Sermon Tone Analysis

Who am I? Who are you?

Are you the sum of your actions?

Are you what you do now - your role in this world?

I hope as we’ve look at the life of John the Baptist and the apostle Paul you have seen their dealings with their identity and it has helped you in yours.

Paul started his life as a Pharisee and a very good one at that.

He had an encounter with Christ that changed who he was.

He finally was able to see who he was in God’s eyes and his identity no longer came from how much he knew or how zealous he was, his identity was in Christ.

In his final words to King Agrippa at his defense, he hoped the king and all who listened would come who Paul was - a follower of Christ.

Last week, we looked at John the Baptist.

His identity in Christ was given before his birth by angels to his dad.

John knew nothing else but being someone set aside as one who would prepare the way for the Lord.

Others tried to label John as something else, but he stayed true to who he was.

I used this crescent wrench as an analog that some might use it as a hammer, but that robs the wrench of it’s purpose.

We can’t fulfill our purpose unless we know our identity.

If we don’t know who we are, any purpose will do and often others will define our purpose for us.

Today we are going to look at the life of David.

His life is so fascinating in that he did such good things and also such bad things.

One thing that David knew about himself is who he was with God on his side.

As we’ve done the last few weeks, we are going to read quite a bit of scripture so we can get a good idea of what the Bible says about David’s life.

Let’s start in 1 Samuel 16.

At this point, the nation of Israel now has a king.

They asked Samuel to anoint a king.

The nation followed the Lord through the leading of God’s prophets up to this point, but they were not impressed by the generation that was to follow Samuel, so they wanted a king.

Samuel with the Lord’s leading anointed Saul as king.

Fast forward a bit and Saul did not follow the specific instructions he was given and lost the favor of God.

Pride crept in and Saul thought he knew better.

Then we come to chapter 16 where we will read about Saul’s replacement...

Verse 7 gives us an insight into how the Lord looks at us.

This world considers appearance, but the Lord is more concerned about the heart.

David had the heart God was looking for.

David at this point was likely just 12 or 13 years old.

I wonder how his older brothers took this news…Let’s jump down to chapter 17.

Saul is at war with the Philistines and a large man named Goliath was mocking the army and taunting them.

No one from Saul’s army dared to challenge.

In comes David onto the scene and he makes an offer to Saul to kill the giant.

Saul at first looked only at his appearance and thought this would be impossible.

***Just a little side note.

When God is in something, the impossible becomes possible.

We must be willing to inquire of the Lord about what He is up to.

If He is leading and directing, who would dare to get in His way?

In verse 34 David replies to Saul’s objection:

Notice that David recognizes who ultimately did the work in killing the lion and the bear.

It may have been David’s hand, but it was God who made it possible.

David knows who he is in the Lord and what he is able to do with the Lord’s help.

Look what happens next...

Just like John the Baptist last week, someone tries to get David to be something he is not.

You can’t know what or who you are not unless you know who you are.

David knew he could not face the giant as something other than who God made him to be.

Indeed, he faced that giant and prevailed.

These events early in David’s life gave him the foundation he needed to follow God in all that he did.

Fast forwarding a bit to 2 Samuel 12. David is now living in the palace in Jerusalem.

He’s killed Uriah after having an affair with Bathsheba and Nathan the prophet comes for a visit.

In hindsight, this story that Nathan tells should have gotten David’s attention to his own situation, but David misses it and has a very strong reaction to the wrong committed without grasping quite yet that the story was about him.

Then Nathan let’s him have it.

Notice that Nathan takes the opportunity to remind David of where he came from and how God placed him there.

Anyone who is confronted with sin will have one of three reactions:

Denial - Say it never happened even though it did.

I’ve always said to my own children that the truth will always be revealed.

If you lie about it, then you have double the consequence.

One for the original wrong and two for lying.

The second reaction might be justification - That did happen, but there was a good reason…Both of these reactions to being confronted with sin or with a wrong done will only delay the healing and restoration process.

Fortunately, David chose the third: Unqualified admission of guilt:

2 Samuel 12:13 (NIV)

13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

David’s sin was primarily against the Lord and he takes responsibility.

This might be one of the hardest things for people to do.

To recognize our shortcomings and flat out rebellion against God’s will for us is where we need to start though.

David is not coming from a place of not know who God is and then realizing his need and coming to God, he was already in relationship with God.

He knew that God was with him and for him.

He knew what God’s commands are and yet he chose to willfully go against God because of temptation.

He immediately recognizes his sin and confesses.

Here is Nathan’s response:

2 Samuel 12:13–14 (NIV)

Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin.

You are not going to die.

14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.”

Two things happen here.

1. David is forgiven.

This is important.

I know for me personally, I can spend so much time punishing myself when I’ve been forgiven.

Forgiving ourselves is hard to do, but God’s word tells me that I am forgiven.

I am not forsaken.

I need to remind myself of this when I find it hard to forgive myself.

2. David has to face a natural consequence of the sin.

There is an earthly consequence that follows sin.

That doesn’t mean God hasn’t forgiven if we are facing a consequence, it means God is allowing us to deal with the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into.

This sin did not changed David’s identity in the Lord no more than a scar changes who we are.

David wrote several psalms that speak to this topic of repentance and forgiveness.

Often Psalm 51 is quoted, but I want to read Psalm 32 and add a few more I am’s to our identity in the Lord:

Verse 1 and 2 tells me that I am blessed by forgiveness and honesty.

You are blessed.

Psalm 32:1-2

Verse 5 tells me that I am forgiven by acknowledging my sin, not covering it up and confessing to the Lord.

You are forgiven.

Psalm 32:5

Verse 7 tells me that I am protected from trouble and surrounded by songs of deliverance.

You are protected and surrounded.

Psalm 32:7

Verse 11 says that I am righteous and upright in heart.

Rejoicing and songs flow from who I am in the Lord.