In this episode, Cherry Campbell embarks on a spiritual journey through the life of King David, highlighting what made him a beloved leader chosen by God. Through a careful examination of biblical scriptures and Psalms, Cherry unravels David’s clean and pure heart, teaching us the importance of unwavering devotion and prioritization of God above all else. Listeners will gain insights into the essence of true devotion and the biblical definition of a ‘perfect’ heart.
Good morning. Praise the Lord. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Welcome to Victorious Faith. I’m Cherry Campbell. This morning I’m going to begin sharing with you a series of messages that I preached in our Victorious Faith services called, What Made David a Man After God’s Own Heart? So join me now in our live service for the beginning of part one of this series, What Made David a Man After God’s Own Heart? The message is called, What Made David a Man After God’s Own Heart? First of all, let’s look at the scriptures where God called David a man after his own heart. We see it first in the Old Testament in 1 Samuel 13. This is when Saul was king. And God told Saul to do some things to kill the enemy and killed it. I think it was King Agag and kill everything, kill all the livestock, everything. And Saul disobeyed. And Saul said, well, I kept the livestock to give a sacrifice. And then Samuel says, does God delight in sacrifice and burn offering more than obedience? No, he honors obedience. And then, because of his disobedience, Samuel said in 1 Samuel 13, 14, But now, Samuel said to King Saul, Now your kingdom will not endure. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart. and appointed him leader of his people because you have not kept the Lord’s command or because you have not obeyed the Lord’s command. That says a lot right there. Because you did not obey, it is taken away from you. And then we see that quoted in Acts chapter 13. He said, After removing Saul, he made David their king. He testified concerning him, I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do. Now we’re going to come back to that later. But I want you to see, God looks at the heart. In 1 Samuel 16, God told Samuel to get his horn of oil and go to the house of Jesse. And there, God would show Samuel which of Jesse’s sons he should anoint as king. So Samuel went to Jesse’s house, and the oldest son stepped forward and looked strong and big and handsome. He looks like a king. And the Lord said to Samuel in verse 7, The Lord said to Samuel, Do not consider his appearance or his height. for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. So the first part about David that I believe is actually, it is the root part. It’s the heart of David. So tonight we’re going to be looking at the heart of David. And then next service, we’ll look at the actions of David, what he did. But tonight, let’s look at his heart. God looks at the heart. So first of all, David was a man who kept a clean and pure heart before God. And with all of these points that we list, I want you to ask yourself, Am I a man or a woman? Who does this? So can you, as we read these scriptures, ask yourself, are you a man or a woman who keeps a clean and pure heart before God? These are all scriptures from Psalms written by David. I was careful to select the Psalms of David because I know there are Psalms written by other writers in the book of Psalms. So these are specifically David’s Psalms. Psalm 17, 3. David said, I have resolved that my mouth will not sin. Can you ask God to probe your heart and test you? And are you confident that he will find nothing? Now we’re going to get to a place where we’re going to see the word perfect. Let me stop for a minute. Both Old Testament and New Testament, both Hebrew and Greek. It does not mean flawless. The word perfect. does not mean perfection as in without a single mistake, without a single error, without a fault, without a flaw. That’s not what the biblical word perfect means in the scriptures. It actually means wholehearted, fully committed, entire commitment. So that’s wholeheartedness. But we’re going to see later, we’re going to see how he could say that God finds nothing in him. Psalm 19 then, verses 12 to 14. David wrote this, who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. So he knew he had hidden faults. So there’s things I don’t know about me that I know must be wrong. But I ask you, Father, I ask you, God, have mercy on me and forgive me. Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sin, so that those that are willful and known, keep me from them. May they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer. So here we have his heart, blameless, innocent. He keeps his heart clean. How do you keep your heart clean? By continually just asking the Lord to cleanse you and forgive you. Just do it on a regular basis when you feel like there can be some dirtiness. In your heart, just ask the Lord to cleanse you and forgive you. Psalm 24, 3 through 5. Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear by what is false, he will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God his Savior. So a pure heart, clean hands and a pure heart. Psalm 26, verse 2. Test me, O Lord. Okay, here again he’s saying test me. O Lord, try me. Examine my heart and mind. And in other places, if you find something, cleanse me. Cleanse me. Wash me. Psalm 51, verse 10. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Wholehearted, fully committed, fully devoted. So the clean and pure heart… You shouldn’t feel hesitant to say, yes, I have a clean and pure heart. If you love the Lord with all your heart and you, as we’re going to get to later, you’re quick to repent when you do wrong. Then you have a clean and a pure heart. So ask yourself, do I have a clean and pure heart before God? The people who would have a challenging time saying yes will be people who aren’t fully committed. I mean, they are born again. They might go to church on Sunday, but Monday through Saturday, they fully live for themselves. They don’t give much thought to the Lord. They don’t think much about the Lord. They don’t give much to the Lord. They’re pursuing their career, their retirement, their vacation, their pleasure, their children, their job. They’re pursuing other things. In other words, they have idols. Of those things, because it says in Psalm 24, who does not lift up his soul to an idol. You know, having anything before the Lord, and we’ve talked about God first. Seek first his kingdom. And people seem to ignore the word first. But if family is first, God isn’t. And there are some people who say, but I’ve got to put my family first. No, you don’t. If your family is first, God isn’t. If God is first, God will make sure you take care of your family. Your family will not suffer when you put God first. Your family will be better off when you put God first. Your family will be blessed when you put God first. Your family will be protected when you put God first. But if you knock God out of that first place and put family up there, your family is a lot more likely to have trouble. Bring family down a notch and put God back in that first place and say, as a family, God is first. And then family. And God will watch over your family. God will keep your family. Your family will then be kept and provided for and protected and blessed. They’re in a lot more dangerous place if you knock God out of first place and put family in first. Then they don’t have that blessing of the Lord. And so put God first, family after God. Job next, whatever is your pursuit. If your job is your pursuit, career is a pursuit. Or retirement and RVing and camping. Whatever you put ahead of God, God is not first. Then those things are idols. Idols are anything you put first before God. And then your heart is not clean and pure before God. The person whose heart is clean and pure before God is the person who God is first place, highest priority in their life. Those are the people who have a clean and pure heart. And then David loved God. We see it in Psalm 18.1. I love you, O Lord, my strength. Psalm 116.1, also a Psalm of David. I love the Lord, for he heard my voice. He heard my cry for mercy. So he loves God. And if you’re going to love God, you have to love his word. And there are people who love God but don’t think anything about his word. the Bible, the scripture. They don’t seek the Bible, the word. They don’t study. They don’t read. They don’t listen to it. They don’t hunger to be taught the word. And so John 1, in the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word was God. The word was God. God is the word. The word is God. They’re inseparable. And then in the book of Revelation, Jesus comes on a white horse and on his thigh he has this name written, the word of God. He is the living word of God. John 1, 14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. So you cannot say you love God if you don’t love his word. If you say you love God, but you don’t care about his word, you don’t pay attention to his word, you don’t read his word, you don’t study his word, you don’t listen to the teaching of his word, then according to scripture, you don’t really love God very much. What you just heard was the beginning of part one of a series of messages that I preached in our victorious faith services called what made David a man after God’s own heart. And we will continue this message again tomorrow. So join me again tomorrow and remember God loves you. You are blessed and highly favored by the Lord.
