Okay, then. We have been looking at length for
I've lost count of how many weeks at the time
when David was ousted from Jerusalem. David was
the king of all Israel and his son Absalom tried
to become king and he gained a lot of favor amongst
the military and amongst people who are coming
to make petitions or who had problems in Jerusalem.
And then David basically had to flee and leave
his kingship and Absalom became king. Cain. In
that period of time, we have looked at a lot
of people. And today, we begin to look at...
Anybody want to take a wild stab at who it is?
If you've seen your worksheet, you should be
able to guess. Go ahead. David. That's right.
And so, because, as you can imagine, the story
of David is so long and there is so much in it,
I'm going to rely on... Two things. One, I'm
going to rely on your overall Bible knowledge.
So us as a group in this whole room, hopefully
we'll have some Bible knowledge and we can pull
some things out so we won't have to go and look
up all of the things that are on the sheet. And
so I've given you kind of like I give you the
chapter and then you're going to kind of help
me fill in the blanks. Obviously, I do have the
answers, so I'll get us through if it comes to
that. But we're going to fill in the blanks.
And then the other thing we're going to rely
on is what we've studied over the last six to
eight weeks. David's story has intersected with
all these characters that we've been studying.
And you've heard, like last week especially,
we heard about his death. And we're not going
to look at his death today. We're going to go
back in time, look at the time leading up to
Absalom's revolt. But we also saw how he interacted
with a lot of people up until the time that Absalom
revolted. And so hopefully we can do this. And
I do have the answers here. fill in gaps if we
don't know it, but I think we'll be okay. So
we're starting the upper left -hand part of the
page, and you have a reference there. And it's
kind of like there's an anchor in the middle
of it. It's 1 Samuel 16. And 1 Samuel 16 is the
very first time, really, that we see David in
the story. And the high priest Samuel goes and
they're looking for somebody to, he's being led
by God basically to find somebody to be king,
to replace Saul. And he goes to David's household
and he looks at all of his older siblings and
so on. So you remember this story at all? Hopefully
it's not too completely unknown to you. All right.
And so if you look under 1 Samuel 16 there, you
see it says David is what? Finish it. This is
easy. Come on. What? Young. That's right. David
is young. But even though David is young, David
is anointed. That's correct. So to anoint someone
is to pour oil on them, generally speaking. You
can anoint with holy water, too, or blessed water,
pure water, olive oil, that kind of thing. But
basically, they would use holy oil. And they
poured on him and they basically were anointing
him with king. Now, what's the symbolism? When
somebody's being anointed with oil, what is being
symbolized? Yeah, it's not really the blood,
but the Lord, right? The Lord's presence coming
on that individual, the Holy Spirit or God's
presence coming on that individual. All right.
And so I guess you could stretch it to be blood.
I think you could do that. I think I would just
say they didn't have that yet. So I think they
were thinking of God's presence. Okay? Yeah.
Now maybe. Yeah. All right. So now you're going
to go to the right first. Go to the right first.
It says 1 Samuel 17. And then we see the next
big story of David's life. And it's the one that,
like, everybody knows, even people who aren't
Christians, don't go to church, don't know the
Bible, pretty much. Say it again. It is David
versus Goliath. That's correct. All right, is
Alicia in here now? Did we lose Alicia? We lost
her temporarily at least. Okay, that's going
to be a problem. All right, so those of you who
like music, I'm going to rely on you for this
next line. Okay, so David versus Goliath, and
the theme of the story of David versus Goliath
is a song that we sing. Josh will know this one.
It's a song that we sing and it is called, it's
a classic drum song. We almost got to have the
drums. Nope. The battle belongs to the Lord.
The theme of the story between David and Goliath
is the battle belongs to the Lord. And we sing
that song as a worship song now. And we have
other songs that we have that mention the story
of David and Goliath, right? And it is a classic
story in scripture and huge. And it really made
David famous. Okay. So we'll talk briefly about
Goliath. See that next session. I did this kind
of in a fun way. All right. So the Goliath, if
I say nine feet, what is the significance of
that in the story of Goliath? What was nine feet?
Yep. His height. So on the blank you put tall
or height. So he was nine feet tall. Here's a
little bit harder one. If I say 150 pounds, what
two words go on it? I'm giving you the first
two letters. 150 pounds. So he's a big warrior.
Say it again. It's weight. It's not average.
There was really nothing average about that man.
Nope. Oh, he weighed a heck of a lot more than
150 pounds. Nope. It's his armor weight. His
armor weighed 150 pounds. So there's the armor
that that guy was weighing in the story. You
can go and read it. It details it out. The armor
that that guy was wearing weighed more than most
people in that day. Right? Okay. So he was wearing
armor that weighed 150 pounds. Okay. How about
this one? 20 pounds. You want to take a stab
at that? Go ahead. It is the weight of, not his
shield. No. Now, interestingly, he did have a
shield and he did have a sword, but the weight
of neither one of those things is actually in
the story. It was his spear head. Spear head.
The head of his spear weighed 20 pounds. That's
crazy. Okay. Now, this one's kind of funny. Seven
and a half. To seven and three quarters feet.
Okay, it's his height. It's height. Height of
what? Or finish it. Height? Nope. It is an A.
Nope. He was nine feet when he fought David.
I know where you're going with that, though.
Height at death. He was seven and a half to seven
and three quarters feet. Height at death. Why?
Why was he so short? Because he lost his head.
That's right. You're making the chop off head
motion. Yeah. David took out his head. Did you
know, by the way, that the average person, the
height of your head is one -seventh to one -eighth
of your total body height? Just an interesting
fact. And he was nine feet tall, so that meant,
it doesn't say that he was seven and a half to
seven and three -quarters feet tall in the story,
but if his head height was anywhere in the ranges,
he dropped about a foot and a half. Okay? Alright?
The next one is his attitude. His attitude when
he faced David. L and C. You want to take a stab
at it? No, although I know where you're going
with that. He was loud. So the L is loud and...
Guarantee I would not use that word. I couldn't
even spell that word without looking it up. Nope.
You could say clear, but he was loud and confident.
So you could go so far as to say arrogant. Because
remember, he had a shield man. And why did he
go down? He took a stone to the forehead. So
if he hadn't told his shield man to go away,
he wouldn't have got hit. Most likely, right?
So he was loud and confident. He was calling
out to the battle lines and asking them to come
and fight and so on. Okay. The next one. Says
sword. Go ahead. David used to kill. That's right.
Interestingly enough, we won't study it today.
But later when David does not have a sword, he
goes to the priest and gets, goes to a priest
and that priest gives him Goliath's sword. And
so we believe that David carried Goliath's sword
for quite a while later on in his life. And he
said, that's a good sword. David said that about
Goliath's sword. That's a good sword. I'll take
it. Okay. Before we go any further, you'll see
it says the next line starts with David, but
before you go there, go past the sling, past
the anchor with the little clock on it, and you
see a puzzle. It's just words. Letters, I should
say. There is a single word in there that describes
David. Don't color them all in. You just want
to color in the letters. It's scrambled. It has
six letters. Anybody have puzzle masters in the
room? There's a single scrambled word of six
letters in that mess. Can anybody pick it out?
The clue is David was this. Six letters. Going
once. Going twice. Correct. That is correct.
At the last second. Chosen is correct. There's
blanks on the left -hand side. You can write
it on the blanks. Chosen. C is in the middle.
Then up is H. Back down to the right is O. Over
to the left is S. Up in the top row is E. In
the bottom right corner is N. Chosen. Chosen
is correct. Okay, so now we have David is chosen.
Now this is interesting. Before we go any further,
I want you to understand. David was chosen by
God to be the king of his people. And because
God knows the future and is kind of already there,
He knows how this story is going to turn out.
So that means he knows what David is going to
do with Bathsheba. He knows what's going to happen
with Absalom. He knows all the things that we've
been studying and all the lives of all the people.
That doesn't mean they weren't free to act however
they wanted, but he knew based on how they would
act what they were going to do. Now he's chosen.
So when David defeats Goliath, he defeated Goliath
because he was chosen. Now, David was allowed
to go out and face Goliath. He argued with Saul
and said, please, I'll go out and face him, right?
And he offered him his sword, offered him his
armor. He's like, oh, it's too big for me. I
can't do it, but I have a sling. I fought the
bear. I fought the lion. He argued, right? He
argued based on being smart. He argued based
on being strong. But why did he defeat Goliath?
Yep, that's true. Because the battle belongs
to the Lord. The story of David and Goliath is
all about the battle belongs to the Lord. And
as Trina was just pointing out, he was chosen.
So when he goes into that battle, he's going
to win because he's chosen. Is that fair? Yeah.
I mean, God is just. So we want to argue sometimes
and say, I saw somebody on the internet arguing
that they thought God was kind of unfair because
he wouldn't let Adam and Eve eat of the tree
and gain the knowledge of good and evil. And
he was keeping them, the person said, he was
keeping them in the garden naked and stupid.
I'm like, no, not stupid, innocent. There's a
big difference. And they were naked because they
were unashamed. They didn't need clothes. That
was not a need. And then they were forced to
need them, which then they were made out of animals,
which was the first sacrifice, right? Which was
pointing to Jesus in the way that God had made.
My point is this. It happens the way it happens
because God made it happen that way. Not because
he's smart, not because he's strong, not because
he fought lions and bears before, or even because
he's courageous. I know we want to think like
that, but if we think like that, then when we
get to the point where he takes Bathsheba and
has Uriah the Hittite killed, we're going to
have a moral quandary. We're going to have a
problem. Because if he defeated Goliath because
he was courageous, then why didn't he just say
no to Bathsheba because he was courageous? If
he defeated Goliath because he was smart, then
why didn't he just say no to Bathsheba because
he was smart? Right? So if it's about his character,
then his sin basically makes it so that God is
unjust. Right? That God did something wrong.
And that's not the case. Because God is doing
something here that is a much bigger picture,
right? I don't want to get too far ahead, but
what is God actually doing through David? We
know he'll make a great nation. David makes a
great king. He wins a lot. But what is he really
doing? What's the plan that God is working through
David? Redemption. It's the birth of Christ.
David is an ancestor to Jesus, right? And so
ultimately we'll see on this very page that that
promise comes and then is fulfilled much, much
later, 500 plus years later, right? Oh no, that's
a lot longer than that, sorry. Don't quote that
number. Okay, it's a lot longer than that. All
right, here we go. So we're gonna, now we're
right where it says David. This is right after
he defeated Goliath. And so Saul was super excited
that David defeated Goliath. And so David was...
Say it again. Nope, you're overthinking it. Say
it again. A little. Nope, a little. You're kind
of running on ahead. He does become revered.
He does become renowned. But actually on that
day, a lot of the people probably were like...
Not so excited with him. But Saul was sure excited
with him. And so David was rewarded. That's right.
He was rewarded. And he was rewarded with two
primary things that really kind of started off
on the governmental side. He has the anointing
of God and is chosen already. But now on the
governmental side, the first thing is he becomes
Saul's... No, look at the paper. It's an S. Actually,
you almost can't fail to guess the word. Son
-in -law. He becomes Saul's son -in -law. Saul
gives him one of his daughters and he becomes
his son -in -law. And then also he becomes the
military leader. Now somebody mentioned he was
a musician and that is true. He was a stellar
musician. And before he fights Goliath, he already
had some time in Saul's court. But interestingly
enough, when he goes in to volunteer to fight
Goliath, Saul doesn't recognize him. Even though
he was the one playing the harp. That's pretty
interesting, right? So that tells you how self
-absorbed he was. That the guy that would play
the harp for him was not even on his radar. And
that happens a lot with people who have a lot
of wealth. So David was rewarded, became the
son -in -law and the military leader. But then
he does a great job at it. And you'll notice
in the middle there it says Saul grows jealous.
Does anybody remember why exactly? I mean, obviously
there's an evil spirit involved, but what was
the sparking event of why he became jealous?
The songs that they sung. They sung songs about
Saul, and they said, Saul has killed his thousands,
but David has killed his ten thousands, right?
So the king is mighty, but the hero is mightier
than that. And that was the songs that they sung.
And Saul was embarrassed by those songs. And
he didn't like it. And he already had a problem
with evil spirit. And so he began to hate David
and be jealous of David's position. But there
was another person in Saul's court. And his name
really attaches to the word there that I gave
you. Loyal. So if I say loyal in Saul's court,
then I'm talking about who? Jonathan is loyal
to David. So Jonathan was Saul's son. And Jonathan
was to be king. He was the heir. Jonathan would
be king. So Jonathan finds out that David has
been anointed king in Saul's place. You get this?
So if you're Jonathan and you're going to be
king, and you find out that someone else is going
to get it instead of you, are you going to be
loyal to that person? What's that? Say it again.
Probably not, right? That's a rough spot to be
in. Now, obviously, if you're loyal to God and
God has chosen somebody else, what do you do?
I mean, you're kind of stuck. You're just like,
okay, well, it is what it is. I'm stuck. I don't
want to not be king, but he was more than that.
He was loyal to David, even to the point of protecting
David, conspiring with David to protect David
from Saul. And one time when Saul was out to
kill him and probably would have got him, Jonathan
went out and warned David and David escaped.
Okay, so Jonathan is a hero in his own right.
We're not studying Jonathan. He's not present
in the story at the time of the revolt of Absalom,
but he's a great... In fact, if you feel like
you're trying to accomplish something in life
and you're struggling, Jonathan is a great person
to look at because you can learn in his story
about how... He is not chosen to be king of Israel.
He's not chosen for Jesus to be one of his descendants.
But nonetheless, he is a man accomplishing things.
He does some great things. And one of the great
things that he does, is he's loyal to David.
And you can read about that in chapter 18 through
20. Okay, now we're going down the left -hand
side. Because Saul grows jealous, Jonathan warns
David, remains loyal to David, even though he's
in his father's house, he remains loyal to David.
And so then going down there, you have David,
what? Becomes a, no, fugitive, right? Because
Saul, Wants to kill him. David leaves. There's
really nothing wrong with saying he runs. He
runs. And then when he's in trouble again, he
runs some more. And then he runs some more. And
then he runs some more. Even though in a one
-on -one battle, he'd have taken Saul five times
easily, right? Even though he defeated Goliath,
etc. But there is something about Saul. that
David understands. Even though Saul is dealing
with evil spirit, he's kind of nuts off his rocker,
and he's hunting him all across the country,
there's something about Saul. Okay? So first
of all, David becomes a fugitive, and the next
line is, Saul hunts David. That's right. Notice
the order. David is first a fugitive, and then
Saul hunts him. Because the first time he tried
to kill him, he literally tried to kill him in
his own living room, or whatever, where they
were sitting there eating. I think David was
playing the harp, and he got up and threw a spear
at him to try to kill him. And then he left,
and then he was invited back to dinner, and he's
like, I don't think I want to go back to dinner.
Last time I was there, he tried to kill me. And
then they said, well, if he is going to kill
me, let me know, and I won't go back. It was
kind of a difficult, it was like a soap opera
thing going on there, but with murder involved.
So Saul hunts David then. And I'm just going
to give you the next part in the interest of
time. Three times David refused to harm Saul.
That's in chapters 21 through 27. And here is
where we should stop and say, what is it about
Saul that David won't hurt him? Because he's
the anointed one. Remember Saul was anointed
to be king of Israel. And so if you're the chosen
replacement for the chosen, here's what you can't
do. Kill the chosen. You can't do that. You don't
become the king by killing the king before you.
If you're chosen to be king, God will do it.
God will do it in his time when he's ready. And
David realizes he cannot strike against God's
anointed one and he refuses to harm Saul. Even
though Saul's hunting him, they had him pinned.
David's in a cave and Saul comes in to go to
the bathroom. David sneaks up, cuts off a piece
of his cloak, and then they go out and have a
conversation outside. And Saul's like, I'm going
to kill you. And David's like, well, I could
have killed you, and I didn't. And he shows him
the piece of his cloak that he cut off. And Saul's
basically repentant, and he says, oh, I'm so
sorry. You're a much better man than I am. And
he leaves, right? But he continues to want David
dead. He doesn't stop hunting David or having
his men hunt David. But ultimately, God does
deal with Saul, and Saul... Well, yes, but much
more extreme than that. He dies. Saul dies in
chapters 28 to 30. And so in theory, it's automatic,
right? They already have a replacement king.
He's already anointed. And chapters 1 to 6 of
2 Samuel, which is where we have spent most of
our time, so you know now we're getting close
to the era in question. So chapters 1 to 6 of
2 Samuel, we read about... Grief. Whose grief?
Whose mourning? Who's sad? What's he sad about?
Say it again. His king died. Yeah, Saul's dead.
He's sad that Saul's dead. He mourns Saul. That's
something. The guy that's trying to kill him,
or was, and now he's dead. And so he spends some
time in grief over the loss of Saul. Then there's
war, quite a bit of it, in fact, years of it.
He becomes king of Judah first, and then king
of all 12 tribes. So he is the king king. He's
the only king. The only king there is. So now
he's on the throne. And we're in chapter 7. And
this is... Huge. In fact, in the life of David,
it is the most significant passage of scripture
of everything. There's tons of it, right? There's
tons of really good stuff in there, but this
is huge. In chapter 7, the capital G is God,
the Sunday school answer. What? Say it again.
Yeah, but it's promises, right? He just makes
him a promise. It's not a prophecy like he sent
a prophet. It is like he's telling the future.
So in that sense, it's a prophecy. So God promises
David an eternal throne. And the reference is
there. Chapter 7, verse 16. And we're in 2 Samuel.
So I'm going to go there real quick just so you
can hear it once in your ear on top of us talking
about it. 2 Samuel 7, 16 says, And your house
and your kingdom shall endure before me forever.
Your throne shall be established. Forever. And
the word forever means exactly what you think
it means. Forever. Not a long time, not a century,
not a millennium, not thousands of generations,
right? So if it's going to be established forever,
you're going to need either a king after a king
after a king after a king until the stars themselves
burn out, right? Or you're going to need somebody
that can be king, Forever. Okay? And whoever
that person is has to be in the line of David.
Then we continue on. The promise. What? It's
an R. And it's a verb. Nope. Nope. It repeats.
The promise repeats. So we're going to see that
in a second. But the promise repeats until...
Now you've got to think. If you're going to have
any chance of getting this, you're going to have
to think big picture. When does the promise stop
repeating that David will have a descendant on
the throne forever? Say it again. Yeah, so it
repeats until found at Jesus' conception. That's
significant. It's found at Jesus' conception.
So first, before we talk about the conception
passage, I've given you some lists here, and
I'd like you to check the boxes that apply to
this promise. Was the promise made to David?
That's an easy one. Check the box. We just said
that. We even read it. 2 Samuel 7, verse 16.
Was the promise made to Solomon? David's son?
Yes. I heard someone say yes. Check the box.
Is the promise in the book of Psalms? Yes, it
is. In many places, in fact. Did the prophet
Amos give us the promise? He did. Check the box.
Isaiah? Definitely Isaiah, right? Micah? You
know, but Micah is the famous one because out
of Bethlehem. That's Micah. So yes, Micah. Jeremiah.
Yep. And Zechariah. So you're right. They're
all checked. Look at that. So check all the boxes.
Check all the boxes. All right. And so now, if
we're talking about the promise goes until the
New Testament, until the conception of Jesus,
the next line is the book. What book is it? Incorrect.
Now the promise is there, sort of. The promise
of the descendant. Of David. No, it's New Testament.
Yep, conception. It's Luke. Luke chapter 1. Listen
to this. Very clear. Okay? And the angel said
to her, Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have
found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive
in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name
him Jesus. He will be great and will be called
the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will
give him the throne of his father David. And
he will reign over the house of Jacob forever,
and his kingdom will have no end. That's very,
very much the promise that God just gave to David
in 2 Samuel 7, 16. Right? Now, obviously it is
in the other Gospels, right, that Jesus was born.
And I can't guarantee that everyone says that
he's a descendant of David, but I think it does.
Okay? Alright, almost done. Luke 1, 30 -33. Alright,
so now we're down in chapters 8, 9, and 10 of
2 Samuel. And they talk about David. And they
talk about his... They told me they had a limited
amount of time. Military victories. Or many.
I'll give you many. Either one. Many or military
victories. And then you see a reference there.
2 Samuel 8 .6. I'm almost there. 8 .6 says, Then
David put... put garrisons among the Arameans
in Damascus. The Arameans became servants to
David, bringing tribute. And the Lord helped
David wherever he went. And so basically everywhere
David went, God took care of it. Over and over
again. Okay? Seems kind of like that's not the
case with Absalom though, right? So things have
changed by then. And in here, in 2 Samuel, really
kind of like 11, we know why. And the story is
D &B. David and Bathsheba. Okay? So from David
and Goliath, well, from David and Samuel, all
the way through David and Bathsheba, almost everything
that David has touched has turned to gold. He's
got the Midas touch. God has been with him. He's
been doing things. It's been constant. Even Saul
trying to kill him. Saul was never able to kill
him. Saul pursued him with armies that were far
large enough to find him and destroy all of his
men and him, theoretically, and never was able
to do it. Okay? And so all throughout all of
that, he really never suffered loss. Except he
grieved the loss of his greatest enemy, right?
Which was Saul. Okay. So here we go. Then comes...
In 2 Samuel 12, 10 -12, that's the reference
on the bottom there. What? A terrible prophecy.
The prophet Nathan comes to correct David after
he has had the time of his life with Bathsheba
and killed off her husband and kept it all a
secret. By the way, who did he have arrange the
death of Uriah the Hittite? Joab, that's right.
So we still have a little bit of knowledge from
our past lessons, don't we? Okay, so terrible
prophecy. The reference is 2 Samuel 12, 10 to
12. Understand that this prophecy does not reverse
God's promise. David has sinned with Bathsheba,
sinned in arranging the murder of Uriah, but
he does not reverse his promise. He does not
say you will now not have somebody on the throne
forever. Instead, gives him a whole other set
of consequences. Okay, and they are essentially
the revolt of Absalom. And it says this, it says,
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. Thus says the Lord, behold, I will raise
up evil against you from your own household.
There's Absalom in the prophecy. and others for
that matter. I will even take your wives before
your eyes. Remember what Absalom first did when
he was in Jerusalem, slept with all ten of David's
concubines. And give them to your companion,
and he shall lie with your wives in broad daylight.
Indeed, you did it secretly. In other words,
he stole another man's wife in private. But I
will do this thing before all Israel and under
the sun. And so David now... As we approach the
moment in time of Absalom's revolt, we see that
Absalom's revolt was a direct result of God's
chastisement. God said, this is what's going
to happen now because of what you've done. In
fact, it's very correlated when you see David
took Bathsheba in secret. God allowed Absalom
to take all of his wives and not in secret. It
would be possible to do that kind of secretly,
to go into the concubines and not make it a public
thing. But Ahithophel's advice was pitch a tent
on the roof and take them all publicly in front
of all Jerusalem because everyone will know that
David is no longer king and Absalom is. See that?
It's a pretty big deal. So God did all of that.
And then in the day of Absalom, which we've already
studied, the part we've already studied, David
flees Jerusalem because Absalom comes in and
takes over and we have the interactions on the...
Brooke Kidron, where he's leaving and the priest
come out and he sends the priest back with the
Ark of the Covenant. We studied that. Then there's
some other people that come out there, right?
Mephibosheth's servant, people like that. We
see the guy that was shouting curses at him,
right? So there's all those that we studied all
of that. But what we want to look at right now
is David in the day. of Absalom's revolt. And
that's the last section that we have. So we have
two places where we see God's provision and David's
reaction. They're both Psalms. If you look closely,
you might be able to figure out what Psalms there
are. You might already know. 32 and 51. Okay,
so we're going to look at Psalm 32 first. So
David wrote this Psalm probably in response to...
what happened to him, what was happening to him,
what he had done with Bathsheba and Uriah. And
then we're going to fill in these blanks. You
can listen for the blanks and try to get them
as I read. How blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. How blessed
is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity.
To impute is like to put it on them. And in whose
spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent
about my sin, My body wasted away through my
groaning all day long. For day and night thy
hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was drained
away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.
I acknowledge my sin to thee, and my iniquity
I did not hide. I said I will confess my transgressions
to the Lord, and thou didst forgive the guilt
of my sin. Selah. Therefore let everyone who
is godly pray to thee in a time when thou mayst
be found. Surely in a flood of great waters they
shall not reach him. Thou art my hiding place.
Thou dost preserve me from trouble. Thou dost
surround me with songs of deliverance. We sing
that song too, by the way. I will instruct you
and teach you in the way which you should go.
I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Do not
be as the horse or the mule. which have no understanding,
whose trappings include bit and bridle, to hold
them in check, otherwise they will not come near
you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but
he who trusts in the Lord, loving kindness shall
surround him. Or another translation says steadfast
kindness there. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice.
I'm sorry, steadfast love is what it actually
says. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous
ones. and shout for joy all you who are upright
in heart. So this is David's position in the
moment that he's going into Absalom's rebellion,
knowing that he's happening to him because he
sinned. This is his position. So right under
where it's Psalm 32, it says, C -I -N. Anybody
want to take a stab at that? The psalm was about
David telling God that he had sinned. admitting.
What do we call that when we do that? Confession.
So David is saying confession is necessary. In
other words, if you have done wrong and you aren't
owning it, you aren't admitting it, you're not
confessing it to God, you're not openly admitting
it, you have a problem. David said, when I kept
my mouth shut about my sin, it was eating me
up from the inside. That's what he said. I'm
paraphrasing. So confession is necessary. Then
follow it up to the right before we do the bottom.
You'll see a C, a P, and a B, F. So the top one
is, easy, confess. This is what David says we
are supposed to do. We are supposed to confess.
Also, he says we are supposed to, super easy,
pray. He said pray. He said it a couple of times.
Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to
thee in a time when thou mayest be found. We
must pray. Confess and pray. And confessing and
praying, then, we must be... I gave you the B.
It's B. Nope. That comes later. Say it again.
Forgiven. Yeah, we must be forgiven. And God
will do that. If you would confess to God and
pray to God and you're not forgiven, that's on
you at that point. God always forgives when people
confess and pray. Now, mind you, we do it in
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the reason
that's true is because Jesus paid for our sins.
So if a lost person who doesn't know God at all
just says, God, I know I'm a liar or sinner.
I'm sure sorry about that, but I'm not really
going to stop doing it, so hey. You know, you're
just going to have to forgive me. That's no prayer
at all. That doesn't mean anything. It doesn't
do anything. That's nothing. And if you say,
God, I'm sorry. Or you go to your dad and you
say, Dad, I'm sorry. I won't do that again. And
then you just keep right on doing what you said
you won't do. That's no prayer, really. It's
just basically like lying. And so David was saying,
you have to confess to God. You have to pray.
And you have to be forgiven. And God will forgive.
And he does that through Jesus. He does that
because David says, Okay, hold on. Before we
go to the left, we've got to get the words right.
So BG, if you're forgiven, you will be grateful
or glad. Right? That's what he said. Be glad.
Or be grateful. Okay? Then we go to the left.
The reason that we can confess, pray, be forgiven,
and be glad is because of God's... Say it again.
Kind of. Say it again. Kind of. Many are the
sowers of the wicked, but he who trusts in the
Lord, this translation says, loving kindness
shall surround him. Another translation says,
steadfast love. And the answer is steadfast love.
What does steadfast mean? Perfect. Never wavering.
Will not run out. Eternal. God is love, Peter
said. God is love. And so, God is not going to
fail to forgive you if you come to Him when He
is available, which is to say through the Lord
Jesus Christ, and admit what you have done. He
is not going to refuse you. Did you know that
Jeffrey Dahmer, I don't know if you know who
he is or not, accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and
Savior by his profession his last week on the
earth. I don't know how many people he ate, but
I know you're not supposed to eat people. especially
not against their will, which I don't know how
you could ever do it any other way. Which is
what he did. He ate people against their will.
And his last week on the earth, he confessed,
he prayed, he said he accepted Jesus Christ as
Lord and Savior, and people said they saw a complete
change in him. Up until that moment in time,
he was like he was demon -possessed, and from
that moment in time, he was a completely different
person. Less than a week later, they took his
life. You understand that if you will not confess,
pray, and be forgiven, you will not receive forgiveness
because there is only one way you can be forgiven
and that is through the God of heaven, through
his son Jesus Christ. That is the only way. Jesus
said, I am the way and the truth and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father but through me.
There is one way. Which means, if you don't do
it that one way, and if Jeffrey Dahmer did, and
I understand that's an if, but if he did, he'll
be in heaven and you won't. So let's get it straight.
David says, confess, pray, be forgiven. And then
he says, Because of God's steadfast love, he
will always give you reason to be glad. There's
another glad. Okay? One left. We're almost done.
I told you David was going to be tough. He's
got a lot. Alright? So Psalm 51. This psalm is
heartbreaking. Fair warning you. Especially because
it could be any one of us writing or speaking
this psalm. In Psalm 51, this is what David wrote.
He said, Be gracious to me, O God, according
to thy loving kindness, according to the greatness
of thy compassion. Blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse
me from my sin. For I know my transgressions
and my sin is ever before me. You ever felt like
that? Like the things that you're doing wrong,
they're always there. You realize it. You know
it all the time. And he's saying, God can and
will cleanse. Not based on what you do right
or wrong, but based on his loving kindness. Verse
4 says, Against thee, thee only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in thy sight, so that thou
art justified when thou dost speak, and blameless
when thou dost judge. Behold, I was brought forth
in iniquity. Or in other words, he was born in
sin. And in sin, my mother conceived me. So like
when she conceived his birth, when it began,
already sin was present. Behold, thou dost desire
truth in the innermost being and in the hidden
part thou wilt make me no wisdom. Purify me with
hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall
be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and
gladness. Let the bones which thou hast broken
rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins and blot
out all my iniquities. Holy cow. Create in me
a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit
within me. Do not cast me away from thy presence,
and do not take thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore
to me the joy of thy salvation. See what he had
lost? And sustain me with a willing spirit. Then
I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners
will be converted to thee. Deliver me from blood
guiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation.
Then my tongue will joyfully sing of thy righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare
thy praise. For thou dost not delight in sacrifice,
otherwise I would give it. Thou art not pleased
with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are
a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart.
O God, thou wilt not despise. I want to read
that one again. The sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God,
thou wilt not despise. By thy favor do good to
Zion, build the walls of Jerusalem, then thou
wilt delight in righteous sacrifices, in burnt
offering and whole burnt offering, then young
bulls will be offered on thine altar. We have
two things left to do. One is to fill this out.
The other is to understand what we just read.
It's a journey, okay? All right, so the first
thing is Psalm 51. is a... Nope. I wish it was
a prophecy. He wished it was a prophecy. It was
a prayer for mercy. It's a prayer for mercy.
Also, a prayer for confession. He's admitting.
He knows his sin. He knows it's not... I mean,
we trick ourselves, don't we? We pretend. That
what we did really wasn't that bad. But it really
was. But David's saying, I'm not playing that
game. I'm going to own it. I know I screwed up.
Right? Also, he says he was, I'm going to go
fast, I apologize, born in sin. That's the next
thing. And then it says he was reborn, delivered,
which means brought out, Washed. And why all
that was accomplished was to give him the one
thing that God really wants so he can give it
back to God. And that is a classic answer. A
broken and contrite heart. So what is a broken
and contrite heart? Does anybody know what it
means to be contrite without looking up the definition?
Okay, that's pretty good. Vulnerability and humility.
And that's what a broken and contrite heart is.
We realize we cannot do it ourselves. We have
come to the end of our strength, the end of our
ability. We must rely on God. And because you
can rely on God because of his loving kindness,
you do so. And when you rely on God like that,
God shows up. God does what God does. Okay? So
the one thing that we can give God is a broken
and contrite heart. And you notice that there's
kind of like a little swoop on the bottom there.
It goes to a sign on the left that asks you the
question, answer me now, what sacrifice can you
give God? So if you think you can give God your
money, you are sadly mistaken. If you think you
can give God your time, you are sadly mistaken.
By the way, when you give God your money or your
time, what does God do with it? We had this sermon
about two months ago, if anybody remembers, on
Sunday morning. What's that? It is His. And when
God gives it to you and you give it back to Him,
He stores it up in the family storehouses. Revelation
says that when the saints come into heaven, their
good works follow them. Between the D and the
A. Okay, we're going to, yeah, all right. So
if you look there, there's a scroll that we didn't
fill out up above DA, and it just says Israel
becomes a great nation. And that is the story
of David as far as most people are concerned.
God said the borders of the nation of Israel
and under David and later Solomon, they get as
close as they ever get to really controlling
the land that God said they would have. And they
get as close maybe as they would ever get to
really being the people that they're supposed
to be. But there's still idolatry. There's still
issues. Obviously, David sinned. There's revolts.
There's war or killing each other, wiping out
tribes. You know, it's never right. David's story
is not really about making Israel a great nation
in the sense of political. or army size. And
David later counts the army. That's one of the
things he does. And Joab confronts him about
counting the army toward the end when he's about
done. We studied that when we studied Joab. It's
not about any of that. David's story is not about
numbers. It's not about money. It's not about
kingship. It's all about redemption. It's all
about it. And so at the moment in time in which
Absalom is on the throne and David has fled,
David writes Psalm 39 and Psalm 51, and those
psalms were all about confession, prayer, and
being forgiven. He even went so far as to say,
no one can sacrifice anything to you. Bowls and
rams, it doesn't do anything. You're not pleased
with that. But then he goes on to say at the
end of Psalm 51 that they will do that. They
will still. When Jerusalem is restored, they'll
still sacrifice. What was the sacrifice representing?
The ultimate sacrifice of Jesus. So all of that
was meant to point to Jesus being the ultimate
sacrifice. There's no sacrifice now. You can't
sacrifice anything to God. The only thing God
wants is a broken and contrite heart. He wants
you to want him. He wants you to be willing to
admit that you're a screwed up sinner and that
God can make you better. In this lifetime, I
would not even say perfect. I think we work closer
and closer to perfect, but I would say perfect
in the form of complete. He can make you whole.
And that's what he does when we admit that only
he can do it. If you're going to do it on your
own, you can't have it. If you refuse to spend
time with the Lord, then you'll be like David
and you'll feel distant from him. And he said,
when I wouldn't confess, I was being torn up
inside. And he said, I've lost the joy of my
salvation. And the feeling of God's presence.
That's what happens when you sin against God
after you're saved, after you've experienced
him, is you lose the joy of your salvation and
the presence of God. It's still there, but you
can't feel it. You're distanced from it. There's
a barrier that you have erected, which is your
sin. And then, yes, that doesn't mean you're
unsaved. It doesn't mean you're lost. It does
mean that you will feel lost. You will feel unsaved.
You will feel desperate. And that's what the
whole story of David during the time of Absalom's
revolt is about. Notice when David comes back
into Jerusalem, which we studied this before,
not as part of David's story. When he comes back
into Jerusalem, there were those there that he
could have punished. He could have killed. The
man that cursed him, he could have killed him.
And David said, God's making me king. I have
everything that God wants me to have. I'm in
exactly the place God wants me to be. Why would
I want to do anything to anyone? And he didn't.
He didn't punish them. Now when he's dying, not
to get ahead of the story, but when he's dying,
we studied last week, he does tell Solomon to
clean up the mess. And Solomon does. Okay? Alright.
So I'm going to ask some quick questions and
throw candy at teenagers. If you can answer the
questions. Okay. Alright. I have bags of gummies
as well. I don't know how good they are. They
don't have an expiration date, so that means
they're perfect, right? They're good forever.
Yep, they're good forever. Here we go. What is
that? All right, here we go, here we go, here
we go. All right, so... Because Saul grew jealous
of David's many victories and the song's son
about him, David became a what? Kishon. Incorrect.
Jason. David became a what? He became a fugitive.
Do you like gummies? Nice catch. They're big
enough you can catch them. See how that works?
Okay. The prophecy about Jesus being a descendant
of David was last repeated in this book of the
Bible that we read. Haley. Luke is correct. You
like these? Okay, wait. Hold on. These ones are
sour neon. Okay. I can't guarantee they're yummy.
I can only throw them. Okay. All right. True
or false? The baby conceived between David and
Bathsheba the night that, while she was still
married to Uriah the Hittite, was named Solomon.
That is incorrect. That means the next person
gets it. All right. Sorry, buddy. The baby died.
Solomon was the second child. All right. That
would have been a previous lesson, so it wasn't
on this page. Okay. David received these two
rewards for killing Goliath. I only see Jason.
Go, Jason. That is correct. Hold on, I'm coming.
Ready? Okay. All right. David defeated Goliath
and was basically victorious in all of his military
bouts up until his time with Bathsheba for this
reason, because he was Chosen is correct. Do
you like gummies? Okay. Now you know. If no teenagers
raise their hand, I will take whoever does raise
their hand. All right. Aha. Test the math in
the house. According to this worksheet, the height
of Goliath's head. Careful. the height of his
head was approximately this tall. Solo. That's
incorrect. Haley. You can't do the math. RJ,
go. Say 18 inches. I'll give it to you. One and
a quarter, one and a half feet. You've got to
be able to subtract 7 1⁄2 or 7 3⁄4 from 9 feet.
Sorry. You were right. Okay, I see. You like
gummies? Oh, she's got them in her pocket. Okay,
here we go. Three times. David could have hurt
Saul, and he chose not to because Saul was Haley.
Anointed is correct. All right, last one. Okay,
this will be the last one, and it'll be easy
for the second person. When Samuel was looking
to anoint a new king to replace Saul, he interviewed
a bunch of brothers. He interviewed all of David's
older brothers and also David's younger brother.
True or false? Kishon. Ready? All right, we're
going to close in prayer and we'll be done. So
next week, we'll look at the time where he's
actually gone out of Jerusalem and forward. If
I can get it all on one worksheet, we'll go up
until his death, which much of his death we already
looked at, so we don't really need that again.
So I can really abbreviate that.