us that that tear us down and pull us down over and over and over again. They're a lifetime struggle. And David struggled with that throughout his life. I believe that he got victory after Basheba. And I believe that things changed at that point, but it was still a struggle. And you have to deal with those things in your life. Get rid of the magnets, the weights that pull you away from your north, but also get rid of the sin that so easily beset us. And David struggled with that. David's other sin was pride. Pride. In 2 Samuel 24 verse number 10, it says, "And David's heart smoteed him after that he had numbered the people.

And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly and that I've done and that I have done. And now I beseech thee, oh Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant, for I've done very foolishly. God had told the kings, don't number the people because he wanted them not depend on the strength of their army. He wanted to depend on the strength of their God. And David chose to number the people out of pride. Let me see how many people I've got in my my nation. how many people I govern over and and so he'd had a struggle with that. He he went out to do that and he was advised against it. In fact, uh Joab, his general, and his friend came to him and said, "Listen, David, don't do this."

And David did it anyway. By the way, let me say something. When somebody comes to you and points out a problem in your life, listen to them because it's not easy to do. You all think about when you see somebody doing something wrong, is it easy just go to them and tell them, "Hey, hey, you're doing this wrong." Now, there's some people that like to point out everything's negative, right? There's a few people like that. But generally, most people don't want to tell you you're doing something wrong. And if they're willing to step out of their comfort zone and tell you something, listen to them because they're probably right.

And Joab was a good enough friend that he wasn't going to let David do what was wrong without telling him was wrong. And David ignored his counsel and he numbered the people. And it was out of pride. He's saying, "Look, look how great a nation I'm in charge of." And that's the only reason he did it. You know what pride is, folks? Pride is when you have this attitude that I'm different. You know, I I'm different than everybody else. It won't happen to me. I can do this and it won't happen. I can look at these things. I can go to these places. I I can drink that alcohol and I won't become a drunkard.

I I can look at those programs on TV and I won't get addicted to pornography. We think that we're different than everybody else. it won't happen to me or I can handle it. You know, I I can handle this. I know other people can't, but I can handle it. And that's pride. And David, that's what he struggled with. His integrity was his pride. And that caused him a lot of problems. He he suffered many consequences. The nation suffered because he numbered the people. Pride will destroy you. In Proverbs 16:18, the Bible says, "Pride goeth before destruction and a hotty spirit before fall." Pride will cost you to get your integrity back.

When you give into your pride, to get your integrity back, there's a price to pay. See, the thing to understand about David is this is he became a man after God's own heart. And God called him man of integrity, but he still paid a price for what he did wrong. He didn't get away with it. He paid a great price for that. And when we sin and we lose our integrity, there's always a price to pay to get it back. In 2 Samuel chapter 24, after he numbered the people and repented, he wanted to get right with God. And in verses 24-2, he went to a a man named Aruna, and he wanted to buy his his land and his cattle to to build an altar and to sacrifice on.

And and the king said unto Runa, "Nay, but I will surely." Runa was going to give it to the king. He said, "No, king, I'll give you the land." And this is what David said. And the king said unto Runa, "Nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price. Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God, of that which does cost me nothing." So David brought bought the threshing floor and auction for 50 shekels of silver. And David built there an altar unto the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was intreated for the lands the plague was stated from Israel. See David went back to that point.

Psalm remember Psalm said I will compass thine altar. David said I need to put God back at the center of my life. But there's a price to pay to do that. When you sin, when you mess up, there's always a price to pay. In James chapter 4 and verse number 10, the Bible says, "Humble yourselves, therefore, um, in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up." You got to be willing to humble yourself and to deal with that pride. You see, David had a heart of integrity, but he also had a perfect heart towards God. In in First Kings chap 11 and verse4, it talks about David's perfect heart towards God.

We read that verse earlier. What does it mean a perfect heart? Go to Psalms chapter 119. Psalms chapter 119. Psalms is the longest book of the Bible. There's a lot of good things in there. But I want you to look at Psalms 119. I want you to look at verse number two. Psalms 119 and verse number two. The Bible says, "Blessed are they that keep the his testimonies and that seek him with the whole heart." Look at verse number 10. He said, "With my whole heart have I sought thee. Oh, let me not wander from thy commandments. Look at verse number 34. Give me understanding. I shall keep thy law, and I shall observe it with my whole heart.

Verse number 58. I increase thy favor with my whole heart. I treated thy favor with my whole heart. Be merciful unto me according to thy word. Verse number 69, he says, the proud have forged a lie against me, but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart. In verse number 145, he says, "I cried with my whole heart, hear me, oh Lord, I will keep thy statutes." You see, folks, we got to give our whole heart to God. God is looking for people with a perfect heart. It doesn't mean you're without sin and you never do anything wrong. But it's people that are saying, "God, I want to give you my whole heart."

In Psalm seap for 2 Chronicles chapter 17 and verse number N the Bible says for the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him. Herein thou hast done foolishly. Therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. God is looking for people that will give a heart that is perfect. That'll give their whole heart to God. It doesn't mean you never do anything wrong. David was a man after God's own heart. David was man with a perfect heart. Not that he never did anything wrong, but he gave his heart to God. He gave his all to God.

And we also need to have a broken heart. In 1 Samuel chapter 19 and verse number four. 1st Samuel chapter 19 and verse number four. When David was confronted about his sin with Basheba and Jonath Samuel, let's see. Get the right place here. 2 Samuel 194. I'm sorry. 2 Samuelapter 19:4. But the king covered his face, and the king cried with a loud voice, "Oh my son, Abselin. Oh Absel, my son, my son." When David was confronted by Nathan, he repented. But later on, he struggled still with that sin. And here he's weeping bitterly. He's got a broken heart because his son Abselum, because of his sin, his son Abselum is now dead.

You see, David needed to repent. He needed godly sorrow. In 2 Samuel chapter 12, when when Nathan confronted David and David confessed, he said, "I was wrong." David's repentance is key to understanding his heart. Go over to Psalms chapter 32. Psalms chapter 32. You see, when you read about David, it's struggle because he was a man after God's own heart, but he was also a man that was very sinful. I mean, he did some wicked things more than once. He committed fornication, adultery. He had a man murdered. He did some bad things. So, how could he be a man after God on the heart? And understand that you understand he was also a man who repented.

In Psalms chapter 32, we're studying Psalms on Wednesday night, my Bible study here at church. We'd love to have you come join us. It says, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputth not iniquity and whose spirit there is no guile. When I kept silence, my bones wasted, waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me. My moisture is turned under the drought of summer. Sila, I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and my iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.

sila. You see, David repented. He got right with God. He confessed that sin. And that's why he was a man after God's own heart. He wasn't perfect. He He did wrong. But he put God at the center of his life. When he got off course, he got back on course with God. He repented and said, "God, I was wrong, and I want to get right with you." Galatians 6:7 says, "Be not deceived. God is not mocked. For once a man seweth, that shall he also reap. David paid the price for his sin. There's no question on that. He paid a heavy price. The biggest price was with his own family. He lost all of his children because of his sin, because of his bad testimony.

In fact, Abselum was killed. I want you to see something here as we close. Look at 2 Samuel chapter 14. 2 Samuel chapter 14 and look at verse number one. 2 Samuel chapter 14 and verse number one. Now remember how we read earlier that David wept over Abselum when he died. But you know David had a chance to change things and he missed it. Look at 2 Samuel 14:1. Now Joab the son of Zeriah perceived that the king's heart was towards Absel. Now if you don't know the story, David had sinned and then because of that it affected his children and Abselin end up killing one of his brothers and and there's a story you can go back in the Bible read about and David kicked him out and said get out of here I don't want anything to do with you.

And then there came a point where where Joab realized Joab was a friend to David friend to Absel. He said, "You know, these guys, they need to get reconciled. They need to work this out." And he tried to make it work out. But if, as you read the story, David missed his opportunity. He didn't reach out to Absel. He didn't forgive him. God had forgiven David, but David didn't forgive him. Remember what it said in the Lord said prayer, forgive others as you have been forgiven. But he didn't do that. And then his son ends up rebelling against him, trying to take the kingdom away. and his son ends up being killed in battle.

And David wept over him. Listen to what it says in Exodus 34 6 and 7. And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression of sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children onto the third and the fourth generation. And what is he saying here? When you sin, it doesn't just affect you. It affects your kids, your family. But when you get right with God, you need to get right with others as well.

David had an opportunity to get right with Abselum. He missed that opportunity. When Joab brought Abselum to his to his uh palace, he should have reached out and just embraced him, said, "I I ask you to forgive me." And gotten right with him. But he didn't. Some of you are holding on to your bitterness and you're going to miss the opportunity to get right with God and with others. Maybe it's a husband or wife. You're bitter against your spouse. And you know, I've seen it over and over again where we get to a certain point, you have an opportunity to forgive and then there's a point where you cross the line and now now it's gone and the marriage is lost.

I've seen this with parents and children. I've seen this with friends because we don't take that opportunity. David was a man after God's own heart. What does that mean? To put God at the center of your life. To keep God as the north of your life. To not allow other things to come along like a magnet and pull you away from that. and to make sure you don't allow those besetting sins to control you, but to get the victory over those things. Integrity is easy to lose and hard to keep. And you need to make the right decisions. And when you do wrong, repent and get back on course. Get back on the right path.