Sermon Tone Analysis

! Leaving a Lasting Legacy – 2 Samuel 23:1-7

 

*/David’s Last Words/*

*23*     Now these /are/ the last words of David.

/Thus/ says David the son of Jesse;

     /Thus/ says the man raised up on high,

     The anointed of the God of Jacob,

     And the sweet psalmist of Israel:

2     “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me,

     And His word /was/ on my tongue.

3     The God of Israel said,

     The Rock of Israel spoke to me:

     ‘He who rules over men /must be/ just,

     Ruling in the fear of God.

4     And /he shall be/ like the light of the morning /when/ the sun rises,

     A morning without clouds,

     /Like/ the tender grass /springing/ out of the earth,

     By clear shining after rain.’

5     “Although my house /is/ not so with God,

     Yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant,

     Ordered in all /things/ and secure.

For /this is/ all my salvation and all /my/ desire;

     Will He not make /it/ increase?

6     But /the sons/ of rebellion /shall/ all /be/ as thorns thrust away,

     Because they cannot be taken with hands.

7     But the man who touches them

     Must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear,

     And they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place.”

\\ Outline:

 

 

Verse 1 = Myself, My Dad, and God

 

·       David identifies himself clearly, and tells us who his earthly and heavenly fathers are.

Verses 2-4 = My Words are His Word

 

·       God spoke to David and through him.

Verse 5 = My Salvation

 

·       David stands on the promise of God’s covenant with him and his family.

Verses 6-7 = My Option

 

·       In stark contrast to God’s covenant with David, he shows the alternative  - what the rebellious receive.

Verses 8-39 = My Friends

 

·       David closes the chapter with a detailed account of the friends who stood by him through thick and thin.

He recognizes the value of others in his life.

\\ */David’s Last Words/*

 

*Samuel 23:1**     Now these /are/ the last words of David.

*

 

·         What will my last words be?

 

Proverbs 3:35 The wise shall inherit glory,

     But shame shall be the legacy of fools.

·         What kind of legacy will I leave my family, friends, and neighbors?

·         A legacy is more than our estate – it’ the overall message of my life.

·         What will my last words be?

Will they make a difference?

·         What a privilege to sum up the things that really matter to share them with the ones you love.

·         David’s last words to Solomon are recorded in 1 Kings 2:1

·         Paul’s last words to the Elders of the church in Acts 20:17-35

·         Jacob blessing his sons in Genesis 49

·         Moses parting words to Israel in Deut 33

·         Parting words when you leave a job, class graduation, or in your will.

·         Here’s a few last words from some people you might recognize, and a few last words inscribed on some grave markers…

*Last Words*

 

•     /Why, yes.

I’d like a bulletproof vest./—James

Rogers, who was executed in 1960 in Nevada, upon being asked if he had a last request as he stood before the firing line

•     /Just pull my legs straight, and place me as a dead man; it will save trouble for you shortly./—Dr.

Fidge, who had a boat converted into a coffin and stored under his bed

•     /I am dying, as I have lived, beyond my means./—Oscar

Wilde

•     /It was a great game./—Bing

Crosby, who collapsed right after sinking a final putt on a golf course in Spain in 1977.

•     /I am as good as without hope, and without fear; a sad old man gazing into the final chasm./—Thomas

Carlyle

•     /That guy’s got to stop.

He’ll see us./—James Dean, just before his Porsche slammed into a car turning onto the highway

 

*Interesting Epitaphs*

 

•     This epitaph adorns the grave of Ellen Shannon, twenty-six, of Girard, Pennsylvania:

/Who was fatally burned/

/March 21, 1870/

/by the explosion of a lamp/

/filled with “R.

E. Danforth’s/

/Non-Explosive/

/Burning Fluid”/

•     Epitaph of a dentist named John Brown:

/Stranger!

Approach this spot with gravity!/

/John Brown is filling his last cavity./

•     Inscribed on the tomb of Mel Blanc, creator of the cartoon characters Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig:

/That’s All, Folks!/

•     *[Page 185] *The epitaph of Benjamin Franklin:

/The Body of/

/B.

Franklin, Printer/

/Like the Cover of an old Book/

/Its Contents torn out/

/And Stript of its Lettering & Gilding/

/Lies here.

Food for Worms/

/For, it will as he believed/

/appear once more/

/In a new and more elegant Edition/

/corrected and improved/

/By the Author/

 

    *Samuel 23:2 (Continued)   /Thus/ says David the son of Jesse; /Thus/ says the man raised up on high, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel: *

 

·        The whole story of David’s life is told in that one verse: humble beginnings as a shepherd boy, the purpose of God for which he was set aside, made king of Israel by divine appointment, and the organizer and leader of temple worship.