Be Restored | II SAMUEL

Intro

Final wrap up - 37 sermons in the making

Acts 13:35 NLT

Another psalm explains it more fully: ‘You will not allow your Holy One to rot in the grave.’

Acts 13:36 NLT

This is not a reference to David, for after David had done the will of God in his own generation, he died and was buried with his ancestors, and his body decayed.

Acts 13:36 NIV

“Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed.

acts13.36

What a statement to be said at the end of your life.

Pat, served God’s purpose in his own generation, then fell asleep.

Megan, served God’s purpose in her own generation, then fell asleep.

What greater compliment can you receive than that you have fulfilled God’s purpose for your life in your generation?

If we serve God according to His own will, and in doing so serve our generation, we shall have accomplished all that is possible for any human being. David was smart enough to serve God and his generation before he fell asleep. To fall asleep before we have served our generation is nothing short of tragic. It is good to sleep at last, as all our honored fathers have done, but it is a moral calamity to sleep without having first labored to bless the world. -A.W. Tozer

Over the past 37 sermons, we have a learned a ton about what God expects from His children, what it means to follow Him, and the faithfulness of His presence in our life.

Yet, there’s a constant theme that weaves itself through 1 & 2 Samuel. It shows up again and again, in different people, different circumstances, and different methods. What we discover is that God is a God who restores.

We see the restoration of national unity, the restoration of Israel’s worship, the restoration of David after he sinned, the restoration of the throne after Absalom’s rebellion.

Isn’t that what so many of us are longing for? Restoration of our relationships, our brokenness, our faith, our souls?

We’re searching for wholeness. A contentment and peace that transcends our present circumstances and reality.

We’re desperate for someone—something—to put the pieces of our life back together. Broken lives, broken dreams, broken homes, churches, cities, and nations.

If 1 & 2 Samuel—and the life of David in particular—teach us anything, it’s that God can perfectly use imperfect people to accomplish His perfect purpose. And it just may be possible that God will use you and I to play a part in someone else’s restoration story.

>>> This morning, I want to flip back the pages and take a walk down memory lane and look once again at some of the highlights from 1 & 2 Samuel as we rediscover together a God who restores.

So if you’re ready to be restored and go on more fly-by through 1 & 2 Samuel, look at your neighbor and tell them, “I’m ready.”

Let’s dive in.

In Their Own Eyes

Book of Samuel picks up where the book of Judges ends. It’s important to keep the events in Samuel in the context of where the nation was. It will help us better appreciate how far they came.

Judges 21:25 NLT

In those days Israel had no king; all the people did whatever seemed right in their own eyes.

Imagine the brokenness that must have existed during this time...

jud21.25

What what happen if this was true today? Recent news articles and stories gives us a preview/snapshot. This is where we are headed.

If it’s right for you, do it. If it’s true for you, do it.

The issue arises when, when what’s good for you, and true for you, and what you believe, interferes with what I want, believe, and is good for me.

Now what? Someone has to pay.

This is the situation during the opening pages of 1 Samuel. It was chaos.

>>> As we flip the pages to the opening chapter of 1 Samuel, we find a woman who is broken and desperate.

Broken Dreams

1 Samuel chapter 1 tells us that a man named Elkanah has two wives. His first wife, Hannah, is childless, while his second wife is not.

Scratch Sheet

Par for the course during this time, the second wife would taunt Hannah over her bareness—reveling in Hannah’s misery.

Hannah is broken and desperate.

What do you do when you’re broken and desperate? What or who do you turn to?

Hannah prayed. She cried out to God for son. —> And God responded.

1 Samuel 1:27–28 NLT

I asked the Lord to give me this boy, and he has granted my request. Now I am giving him to the Lord, and he will belong to the Lord his whole life.” And they worshiped the Lord there.

Sometimes you have not, because you ask not. Too big, too small, too outrageous...

Hannah’s son would be named Samuel, and as promised Hannah gave him to the Lord.

God restores a barren womb, a broken dream, and delivers Samuel to help restore the nation of Israel back to a right relationship with God.

1 Samuel 3:19–4:1 NLT

As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him, and everything Samuel said proved to be reliable. And all Israel, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the Lord. The Lord continued to appear at Shiloh and gave messages to Samuel there at the Tabernacle. And Samuel’s words went out to all the people of Israel. At that time Israel was at war with the Philistines. The Israelite army was camped near Ebenezer, and the Philistines were at Aphek.

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1 Samuel 7:2–4 NLT

The Ark remained in Kiriath-jearim for a long time—twenty years in all. During that time all Israel mourned because it seemed the Lord had abandoned them. Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, “If you want to return to the Lord with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtoreth. Turn your hearts to the Lord and obey him alone; then he will rescue you from the Philistines.” So the Israelites got rid of their images of Baal and Ashtoreth and worshiped only the Lord.

1sam7

Samuel calls the nation back to repentance, back to relationship, back to restoration

God wants to restore your broken dreams too.

Do you trust Him?

I know you’ve prayed about it. Pray again. I know you’ve given it to God before. Give it again. I know that year after year it’s been the same battle. Trust Him again and be restored.

Just as the Ark of the Lord departed Israel for a time and returned, God’s presence is always coming back. It’s available to all who will turn to Him and worship Him alone—even in the chaos, even in the doubt, even in the frustration…

Broken Allegiance

When God rescued the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, He promised that He would be their God and they would be His people. It was an assurance of protection, provision, and blessing.

Yet, over and over again the nation broke their allegiance to God and desired more to reflect the nations around them than to reflect the image of their Redeemer.

Eventually, despite the warning and cautionary reasoning of Samuel, the people demand a king so they can be like the nations around them. In their desire to project strength to constant enemy opposition, they turned to manmade systems, failing to trust in the strength and provision of Almighty God.

The Lord tells Samuel to do all that the people have asked. Delivering the Lord’s response, Samuel calls the nation to faithfully follow and worship the Lord, promising that the Lord will not abandon His people, because of His great name and determination to make Israel His own people.

1 Samuel 12:20–22 NLT

“Don’t be afraid,” Samuel reassured them. “You have certainly done wrong, but make sure now that you worship the Lord with all your heart, and don’t turn your back on him. Don’t go back to worshiping worthless idols that cannot help or rescue you—they are totally useless! The Lord will not abandon his people, because that would dishonor his great name. For it has pleased the Lord to make you his very own people.

1sam12.20-

Here again, undeterred by Israel’s rebellion, God promises to restore the people and uphold His promise.

What broken wells do you keep returning to? What worthless idols take up space on the mantle of your heart?

The nation of Israel turned to a human king and yet, even Saul—the Lord’s anointed, couldn’t maintain his allegiance. So God determined to replace Saul with a man after God’s own heart who would do everything the Lord commands.

Acts 13:22 NLT

But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.’

If you long to be restored, return again to the Lord and worship Him with all your heart. Fix your allegiance and devotion on Him alone.

God is still looking for men and women who will chase after His heart. To desire what He desires. To long for what He longs for. To love what He loves. To hate what He hates. He is still looking for those who will stand against the enemies who defy the armies of the Living God.

Where does your allegiance lie?

Broken Relationships

Following a multi-year run-for-your-life marathon from a jealous king, David is finally appointed king over Israel.

David immediately begins the task of uniting the kingdom, protecting the nation from its enemies, and moving the Ark to Jerusalem.

It is clear that everything David puts his hand to is blessed by the Lord.

Even when David screws up, he quickly learns from His mistakes and corrects them.

Carry the Ark of the Lord on the shoulders of Levites, not on the back of an ox-drawn cart. Lesson learned.

Yet, in this series, we discovered what experience has already taught us, that the best of us are often the worst of us.

So David, while his men are out at war, takes Uriah’s (one of David’s elite soldiers) wife—Bathsheba, and sleeps with her. Worse yet... He got her pregnant.

The relational dynamics here are off the charts. Compounding brokenness to the Nth-degree.

After David makes his biggest mistake by committing adultery and having her husband murdered on the front lines of battle, he takes Bathsheba as his wife and he goes in and has another baby with her because the one conceived in sin dies. This child is named Solomon, who is regarded as the wisest man who ever lived. And it’s interesting to me that David’s greatest wisdom was born after his biggest failure.

And

The Lord then sends the prophet Nathan who gave Solomon another name, Jedidah, which means “beloved of the Lord.”

New Living Translation Chapter 12

The LORD loved the child 25 and sent word through Nathan the prophet that they should name him Jedidiah (which means “beloved of the LORD”), as the LORD had commanded.

So often, our biggest regrets in life center around relationships.

I wish my relationship with my parents was better.

I wish I would have remained faithful to my spouse.

I wish I would have been a better mother/father/son/daughter/friend.

Listen, beloved, God wants you to be restored. He wants to breathe new life into the place you now call dead.

Broken Legacy

Following David’s sin, he begins to suffer the consequences. Just because the Lord forgave Him didn’t mean David did have to suffer the consequences of his actions.

Isn’t that what most of us are really afraid of? Not our sin. We fear the consequences of getting caught.

His son dies.

Family issues abound.

And it all culminates in one of David’s sons—Absalom—trying to usurp his throne. This forces David to go on the run and a civil war ensues.

It looks like David’s legacy might come to a disastrous end. The man after God’s own heart might now be killed by his own son as he grasps for David’s throne.

Despite strict orders to the contrary, Joab kills David’s son Absalom, and David and his men move back to Jerusalem where David’s kingdom is once again restored.

Though David wants to do nothing more than morn for Absalom, Joab forces David to go to the city gate and encourage his soldiers—the men who have fought so faithfully by his side for so long.

Reward is often disguised as responsibility.

This act helps restore David as king in the eyes of the nation. But the future reward was contingent upon his present obedience.

And it is from David’s royal line, beginning with Solomon, that another King would be born.

Acts 13:23 NLT

“And it is one of King David’s descendants, Jesus, who is God’s promised Savior of Israel!

acts

God is in the business of taking the broken pieces of your life and turning them into something extraordinary. Regardless of how many times you’ve messed up, God wants to restore to you the joy of your salvation. To finish the good work that He began in you.

You’re not dead, so God’s not done.

It’s starts by building our life upon Him. Upon His Word. His truth. His love. His heart. The only firm foundation. The only rock who won’t be shaken.

Altar Call

Song: Build My Life

Lord’s Supper

1cor11.23-

Bread

1 Corinthians 11:23–24 NLT

For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

Cup

1 Corinthians 11:25–26 NLT

In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.

1cor11.25-26

Final Remarks

Scratch Sheet

Scratch Sheet

Life is complicated, but victory is ours.

Learned a lot:

God answers prayer

God uses children

His presence always comes back

God uses us despite our weakness

Heaven is coming

“The life Ideal was described by the apostle in the Book of Acts: "For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell asleep." We submit that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to improve upon this. It embraces the whole sphere of religion, appearing as it does in its three directions: God, the individual, society. Within that simple triangle all possible human activities are carried on. To each of us there can be but these three dimensions: God, myself, others. Beyond this we cannot go, nor should we even attempt to go. If we serve God according to His own will, and in doing so serve our generation, we shall have accomplished all that is possible for any human being. David was smart enough to serve God and his generation before he fell asleep. To fall asleep before we have served our generation is nothing short of tragic. It is good to sleep at last, as all our honored fathers have done, but it is a moral calamity to sleep without having first labored to bless the world. No man has any right to die until he has put mankind in debt to him. No man has any moral right to lie down on the earth till he has wrought to take something of the earth out of the hearts of men, till he has helped to free men from the tyranny of that same earth and pointed them to that kingdom that will abide after the heavens and the earth are no more.”