WEBVTT 00:00:04.750 --> 00:00:06.429 Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity 00:00:06.429 --> 00:00:08.710 Sermons. This week we are continuing our sermon 00:00:08.710 --> 00:00:10.750 series, Broken Branches, where we're looking 00:00:10.750 --> 00:00:13.570 at Jesus's family tree. And today we come to 00:00:13.570 --> 00:00:15.869 one of the most famous members of Jesus's family 00:00:15.869 --> 00:00:19.070 tree, King David. And God made a big promise 00:00:19.070 --> 00:00:21.589 to David. He promised that he would become more 00:00:21.589 --> 00:00:24.789 famous than any man ever known. That his kingdom 00:00:24.789 --> 00:00:27.750 and his throne would last forever. That God's 00:00:27.750 --> 00:00:31.300 love would never leave him. And let's see if 00:00:31.300 --> 00:00:34.219 God's promises really hold true. When David's 00:00:34.219 --> 00:00:37.859 life falls apart, is God still there? That's 00:00:37.859 --> 00:00:39.679 what Rob's going to unpack for us in today's 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:46.700 sermon. Our reading today is from the book of 00:00:46.700 --> 00:00:52.479 2 Samuel 7, verses 8 -16. Now then, tell my servant 00:00:52.479 --> 00:00:55.840 David, this is what the Lord Almighty says. I 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:58.140 took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:00.820 and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 00:01:01.340 --> 00:01:03.539 I have been with you wherever you have gone, 00:01:03.700 --> 00:01:06.359 and I have cut off all your enemies from before 00:01:06.359 --> 00:01:09.819 you. Now I will make your name great, like the 00:01:09.819 --> 00:01:12.439 names of the greatest men on earth, and I will 00:01:12.439 --> 00:01:14.939 provide a place for my people Israel, and will 00:01:14.939 --> 00:01:16.900 plant them so that they can have a home of their 00:01:16.900 --> 00:01:20.420 own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people 00:01:20.420 --> 00:01:23.359 will not oppress them anymore, as they did at 00:01:23.359 --> 00:01:25.819 the beginning. and have done ever since the time 00:01:25.819 --> 00:01:29.319 I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I 00:01:29.319 --> 00:01:31.319 will also give you rest from all your enemies. 00:01:32.459 --> 00:01:34.939 The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself 00:01:34.939 --> 00:01:38.140 will establish a house for you. When your days 00:01:38.140 --> 00:01:41.260 are over and you rest with your ancestors, I 00:01:41.260 --> 00:01:44.640 will raise up your offspring to succeed you, 00:01:44.739 --> 00:01:47.599 your own flesh and blood, and I will establish 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:50.409 his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house 00:01:50.409 --> 00:01:52.969 for my name and I will establish the throne of 00:01:52.969 --> 00:01:56.189 his kingdom forever. I will be his father and 00:01:56.189 --> 00:01:58.930 he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will 00:01:58.930 --> 00:02:02.349 punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings 00:02:02.349 --> 00:02:05.569 inflicted by human hands. But my love will never 00:02:05.569 --> 00:02:08.229 be taken away from him as I took it away from 00:02:08.229 --> 00:02:11.870 Saul, whom I removed before you. Your house and 00:02:11.870 --> 00:02:14.909 your kingdom will endure forever before me. Your 00:02:14.909 --> 00:02:17.250 throne will be established forever. This is the 00:02:17.250 --> 00:02:21.270 word of the Lord. My Uncle John is the one in 00:02:21.270 --> 00:02:24.490 our family who has the most interest in genealogies 00:02:24.490 --> 00:02:26.689 and family trees and stuff like that. He's the 00:02:26.689 --> 00:02:29.650 one with the subscription to Ancestry .com and 00:02:29.650 --> 00:02:32.629 maybe sends away for the DNA kits and, you know, 00:02:32.650 --> 00:02:34.870 likes to stay up at night scrolling through a 00:02:34.870 --> 00:02:37.469 bunch of names that he's never heard before. 00:02:37.629 --> 00:02:40.590 But actually this past week, my Uncle John sent 00:02:40.590 --> 00:02:45.689 me a copy of my own family tree, my mother's 00:02:45.689 --> 00:02:49.710 side of the family tree. really, really interested 00:02:49.710 --> 00:02:52.129 in it. I was kind of combing through it. Whoops, 00:02:52.210 --> 00:02:55.289 it goes this way. It printed out kind of funny, 00:02:55.330 --> 00:02:57.729 so I had to tape it all together. When I first 00:02:57.729 --> 00:03:00.210 got it, I was like, ooh, maybe there's someone 00:03:00.210 --> 00:03:02.610 really famous and exciting in my family tree. 00:03:02.789 --> 00:03:05.009 And I, you know, maybe, wouldn't it be great 00:03:05.009 --> 00:03:07.550 if, let's say you had like a great aunt who... 00:03:08.219 --> 00:03:11.240 had an affair with Colonel Sanders, and now you're 00:03:11.240 --> 00:03:14.680 like the heir to the KFC fortune or something 00:03:14.680 --> 00:03:17.639 like that. But no such luck there. There's nobody 00:03:17.639 --> 00:03:20.659 on this particular family tree of mine that's 00:03:20.659 --> 00:03:23.759 going to give me any money anytime soon. But 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:26.939 one thing I did discover is that I come from 00:03:26.939 --> 00:03:31.900 a long line of farmers and shepherds. Now, case 00:03:31.900 --> 00:03:37.180 in point. A year or so ago, my mother bequeathed 00:03:37.180 --> 00:03:41.560 to me this very old shepherd's crook. So the 00:03:41.560 --> 00:03:45.939 story is, is that my great -great -grandfather 00:03:45.939 --> 00:03:50.900 was a guy named Enoch. And he was born in 1855, 00:03:51.060 --> 00:03:54.419 and he lived in Lincolnshire in England, right 00:03:54.419 --> 00:03:57.520 on the north coast in a town called Northcoats. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:03.840 And it was there that he grazed his... flocks 00:04:03.840 --> 00:04:08.259 along the shores of the North Sea there. Now, 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:12.460 my grandfather, who himself lived to be 100 years 00:04:12.460 --> 00:04:15.979 old, my grandfather on one of his trips to England 00:04:15.979 --> 00:04:20.519 picked up this shepherd's crook and brought it 00:04:20.519 --> 00:04:24.819 back to Canada. And then he passed it on to my 00:04:24.819 --> 00:04:28.300 mother. And then more recently, my mother has 00:04:28.300 --> 00:04:31.420 passed it on to me. And so it's very, very special. 00:04:31.560 --> 00:04:34.100 I actually keep it in my office. If you've ever 00:04:34.100 --> 00:04:36.079 been in my office, it's hanging up there on the 00:04:36.079 --> 00:04:38.620 wall. And it's hanging there as a bit of a reminder 00:04:38.620 --> 00:04:40.939 of a couple of things. One that, you know, I 00:04:40.939 --> 00:04:44.399 come from a long line of farmers and shepherds. 00:04:44.519 --> 00:04:48.060 And that's kind of my own family tree. But it 00:04:48.060 --> 00:04:50.819 also reminds me that as a priest and as a pastor, 00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:55.259 in a way, I am still a shepherd trying to Take, 00:04:55.279 --> 00:04:59.379 you know, keep you guys under control. So don't 00:04:59.379 --> 00:05:02.220 mess with me, guys. I'm not afraid to use this 00:05:02.220 --> 00:05:06.720 thing if I have to. Now, listen, for the past 00:05:06.720 --> 00:05:10.240 four weeks, we've been talking about one particular 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:12.480 family tree, not mine, not yours. We've been 00:05:12.480 --> 00:05:16.959 talking about the family tree of Jesus. And the 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:18.680 reason we've been talking about that is because 00:05:18.680 --> 00:05:21.339 when Matthew sat down to write the Christmas 00:05:21.339 --> 00:05:23.600 story, he didn't start by writing about angels 00:05:23.600 --> 00:05:25.279 and he didn't start by writing about mangers. 00:05:25.300 --> 00:05:28.379 He didn't even start by writing about shepherds, 00:05:28.379 --> 00:05:31.079 my people. No, what he started with, he started 00:05:31.079 --> 00:05:34.639 with a long list of names with a family tree. 00:05:34.730 --> 00:05:38.649 a genealogy. And as you read through that genealogy, 00:05:38.750 --> 00:05:40.910 one of the things that is going to strike you, 00:05:41.050 --> 00:05:43.230 one of the things that we have been learning 00:05:43.230 --> 00:05:46.889 is that he didn't focus just on the superstars. 00:05:46.889 --> 00:05:51.110 In fact, he seems to slow down and pay more attention 00:05:51.110 --> 00:05:55.290 to some of the broken branches in that family 00:05:55.290 --> 00:05:59.410 tree. People who were part of scandals, people 00:05:59.410 --> 00:06:02.310 who had shameful lives and did horrible things 00:06:02.310 --> 00:06:05.310 or who failed in many ways. Now, the question 00:06:05.310 --> 00:06:09.670 we have to ask ourselves is, why did Matthew 00:06:09.670 --> 00:06:13.930 do this? Why write a family tree this way? And 00:06:13.930 --> 00:06:17.230 the answer is, is that Matthew is about to tell 00:06:17.230 --> 00:06:20.610 the story of Jesus, right? He's writing his gospel. 00:06:20.750 --> 00:06:23.769 And in the story of Jesus, he's about to tell 00:06:23.769 --> 00:06:27.910 people that God in Jesus has created this way 00:06:27.910 --> 00:06:30.990 for us to approach God that doesn't depend on 00:06:30.990 --> 00:06:34.100 anything that we have done. any achievement on 00:06:34.100 --> 00:06:36.399 our part or any of the good things we've done, 00:06:36.459 --> 00:06:40.879 but depends entirely on what God has done for 00:06:40.879 --> 00:06:44.560 us in Jesus Christ, right? It's all what God 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:46.759 has done for us. And that is such a hard concept 00:06:46.759 --> 00:06:48.920 for us to get through our thick skulls, whether 00:06:48.920 --> 00:06:51.699 it was in the first century or in the 21st century, 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:53.980 that Matthew says, you know what, I'm going to 00:06:53.980 --> 00:06:57.000 begin my gospel by painting this picture of all 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:00.959 of Jesus's relatives who messed up and had to 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:04.759 rely on the grace and on the mercy and on the 00:07:04.759 --> 00:07:09.420 forgiveness of God, just like you and I need 00:07:09.420 --> 00:07:12.399 to. Now, as Megan said, today we're going to 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:16.000 come to the most famous name on that genealogical 00:07:16.000 --> 00:07:18.139 list. In some ways, it's the name that's most 00:07:18.139 --> 00:07:21.180 closely associated with Jesus, and that is King 00:07:21.180 --> 00:07:24.699 David. But true to Matthew's form and like he's 00:07:24.699 --> 00:07:27.699 done before, it's really interesting to see what 00:07:27.699 --> 00:07:31.259 he focuses on in David's life. Instead of highlighting 00:07:31.259 --> 00:07:33.639 some of David's greatest hits and all the wonderful 00:07:33.639 --> 00:07:36.139 accomplishments of David, he chooses instead 00:07:36.139 --> 00:07:39.139 to center out what is perhaps the most embarrassing 00:07:39.139 --> 00:07:43.319 moment of David's life. That time in his life 00:07:43.319 --> 00:07:46.139 that I'm sure if he could go back, he would erase 00:07:46.139 --> 00:07:49.540 and rather he'd just forget it all together. 00:07:50.399 --> 00:07:53.220 Let's just kind of do a little trip down memory 00:07:53.220 --> 00:07:56.819 lane. How does Matthew start the Christmas story? 00:07:56.939 --> 00:07:58.819 This is how he starts it. This is the genealogy 00:07:58.819 --> 00:08:03.060 of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David. Boom. 00:08:03.160 --> 00:08:06.519 The very first name mentioned besides Jesus is 00:08:06.519 --> 00:08:09.300 David. Now, of course, Jesus is not the son of 00:08:09.300 --> 00:08:10.759 David. He's more like the great, great, great, 00:08:10.819 --> 00:08:12.500 great, great, great, great, great, great, great 00:08:12.500 --> 00:08:16.360 grandson of David. But the point is, is that 00:08:16.360 --> 00:08:20.389 he's the man who is most closely associated with 00:08:20.389 --> 00:08:24.050 Jesus in the genealogy. Matthew continues. This 00:08:24.050 --> 00:08:26.230 is the genealogy of Jesus Messiah, son of David, 00:08:26.290 --> 00:08:28.870 son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac. 00:08:28.889 --> 00:08:30.870 Isaac, the father of Jacob. Jacob, the father 00:08:30.870 --> 00:08:33.289 of Judah and his brothers. Now, you remember 00:08:33.289 --> 00:08:35.429 a few weeks ago, we talked about Judah, didn't 00:08:35.429 --> 00:08:37.769 we, right? Anyways, he carries on. Judah was 00:08:37.769 --> 00:08:41.149 the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was 00:08:41.149 --> 00:08:43.610 Tamar. We talked about her a few weeks ago. And 00:08:43.610 --> 00:08:46.009 Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron, the father 00:08:46.009 --> 00:08:49.309 of Ram. Ram, the father of Amminadab. We keep 00:08:49.309 --> 00:08:51.909 on going. Amminadab, the father of Nashon. Nashon, 00:08:51.929 --> 00:08:53.809 the father... of salmon salmon the father of 00:08:53.809 --> 00:08:56.830 boaz whose mother was rahab we talked about rahab 00:08:56.830 --> 00:08:59.610 last week if you were here last week boaz was 00:08:59.610 --> 00:09:02.450 the father of obed whose mother was ruth we never 00:09:02.450 --> 00:09:04.269 got around to talking about ruth but she's got 00:09:04.269 --> 00:09:06.529 a great story if we had more time we definitely 00:09:06.529 --> 00:09:09.370 would talk about her we keep going obed was the 00:09:09.370 --> 00:09:12.870 father of jesse and jesse was the father of king 00:09:12.870 --> 00:09:18.320 david David was the father of Solomon. And now 00:09:18.320 --> 00:09:21.259 what normally would happen here in the genealogies, 00:09:21.259 --> 00:09:23.200 David was the father of Solomon, who was the 00:09:23.200 --> 00:09:24.899 father of so -and -so, who was the father of 00:09:24.899 --> 00:09:27.220 so -and -so, and keep on going. But no, this 00:09:27.220 --> 00:09:29.919 is where Matthew does his thing again. He pauses 00:09:29.919 --> 00:09:32.240 and says, no, David was the father of Solomon, 00:09:32.360 --> 00:09:39.879 whose mother had been Uriah's wife. Now... I 00:09:39.879 --> 00:09:41.179 want to raise my hand at this point and say, 00:09:41.220 --> 00:09:42.960 Matthew, can I ask you a question? Sure, what's 00:09:42.960 --> 00:09:45.000 the question? Of all the descriptions that you 00:09:45.000 --> 00:09:48.000 could use to talk about who David was, why do 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:51.299 you have to choose that one? Why not David the 00:09:51.299 --> 00:09:53.740 builder? Why not David the warrior? Why not David 00:09:53.740 --> 00:09:56.720 the shepherd? Why not, you know, David the poet? 00:09:56.759 --> 00:09:59.940 David the psalmist? David the musician? Why David? 00:10:01.450 --> 00:10:04.809 The father of Solomon, whose mother had been 00:10:04.809 --> 00:10:08.149 Uriah's wife. Why surface all that junk? Why 00:10:08.149 --> 00:10:10.169 do you got to go into that dysfunctional story? 00:10:10.309 --> 00:10:14.669 Why focus on the biggest failure of this guy's 00:10:14.669 --> 00:10:18.870 life? Because, Matthew would say, that's the 00:10:18.870 --> 00:10:21.409 point of the story that I'm about to tell. That's 00:10:21.409 --> 00:10:23.190 the point of Jesus, the point of the gospel. 00:10:23.309 --> 00:10:26.950 That's the point of Christmas. So today, what 00:10:26.950 --> 00:10:28.029 we're going to do is we're going to look at the 00:10:28.029 --> 00:10:31.389 life of David real fast in four parts. I've given 00:10:31.389 --> 00:10:33.450 you some sermon notes so you can follow along, 00:10:33.470 --> 00:10:34.850 try to get the most out of it. We're going to 00:10:34.850 --> 00:10:37.789 look at it in four parts. A promise made, a promise 00:10:37.789 --> 00:10:41.970 tested, a promise kept, and a new promise. So 00:10:41.970 --> 00:10:44.409 let's begin at, well, the beginning. A very good 00:10:44.409 --> 00:10:46.669 place to start, as Julie Andrews once told us. 00:10:47.429 --> 00:10:52.009 David's story begins with a promise. begins actually 00:10:52.009 --> 00:10:54.850 about a thousand years before Jesus, when there 00:10:54.850 --> 00:10:57.889 was this prophet in Israel by the name of Samuel. 00:10:58.149 --> 00:11:01.190 And one day, God says to Samuel the prophet, 00:11:01.470 --> 00:11:05.230 Samuel, I want you to anoint a brand new king 00:11:05.230 --> 00:11:07.629 in Israel. I've had it with the current king, 00:11:07.789 --> 00:11:10.870 Saul. I'm so done with him, and I want to create 00:11:10.870 --> 00:11:16.350 a new king. And so God sends Samuel to this small 00:11:16.350 --> 00:11:20.190 and unimpressive town by the name of Bethlehem. 00:11:20.809 --> 00:11:22.450 Now, isn't that interesting that the very first 00:11:22.450 --> 00:11:24.389 time Bethlehem shows up in the Bible has nothing 00:11:24.389 --> 00:11:27.629 to do with Jesus. It has everything to do with 00:11:27.629 --> 00:11:32.409 David. Anyways, Samuel, he arrives in Bethlehem 00:11:32.409 --> 00:11:34.889 and he meets this man named Jesse. And Jesse 00:11:34.889 --> 00:11:37.669 has eight sons. And he says, Jesse, I'm here 00:11:37.669 --> 00:11:40.990 to anoint one of your sons, the next king of 00:11:40.990 --> 00:11:43.210 Israel. Jesse's like, fantastic, let me get them 00:11:43.210 --> 00:11:45.549 for you. And he brings in the sons. And then 00:11:45.549 --> 00:11:48.210 one by one, the sons are brought in front of 00:11:48.210 --> 00:11:50.409 Samuel. And Samuel looks at them and he listens 00:11:50.409 --> 00:11:53.289 to God's voice, the nudging of the spirit. And 00:11:53.289 --> 00:11:55.889 every time God says, no, not this one. No, not 00:11:55.889 --> 00:11:58.309 this one. You know, he brings out the smart. 00:11:58.350 --> 00:12:00.529 one no not this one he brings out the older one 00:12:00.529 --> 00:12:02.929 no not this one he brings out the you know the 00:12:02.929 --> 00:12:05.409 most athletic one no not this one no not this 00:12:05.409 --> 00:12:07.769 one no not this one well he goes through all 00:12:07.769 --> 00:12:10.529 the sons and he's like you know jesse this is 00:12:10.529 --> 00:12:13.649 a bit of an awkward question but you don't you 00:12:13.649 --> 00:12:17.450 don't have another son somewhere do you and and 00:12:17.450 --> 00:12:20.070 jesse's like well actually yes i do but he's 00:12:20.070 --> 00:12:24.230 out in the fields tending the sheep he's a shepherd 00:12:24.230 --> 00:12:27.350 he's the youngest one he's the forgotten one 00:12:27.350 --> 00:12:30.139 and he's And Samuel's like, it's okay, I'll wait. 00:12:30.759 --> 00:12:33.080 And so, you know, Samuel sits down and they're 00:12:33.080 --> 00:12:35.620 like, okay. So they go out to the fields. They 00:12:35.620 --> 00:12:39.539 bring David in. And I can imagine that when he 00:12:39.539 --> 00:12:42.379 walks in, he's dirty, he's smelly, he's sunburned. 00:12:42.379 --> 00:12:45.259 He's like wiping his nose on his sleeve. He's 00:12:45.259 --> 00:12:48.679 just a kid, right? And God nudges Samuel and 00:12:48.679 --> 00:12:51.580 he's like, this is the one. This is the next 00:12:51.580 --> 00:12:53.980 king of Israel. And Samuel's like, oh, okay, 00:12:54.059 --> 00:12:56.080 God, whatever. This is your deal. Whatever you 00:12:56.080 --> 00:13:04.700 say goes. And so Samuel takes oil and he anoints 00:13:04.700 --> 00:13:07.200 David right then and there. And then he says 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:08.580 to David, David, I have something very, very 00:13:08.580 --> 00:13:11.519 important to say to you. Listen to me. You are 00:13:11.519 --> 00:13:16.679 going to be the next king of Israel. To which 00:13:16.679 --> 00:13:20.240 David probably was like. okay, can I go back 00:13:20.240 --> 00:13:22.440 outside now? Because, you know, my friends are 00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:24.700 kind of out there and, you know, he, you know, 00:13:24.700 --> 00:13:26.720 blows his nose and he runs out of the house again, 00:13:26.799 --> 00:13:28.419 right? Because he's a kid, he's eight, he's 10, 00:13:28.480 --> 00:13:30.639 he's 12 years old. What does he know about any 00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:35.879 of this stuff? But a promise has been made, right? 00:13:35.960 --> 00:13:38.299 And this story teaches us something, two things 00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:40.899 actually right off the bat. The first is that 00:13:40.899 --> 00:13:44.200 God does not judge people based on their appearance, 00:13:44.399 --> 00:13:48.720 right? God saw a king. Where other people only 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:51.759 saw a shepherd. God didn't choose the tallest 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:53.279 one. He didn't choose the oldest one. He didn't 00:13:53.279 --> 00:13:54.980 choose the strongest one. He didn't choose necessarily 00:13:54.980 --> 00:13:58.440 the smartest one. But God saw something where 00:13:58.440 --> 00:14:00.440 other people don't see. And the second thing 00:14:00.440 --> 00:14:03.059 this reminds us is that God's promises always 00:14:03.059 --> 00:14:05.899 begin with grace. At this point in his life, 00:14:05.960 --> 00:14:10.080 David had done exactly nothing to earn God's 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:13.299 favor. There was no achievement he could point 00:14:13.299 --> 00:14:16.159 to. There was nothing. about David's life at 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:18.299 this point that would say, oh yeah, he deserves 00:14:18.299 --> 00:14:22.940 to be the next king. No. God's promises always, 00:14:23.200 --> 00:14:27.460 always, always begin with grace, not our performance, 00:14:27.720 --> 00:14:30.960 not our achievement. That is a key concept throughout 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:34.580 the whole Bible, by the way. Now. Let's fast 00:14:34.580 --> 00:14:37.539 forward a few years later or many years later. 00:14:37.620 --> 00:14:40.539 David is actually now king. And what is going 00:14:40.539 --> 00:14:43.279 to happen is a new prophet named Nathan is going 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:46.840 to come to David to kind of renew and affirm 00:14:46.840 --> 00:14:50.740 that. promise that was made and so Nathan says 00:14:50.740 --> 00:14:53.019 this is what God wants to tell you David he says 00:14:53.019 --> 00:14:56.179 God says I took you from the pasture and I appointed 00:14:56.179 --> 00:14:58.759 you ruler over my people Israel and now I will 00:14:58.759 --> 00:15:03.220 make your name great like the names of the greatest 00:15:03.220 --> 00:15:07.340 men on earth now what a promise that is to have 00:15:07.340 --> 00:15:11.620 a name that everybody on earth has kind of heard 00:15:11.620 --> 00:15:14.080 of and actually it's not too far from the truth 00:15:14.679 --> 00:15:17.299 Is it? Because I must do a quick poll with everyone 00:15:17.299 --> 00:15:20.519 here. How many of you, before you came to church 00:15:20.519 --> 00:15:22.980 today, had already heard of King David? Just 00:15:22.980 --> 00:15:26.700 a quick show of hands. Right? See, so it's true. 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:29.139 Kind of in every country, in every language, 00:15:29.220 --> 00:15:33.279 in every culture, everyone seems to know who 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:36.720 King David was. And then the promise goes a little 00:15:36.720 --> 00:15:40.919 further. God promises David a lasting house. 00:15:41.100 --> 00:15:43.419 Now, what is this lasting house? It means that 00:15:43.419 --> 00:15:47.299 basically the descendants after David, God is 00:15:47.299 --> 00:15:51.440 going to continue to extend the promise to them. 00:15:51.580 --> 00:15:54.000 And at first, it'll be David's first son, Solomon. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:56.919 But then, you know, from generation to generation, 00:15:57.200 --> 00:16:02.100 God will continue to establish David's throne. 00:16:03.139 --> 00:16:05.659 Forever. And then I think comes perhaps the most 00:16:05.659 --> 00:16:07.639 beautiful and important line in all of this. 00:16:07.659 --> 00:16:10.639 God says, when it comes to you, David, and when 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:14.340 it comes to all of your descendants, my love 00:16:14.340 --> 00:16:21.559 will never be taken away from you or them. Now 00:16:21.559 --> 00:16:24.940 that is an amazing promise. What a promise. That 00:16:24.940 --> 00:16:28.000 is not your everyday contract. That is something 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:30.879 we call a covenant. A contract would sound more 00:16:30.879 --> 00:16:33.019 like is, David, if you stay faithful, if you 00:16:33.019 --> 00:16:35.340 stay godly, if you do all the right things, if 00:16:35.340 --> 00:16:40.080 you obey me, then I'll love you forever. But 00:16:40.080 --> 00:16:42.059 no, God is saying, David, even if you screw up, 00:16:42.120 --> 00:16:44.899 even if you mess up, even if you fall and fail, 00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:51.779 I will still be faithful. So at this point in 00:16:51.779 --> 00:16:53.419 the story, everything looks amazing. Everything's 00:16:53.419 --> 00:16:55.779 beautiful. Everything looks hopeful. A promise 00:16:55.779 --> 00:16:59.700 has been made. And what a promise it is. But 00:16:59.700 --> 00:17:03.500 now, before too long, that promise is going to 00:17:03.500 --> 00:17:06.839 get tested. It's not long after God makes this 00:17:06.839 --> 00:17:11.410 breathtaking promise to David that we read. in 00:17:11.410 --> 00:17:14.910 one of the darkest chapters of the Bible, frankly. 00:17:15.549 --> 00:17:18.309 It kind of happened like this. It was a time 00:17:18.309 --> 00:17:20.609 when David's soldiers, and a lot of soldiers, 00:17:20.710 --> 00:17:23.109 went away to fight battles. But for some reason, 00:17:23.190 --> 00:17:27.250 David had stayed behind in the palace. And as 00:17:27.250 --> 00:17:29.390 he was hanging around the palace, kind of home 00:17:29.390 --> 00:17:31.569 alone, like Macaulay Culkin, home alone, no one's 00:17:31.569 --> 00:17:34.470 around. He's staring out the window one night, 00:17:34.549 --> 00:17:38.130 and he sees this lovely woman who's bathing out 00:17:38.130 --> 00:17:42.460 there. And he's like, goinks. Who is this? Hello, 00:17:42.720 --> 00:17:45.079 hello. And so he calls his servant and says, 00:17:45.220 --> 00:17:47.859 who is that woman? The servant's like, David, 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:53.220 don't get any ideas. That is Bathsheba, and she 00:17:53.220 --> 00:17:56.119 is Uriah's wife. Hey, David, pay attention. David, 00:17:56.240 --> 00:17:59.740 David, you know who Uriah is, right? Uriah, one 00:17:59.740 --> 00:18:03.859 of your most loyal soldiers, that Uriah. And 00:18:03.859 --> 00:18:08.359 David's like, you know, she seems like a nice 00:18:08.359 --> 00:18:13.250 lady. I would like to talk to her. And they do 00:18:13.250 --> 00:18:17.150 a whole lot more than talk. And a few weeks later, 00:18:17.349 --> 00:18:20.609 Bathsheba sends a message to David. Guess what? 00:18:20.690 --> 00:18:25.130 I am pregnant with your child. And now David's 00:18:25.130 --> 00:18:28.160 got a real mess on his hands. What does he do? 00:18:28.200 --> 00:18:30.519 He does what most people in power do when they're 00:18:30.519 --> 00:18:33.000 cornered. He starts to manipulate things and 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:34.940 he starts to try to cover his tracks. And so 00:18:34.940 --> 00:18:39.319 what he does is he calls Uriah back from the 00:18:39.319 --> 00:18:42.230 battlefield, right? David says, oh, you're right. 00:18:42.329 --> 00:18:44.349 You've been working so hard out there on the 00:18:44.349 --> 00:18:46.990 battlefield. You deserve a rest. Why don't you 00:18:46.990 --> 00:18:50.250 go and spend a little time with your wife, if 00:18:50.250 --> 00:18:51.970 you know what I mean? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, 00:18:52.089 --> 00:18:55.109 right? Say no more, say no more. Go on down there 00:18:55.109 --> 00:18:57.829 and spend a night. But Uriah's like, no way, 00:18:57.930 --> 00:19:00.789 I can't do that. My fellow soldiers are out there 00:19:00.789 --> 00:19:03.190 on the battlefield living and fighting and dying. 00:19:03.309 --> 00:19:06.549 I can't go enjoy the pleasure of my wife with 00:19:06.549 --> 00:19:09.869 all that going on. So then David tries again 00:19:09.869 --> 00:19:11.670 the next night, only this time he tries to get 00:19:11.670 --> 00:19:15.089 Uriah drunk first. Hey, Uriah, why don't you 00:19:15.089 --> 00:19:17.809 go down? But no, he still won't do it. He's still 00:19:17.809 --> 00:19:21.529 too noble. He is still too honorable. And it's 00:19:21.529 --> 00:19:23.130 interesting because at this point, the stories, 00:19:23.210 --> 00:19:24.690 you might be starting to think, oh, wouldn't 00:19:24.690 --> 00:19:28.029 it be, maybe Uriah would make a better king than 00:19:28.029 --> 00:19:30.430 David at this point. But no, God had made this 00:19:30.430 --> 00:19:33.769 promise to David. But then David does something 00:19:33.769 --> 00:19:37.000 absolutely unthinkable. He writes a letter to 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:40.519 his general out on the battlefield, Joab. And 00:19:40.519 --> 00:19:43.039 he says, Joab, here's what I want you to do. 00:19:43.140 --> 00:19:46.339 I want you to put Uriah right at the front lines 00:19:46.339 --> 00:19:48.940 of the fighting. And then all of a sudden, when 00:19:48.940 --> 00:19:50.759 the fighting is at its worst, I want you to withdraw 00:19:50.759 --> 00:19:54.480 all the other men and leave him there alone and 00:19:54.480 --> 00:19:57.619 surrounded. And then he... He licks the envelope. 00:19:57.680 --> 00:19:59.319 He says, oh, hey, as you make your way back to 00:19:59.319 --> 00:20:02.059 the battlefield, Uriah, would you mind hand delivering 00:20:02.059 --> 00:20:05.339 this to Joab? And so he basically hand delivers 00:20:05.339 --> 00:20:10.759 his own execution order to Joab. And the next 00:20:10.759 --> 00:20:18.180 day, Uriah is killed in battle. Isn't it interesting 00:20:18.180 --> 00:20:20.619 how one sin leads to another, which leads to 00:20:20.619 --> 00:20:23.700 another, leads to a lie, which leads to murder 00:20:23.700 --> 00:20:28.480 in this case. And isn't it true that sin rarely 00:20:28.480 --> 00:20:31.299 stays private? It rarely stays small. It's always 00:20:31.299 --> 00:20:34.059 growing. It's always multiplying. And that's 00:20:34.059 --> 00:20:36.240 what happened here. And so what happens? Bathsheba 00:20:36.240 --> 00:20:40.099 mourns the death of her husband. And then David 00:20:40.099 --> 00:20:44.440 marries her. And from the outside, it looks like 00:20:44.440 --> 00:20:47.680 it's all been covered up. It looks like no one 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:53.480 knows what just happened. But God knows. God 00:20:53.480 --> 00:20:58.450 knows. God always knows. And we read that the 00:20:58.450 --> 00:21:02.950 thing David had done was evil in the sight of 00:21:02.950 --> 00:21:07.470 the Lord. And now God has got to make a decision. 00:21:08.769 --> 00:21:16.089 Do I retract my promise that I made to David? 00:21:16.450 --> 00:21:19.750 Or is a promise a promise? Now listen, right? 00:21:20.299 --> 00:21:22.740 I know I said, I know I said it was an unconditional 00:21:22.740 --> 00:21:24.599 promise, but who could have seen this? And I 00:21:24.599 --> 00:21:27.819 mean, now that I see what this guy's really about, 00:21:27.859 --> 00:21:30.400 and I mean, I have to do something about this. 00:21:30.460 --> 00:21:32.640 I can't just let this slide, can I, right? Maybe 00:21:32.640 --> 00:21:36.720 I should back out of my promise. The real thing 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:38.880 here we have to wrestle with is when it comes 00:21:38.880 --> 00:21:45.440 to God, is a promise really a promise? Because 00:21:45.440 --> 00:21:47.539 I don't know about you, but I know human beings 00:21:47.539 --> 00:21:49.700 aren't so good at this. We might make a promise 00:21:49.700 --> 00:21:52.839 and we might say this is a forever promise, but 00:21:52.839 --> 00:21:54.319 then something happens and we're like, well, 00:21:54.420 --> 00:21:57.279 yeah, I mean, I know I promised, but I didn't 00:21:57.279 --> 00:22:00.500 plan all that happening. So no, I retract my 00:22:00.500 --> 00:22:03.299 promise. Or maybe you actually have had someone 00:22:03.299 --> 00:22:06.339 promise something to you and then they went back 00:22:06.339 --> 00:22:09.779 on what they promised and you're still hurting 00:22:09.779 --> 00:22:14.599 from that. So, is a promise really a promise? 00:22:14.700 --> 00:22:16.779 Now, to David's credit, you know what he does 00:22:16.779 --> 00:22:19.859 as soon as he realizes his sin has been exposed? 00:22:19.900 --> 00:22:23.619 He falls face down at the altar in the temple 00:22:23.619 --> 00:22:26.660 in front of God and he cries out and he repents 00:22:26.660 --> 00:22:29.940 and he begs God for forgiveness. And if you read 00:22:29.940 --> 00:22:34.599 Psalm 51, it is a wonderful telling of David's 00:22:34.599 --> 00:22:38.880 heart -wrenching prayer for forgiveness. But 00:22:38.880 --> 00:22:41.250 still, what's God going to do? What is God going 00:22:41.250 --> 00:22:44.589 to do with a guy who has messed up so badly? 00:22:45.990 --> 00:22:49.069 Well, David finds out, we find out, and this 00:22:49.069 --> 00:22:50.930 is one of the greatest lessons of the whole Bible, 00:22:50.990 --> 00:22:57.549 is that God always keeps his promise. Now, God 00:22:57.549 --> 00:23:01.609 forgives David, but that does not mean there 00:23:01.609 --> 00:23:04.740 was not a whole lot of pain. that followed David. 00:23:04.940 --> 00:23:07.819 Oh, there was incredible consequences for his 00:23:07.819 --> 00:23:11.900 sin. Because of his sin, David's life begins 00:23:11.900 --> 00:23:16.240 to unravel. His family falls apart. His sons 00:23:16.240 --> 00:23:20.339 start fighting each other. One son kills another 00:23:20.339 --> 00:23:24.220 son. That general, Joab, he in turn goes and 00:23:24.220 --> 00:23:28.960 kills David's favorite son. And then, you know, 00:23:28.980 --> 00:23:32.039 the kingdom fractures. David is forced to flee 00:23:32.039 --> 00:23:35.059 Jerusalem. What if David's son Absalom does something 00:23:35.059 --> 00:23:38.019 absolutely horrid and disgusting with David's 00:23:38.019 --> 00:23:41.359 wives right on the top of the palace? And as 00:23:41.359 --> 00:23:44.380 if all of that weren't enough, remember that 00:23:44.380 --> 00:23:47.880 child that Bathsheba and David had, that child 00:23:47.880 --> 00:23:55.880 also dies. So yes, God's... Discipline was severe. 00:23:55.980 --> 00:23:59.720 The consequences were horrible and the follow 00:23:59.720 --> 00:24:05.119 was real, but God's commitment was unshaken. 00:24:06.900 --> 00:24:09.819 Astonishingly, through all that chaos, through 00:24:09.819 --> 00:24:12.700 all that bloodshed, through all that backstabbing 00:24:12.700 --> 00:24:16.279 and heartbreak, God never withdrew his promise. 00:24:16.359 --> 00:24:19.319 The pain was real, but the promise was eternal. 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:24.480 And you might say, well, I honestly don't understand 00:24:24.480 --> 00:24:27.740 how God could do that. How could a promise last 00:24:27.740 --> 00:24:31.420 through all of that? And the answer is that the 00:24:31.420 --> 00:24:34.660 promise actually never rested on David's side. 00:24:34.839 --> 00:24:39.079 It was always up to God. It rested on God. Our 00:24:39.079 --> 00:24:42.559 promises from our side often fail, but God's 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:47.079 promises stand forever. And that is why, now 00:24:47.079 --> 00:24:50.369 we're getting to Christmas, that is why Nearly 00:24:50.369 --> 00:24:53.769 a thousand years later, after all that failure 00:24:53.769 --> 00:24:59.170 and after all that embarrassment, a man in David's 00:24:59.170 --> 00:25:05.750 line named Joseph travels with his pregnant wife 00:25:05.750 --> 00:25:09.990 named Mary to that same small town where it all 00:25:09.990 --> 00:25:14.710 started, Bethlehem. And there she gives birth 00:25:14.710 --> 00:25:18.839 to David's distant... the great, great, great, 00:25:19.059 --> 00:25:22.819 great, great, great, great grandson of that flawed 00:25:22.819 --> 00:25:27.180 king. And they name him Jesus because God keeps 00:25:27.180 --> 00:25:29.920 his promises. And if you're Matthew and you're 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:32.460 a former tax collector and you have broken more 00:25:32.460 --> 00:25:34.960 than a few promises yourself and you know what 00:25:34.960 --> 00:25:38.839 forgiveness is all about, then there is no way 00:25:38.839 --> 00:25:45.559 you are skipping this part of the story. David's 00:25:45.559 --> 00:25:49.339 failure. isn't just part of the story. It's the 00:25:49.339 --> 00:25:52.660 point of the story. When God makes a promise, 00:25:52.779 --> 00:25:55.859 he keeps it. And even our biggest failures will 00:25:55.859 --> 00:25:58.319 not cause God to go back on his word. That's 00:25:58.319 --> 00:26:02.000 why Matthew wrote, when he wrote, he probably 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:04.880 had a smile on his face when he said, and then 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:09.160 David is the father of Solomon, ah yes, whose 00:26:09.160 --> 00:26:14.170 mother had been. Uriah's wife. I've got to underline 00:26:14.170 --> 00:26:16.789 that and make sure I include that because that's 00:26:16.789 --> 00:26:20.509 what the story is about. And here's what Matthew 00:26:20.509 --> 00:26:24.930 knew. Matthew knew that that promise that God 00:26:24.930 --> 00:26:30.180 made to David was being renewed. And in Jesus, 00:26:30.220 --> 00:26:33.099 God makes a new promise. Now, not just to one 00:26:33.099 --> 00:26:35.940 king, not just to one family line, not just to 00:26:35.940 --> 00:26:39.839 one nation, but now to the whole world. It's 00:26:39.839 --> 00:26:42.140 a brand new promise. It's a brand new promise 00:26:42.140 --> 00:26:44.500 God has made. It's a brand new covenant between 00:26:44.500 --> 00:26:47.920 God and all humanity. But again, it is not based 00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:50.500 on our faithfulness. It is not secured by our 00:26:50.500 --> 00:26:55.700 obedience. It is grounded entirely on Jesus's 00:26:55.700 --> 00:26:59.039 sacrifice. This is the promise. This is the promise 00:26:59.039 --> 00:27:01.480 that began in the manger, but it's most fully 00:27:01.480 --> 00:27:05.079 revealed on the cross and on the empty tomb. 00:27:05.299 --> 00:27:09.299 And just as God kept his promise to David, despite 00:27:09.299 --> 00:27:13.400 his sin, God would keep this promise to you and 00:27:13.400 --> 00:27:17.359 me and the whole world through David's even greater 00:27:17.359 --> 00:27:23.299 son, Jesus Christ. And that is why when Jesus 00:27:23.299 --> 00:27:28.109 was born, The angel says, I bring you good news 00:27:28.109 --> 00:27:32.029 that will be for all the people. All the people, 00:27:32.069 --> 00:27:33.869 not just the good ones, not just the smart ones, 00:27:33.970 --> 00:27:36.230 not just the tall ones, not just the oldest ones, 00:27:36.309 --> 00:27:39.049 not just the strongest ones. All the people, 00:27:39.230 --> 00:27:42.269 right? And that includes the ones who think they're 00:27:42.269 --> 00:27:44.650 better than they are. And that also includes 00:27:44.650 --> 00:27:47.470 the ones who think they don't stand a chance. 00:27:48.250 --> 00:27:51.250 And then isn't it beautiful how the angel says, 00:27:53.660 --> 00:27:56.059 In the town of, say it with me, today in the 00:27:56.059 --> 00:28:01.920 town of David, a Savior has been born. I actually 00:28:01.920 --> 00:28:04.559 hope that for the rest of your life, when you 00:28:04.559 --> 00:28:06.740 read those words, they just land a little differently 00:28:06.740 --> 00:28:09.299 for you. The town of David, not David the hero, 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:13.019 David the sinner, David the man who needed grace. 00:28:13.059 --> 00:28:15.740 Today in the town of David, a Savior has been 00:28:15.740 --> 00:28:18.539 born to you, and he's the Messiah, the Lord. 00:28:19.380 --> 00:28:21.740 David's story tells us that God doesn't bypass 00:28:21.740 --> 00:28:24.900 broken branches. He works through them. And so 00:28:24.900 --> 00:28:27.519 many of us, whether you're sitting here and you're 00:28:27.519 --> 00:28:29.579 confident, or whether you're feeling ashamed, 00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:32.839 whether you're strong, or whether you're struggling, 00:28:33.019 --> 00:28:36.940 even if you're a faithful churchgoer, We often, 00:28:36.980 --> 00:28:39.839 we relate to God as if we're negotiating. We're 00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:42.619 like, God, listen, I'll do better. God, let me 00:28:42.619 --> 00:28:44.640 do this, God. God, I promise this time it'll 00:28:44.640 --> 00:28:47.339 be better. God, surely what I've just done is 00:28:47.339 --> 00:28:50.059 worth something to you. But as long as we approach 00:28:50.059 --> 00:28:54.940 God that way, we will never have peace. Because 00:28:54.940 --> 00:28:57.539 peace doesn't come from trying harder. Peace 00:28:57.539 --> 00:29:03.500 comes from the promise. God's promise that is 00:29:03.500 --> 00:29:06.849 greater than your failures. That is greater than 00:29:06.849 --> 00:29:10.049 your guilt. That is greater than your last mistake. 00:29:10.829 --> 00:29:15.109 That is greater than your next mistake. So this 00:29:15.109 --> 00:29:18.670 Christmas, you can have peace with God, not because 00:29:18.670 --> 00:29:22.009 your sins don't matter, but because your sins 00:29:22.009 --> 00:29:25.630 have been dealt with in Jesus Christ. So Jesus, 00:29:25.690 --> 00:29:29.650 you see, he was descended from a shepherd, but 00:29:29.650 --> 00:29:32.549 Jesus was actually also called the good shepherd. 00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:36.579 who lays down his life for his sheep. In fact, 00:29:36.599 --> 00:29:41.200 Jesus was called the Lamb of God who took away 00:29:41.200 --> 00:29:47.039 the sin of the world. So the invitation to you 00:29:47.039 --> 00:29:52.180 is simple. This Christmas, don't come to God 00:29:52.180 --> 00:29:54.440 with all your promises. God, I promise you this. 00:29:54.599 --> 00:29:59.660 God, I promise you that. Instead, come to God 00:29:59.660 --> 00:30:04.740 and trust his promise. Because the same God who 00:30:04.740 --> 00:30:09.640 kept his promise to David will keep his promise 00:30:09.640 --> 00:30:18.559 to you and me. Thanks be to God. Amen. Thanks 00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:20.599 for tuning in to this week's episode of Trinity 00:30:20.599 --> 00:30:23.160 Sermons. This sermon was recorded at Trinity 00:30:23.160 --> 00:30:27.019 Church Streetsville on December 21st, 2025.