David
Notes
Transcript
Ezra Keaton Thorman Dedication
Ezra Keaton Thorman Dedication
The Thorman family has been growing lately. Little Ezra was born on June 28 making them a family of four. For the last year and change they’ve been juggling sleeping schedules and beginner sabbath school and now they’ve got feeding schedules too, so you might not have seen them a whole bunch. Children are a gift from God that comes with huge blessings and big responsibilities.
But the biggest responsibility of all is one that we cannot accomplish. Only Jesus can save our children. While Moses encouraged us to weave God’s law of Love into every experience of life, we cannot put it in the heart of our children. Only Jesus can do that. And the good thing is that He promised He would:
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
Jesus says that children are extra special to heaven:
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
For Grandparent to read:
Parents, give your children to the Lord, and ever keep it before their minds that they belong to Him, that they are lambs of Christ's flock, watched over by the true Shepherd. Hannah dedicated Samuel to the Lord; and it is said of him, “Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him…—Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students, 143.
For grandparent to read:
Then children were brought to him that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples rebuked the people, but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” And he laid his hands on them and went away.
Russell and Birgitta, in presenting Ezra for dedication you signify not only your faith in Jesus Christ but also your desire that Ezra may know and follow the will of God, may live a Christian, and be received by Jesus when He comes in the clouds of glory.
In order to attain this holy end, it will be your duty, as parents and guardians, to teach him early the fear of the Lord, to watch over his education, so that he won’t be led astray; to direct his youthful mind to God’s Holy Word, and his feet to the gathering of God’s people; to guard him from evil associates and habits; and, as much as you have the ability, to bring him up in the nurture and guidance of the Lord.
Will you strive to do so by the help of God?
If so, answer, “We will.”
Parent’s response
I now ask you, the congregation; will you commit yourself as the Body of Christ to support and encourage these parents as they strive to fulfill their responsibilities to this child and to assist by nurturing his growth toward spiritual maturity?
If so, answer, “We will.”
Congregation response
Prayer:
We now dedicate Ezra in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Lord, we surrender him into your hands. Please lead Him according to your will. Guard him with Your mighty angels. Begin your work of planting the truth of Your love, mercy, and grace in his precious heart. And don’t stop your work of salvation until he rises to meet Jesus in the air when He returns to bring all His children to Your home in heaven.
Creator and Father, let the blessing of heaven rest upon this child; that he may be protected by the angel of the Lord from the evil that is in the world; that he may have unfailing protection and guidance; that his mother and father may be given more than human patience, wisdom, and love in training their little onesto love and revere his heavenly Father; and that Russell and Birgitta and and Ezra and Aiden may be kept faithful unto the end, so that when the Master calls us home for the great reunion not one shall be missing in that day.
To this end we dedicate this lamb of the flock, Ezra Keaton Thorman, to the heavenly Shepherd, Jesus Christ, and it is our prayer that he may be led in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake,' that 'goodness and mercy' may follow him all the days of his life, and that eventually he may 'dwell in the house of the Lord forever.'
Amen.
Children’s Story
Children’s Story
A long time ago there was a young man. Let’s see if you can guess who he was.
He lived over a thousand years before Jesus was born
He was the youngest of all his brothers
He liked to write poems and sing and play musical instruments
He was really good with a slingshot...
He was a shepherd...
He lived in Bethlehem...
His dad’s name was Jesse…
There’s a really famous story about this boy and a giant...
David!
There were some things going on in the nation of Israel that David probably didn’t know much about. The king was doing some things that God had specifically told him not to do. And when he was confronted with it by Samuel, the king (his name was Saul) made excuses and started defending himself.
Do you ever do that? When your parents catch you in a lie or find you doing something they told you not to do you defend yourself or even straight up lie and tell them that what they saw or heard wasn’t really what was going on. Even adults do this. When someone says, “what you just did was wrong,” we go to great lengths to blame other people or justify ourselves saying that what we did or said was really a good thing. Sometimes, we even turn against the person who told us we did something wrong and we get angry with them. The problem is that if we respond all defensive like that then we won’t be willing to learn and grow and receive correction. And when it’s God that’s saying your wrong He can’t help you if you respond defensively or blame other people.
Well, Saul ignored God and acted defensively when Samuel came to tell him there was a problem. And that’s when God told Samuel, “I have rejected Saul as king, go to the house of Jesse and anoint a new king from among Jesse’s sons.”
So, Samuel went to Bethlehem and invited the town to a sacrificial feast. When the feast was over he asked Jesse to bring his sons to be inspected. One by one Samuel looked at them and the Lord whispered in his ear, “this isn’t the one.” Samuel was confused because God kept rejecting men that seemed to be good king material. But God said to him, “don’t look on his appearance or at how tall he is, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
When they were all inspected, and rejected, Samuel asked Jesse, “do you have any other sons?”
Yes, David was keeping the sheep in the field. So David was sent for and when he got to where Samuel was God said something special to samuel, "arise, anoint him, for this is the one I have chosen.”
What did God see in David?
Maybe He saw a young man who honored God and put Him first in his life.
Or maybe He saw a young poet who wrote songs about God and the nature He created.
Or maybe He saw a young man who would soon fight Goliath and say things like, “I come against you today because you have defied the God of Israel!” You see, David was full of courage and integrity.
But I think there was something even more important than all of those things that were in David’s heart. I’d like you to listen to the sermon today and maybe afterwards see if you can tell your parents what you learned about the idea of repentance.
The Story Backdrop
The Story Backdrop
The last time I was with you we were involved in a series called, “The Story” where we were looking at the men and women in Jesus’ lineage. We traced God’s covenant promise from the garden of eden where God first promised Eve that He would crush the serpent’s head, all the way to the edge of Egypt where God delivered the Israelites from Egyptian slavery.
Chronologically the next story would be Ruth and Boaz. That would have been a great story but oday we’re going to jump right to the story of David, Ruth’s great grandson.
The story of David is told in the time when Israel had asked for, and been granted a king. The time leading up to this was a time of apostacy and repentance and apostacy and repentance again. Samuel was the last of the judges and the leading priest of the nation. He had started schools of the prophets to keep Israel on the straight and narrow. Then he tasked his sons to judge after him, but they ended up being corrupt and so the people begged him to provide a king for them. This was not part of God’s plan, and Samuel told them so. But they begged, and God allowed it, and Saul was made king.
The build-up
The build-up
We can’t do justice to the story of David in the few minutes we have, so let’s do a quick a quick recap and then focus on one specific story.
David was the youngest son of Jesse. He was chosen by God to be king when king Saul rebelled and determined to disobey God. David liked to write music and apparently did a lot of that while he was herding sheep. As a teenager, Saul brought David into his court to play music to sooth what was most likely demon oppression. One day he killed the giant, Goliath, when all the rest of the army was quivering in their armor. Saul made him the general of his honor guard, and then got really jealous when he kept winning battles. David had to flee for his life and spent a bunch of years on the run, constantly being pestered by Saul and the Israelite army.
Before he fled, Saul gave his daughter, Michal, to be David’s wife, but David left her behind when he fled out the back door and Saul gave her to another man as his wife. One time while David was away he ran into Abigail, and when her awful husband died David married her. At some point he married Ahinoam who was the mother of David’s first son. And he also married Maakah, Haggith, Abital, and Eglah during his years in exile.
During the exile David had multiple opportunities to do Saul and Israel harm. Instead of raiding in Israel to provide food for the several hundred people who lived under his protection, he raided Philistine towns—and then he lied to his buddy, the king of the Philistines, and told him he was raiding Israelite towns. So, while it wasn’t good that he lied about it, he was at least doing his best not to harm his people. There were two times when David could have taken Saul’s life but he refused because Saul had been anointed by God. Even though he knew that Saul was plagued by demons and making awful choices for Israel, he decided to let God figure out when he would replace Saul rather than take things into his own hands.
Eventually Saul died in a battle and after a period of national mourning a couple tribes asked David to be their king, and then about a year later the rest of Israel installed him as king. Once he was back from exile and sporting a new crown, David asked for Michal to come back to him, giving him a total of 7 wives.
David’s wives aren’t dwelt upon in much detail in the Bible. One paragraph summarizes four of the nuptials and all their children.
Yet God made it clear as the people of Israel were headed to the promised land that multiple marriage partners was not His plan:
“You shall not commit adultery.
Faithfulness to one spouse has always been God’s design, and anything else gets complicated. A man like David could have pursued multiple women for various reasons, including a generous consideration for their welfare, or for political alliances. Whatever the reason for his many marriages, the results were as devastating then as they are today—his wives were bitter and His children were undisciplined and ungodly. The impact this had on David’s leadership and eventually the entire nation was catastrophic.
And yet, the Bible makes it clear that God remained with David.
And then there was Bathsheba.
Bathsheba
Bathsheba
Have you ever recognized that the Bible says very little in praise of people? Even the best of humanity get no praise. People like Daniel and Joseph, about whom the Bible says nothing negative—have no praise for their life or their good deeds. And maybe there’s a lesson for us to learn from this:
“All the good qualities that men possess are the gift of God; their good deeds are performed by the grace of God through Christ. Since they owe all to God the glory of whatever they are or do belongs to Him alone…” (PP, 717)
Like David, we face a fight in our lives—a struggle to cling to God in faith or fall back on our own resources. Sometimes we run and hide from the battle, sometimes we stand and face the battle.
“It is impossible for us in our own strength to maintain the conflict; and whatever diverts the mind from God, whatever leads to self-exaltation or to self-dependence, is surely preparing the way for our overthrow. The tenor of the Bible is to inculcate distrust of human power and to encourage trust in divine power.” (PP 717)
The spirit of self-confidence and self-exaltation had grown in David’s heart. Years of success and blessing from God should have led to his utter humility, but instead David gave up the conflict to enjoy the fruits of victory and the honor of rulership. He stepped away from his men and from their responsibility to drive out the Canaanites. He confidently felt that all was well. And in that moment of self-trust, David fell prey to the problem that seems to have plagued his whole adult life—lust.
“God is the only source of strength...” (PP 717)
Yielding the hold of faith on the God of infinite power and grace is a guaranteed way to yield to Satan’s power.
On a pleasant evening when his troops were out defending the country and the wives were alone with their families at home, David wandered out to his courtyard. One of his mighty men, Uriah, had a home within sight of the palace, and David took special interest in Uriah’s wife who was bathing on the roof. You probably already know what happened next. David sent orders to Bathsheba to come to his home, and then… well… the short version is that a powerful man took advantage of a vulnerable young woman who was someone else’s wife.
Not only was this adultery, this was abuse. And even though the abusive act was bad enough, then David conspired to cover it up. Bathsheba sent word to David that she was pregnant, and then David called Uriah back home to try to make things look half-way innocent. When Uriah wouldn’t go home to his wife while his men were on the battlefield, David sent Uriah back with a written order to the general to put Uriah in the thickest fighting so that he would die. A few days later he got word that Uriah had died in battle and his response to his general was essentially, “don’t be sad that Uriah died, that’s what happens in war, some people die.”
Adultery.
Lying.
Murder.
Why did God allow this? How could God justify sticking with David, especially when he had rejected the previous king?
Did God approve of David’s indulgence? No.
Let’s read the story from 2 Samuel 12
And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord.
And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, “There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds, but the poor man had nothing but one little ewe lamb, which he had bought. And he brought it up, and it grew up with him and with his children. It used to eat of his morsel and drink from his cup and lie in his arms, and it was like a daughter to him. Now there came a traveler to the rich man, and he was unwilling to take one of his own flock or herd to prepare for the guest who had come to him, but he took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
David listened to this story as a king would listen to a case he was judging. When Nathan finished his story David became indignant and demanded that justice be done. “the man who did this deserves to die!” he said, but then he tempered his judgment and said, “he shall restore the lamb fourfold...” David’s judgment was exactly what God had told Israel to do—if someone steals an animal they were to pay back four of that kind of animal for restitution. This was just and fair. And his ruling demonstrated that David both knew the law of God and ruled in a way that honored God.
And I think this is an important point. David was a king filled with flaws, but the overall direction of his life was toward God. He loved God, and sought God with all his heart. And yet, David was imperfect. He made mistakes and committed sins—some sins that were pretty bad. What happened next in this story illustrates the kind of heart that David had towards God.
After David’s judgment against the sheepstealer in Nathan’s story Nathan pointed his finger at David’s chest and said,
2 Samuel 12:7 (ESV)
“You are the man! Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.
And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.
In God’s response He contrasts all of David’s blessings with his seemingly insatiable desires. God had blessed David so much, did David need anything more? If he had needed more, then couldn’t he trust God to give him all he needed?
The fundamental problem in David’s heart was the problem we all face—we fail to trust in God and instead we take our needs and wants and desires into our own hands to fulfill them ourselves.
It’s like Jeremiah said, we commit the two fundamental sins:
We forsake the fountain of living water
we build tanks to collect our own water, but our spiritual water tanks are full of holes and all the foolish things we pursue to satisfy our desires and needs will never satisfy us like God’s living water can.
The next words from Nathan’s lips were very hard for David to hear because Nathan told David about the severe consequences for his sin.
We don’t like to hear that we’ve done wrong. From the smallest child to the oldest among us, when someone wags their finger in our face and tells us we’re wrong or we did something wrong all the muscles in our body stiffen and our emotions rise up within us for a fight. Even if we know they’re right we’ll often defend ourselves. We all have a built-in pride that hates being confronted.
Now, if you were a king with all the power to punish someone like Nathan, would you do it? Would you put him in prison or silence him by execution? Or, would you take his rebuke and admit you were wrong?
Repentance
Repentance
Knowing what we know about David, we have to wonder how it was that God could say that David was… “a man after [God’s] own heart…” (1 Sam 13:14) “a man after my heart, who will do my will…” (Acts 13:22)
Was David a man sinless?
No. In fact, he faced the same sins that all men have to do battle with—greed and lust and all the rest.
And yet God was with David. He looked fondly on David, in spite of His sin. He blessed David before and after Bathsheba.
How was it that David’s sin didn’t cause God to reject him? How is it that David got to be one of the recipients of the covenant promise of God?
The thing that was special in David’s heart was his willingness to recognize and admit his sin. He had the humility to confess and repent.
Repentance.
The simple definition of repentance is to turn around.
But repentance is often a pretty hard thing for us to swallow. It requires us to first admit we’re going the wrong way. That’s hard because we’ve often invested ourselves—we tell our friends which direction we’re going, we invest in emotional and financial resources, we throw time and effort after that direction. And then when someone tells us we’re going the wrong way it really cuts against our hearts. It takes a humble person to admit their going the wrong direction, and a wise person to stop and turn back.
Let’s look at two poems that David wrote in response to his sins—one of them specifically after his abuse of Bathsheba. The first one is from Psalm 32. It’s possible that this was written after Bathsheba, but I like to think of it as a repeated song that David sang—a recognition of his life-struggle with sin and God’s amazing forgiveness. Look at verse 1 through 5 with me:
Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
For day and night your hand was heavy upon me;
my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
I acknowledged my sin to you,
and I did not cover my iniquity;
I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,”
and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
Psalm 32 is the contemplative heart-cry of David. Over and over and over again He faced his own sin and found himself face down on the ground praying for forgiveness. Over and over again he found God to be a loving and merciful God. He never rebelled against God. But he did find he was constantly worthy of God’s judgment.
Notice a few key words in this passage:
“Blessed” — this word can be translated happy, or full of joy. Like, “how happy he is” or “this person is full of joy” — they are blessed.
The person who is filled with joy and happiness is the person who receives the forgiveness of God. David recognized that without God’s forgiveness he was filled with turmoil in his soul, but when he received the forgiveness of God he felt peace and joy again.
“In whose spirit there is no deceit.” — this concept comes up several times in Psalm 32 and in the next psalm we’ll look at, Psalm 51. The attitude of repentance is the oposite of hide t your sin. When Samuel came to Saul asking, “why do I hear sheep and cows when God told you to kill them all?” Saul shifted the blame in self defense and said, “it was the people—they begged me to keep the best of the flocks and herds to offer sacrifices.” Saul hid his sin from God with a rebellious heart. David took a different approach. Like the tax collector in Jesus story, David chose to say, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” He readily admitted his wrong and didn’t seek to hide his sin or hide from God’s judgment.
David said, “I acknowledge my sin to you, I did not cover my iniquity.” In 1 John 1:9 John gives us a guarantee — a promise for all those who admit their sin:
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Confess, and God will forgive.
And that’s the result that David reliably got. “You forgave the iniquity of my sin,” David said. And he continues on in Psalm 32 to describe his joy and satisfaction in God’s forgiveness and grace.
Now turn to Psalm 51 where David writes out his prayer to God after being confronted with his sin by Nathan the prophet. Notice how David doesn’t make excuses or hide from the reality of his sin. There is no defensiveness in him:
Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin!
For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
Notice how David admits his wrong — “I’ve sinned against you...” “you are justified in your words about my sin and blameless in your judgment.” In other words, David is agreeing with God’s judgment and not hiding from it.
In verse five he admits that he’s been dealing with this sin stuff his whole life—I was conceived in sin and born into iniquity. He feels like this sin stuff has been pervasive for his entire life. You and I share this same condition. Our lives are punctuated by failure—painted with sin.
In verse six he recognizes that God delights in truth—truth that is raw and transparent, revealing the inner heart of a person.
And then he turns again to his plea to God:
Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and uphold me with a willing spirit.
This passage is one of the most beautiful, heartfelt prayers of repentance, and we have to recognize that this wasn’t just a journal entry into David’s prayer book. This was a song written to be sung in a public assembly in the presence of the court—the priests the judges the princes and men of war—and which would preserve the knowledge of David’s sin to the last generation of mankind. Instead of endeavoring to conceal his guilt and run from judgment, David chose to use his sin to instruct others in the sad history of his fall.
David’s repentance was sincere and deep. He had no desire to escape punishment. He simply saw the enormity of his transgression, the defilement of his soul, and he loathed his sin. Notice that he didn’t pray for pardon, he prayed for purity of heart. “cleanse me, wash me,” he prayed.
He also didn’t try to appease God with sacrifices or good works. He said this in Psalm 51:16-17:
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.
And that’s the kind of heart that David had—a broken, contrite spirit.
Saving Grace
Saving Grace
Why did God not get rid of David? How was He able to forgive such a sinful, abusive, manipulative, murderous, licentious man? There are two aspects of this answer. The first is because of who God is. He is a God who is merciful and full of grace, who is patient and filled with loving faithfulness. He is so merciful that He gave His own life to fulfill the requirements of the law on our behalf so that instead of death, we can inherit life. That’s the first reason God can do this. The second reason is because David humbled himself, confessed his sin, and fell on the mercy of God.
Patriarchs and Prophets (Chapter 71—David’s Sin and Repentance, p726)
Whoever under the reproof of God will humble the soul with confession and repentance, as did David, may be sure that there is hope for [them]. Whoever will in faith accept God’s promises, will find pardon. The Lord will never cast away one truly repentant soul. He has given this promise: ...“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” Isaiah 55:7.
The promise that David put his whole weight on was the promise that one day God would send a redeemer. That Redeemer is Jesus Christ our Lord. He took the penalty of David’s sin, and when David came to Him in humility and repentance Jesus covered David with His righteousness. It was an alien thing to David. He was made righteous in God’s sight because He clung to the promise of God not because he was such a good guy. He knew his salvation wasn’t in sacrificing an animal or doing a fast or performing a religious ritual—His only salvation from garunteed judgment was the grace and mercy of God.
Let’s summarize what we’ve learned about repentance:
Repentance is admitting you’re going the wrong direction and turning around
Reptenance requires humility to admit you’ve done wrong
You can’t try to defend yourself or make excuses or blame others for your failure
God has promised to forgive us when we confess our sins
It’s very tempting to add, “and don’t ever do that again.” To the list of what repentance is. Instead, let’s remember what David’s desire was in Psalm 51—for God to forgive, and cleanse and purge. David put the transformative work in God’s hands. We can humbly admit our wrong, we can fall on our face before God, but everything that happens after that is God’s responsibility.
Some confess their sins to God and feel that they didn’t do it right. They don’t feel better about themselves; they know they are still a sinful, broken person, and they even fear they’ll do the very same thing again sometime. And so, they doubt that God has forgiven them. Maybe they’ve sinned and confessed and sinned and confessed and they wonder if maybe they’ve crossed the threshold of what God will forgive.
This is not the case. God has promised that HE WILL FORGIVE. Believe His promise. Trust yourself in His capable and loving hands. When you sin go to Psalm 32 and Psalm 51 and remind yourself of David’s many failures and his simple faith in God’s promises. Let his experience give you courage to confess and repent.
Let me close by reading a paragraph from the chapter, “Growing Up Into Christ,” from the book Steps to Christ:
Steps to Christ Chapter 8—Growing up into Christ
We should not make self the center and indulge anxiety and fear as to whether we shall be saved. All this turns the soul away from the Source of our strength. Commit the keeping of your soul to God, and trust in Him. Talk and think of Jesus. Let self be lost in Him. Put away all doubt; dismiss your fears. Say with the apostle Paul, “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. Rest in God. He is able to keep that which you have committed to Him. If you will leave yourself in His hands, He will bring you off more than conqueror through Him that has loved you.
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Let’s stand together to sing a song of response to the Lord: ______