1 Sam 16:7, But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." 
	We are deep in our consideration of how there is a vast difference in the manner in which God views humanity and the way we see each other. There are large and pronounced areas of disconnect between the two. We dare never try to push our ideas and our visions of imagination upon the Lord God Almighty. 
He sees every man, woman, and child exactly as they are. There is no camouflage, no public vs. private face that we can put on before Him. He knows our every thought, our every motive, our every choice and manner of decision making before such is even in place in our walk on this earth.
	Nothing is hidden from His Omniscience. That is the biggest difference that we can ever bring our eyes into seeing. He knows us! He knows our family members. He knows our enemies. He knows our history and He knows our future. 
	When God makes His choice in the gracious and merciful predestination of His salvation, it is because He knows those who will seek Him. He knows those who will desire to come into the fullness of His so loving giving of the Only Begotten Son of God. He also fully knows those who will turn their backs on Him and will refuse to receive such a graciously and freely offered salvation. 
	Even Jesus came upon this reality in the manner in which He had to deal with the religious leadership of His day. These members of the priestly order were supposed to teach the rest of the people about the manifest love of God. Instead, He saw them as they really were. They presented themselves to the people they were to serve as holier than thou and of the special order which was raised above the rabble and the masses of the pitiful and the downtrodden and the poor and the sick and the discarded of that social order. Jesus saw them in all the rags of their religious haughtiness.
	Please open to Matt 23:27+28, as but one of the times in which Jesus pointed out, for the sake of those in need and in poverty and hurting under the religious order of that day, exactly what was in place within the hearts and the minds of those who should have known better. Let us have the Holy Spirit examine our hearts as we again hear the voice of our Lord and Christ declare the proper means of dealing with those in dire straits and dilemmas. 
Matt 23:27+28, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. "Even so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 
These religious leaders seemingly refused to accept the need to look deep into their motivations and their demeaning attitudes over others. They were too desirous after the acclaim of their position with their hands on the throats of the masses to truly ask Jehovah to work His cleansing ministry in their own lives. 
Rather, they smirked and they derided and they plotted to rid themselves of this troublemaker who was so assaulting the very basis of their power and their prestige and their wealth. Consider what we are told in Luke 16:14+15, concerning the difference that was in place in the deceived view of the people and the Holy and Omniscient view of the Lord God Almighty.
Luke 16:14+15, Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things, and they were scoffing at Him. And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.
Jesus, throughout His ministry on this earth was constantly dealing with the disconnect between the view that man had of himself and others, and the perfect view of humanity through the eyes of the Lord God. He had to walk among sinful man, interacting with them in the manner in which His sinless and perfect nature was constantly on collision courses. He could not countenance any compromise or any lowering of the perfect standard of His obedience unto His Heavenly Father, no matter how slight or seemingly insignificant that might be. 
His was that perfect expression of the Holiness and the Righteousness and the Honor and the Reverence and the Obedience unto the One from Whom all life comes forth. His service is a service of perfect love from God unto those who are in such desperate need of salvation. Accordingly, Jesus could not waiver one single iota from the course that was set before Him as the Messiah, the Redeemer of all those who would but believe in Him.
Therefore, as He was at work on this earth, there was that constant guarding of the testimony of the Heavenly Father’s gift to those He came to save. No matter what the charges and the lies and the insults and the accusations that were hurled against Him, Jesus held true to the perfect course of fulfilling the righteous requirements of the Law for those unto whom God’s salvation meant everything. This demanded that He was relentlessly persistent in the manner of His dealings with others, because He knew them and the wickedness of their deeds and motivations. Consider, for example what we read in John 2:23-25.
John 2:23-25, Now when He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed in His name, beholding His signs which He was doing. But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to bear witness concerning man for He Himself knew what was in man. 
The key to this whole discussion is that Jesus knew what was in man. He was fully aware of the disparity between the heavenly view of mankind and the earthly viewpoint. Where the human nature strives to put forth the idea of being basically good and noble and caring about the needs of others, setting up the façade of utopia in the minds and hearts of humanity, God sees the real heart of mankind. That old nature, fallen in the Garden is a foul and disgusting repository of anger and bitterness and selfishness and unforgiveness and self exaltation to the place of deity on earth. 
We are not able to see past the lies of this age about even ourselves with these eyes and these hearts that crave the tawdry trinkets cast our way from the despicable seat of the power of this age. It is like those Mardi Gras parades were the plastic baubles thrown from the floats are prized and valued as something over which we will even come to blows with others who try to grasp them from our clutching hands. They are nothing but the meager and gaudy and so very cheap means of the enslavement of our desires and our cravings and our lusts. 
Jesus was fully aware of all this façade that is put forth by the spiritual force that would try to enslave the whole of the human populace. That is the reason that He was so adamant in His perfect obedience as the ordained Messiah, the Savior of those whom He would bring into the truth of how God sees humanity. 
When we are covered over by His Righteousness and His Holiness, that is what the true picture of our essential being becomes! Of ourselves, we are the most horrid and abominable of creatures. But, in Him, as God views our hearts and our minds and gives us those hearts of flesh and blood which are fully unto Him and beating in the rhythm of His Divine Design, we are freed from the lies and the deception and the tawdriness and the hunger and the thirst of this age. We are made accurately alive in Christ and fully partakers of His Divine Life.
That is what He so eloquently relayed to the woman at the well as He described the distinct difference that is in place in those who drink from Him unto the Living Water that will always satisfy, as opposed to the paltry dregs that this age offers in all meagerness and at the supreme cost of enslavement to sin and shame. Please turn to John 4:13+14, as we delight ourselves in the reality of the person of Our Lord and Savior, seen through those eyes which are now enabled to behold His glory more and more in line with the Divine perfection of the vision of God. 
John 4:13+14, Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water shall thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."
Then, as described in verses 21-24 of this chapter in John, Jesus brought the reality of Heaven on earth even closer to the heart of this woman. He detailed the difference that is in place right now on this earth in you and in me as we are so partakers of the life of Jesus Christ. He hid nothing from her or from you and me. He was very clearly showing the difference in the vision of what the natural man sees versus our sight when God makes us alive to Himself through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. This is as we truly believe upon Jesus as our Savior and surrender to Him as the Lord of our lives.
John 4:21-24, Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall you worship the Father. "You worship that which you do not know; we worship that which we know, for salvation is from the Jews. "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." 
To truly know what is honoring to the Lord is to be led by the Holy Spirit in all the reality of His wonderful work and ministry. He teaches us what needs to be put forth as more and more perfectly honoring unto the Lord in worship and in reverence. We need to adore Him in spirit and in truth, setting aside all those vial aspects of what this world puts forth mockingly as honoring to God. 
Rather than all the ritual and all the pomp and circumstance which puts on a show for the gathered populace, the Holy Spirit prompts that true heart expression of what is honoring and what blesses the Lord God Almighty! This is in relationship with the people who have set their full hope and trust into Him.
This is where the distinct difference comes into place between the religious leaders of His day and those who were truly seeking to know the Son of God and the Heavenly Father Who sent Him to this earth to be vilely crucified and then gloriously resurrected as the propitiation for our sins and trespasses. In Him, through the indwelling working power and prompting of the Holy Spirit, we are enabled to bless God to a degree and in a reality that man could never otherwise know. He shows us the way in which we need to come to God in humility and in honesty and in contriteness of heart and spirit. He manifests those relationships which need to be healed by Him in order for our worship not to be hindered in any measure whatsoever! 
The Holy Spirit opens the course of what would please God in the walk that we have on this earth. He develops that growing character of the Lord Jesus Christ to shine forth from these mortal bodies which are completely surrendered to His loving and powerful and mighty operation of eternal life. It is no longer the self-centeredness of our old nature that is seen. When we are alive in Christ, we are praising the Lord and are manifesting that vast difference in the course of our sojourn today and for the rest of our earthly lives. 
Accordingly, He opens our hearts and minds up to see the plight of those around us who are so less fortunate, who are struggling, who are in need, who are downtrodden, who are the stigmatized and the discarded of our society. There is a heart and a spiritual viewpoint that is developed which shadows that of Our Lord Jesus Christ as He came to seek the lost and to heal the sick and to give rest to the weary and the forlorn. 
Jesus laid that reality before us and our earthly eyes in John 7:24. John 7:24, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." This is the manner in which so many of us fall exceedingly short in terms of our eyes and our thoughts of those who are worthy of our time and effort. We may feel that we are taking into account the needs of others, while at the same time we gauge the value of our time with respect to the dividend that is brought forth. When a person responds and is thankful, we go on. 
But, when we are met with recalcitrance, when the giving becomes a burden, when we are taken advantage of over and over and over again, we balk. We find ourselves critical of others. We prioritize the time versus the value of their worthiness of our efforts. We often shrink back from our help of those ungrateful so and sos. 
We need to have our hearts vitally attuned to the Holy Spirit with respect to the manner in which others are in such desperate need of our help and our support and our encouragement and our attention and our time and our endeavors. We do not look at one another with the eyes that only see the physical attributes, or the social status, or the rewards that we will reap if we give aid and comfort to the needy and the downtrodden. 
Again, as we bring this morning to a close, consider what we are told by Our Lord and Our Savior and Our Christ in John 8:14-18. He, once more, opens our eyes to the true value of a person. It is not based on what our eyes behold. It is not set in the mannerisms of our social order. It is not delegated by the whims and the fancies of this current age. 
Every person has to be seen in the light of Jesus Christ! That is the only true place in which we can find a more and more perfect vision of others. 
Just as this world discounted the value of Jesus, so often are we guilty of exactly the same indiscretion. We judge according to the flesh, as so distinctly declared by Jesus. Rather, we need to have our eyes and our hearts open to the righteous judgment of the Lord which sees through the physical, through the social, through the pedigree right to the heart of the individual. It is the manifested witness of the Lord which should guide the manner of our vision and our treatment of one another.
John 8:14-18, Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true; for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you do not know where I come from, or where I am going. "You people judge according to the flesh; I am not judging anyone. "But even if I do judge, My judgment is true; for I am not alone in it, but I and He who sent Me. "Even in your law it has been written, that the testimony of two men is true. "I am He who bears witness of Myself, and the Father who sent Me bears witness of Me." 
We need to surrender our faulty and blind sight and consideration of others unto the Holy Spirit. He will teach us the eternal value that God sees in each man, woman, and child. Everyone we meet is an eternal being! Our heart needs to be such that we express the love of Christ openly and freely and joyfully without distinction and without reservation. Thus we will be showing the love of God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, to all those unto whom God brings us in the course of our walk on this earth. So be it!
But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." Amen. 

This morning’s benediction is Heb 12:1+2. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Amen.