Acts 13:22 (KJV)
And when he had removed
him, he raised up unto 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 mine own
heart, which shall fulfil all my will.
The Bible says, Deuteronomy
4:29 (KJV)
But if from thence thou
shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy
heart and with all thy soul.
And, as if to strengthen
the sentiment, Psalms 119:2 (KJV)
Blessed are they that
keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart.
Honestly, is there
anyone here who can say that they are satisfied that they seek the Lord with
the whole heart?
It seems to me that a
little “holy dissatisfaction” would do us some good right now.
What we need, as much as
anything I know of, is a body of believers whose truest longing is to be holy,
godly, consumed with knowing God and the power of His resurrection.
I am listening to a series of lectures by a
professor of history at Yale.
This
week’s was on the Confessions of Augustine.
He describes Augustine
as a wicked, though educated man who was drawn into faith by what this
professor described as the “intoxicating relationship” a particular group of
Christians Augustine witnessed in Egypt.
He said that though
these people were uneducated and poor and had nothing of this world to speak
of, their heart for God was so compelling to Augustine that he converted to
Christianity through that testimony.
I read a blog piece by a
pastor[1] I
know that said in part,
“Something isn't adding up when
I see how fast the megachurches are growing yet how far America is falling.
We've lost so many spiritual battles during the same years that the
"relevant" churches are winning so many popularity battles. When
education improves in America, people get smarter. When business booms in
America, people get richer. When healthcare improves in America, people get
healthier. When religion improves in America, people get...more wicked? It
doesn't add up. Maybe growth isn't equating to an improvement in true religion.
It's almost impossible not to wonder if there's some correlation between
megachurches growing at the same rate as America's godlessness.”
Who here does not see
the danger of godlessness that faces our country – our world?
It may be that if we are
to rescue our world from the utter ungodliness we witness these days, it will
only happen when we are ourselves “intoxicated” with God.
The heart is the subject
we are after:
Our affections
That which we love
1 John 2:15 (KJV)
Love not the world,
neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love
of the Father is not in him.
Rather
Luke 10:27 (KJV)
And he answering said,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and
with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
Reaching the heart is
the objective this year.
Our subject will be King
David.
What an anomaly he is.
· Such a key figure in the Bible
· Such sin coming from a believer and yet
· Such a desire for God
Let’s consider each of
those this morning
I. SUCH A KEY
FIGURE IN THE BIBLE
Acts 13:22-23 (KJV)
And when he had removed
him, he raised up unto 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 mine own
heart, which shall fulfil all my will.
Of this man's seed hath
God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:
This passage is taken
from a sermon of the Apostle Paul.
This sermon isn’t really
original. It’s more like a part of a pattern for New Testament preaching.
Peter’s sermon on the
day of Pentecost was very similar and included this passage concerning David, Acts
2:25-31 (KJV)
For David speaketh
concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right
hand, that I should not be moved:
Therefore did my heart
rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
Because thou wilt not
leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption.
Thou hast made known to
me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Men and brethren, let me
freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried,
and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
Therefore being a
prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit
of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his
throne;
He seeing this before
spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell,
neither his flesh did see corruption.
And once again preached
by Stephen just previous to his murder, Acts 7:44-47 (KJV)
Our fathers had the
tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto
Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.
Which also our fathers
that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom
God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David;
Who found favour before
God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob.
But Solomon built him an
house.
David is mentioned 59
times in the New Testament:
· 39 times in the Gospels
· 11 times in the book of Acts
· 6 times in the Epistles and
· 3 times in the book of the Revelation
Jesus is called[2]
the Son of man more times than any other. He is also called the Son of God many
times. But sixteen times in the New Testament Jesus is called the Son of David.
Both his mother and his
step-father’s lineage is preserved in the Word of God and both of them trace
back to King David.
Jesus used David to
prove a scriptural point with the Pharisees; Matthew 12:2-4 (KJV)
But when the Pharisees
saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful
to do upon the sabbath day.
But he said unto them,
Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were
with him;
How he entered into the
house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat,
neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?
Do you see the
significance?
Jesus justified the
actions of His disciples and biblical by citing an action of King David.
Jesus confounded the
wisdom of the Pharisees with a question about King David, Matthew 22:41-46
(KJV)
While the Pharisees were
gathered together, Jesus asked them,
Saying, What think ye of
Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David.
He saith unto them, How
then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,
The LORD said unto my
Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool?
If David then call him
Lord, how is he his son?
And no man was able to
answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more
questions.
Jesus’ miracles were
credited by the people as proof that He was the Son of David[3], Matthew
12:22-24 (KJV)
Then was brought unto
him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch
that the blind and dumb both spake and saw.
And all the people were
amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David?
Every one of the Old
Testament kings of Judah was related to King David and judged by the standard
of King David.
The Jews today make much
of Moses, as well they should.
But David is much more a
key figure of the Bible than was Moses.
I have a hunch that the
Jews don’t recognize David as they might because any study of David inevitably
leads us to Jesus.
Such a key figure of the
Bible.
And yet we find in David
II. SUCH SIN
FROM A BELIEVER
2 Samuel 12:7-9 (KJV)
And Nathan said to
David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I anointed thee
king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
And I gave thee thy
master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house
of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would
moreover have given unto thee such and such things.
Wherefore hast thou
despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed
Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and
hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.
I have a preacher friend
who reads into the life of King David many more sinful deeds than I do.
He even calls David
turning Jebus into a portion of Jerusalem called “the City of David” an
arrogant act on David’s part.
David
· Took multiple wives
· Refused to discipline his children and
· Became bitter toward some of his children, refusing to speak
with them
As great a man as David
was, he was not a good father and, in the end, it hurt him to his core[4].
Getting on in years,
David once ignored his own counsel and trusted in the strength of his army
rather than in the hand of God. Multiple thousands were killed on account of
this sin.
But I think all of those
can be explained away as common sins, even among the best of Christians.
David committed one sin
that is unimaginable, given his relationship with God.
· David committed adultery with one of his most loyal men’s
wife and then murdered him to cover it up.
· He had no choice but to marry her to further cover up the
sin because a baby had been conceived.
Frankly the adultery,
marrying of another’s wife, even when he is a best friend – those things happen
way to frequently among Christians.
But I can praise the
Lord that I am not aware of any time when all of this resulted in a murder – at
least not among those that I know.
How do you explain this?
How do you continue
lifting David as a man after God’s own heart when you know this about him?
I think you do that the
same way the Bible does; by being frank and honest and open about it.
There isn’t a one of us
in this room who hasn’t done terrible things.
· Maybe not these same things David did
· But terrible enough that we would rather not let the world
know about them
The way to get clear of
them is to confess them.
You don’t have to
confess them to the world but you do need to confess them:
· To God
· To those who are directly injured by them and perhaps
· To someone you can trust to help you be spiritually restored
from them
David,
· Such a key figure in the Bible
· Such sin coming from a believer and yet
Lastly David had
III. SUCH A
DESIRE FOR GOD
Acts 13:22 (KJV)
And when he had removed
him, he raised up unto 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 mine own
heart, which shall fulfil all my will.
One of the most
beautiful passages of Bible anyone has ever know is Psalms 23:1-6 (KJV)
The LORD is my shepherd;
I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down
in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
He restoreth my soul: he
leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art
with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Thou preparest a table
before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my
cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of
the LORD for ever.
Those are the words of
King David.
Most of the Psalms are.
I haven’t mapped out on
paper what this year will look like on Sunday mornings, but in my head I
suspect we are going to spend a huge amount of time in the Psalms.
Conclusion
I spoke with Brother
Larry Clayton yesterday.
Brother Clayton has been
preaching the Word of God for more than 60 years.
At one time he could
take a group of Bible college students into a mid-west town,
· Set up a tent,
· Hold a couple of Vacation Bible Schools
And at the end of two
weeks purchase property, organize a church and leave one of those students
there as the pastor.
His oldest son pastors
one of those churches today.
We were talking
yesterday about the spiritual state of our country and he said this, “I'll
tell you one thing. If revival comes it’s going to have to be from God. We’re
not going to organize it down, preach it down or maybe even pray it down. It’s
just going to have to be God’s choosing.”
I think he is right.
But whose to say He won’t
choose to start a revival right here, if some of us earnestly decide to seek
God with out whole heart.
If David can teach us
anything at all, he can teach us that, no matter our past, our future can be
after God’s heart.
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