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Lessons from the life of David Part 4, April, 24 2016

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2 Samuel 12

Repentance

Have you experienced the annoyance and frustration of having your check engine light come on in your car?Check-Engine-Light-Portland

When your check engine light comes on you have two options. Take the car to the shop and get it seen to, or ignore it and hope the problem will resolve by itself. Ultimately you have to do something about the check engine light. It is after all there for a reason.

In the story of David in 2 Samuel 11, things were looking good in Israel, the nation was united. David was a good and wise King. The nation was expanding, and it looked like everything that God had promised Abraham, Moses and Joshua was all about to come to fruition. But David began to rest on his laurels, and he began to enjoy the ease of his success. He took a break from going out with the armies in the springtime, he was probably about fifty years old at this time. David lapses into complacency and that is when he falls into sin. 2 Samuel 11 relates the well-known account of his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and the murderous plot to cover up his sins.

After about a year, God sends his prophet Nathan to David to pronounce God’s judgment on him. On the surface it seems that he has gotten away with his sins, but he is being eaten away inside (see Psalm 32:3-4).

Nathan tells a simple parable, and then Nathan says those crashing words; “You are that man!”

Nathan continues by listing all that God has done for David, each line must have been like sharp darts piercing the heart of David; we read in verse 7 and 8

  • “I anointed you King over Israel”
  • “I delivered you from the hand of Saul”
  • “I gave you your master’s house and wives”
  • “I gave you all of Israel and Judah”
  • “And I would have given you more”

And in verse 10, the judgment is read out: The sword will never depart from David’s house. Out of his own household, the Lord is going to bring Calamity. God will take his wives away mocking David in broad daylight.  And the son born to David & Bathsheba will die.

The weight of the judgment must have sent David to his knees, he was being punished severely for his sins. God still punishes sins today. This does not mean that everytime we experience a tragedy it is because of God’s punishment, but sometimes it might be. The immediate punishment that we all feel when we sin is the loss of peace, that broken fellowship with God as we silence the voice of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Broken fellowship with God and broken fellowship with other believers. The truth is that private sins have public consequences.

But looking carefully at the verses we read you will notice a common thread in the judgment of God. God points out David’s physical wrongdoings, but there was a greater sin that David committed.

  • Verse 9; “Why did you despise the word of the Lord’
  • Verse 10; “…because you despised me…”
  • Verse 14; “…you have shown utter contempt for the Lord,”

David’s sins were in effect saying to God that His blessings were not enough. All that God had given him was not good enough, he was tempted and craved for more.

This is the underlying cause of much of our sin if we know Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we sin because we want more than what he has blessed us with. We sin because we are not fully satisfied in Jesus.

God took the sins of David very personally, “David…you despised ME!” “You have shown utter contempt ME!”

If we think our sins are simply bad things that we do, and that God does not feel our sins, we are horribly mistaken. All of our sins are a personal affront to God. Because of our sin, Jesus went to the cross. He was punished because of our sins. It is personal, everytime we sin we show contempt for God.

David responds immediately and confesses his sins. He understands that his actions were an affront to God and he repents. It was at this time that David wrote Psalm 51, that great repentance Psalm, and he acknowledges that his sin is against God (see Psalm 51:3-4).

True repentance has 4 parts.

  1. Open unguarded admission – A full disclosure of our sins.
  2. Desire to make a complete break from the sin – Repentance means walking in the opposite direction.
  3. A humble and broken spirit. (see Psalm 51:17) Humility is a key to revival.
  4. Receiving God’s forgiveness and acceptance (see 1 John 1:9).

Getting back to that check engine light in your car. Our lives also have a check engine light, he is called the Holy Spirit. It is a lie from Satan to think that our personal sins are something that will not affect anyone else, and that we can handle our secret sins. The secret sins of; cheating on your taxes, not being completely truthful in our workplace, addiction to pornography (a “secret” sin that is destroying families), envy, pride, slander or gossip. Every time we sin, the check engine light in our lives comes on, and we try to ignore it, but it keeps getting brighter.

David felt the pain of unconfessed sin as we see in Psalm 32:3-4, but this Psalm ends with a shout of joy and praise to God as David experiences the relief and freedom as God forgives his sins. “Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart!”

However God did not take away the consequences of David’s sin, but we don’t hear David complaining about that. Every sin has consequences. Sin leads to loss of privilege and status, those are real life consequences for sin. But by the grace of God, He is able to restore the sinner.

Look at the restoration that God accomplished in David’s life, Solomon was a son born later to David and Bathsheba. The Bible tells us that God loved Solomon and gave him supernatural wisdom. The child who should never have been born, became arguably the greatest king of Israel until Jesus himself. Praise God that even in the midst of the messiness of sin and repentance, there is redemption and grace.

It all starts with repentance. True repentance, acknowledging our sin before an all Holy God, turning the other way, humbling ourselves and accepting the forgiveness of our sins before the cross.

Repentance leads to freedom and health, but covering up our sins leads to further brokenness. Today we all have a choice, to choose life and freedom or to not repent of our sins before God and in so doing we choose death.

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Lessons from the life of King David Part 2; April 10, 2016

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1 Samuel 26

Saul is trying to hunt down David once again, he takes 3000 of his best warriors. This is the second time that Saul was hunting down David, he was embarrassed the first time (see 1 Samuel 24).

Saul feared David, he knew that David was God’s chosen leader to replace him, his fear drove him to try to destroy David. David on the other hand is filled with courage, he doesn’t run away, in fact in we read that David went out to engage with Saul. Just like David engaged Goliath, he had boldness to confront his enemy.

 David decides to go into the camp of Saul and he asks for a volunteer to go with him. Abishai volunteers for the mission. Abishai is actually David’s nephew, and a fearless warrior. But for all his courage, Abishai lacks self-control. He asks David if he can kill Saul. But David is not persuaded, he is listening to a higher authority.

Be careful who you listen to. Your closest friends will give you advice that seems to be right, but is that what God is telling you to do? It’s not wrong to get advice from others, but you need to check this against the Word of God.

David quickly rebukes Abishai and once again reminds him that Saul is the Lords anointed. Apart from sparing the life of the King, David was teaching Abishai the order of God’s kingdom. God puts leaders in place. (See Romans 13:1).

We wrestle with this, what if the king is mad? God says honor those He has placed in leadership over you, David shows us that you don’t have to abide by immoral decisions they make, but respect their position.

David and Abishai take the spear and the water jug from Saul and go and stand on a hill with a valley between them and the army of Saul. David taunts Abner but shows the utmost respect for Saul (v17, 18 and 19).

 After Saul and his army are humbled, it seems that Saul has a change of heart. He repents and asks David to forgive him. Note these words; “, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son.” It was so evident to Saul and to everyone else that God was with David, he could only repent. As far as we can determine from scripture, Saul resigns himself to the fact that his days are numbered, he does not try to interfere with God’s plan for the nation again.

Saul invites David to come back, but in verse 22 we read that David politely declines. David trusts the Lord, but he does not trust Saul. We must honor and respect those that God has placed in leadership over us, but we must not be gullible. After all they are still fallen people.

David declares to Saul that he trusts that God will reward him, he is not looking for the approval of man. What a lesson to us all. Who are we looking to for a reward or praise?

Saul is completely humbled and acknowledges David’s future. It is clear to Saul and to everyone who was there that day that David was a great man, anointed by God and destined for greatness.

Why did David not allow Abishai to kill Saul? Because David trusted that God was in control, he believed in the sovereignty of God.

If God is in control, we can trust Him for the future and with our lives. David showed this practically, Saul was a terrible King, but David knew that only God had the right to remove him from his position of leadership.

Anyone with an ounce of ambition would have taken matters into his own hands and killed Saul, no-one would have blamed him. But David trusted the Lord.

None of us are in the position that David was in, being anointed as King over Israel. But most of us can identify with an overbearing leader, a cruel boss, an incompetent supervisor, an overbearing parent, or an abusive husband. What do we do in those situations? Do we fight back? David didn’t, a few chapters earlier in 1 Samuel we read the account of Saul hurling a spear at David, what did David do? He ducked.

There is a bit of Saul in all of us, and if we take the situation into our own hands and try to make things right outside of the will of God, we become just like Saul. If David had killed Saul, he would have taken the throne as king by force, and he would have been no better than Saul.

Who is the Saul in your life? Who is that person that you wrestle with submitting to, that leader who has no business being in charge, but yet they have the title.

How you respond makes a huge difference. If you respond in bitterness and gossip, it will just eat you up.

If you respond in humble submission, respecting the person’s authority, you will find peace from God.

Another benefit of humble submission is that others notice, your co-workers notice, your children notice. And one day when you are in that position of authority those who noticed your response will be your biggest supporters.

Like David’s mighty men, who witnessed this event, they never questioned his authority, they chose to fight and die for David, because he honored the Lord with his patience (See James 1:2-4).

Trust God with the Saul’s in your life, God is working in you, testing your faith, producing perseverance, and maturing you. God is not distant and unaware of your pain and suffering, He is intimately involved in your life, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ.

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Lessons from the life of King David Part 1; April 03, 2016

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1 Samuel 16

The world is full of many rags to riches stories. We love these stories, we make movies about the characters, and we teach our children to look at them as role models.

But the truth is that we only recognize greatness once it has been achieved in man’s eyes. The process, the humble beginnings, the hard work and the pathway of insignificance is mostly ignored by the world.

In the same way a person that God is forming for his purposes is often ignored and sometimes even ridiculed for their humble position and low standing in society. But God knows and God is working in all of us if we would just let him, to become someone that can be greatly used by Him.

This week we are starting a five part series on David, the warrior king of Israel, who was used by God to firmly establish and expand the nation. David was also the only person in the Bible who had the title; “a man after God’s own heart” as we see in Acts 13:22.

David came from humble beginnings, yet God saw him and called him to serve as King. In this narrative we have three main characters.

Saul was the king that God had given to Israel, but after Saul’s disobedience God rejected him (1 Samuel 15). Samuel is the great prophet of God and was more than simply a seer, he was regarded as a judge, highly respected and highly feared as well. And then we have David, his father Jesse was a man who lived in Bethlehem. Jesse had eight sons and David was his youngest son.

These events took place in 1024 BC, David himself was somewhere between 20 and 25 years old. The first time we see David in the story, he is described in a remarkable way (v 12). But he was the baby of the family and didn’t have much respect with his older brothers.

When Samuel went to Bethlehem, the leaders of the town trembled when they met him. They wondered if he was coming in judgment. I am sure that all the town of Bethlehem knew that the great prophet was in town and that he had chosen to invite Jesse and his sons to the sacrifice. Something was up! The seven older sons of Jesse were probably eager to be in the spotlight. Samuel told them to consecrate themselves in preparation for the sacrifice. This was a ritual washing and probably putting on clean clothes. I can imagine them dressing in their Sabbath best trying to impress the great leader coming to town. But where is David the youngest son? He is still tending the sheep, he knew about the sacrifice, but he faithfully kept on doing what was required of him. This is key, David didn’t try to arrange to be in the presence of Samuel. He didn’t ask someone to do his chores for him, he didn’t try to promote himself.

After all the brothers are rejected, finally as a last resort, David is thought of. Oh, yeah… there is one more son.

As they call David in he is probably covered in dust and smells of sweat and dirty sheep. Notice that he is not consecrated, because in God’s eyes he is already consecrated. He has a pure heart and God looks on the inside, where man looks on the outside.

Samuel sees him and God tells him that David is the one. So Samuel anoints David. As Samuel anoints David, he is filled with the Holy Spirit (V13). Something supernatural happened, the Spirit of the Lord came in power as David was anointed. The ESV bible says, the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David.

It must have been a surprise for his father and brothers. It is unlikely that Jesse, or anyone else in the family, including David completely understood what had just happened. But the Lord was preparing David to be the leader of the nation. From a humble shepherd boy to a mighty warrior king.

David was already a man of integrity and courage, but now God added the power of His Spirit on him. David began to shine and he began to be noticed. Notice how Saul’s attendant recommends David in glowing terms in verse 18. David’s recognition quickly gets him favor and promotion in the service of King Saul. He rises to be one of the Kings Armor bearers.

Notice the progression here, from humble shepherd, to being selected, to being anointed and empowered by God, this humble shepherd is recognized and finds favor in the Kings courts. David was rejected and put down by his brothers, yet he was chosen by God. God had planned for David to be the next King even before he had been born. He was destined for this. (See Psalm 139:16)

What is remarkable in this chapter is David’s humility, not once do we read that David stood up and called attention to himself. He did not promote himself, rather he was recognized by God and man.

What a contrast to the world we live in. Our world says; “be noticeable, promote yourself, market yourself, tell the world how good you are.” But David is silently confident, trusting in the Lord.

It is much better to be promoted by God than to be recognized and promoted by man.

Too many people today try to push themselves into prominent places without first proving themselves at home in the small matters. Character that God uses is developed in the life of obscurity.

God was preparing David while he was faithfully doing his work as no one noticed. But isn’t it interesting that what we do when no one notices, becomes what everyone notices.

People notice the outward manifestation of our inward life.

Our time spent with the Lord each day prepares us for the plans that God has for us.

What is God preparing you for? As God is preparing you, remember that how you serve today is just as important as what you will be doing in the future.