Lessons in Faith From King David

The life of David is one of the most fascinating stories in all of scripture. His story is a series of ups and downs, having risen from the lowly position of boy shepherd to King of Israel. God, Himself, said this of David, as we read from Acts 13:22, “And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king, of whom he testified and said, ‘I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my heart, who will do all my will.’”

Yet David was a sinner. David’s sin with Bathsheba is still spoken of today, even those who don’t follow the Christian faith know it well. Not only did David sin in the adulterous affair, he took it to a horrible level by plotting the murder of Bathsheba’s husband.

One of the great messages in this story is found in God’s reaction to this sin. God let David know, that despite David’s attempts to cover these acts up, God saw. God did this by sending David’s close friend and advisor to give David this truth and Nathan masterfully showed David his sin. Then God delivers the discipline.

2 Samuel 12:11-12
Thus says the LORD, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’”

David’s response is confession and repentance. Another message comes clearly to us through the response of God.

2 Samuel 12:13-14
 David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die.”

This is a picture for us of how God operates. Like David, we were chosen of God. Through faith in Christ we are adopted into the family of God. Like David, we get idle and let our eyes wander away from Christ and start tempting ourselves with the things of the world, we sin. Sometimes God sends us a Nathan, but through Bible reading we also are made aware of our sins. So, like David, we confess and repent. Like David, God forgives us. But just as David’s sin brought consequences, so does ours. Sometimes the consequences of sin bring lifetime troubles that affect not only ourselves, but our families as well. This was what David faced.

2 Samuel 12:10
Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’

Sometimes the results of our sin will cause the “sword to never depart from our house.” Alcoholism, physical and sexual abuse, and drug addictions are examples of this principle. These sins can even affect not only our health, but the health of our children. Often these afflictions carry into the generations. In truth, all sickness is a result of sin. Sometimes sin affects only the perpetrator of it, but sometimes sin causes afflictions in babies and children. One horrible example is when a baby is born with a heroin addiction. Or when a father abuses his child and that child grows up with the same tendencies. This is what I believe is the meaning of Exodus 34:6-7 in which we read this, “The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Yes, God forgives because He is “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” But we cannot read only the first part of that verse, we must accept the full counsel of scripture.  That description of God’s mercy and grace includes these words, “but who will by no means clear the guilty.” God does not leave His people in their sin but as any good father would do, He uses discipline to grow us into the likeness of Christ. David knew this and He accepted this truth remaining faithful to His God.

David was God’s anointed King, yet David’s life had many sorrows and difficult times. Reading this morning in 2 Samuel 15 we find David again having to flee to the wilderness. The first time it was King Saul who wanted him dead. If that wasn’t hurtful enough to David, the second time it was his own son, Absalom. Absalom would attempt to steal away David’s kingdom. Again, David flees for his life, but this time his family is also in danger. In all this mess David never loses his loyalty to His God. David maintains faith in God and seeks His will.

2 Samuel 15:24-26
 And Abiathar came up, and behold, Zadok came also with all the Levites, bearing the ark of the covenant of God. And they set down the ark of God until the people had all passed out of the city. Then the king said to Zadok, “Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place. But if he says, ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ behold, here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him.”

What a statement of faith by David. First of all, he had his priorities right in sending the Ark of God back to where it belongs. He refuses to use it as some sort of good luck charm. But then he declares that whatever God chooses to do, he will accept God’s will. Even if God’s will is to turn His favor from David.

The Bible is filled with great lessons for us. David’s life is a diamond mine waiting for us to explore and to find great treasure. Why would God declare David a man after His own heart? Because David had faith to believe God is good in everything He does and allows.

Life is filled with hard things and difficult times. There will come betrayal and hurt and sometimes it will come from those we love the most. Somethings happen because of our own sin and sometimes the sins of others will find us in their wake. Read the story of King David. Read his psalms. He knew pain. So did Jesus. The way to react is to trust God in it. I leave you with one more scripture. As you ponder your own pain ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand the value of faith in God despite your pain and suffering. Then let God work in your pain to make you more like Christ, for that is the end plan for your life.

1 Peter 2:18-23
 Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust. For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

Grumbling - It Turns Off the Light of Christ

Philippians 2:14
Do all things without grumbling or disputing.

Wow, do I fail here. Often. What I love about the Bible is how often in it God uses terms such as “all.” The verse commands us to do all things, ALL things, without grumbling or disputing. That means even the things I don’t want to do or I don’t like.

You ever want to ask God “Why?” Well, I can save you the trouble this morning. God answered the question as to why we should do all things without grumbling or disputing in the verses following that command. Why should we not grumble or dispute?

Philippians 2:15
So that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world.

The world sees us acting just like them. We talk about Jesus and how great it is to be His child, yet the world sees a different story. Then we wonder why they don’t respond to us when we ask them to church or we share Christ with them in the hopes of them being saved.

I don’t do very well in this. How about you? Since it says “all” things this means we should do what the boss says, and do it with joy. It means when our spouse asks us to take out the trash, we should be happy to do it. It means all things we do, needs to be done in joy.

Hard? Yes, it is. But God did not leave us alone to accomplish these tasks; He sent His Holy Spirit to live in us and empower us to do this. It’s called the “fruit of the Spirit.”

Galatians 5:22-25
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.

We have the ability to obey the command. Romans 8:37 says, “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” And that was speaking about literally dying and being in danger, so we certainly can conquer our grumblings over the day to day life things.

So, here’s the challenge.

Do all things without grumbling or disputing. So, we can be the light of Christ to the lost world.

6 Attributes of a Christian - Part 2 Courage

The second attribute a Christian should demonstrate in his life, is courage. Certainly, for those who live in countries of severe persecution, courage is a necessary attribute. To continue to worship God in a place where your life is in constant threat of death or imprisonment demands one be brave and courageous. But what about us back here in America? Do we need courage?

The answer is of course, yes, we do. There are plenty of dangers lurking in life, plenty of things that can paralyze us with fear. Sickness, death, terrorism and crime are just a few of the things that can bring fear. Even things that are not life-threatening, such as job interviews and tests at school can scare us. But for Christians there is an added level of things to face, such as witnessing to people and serving in varying ministries. These things can strike fear into us. How about when that opportunity comes for you to pray in public? Even prayer can bring fear.

Once again if we open our Bibles we find that we are commanded not to be afraid. It has been said that there is a “Do not fear” verse for everyday of the year. I don’t know that one can find the exact phrase “Do not fear”, 365 times, but I promise you there are probably more exhortations to not be afraid or to be courageous than any other exhortation.

But there is one fear we are to possess. Fear of the Lord. The overall command of God is that we fear Him and not the things of the world.

Why are we to fear God?

Exodus 20:20
Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin."

So that you may not sin. If we lose our reverence and fail to understand God’s position on sin, then we are in danger.

Leviticus 25:17
 So you shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God.

And if you think this is just Old Testament stuff that has no bearing on Christians then you are failing to understand the full counsel of scripture.

2 Corinthians 7:1
Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Jesus would give the best explanation. He gives us the perfect perspective on fear and courage.

Luke 12:4-7
 "I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him! "Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. "Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.”

Fear God. But as to the rest of the things of this world that give us the willys? Do not fear.

But that’s easy for us to say and harder to do. How do we live out life in courage? The answer is to read God’s Word and then believe it. This is what faith is. Read the great stories of the Old Testament and see the promises of God as they were fulfilled.

Genesis 26:23-24
 Then he [Isaac] went up from there to Beersheba. The LORD appeared to him the same night and said, "I am the God of your father Abraham; Do not fear, for I am with you. I will bless you, and multiply your descendants, For the sake of My servant Abraham."

Joshua 1:9
"Have I not commanded you [Joshua]? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go."

Isaiah 41:10
“'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”

Notice the promise, “I am with you.” “The LORD your God is with you wherever you go." This is not only an Old Testament promise; It is a promise to Christians as well.

Hebrews 13:5-6
 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

When Jesus gave us the Great Commission, he added on a reminder of this promise. He knew that for one, we would be fearful in the act of witnessing.

Matthew 28:20
“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

The Bible is replete with promises, promises that should embolden us to live as He calls us to. We need fear nothing, as long as we are in His will. We can have courage. But it must be courage that is based on Him and not us. I leave you with God’s Word on this.

Ephesians 6:10
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

Do that and there is no reason to fear. Do that and you will have the courage you need to face every challenge that ever comes your way.