Used for God's Glory - David

21-08-07 – Evening Chapel – David – Man After God’s heart

Þ Intro

- Never Have I ever list

- Continuing our theme of getting to know each other for the glory of the Lord. We are going through people in the Bible who made mistakes, who did things wrong and God still used them for His glory and the furthering of His kingdom.

- We have spent a whole year not really getting to know each other and we have learned that we miss it. It is important to get to know each other. But the goal of this is for the glory of God to grow the kingdom of God.

- People are ashamed sometimes of sharing what they have done wrong but we need to understand is that God wants to use what we have gone through to point people to Him.

- It is not the first time that this has happened either, God has done this throughout the scriptures. Used people that have messed up for His glory and to accomplish his will.

- It is a constant reminder for us that God is in the market of using the humble, using the weak for his glory to leave people beyond a shadow of a doubt that only God could have done this.

- Next, I want to look to King David, He is referred to in the Bible as a man after God’s own heart. A lowly shepherd boy who went on to defeat lions, bears, giants and become the king of Israel.

- But King David messed up bad, and there where dire consequences for his messed-up actions. We are reminded again that there is no sin so great that are God is not greater still. Though we can and will be forgiven there may still be consequences for what we have done.

- This story of King David is not new. The story of man falling into the sin of lust is an age-old problem that is still going on today.

- The problem of the lustful man is not just a problem for kings sitting in their palace, but it is pandemic facing our kids even now.

- One of the things these kids face growing up as the struggle to live their lives for God is How can He use me when I deal with these horrible sins?

- Did you also know that young boys and girls are facing the sin of lust as early as 10 years old? And they feel all alone because the church has failed in dealing with this and sharing our lives and failures with them.

- We look to the example that was set forward with King David to see how a fall into sin is not the end, but rather we can still strive to live for God.

Þ Why a man after god’s heart?

- We have to back a little to see why David was considered a man after God’s own heart. Especially after all that He had gone through. Acts 13:22(CSB)22 After removing him, he raised up David as their king and testified about him, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my own heart,, who will carry out all my will.’

- We start out with the faith of David to see why He as called a man after God’s own heart. God had a plan, He knew Saul’s heart and knew he was going to fail so God had it planned to appoint David.

- But David had absolute faith in the Lord God from a young age. Acts 13:22 (CSB)22 After removing him, he raised up David as their king and testified about him, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse to be a man after my own heart,, who will carry out all my will.’

- So when it came to defeating the giant Philistine Goliath, it was a no brainer for David. God helped Him defeat the lion and the bear, God will give them the power to defeat the giant as well.

- Everyone knows the story of David and Goliath and it has been used as an illustration for underdogs in movies and all over the world.

- Now to get on a bit of a rabbit trail, these are some things we get wrong on the story all the time. Goliath is traditionally said to be a giant close to 10’ tall.

- But using archaeology and history the closest we can get to the actual height is between 7’ – 9’9”. This is not our of the realm of possibility as people this height range have been recorded all throughout time, even amongst people that are traditionally short.

- This giant of a man was all decked out in armor carrying a shield, sword and javelin and would have looked fierce.

- David came with a sling. The sling was not some child’s toy like people think but was a traditional military weapon. It was a devastating longer-range weapon. People say it probably had the stopping power of a .45 caliber handgun.

- It was the ideal weapon for someone loaded down with armor and short-range weapons. He walked in expecting to nail goliath between the eyes.

- He absolutely trusted in the fact that God was going to win and walked in with faith saying God will deliver us.

Þ What happened?

- But what happened? Life seems to go like this for us. We go from having childlike faith to suddenly life hits us between the eyes and we sink and fall.

- It starts out many years later when David is now King and for some reason, good or bad we do not know, David stays home while his army goes out.

- David was idle, just strolling around the roof of His palace. There is an old saying that idle hands are the devils play toys.

- He was idle, he let his guard down. There was a woman bathing on her roof, as it was likely a cool place to bathe. Maybe a common thing to happen.

- He looked over and saw the woman in the bathtub and that should have been the end of it. Look away and run away. But David had his guard down and His mind was not focused on God.

- The woman is seen as beautiful in the eyes of David. His sin is not in seeing the woman on the roof, but the battle is lost the second he turns his eyes for the second look.

- The sin is never in the accidental look, but when we let our guard down and turn for the second time that is when we have lost the battle of temptation.

- What happened is that idleness turned to apathy turned to sin and David could not help himself. One thing led to another, and Bathsheba was pregnant.

- So, it goes farther, and the only option David sees that He is left with is to have her husband killed. He had to try to hide the problem and the sin keeps compounding and getting worse and worse.

- The problem with having to hide sin is it gets worse and worse. We become professional liars and we think we are hiding our sins from everyone.

- The problem is that we can not hide our sin from the Lord. We may try but we will fail and the longer we wait the harder we will fall.

- David was forgiven for His sin, but he still had to face the consequences for all that He had done. There where consequences for His sin even though He was forgiven, and he was willing to deal with that even though it was a hard time for him.

- There will still be consequences for our sin. Though you may be forgiven from the people you affect with your sin, they may never fully trust you again.

- But the end result of being right with God, and the joy from knowing that you have freedom from sin makes the whole process well worth all of that.

- If you ever want to have a conversation with me on how to find freedom from sin, please come talk to me. One of the first steps is getting it out in the open and confessing what you have gone through,

Þ Application

- One of the first things that David did after his sin of lust and lying and murder was he was confronted with his sin.

- He either had the choice to get mad and defensive, which is common when people are confronted with their sin, or to be repentant and accept the consequences of his actions.

- Nathan confronted him and David was repentant. 2 Samuel 12:13–14 (CSB)13 David responded to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Then Nathan replied to David, “And the Lord has taken away your sin; you will not die. 14 However, because you treated the Lord with such contempt in this matter, the son born to you will die.”

- David was still called a man after God’s own heart and God used Him for many great things for the glory of God, but How could this be when David did such horrible things.

- We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, all of us are guilty of this. And we are all tempted to sin when we are followers of Jesus.

- If someone like David, in a weak moment, could fall to the temptation of sin then we can do the same thing.

- The problem is when we try to hide our sin from God and the people we have affected things start to spiral out of control. We think we have become good liars, but it will eventually bite us in the but.

- If you are struggling with sin and temptation of any kind, you can have freedom from this sin. But it takes work. The bible promises that we will never go through more then we can handle, but the strength to handle these temptations comes from God.

- This strength that we are given is sometimes day by day, sometimes it comes down to minute by minute. But you can find freedom through Jesus alone.

- Also never try and keep it hidden, that is a good way to allow sin to win. Confide in a mature Christian friend, confide in me your pastor. Work through it together.

- Sin is a major wall between us and the Lord God. It is a block to answered prayer, it may be the reason why we are going through difficult times because the Lord is trying to get our attention.

- If you have dealt with sin before and overcome through the power of the Holy Spirit then please do not stay silent.

- I spent I spent so many years thinking that I was alone in my struggles because not once did I have someone come to us youth and say tell us their stories, how they struggled, how it is a problem and you can find freedom.

- Two things I want us to remember. If you are struggling, there is freedom from sin and forgiveness in Jesus, do not be afraid to ask for help.

- If you have found freedom from your struggles, be open with people about it so they can know as well that there is freedom. Be a disciple and help people through with the wisdom that comes from the word of God, through prayer and the Holy Spirit.