The Heart of a Servant: Longing for God’s Presence

• The Davidic Covenant [00:55:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor introduces 1 Chronicles 17 as the passage where the Davidic covenant is instituted and initiated by God.
• Servant's Prayer / Theology of Work [00:56:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor connects the sermon to a previous message on Titus 2, emphasizing that believers should have a mindset of serving their master and working hard for the King.
• Faithfulness and Honor [00:57:22 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that receiving God's promise should result in action: going to work, being faithful, and honoring the King.
• The Davidic Covenant [00:58:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains the context of 2 Samuel 17, detailing God's promise to David that he would not build a house for God, but God would build an eternal house and kingdom for David.
• Messianic Prophecy [01:04:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment of the Davidic covenant, looking beyond Solomon to an eternal King greater than David who will reign forever.
• Divine Providence and Grace [01:08:36 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor analyzes David's prayer, highlighting how David recognizes his own unworthiness and attributes his rise from shepherd to king entirely to God's unmerited favor and providence.
• Faith and Trust [01:06:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor emphasizes that David trusted in God's promises even though he would not witness their fulfillment in his own lifetime, serving as a model for believers.
• Divine Providence [01:10:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that God provided the way for David to be king and for the kingdom to be established, emphasizing that everything comes from God's gracious hand.
• Human Humility and Dependence [01:12:44 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor highlights David's rhetorical questions ('who am I?') to illustrate that humans are helpless apart from God and that all blessings are unmerited favors.
• Communion with God [01:13:12 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor identifies David's first response to God's grace as a desire to be in His presence, illustrated by David sitting before the Lord in the Ark of the Covenant.
• Salvation and Election [01:17:41 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses God's sovereign hand of election and redemption, noting that Israel was chosen not for their size but by God's grace, pointing forward to Christ.
• Continuity of Redemption [01:20:09 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor argues that God's saving grace is a continuation of 'Plan A' from Genesis through the Exodus, culminating in the Messiah, rather than a 'Plan B'.
• Salvation and the Wrath of God [01:24:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references R.C. Sproul to explain that believers are saved from the wrath of God for sin, emphasizing the substitutionary work of Christ.
• Eternal Reality and God's Omnipotence [01:25:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor discusses the eternal nature of God's kingdom and the unbreakable character of God's promises, using the analogy of a ring to illustrate that God cannot fail.
• The Glory of God [01:32:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor explains that David's prayer focuses on magnifying God's name rather than his own offspring, asserting that human existence is for the glory of God.
• Application: Prayer and Longing for God [01:36:43 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor issues a call to action for believers to pray without ceasing and to cultivate a deep, daily longing to be with God, comparing the need for prayer to breathing.
• Longing for God's Presence [01:38:18 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor urges the congregation to examine their desire to be with God, using David's immediate response to the Ark of the Covenant and personal analogies about missing an appendage when skipping quiet time.
• Living According to God's Will [01:40:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor emphasizes that living according to God's will is paramount, citing Matthew 6 and the example of David wanting to build the temple but accepting God's refusal, which leads to heart transformation rather than just circumstance change.
• Faithfulness and Gospel Reminder [01:41:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor concludes with a call to action for disciples to be found faithful, reminding them of the gospel and their salvation as motivation to live for God's glory.

• Sermon Illustration [00:56:14 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references a previous sermon by Pastor Grant on June 28th regarding Titus 2:9 to establish a theological connection between the role of the bondservant and the current passage in 1 Chronicles.
• Sermon Illustration [01:04:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses a rhetorical wager, offering a dollar to anyone who can guess who comes after Solomon in the covenant lineage, revealing the answer to be Jesus.
• Sermon Illustration [01:11:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references Psalm 139 to illustrate David's understanding of God's intimate knowledge and providential formation of his life, quoting verses about God searching and knitting him together.
• Sermon Illustration [01:23:24 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal childhood anecdote about falling down a huge hill while visiting his aunt and uncle. He describes crying out for help and being rescued by his sister, whom he initially feared would lead him astray, using this to illustrate the feeling of being saved from a helpless state.
• Sermon Illustration [01:24:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor references R.C. Sproul's book 'Saved From What?' and quotes Sproul's definition of the gospel: a substitute appointed by God to bear the burden of transgressions and propitiate God's wrath.
• Sermon Illustration [01:26:21 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a story about a college pastor whose mother died without accepting Christ, expressing fear on her deathbed, contrasted with the confidence of believers who know they will be with Christ forever.
• Sermon Illustration [01:25:16 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the analogy of an ice cream sundae to describe the layers of hope in the gospel, adding 'cherries on top' for the eternal reality of being with God.
• Sermon Illustration [01:31:08 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor compares the unbreakable nature of God's promises to a wedding ring, stating it is an 'unending circle' that cannot break because God cannot go against Himself.
• Sermon Illustration [01:33:25 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor describes the effect of God's glory as a magnet or a fly trap, drawing people in faster than they realize.
• Sermon Illustration [01:38:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his wife not raising her hand when asked if she longs to be with him, followed by a personal testimony that missing his quiet time feels like losing an appendage or being unable to breathe.
• Sermon Illustration [01:38:37 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor shares a personal anecdote about his wife not raising her hand when asked if she enjoys his company, followed by a personal testimony that missing his daily quiet time feels like losing an appendage or being unable to breathe.
• Sermon Illustration [01:40:58 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor uses the biblical narrative of David wanting to build the temple (2 Samuel 7/1 Chronicles 28) but being told no by God, illustrating that while circumstances may not change, prayer transforms the heart to align with God's will.

• Pastoral Charge [00:40:03 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor asks the congregation to go to the Lord in prayer, specifically requesting they take a minute in silence to confess their sins and remember God's saving act.
• Pastoral Charge [00:39:50 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor requests the congregation to take moments to pray and confess sins to get right with God before partaking in communion.
• Pastoral Charge [01:11:20 ▶️ 📄]
  > Write down the point and turn to Psalm 139 in their Bibles.
• Pastoral Charge [01:24:13 ▶️ 📄]
  > Purchase the book 'Saved From What?' by R.C. Sproul.
• Pastoral Charge [01:27:17 ▶️ 📄]
  > Unbelievers are commanded to call on Jesus today for salvation.
• Pastoral Charge [01:42:19 ▶️ 📄]
  > The pastor issues a final charge for the congregation to act faithfully according to the preached message.

[00:10:50] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:10:50] It helps to plug the mic in. Just so you know. If I can find the plug. There you go.
[00:11:09] It's okay. I am a professional. Don't try this at home. But most of my life I was not allowed to be mic'd. Just so you know.
[00:11:19] I want to read to you from Psalm 104. Psalm 104, 31-35. The psalmist says, It says, and let the wicked be no more. Bless Yahweh, O my soul. Praise Yah. Spurgeon said that here and
[00:12:13] hereafter the psalmist would continue to praise the Lord, for the theme is an endless one and remains forever fresh and new. The birds sang God's praises before men were created, but redeemed men will sing his glory when the birds are no more. What awesome responsibility and glorious
[00:12:41] benefit we have that Yahweh, the creator of all the earth, desires that from our lips would flow praise to him, not just today, but now and forever more. He said, I will sing to Yahweh
[00:13:03] throughout my life, I will sing praise to my God while I have my be. Don't forget that. That's why we gather. To sing, to rejoice, to praise, to think, to hear from Yahweh. And we will spend
[00:13:26] all eternity in his presence doing that very thing. Let's bow in prayer. Father, search our hearts this morning that father there be no unclean thing that there be no unconfessed sin that there be no vileness that is unrepentant we come to you confessing that we are sinners
[00:13:56] but we come to you in gladness and joy for your greatness has enabled us by the blood of our savior to enter into your very presence and as we gather here we do so with christ among us
[00:14:15] that father our praise would ascend to you by the work of the spirit through the life of christ that father you would hear everything that is uttered from our lips and from our hearts so we bring this offering we bring this sacrifice to you in Jesus precious name amen if you would
[00:14:40] turn in your hymnal to number 68 and let's join together standing together as we sing

[00:14:46] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:14:46] holy holy holy number 68 morning king's chapel we're glad that you're here that roar sounds

[00:19:30] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_00]
[00:19:30] really good this summer morning and we are so glad that you're here and enjoying uh worshiping together, enjoying the fellowship that comes with being here together with the body of Christ. And if you are a guest with us this morning, I want to offer you a special welcome and extend a very
[00:19:48] special thank you for being here. You honor us with your presence today, and we pray that you will enjoy worshiping together with the King's Chapel. If you are a guest, there's a connect card in the pew in front of you. It looks like this, got a little blue top on it. And if you
[00:20:05] would take that card and fill that out for us during the service and place that in the offering plate when it comes by. We would love to know a little bit about you, your name, and maybe how
[00:20:15] you found out about the King's Chapel. And if you have a prayer request or members, if you have a prayer request, you can use the back of that card to submit those requests and the staff and the
[00:20:26] elders would love to pray for you this week as we continue to worship together. And so we just thank you for being here. When you walked in this morning hopefully you received a bulletin and
[00:20:37] in that bulletin are several announcements and there are a few that I want to highlight for you this morning. These are some wonderful opportunities for you to be involved here at the King's Chapel and some things that are going on. First off this coming this week Prison Alliance is a prison
[00:20:54] ministry that supplies books and Christian books and materials into the prisons all around the nation. That's one of our mission partners that we pray for and that we support financially here at the King's Chapel. And the way they do that is by offering books to all the inmates
[00:21:14] there. So if you have good Christian books, solid theological Christian books that are in good shape, we're collecting those. So this is a great time for you to clean off your bookshelves and bring those in. If you'll bring those this week, we are trying to get those collected before
[00:21:29] next Sunday, and then we'll deliver them here to Prison Alliance Ministries, which is right here in Raleigh over on Spring Forest Road. And so you could take them over there, but why would you do
[00:21:40] that when you can bring them here and people will take care of them for you? So we want you to know about that this week. Also for our young adults, there's an activity for you coming up on Saturday,
[00:21:50] July the 21st, 25th, strikes, spares, and snacks. So our young adults are having an outing, doing a bowling night, and you can register for that online. And also just want to bring your attention to the Operation Christmas Child, Christmas in July. You know, we will be collecting that
[00:22:09] through Samaritan's Purse. That is another ministry we support. And Operation Christmas Child obviously happens near the Christmas time, but we get started this summer collecting some of those small toys and things that will fit into the shoeboxes that go all over the world. And
[00:22:28] this is a great opportunity to share the gospel with the children across the globe. And so if you have financial support that you can give, if you want to do that, and then we will do the shopping
[00:22:39] for you. Or if you have those toys that fit into the shoebox, those are going to be accepted now here at the church through July and August, so you can bring those in for you.
[00:22:50] And also, I want to make our students aware that student summer camp is coming up at the end of this month, July the 29th through the 31st. They will be studying, and the theme of this year's
[00:23:02] camp is Christ is King. And so, they will be with Michael and be having a great week that week doing sort of a summer camp. And also, we're beginning to take sign-ups for our Women Living
[00:23:16] Well sign-ups. This is one of the Bible studies here that sort of a women's mentoring program there. And so, if you're interested in that, becoming involved in a small group there, there's a registration online. And all of these events that we register online is available right
[00:23:36] down in that little QR code in the bottom corner of your bulletin. You can click on that and all of those activities are listed there for you to sign up there. So it's a quick way, an easy way
[00:23:48] to do that. But we're so glad you're here and we do pray and hope that you will take advantage of those activities that are available for you. Through the summer and really through the year,
[00:24:02] we have been working together and doing the Heidelberg Catechism. This is a reformed document made up of 129 questions and answers that is really designed to teach doctrine and to teach our Christian beliefs through a question and answer session. And so it emphasizes comfort
[00:24:25] in life and the salvation through Jesus Christ. And that document is in your bulletin this morning.
[00:24:31] and so I will read the question and then together we will repeat the answers. It's in your bulletin and it's also on the screen behind me so if we can do this together let's get started with question
[00:24:44] number 71. Where does Christ promise that we are washed with his blood and spirit as surely as we are washed with water of baptism? In the institution of baptism where he says go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son
[00:25:09] and of the Holy Spirit. The one who believes and is baptized will be saved, but the one who does not believe will be condemned. This promise is repeated when Scripture calls baptism the water of rebirth, and the washing away of sins. Question 72, does this outward washing
[00:25:33] with water itself wash away sins? No, only Jesus Christ's blood and the Holy Spirit will cleanse us from all sins. And then, why then does the Holy Spirit call baptism the water of rebirth and the washing away of sins. God has a good reason for these words. To begin with, God wants
[00:26:00] to teach us that the blood and the Spirit of Christ take away our sins, just as water removes dirt from the body. But more important, God wants to assure us by this divine pledge sign that we
[00:26:18] are truly washed of our sins spiritually as our bodies are washed with water physically.
[00:26:27] Thank you. Would you pray with me this morning as we continue our service?
[00:26:35] Father, we thank you for blessing us with your Word, and we thank you that the truth of your Word never changes. We thank you for being our Father and our Redeemer, our Shepherd and our King.
[00:26:45] father we praise you that your steadfast love endures forever that yours is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor of everything in heaven and on earth is yours that you are exalted as head above all and you are our banner you're our strength you are
[00:27:06] our shield and our protection lord jesus you are our savior you're our redeemer and through you we are justified. Father, forgive us of our sins. Forgive us of our sins of pride and rebellion and
[00:27:21] disobedience and selfishness and idolatry that so easily creeps into our lives. And Lord, there may be someone here today that needs a relationship with you. They've been hurt. They've been pierced to the heart. Maybe they need to repent and make changes in a way that they've been living their
[00:27:41] lives. But Father, we pray that today is the day that they may call out to you and ask you for your saving grace. Lord, let all that we are praise you this day. Let us praise you as long as we live.
[00:27:55] Thank you for loving us and for watching over us. And Father, this morning we pray for Pastor Kenny as he comes to bring the message that you've laid upon his heart. May everything that is done and
[00:28:07] said today be for the exaltation of your great name and for the sake of Christ. And Lord, as we receive our tithes and our offerings this morning, may they be used to your glory and to further your
[00:28:19] kingdom in this church and in this city and around the globe. And Lord, we thank you and we praise you this day in Christ's name. Amen.

[00:30:12] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:30:12] But so was safe and thou.
[00:30:20] Oh, nothing in my hand.
[00:30:33] Simply to the cross I cling.
[00:30:44] Naked come to thee for dread.
[00:30:51] Helpless rule to thee a grave.
[00:30:58] How I to the fountain fly.
[00:31:03] You know, tunes and hymns are a unique thing.

[00:32:26] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_03]
[00:32:26] I finished a biography last night on John Newton, and it talked about how his hymn, Amazing Grace, initially was not popular or known in England, but it became popular when it crossed the ocean and was put with the American tune that we know
[00:32:45] now and it became immensely popular in America and then became more popular in England this next hymn you have a song sheet in your bulletin it's called oh the deep deep love of Jesus a very
[00:32:58] popular hymn but our hymnal instead has it in a major key by a more modern composer which if you know, the music publishing business allows him to collect royalties off the publishing of the hymn
[00:33:12] because he wrote a modern tune to it. But we're going to sing the tune that best fits it because a tune can sometimes amplify the text. And this is about the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast,
[00:33:26] unmeasured, boundless, free. And this tune gives you a sense of just relentless, something moving, moving over you and it fits perfectly with this it isn't a minor key and some people have an aversion to that but historically minor keys were very heroic very dogmatic and had much to say it's
[00:33:49] only been in the last hundred years or so that we have become more major key people and less minor

[00:33:56] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:33:56] so let's stand together as we sing oh the deep deep love of Jesus this morning as we come to

[00:37:33] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:37:33] the Lord's table. Every time we come to this table, it is an act of remembrance, to remember what the Lord has done for you, for me. Even if you've ever paid attention before, on the table below us, the communion table says, this do in remembrance of me. And as we see the
[00:37:57] bread and as we see the cup, we remember that the bread and the cup are a picture. It's a symbol for us to remember the body and the blood that was broken and shed for the punishment of sin.
[00:38:11] We remember the gospel. We remember God's unmerited favor, his grace extended to you, to me, to save us from his wrath, to save us from the dominion of darkness, from being separated from Him forever. And yet, we remember the love of Christ. Yet, we remember Jesus' willingly going
[00:38:38] to the cross to be the propitiation of our sins. And so, we remember. This morning, as we come to the Lord's table and we contemplate and we meditate on the Lord's work in our life, I want to, as we
[00:38:55] do every time we come to the table, take a moment for you to remember the grace of God in your life.
[00:39:02] To remember when the Lord called you out of darkness into his marvelous light so that you can be adopted as his sons and daughters. To remember that day when you heard the gospel and it was nothing of your own effort. It was truly an act of God transforming your heart by
[00:39:19] the power of the Holy Spirit and transforming it so that you can believe in him and have life in his name. What a miracle. What a miracle. And then the Lord, as he was preparing his disciples
[00:39:33] to see his death and to see his glorious resurrection, instituted this supper for the believer to remember. And so I'm going to ask now, if you will, let's take a few moments to pray and to confess our sins before the Lord
[00:39:50] and to get right before him so that we can come to this important supper for you, for the believer, and come in in a holy manner.
[00:40:01] So if you will, let's go to the Lord in prayer.
[00:40:03] I'm gonna take a minute in silence and confess your sin before the Lord and to remember his saving act.
[00:40:29] Lord, we never take for granted your grace and mercy.
[00:40:34] Let us never take for granted, Lord, your grace and your mercy.
[00:40:38] Father, we thank you for sending Christ, the Son of Man, the Son of David, the perfect and final sacrifice for sin. Father, as we come to this table, Lord, we ask that you will sanctify us,
[00:41:01] Lord, as we confess our sin to you. Father, forgive us of the idolatry, the lust, the pride of life, the covetousness, Lord, our false tongue, Lord, the sin that we have committed before your holy sight. Father, I ask, Lord, that as we've confessed our sin, Lord, give us by the power of
[00:41:24] your Holy Spirit to repent, to turn so that we can be holy as you were holy. And Father, as we take the bread and the cup, Lord, help us never to forget the gospel of your saving grace. So Father,
[00:41:40] thank you for this time to come together as a body of believers. And Lord, and I do pray for that person in this room, that Lord is not a believer. Father, I pray that they would not
[00:41:52] take the cup and the bread, but Father, they will see the symbol. They will see what we're doing here today and look, and they will see, Lord, that you sent your son to die on the cross for their
[00:42:06] sins, and that they will call on the name of the Lord and be saved. So Father, thank you for Christ.
[00:42:15] Thank you, Lord, for your grace and mercy.
[00:42:18] And we pray these things in the good name of Christ.
[00:42:20] Amen.
[00:42:22] I'm going to ask now for our deacons will stand as we disperse the elements.

[00:42:27] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:42:27] In the Gospel of Matthew chapter 26, as the Lord Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper,

[00:48:59] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:48:59] it says, beginning in verse 26, Now as they were eating, Jesus took the bread, and after blessing it, broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, Take, eat, this is my body.
[00:49:09] and he took the cup and when he had given thanks to it he said drink it all of you for this is the blood of my covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins let's pray father
[00:49:33] thank you for the reminder of what this supper means and lord how it is an act lord that we remember as believers as christians of your sacrificial death for our sin but to lord to
[00:49:53] know in our heart with confidence that you are alive now and it's seated at the Father's right hand. Father, thank you for the gospel. And it's in Jesus we pray. Amen. If you would take your

[00:50:06] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[00:50:06] hymnal and turn to 162. Number 162. Wonderful, merciful Savior. Let's stand together. Take your

[00:54:08] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[00:54:08] Bible and turn over to 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles chapter 17. And as you're turning there in the scriptures. Let's again go to the Lord in prayer. Father, I ask that your Holy Spirit will move in
[00:54:29] our hearts. Father, lifting up and magnifying, Lord, your word so that your name will be honored, that we will be convicted of sin so that we can grow deeper in your grace to be holy as you are
[00:54:46] holy, and Father, helping us just to see your majesty and grace. So Father, teach through me, and it's in Christ we pray. Amen. Well, this morning what I'd like to do is, hopefully you got an outline so you can follow along with us, but I thought it would be helpful to provide a
[00:55:06] roadmap before we begin walking through the text. This morning we are going to be looking at 1 Chronicles chapter 17, and I'd be curious to know how many people have walked through a sermon before in 1 Chronicles. But nonetheless, it is in the canon of Scripture. And here in the book
[00:55:24] of Chronicles, we get to an important passage in the Old Testament history where we see the Davidic covenant instituted and initiated by God and given to David. We see the act of God establishing, initiating covenants all throughout Scripture. And here in this passage of Scripture,
[00:55:44] what we're going to look at this morning is we're going to look at first the context of the covenant, but then where we're going to spend a majority of our time this morning is actually
[00:55:54] beginning in verse 16 with David's prayer, or a prayer of response from receiving this word from the Lord. This sermon this morning is titled, A Servant's Prayer. And the reason why I'm titling it that way is because I want to make a connection back to Grant's sermon that he preached
[00:56:14] on June 28th when we looked at Titus chapter 2 verse 9 where Grant helped us to see the theology of work. We're in Titus chapter 2 when we looked at the role of the bondservant. And one of those
[00:56:28] points of application that Pastor Grant provided for us was that we as believers, as disciples of Christ, we need to have this mindset that we serve our master, that we are to work hard for the king
[00:56:42] of kings. And that worldview should shape our entire life, that we are indebted to our Savior.
[00:56:50] And what you'll find this morning in 1 Chronicles 17 is, I believe, you will see a lot of similarities between Titus 2 and here in chapter 17, specifically looking at 16 through the end of the chapter. But my hope and prayer this morning for you as we look at David's prayer
[00:57:08] is that this will be a prayer for you on a daily basis as a follower of Christ.
[00:57:16] That this prayer would be a call to action for you to see how as David receives this Davidic covenant, this promise from God, the response from David, the action from David is that he is to go to work. He is to be found faithful in the sight of God and to live a life that honors
[00:57:36] the King. And my prayer for you this morning is that you in turn will do the same as we walk through this passage of Scripture. So like I said, this morning what we're going to do is first we're
[00:57:49] going to look at the first 15 verses very briefly. Don't worry. I'll walk through it quick. I know some of you are looking at your watch. Don't worry. We're good. We're good. But we're going to look at
[00:58:00] the first half. Then we're going to look at the prayer. And then I'm going to close with a couple of points of application. So that's the roadmap we're going this morning. So let's begin looking
[00:58:10] at the context of David's prayer. Let's look at some specifics of the Davidic covenant. Look at the beginning in verse 1, looking at verses 1 through 6 in chapter 17. It says, now when David
[00:58:25] lived in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, behold, I dwell in the house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under a tent. And Nathan said to David, do all that is
[00:58:37] in your heart, for God is with you. But that same night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan, go and tell my servant David, thus says the Lord, it is not you who would build me a house to dwell
[00:58:48] in. For I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up Israel to this day, but I have gone from tent to tent, from dwelling to dwelling, and all places where I have moved with all of Israel,
[00:58:59] that I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people, saying, why have you not built for me a house of cedar? So let's look at verses 1 through 6 for a
[00:59:11] moment. So David is king. This is the early part of his kingship. And David, if you were to turn back just one or two pages in your Bible, you would see David has now brought the Ark of the
[00:59:22] Covenant back to Israel, back home. And David, beginning in verse 16, excuse me, chapter 16, places the Ark in the tent and worships with Israel, leads them in worship as the Ark of the covenant, the presence of God has returned. But then if you look in verse 1 in chapter 17,
[00:59:40] David has a godly desire because he is a recipient of the grace and the mercy of the Lord.
[00:59:45] And in turn, what he wants to do is now honor Yahweh by building a house for the Lord. But if you look in verse 4, look what happens. Nathan is told from Yahweh, David, you're not going to do
[01:00:01] this. You're not going to build me a house. And then in verses 5 and 6, we see that David's not going to build this house, but what the Lord does is that he wants David to look beyond a physical
[01:00:12] dwelling. He wants to look beyond where this Ark of the Covenant will be built one day, because what the Lord is doing for David is that he's pointing to something far greater than a physical constructed place. He's building for him in his heart this idea of an eternal house,
[01:00:29] and eternal kingdom of God. Look with me in verses 7 through 10 now. It says in God's Word and within the Davidic covenant, it says, earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them that they may dwell
[01:01:06] in their own place and be disturbed no more, and violent men shall waste them no more as formerly.
[01:01:13] From the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel, and I will subdue all your enemies.
[01:01:19] Moreover, I declare to you that the Lord will build you a house. When your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will raise up for your offspring after you, one of your own sons,
[01:01:31] and I will establish his kingdom. Let me stop there. So the Lord tells David now in verses 7 through 10 and verse 11 that God is going to keep all of his promises. And what he does here
[01:01:45] is for David is a little history lesson. He wants him to look back not only in his own life, recalling, remember David, that you were a shepherd of the sheep and now you are a shepherd
[01:01:55] over my people. You are now king. He even does a brief history lesson over the nation of Israel.
[01:02:01] The book of Chronicles is written post-exile, so people reading this would realize what they have returned home to. And so David here is helping them to see God's hand of salvation, not only in David's life, but also in the life of Israel. And if you notice within verses 7 through
[01:02:20] 10 alone, seven times do we see the words, I or I will. And so God is reminding him, I'm the one who's brought you from victory. I am the one who's brought you to this place. It is all of God's hand
[01:02:35] of deliverance over and over and over again. But what we see as David is reminding him, as they're being reminded of this from the Lord, he is seeing also that God's word has been fulfilled
[01:02:47] every step of the way. So then look with me in verses 11 through 15. Now David, excuse me, the Lord says to David, when your days are fulfilled to walk with your fathers, I will
[01:03:03] raise up for your offspring after you one of your own sons, and I will establish his kingdom.
[01:03:08] Verse 12, he shall build a house for me, and I will establish his throne forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I will not take my steadfast love for him as I took
[01:03:20] from him who was before you. He's talking about Saul. But I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his throne shall be established forever. In accordance with all these words, in accordance with all of this vision, Nathan spoke to David. So here's what
[01:03:38] God's doing now in verses 11 through 15. He's now telling the plan. Here's the promise being fulfilled. This is what's going to happen after you. The first thing he does is that he tells David that Solomon, your son, your own offspring, is going to, he is tasked to build the house
[01:03:57] for the Lord. Not David, but Solomon. And if you read further into the book of Chronicles, you will find this takes place under Solomon's reign as king. But here's the second thing you need to see. And this is where it gets good. Solomon's going to do this, but there's someone
[01:04:17] who's coming after Solomon. And I'll be willing to give you a dollar if you can guess who it is.
[01:04:24] Jesus. God is telling David to look beyond the physical construction, to look beyond even Solomon.
[01:04:33] He's looking to the eternal King Jesus. This is a Messianic prophecy that God is telling through the prophet Nathan to David, there's going to be someone coming greater than you.
[01:04:47] Just like you did with Moses.
[01:04:49] There's going to be a prophet greater than I.
[01:04:50] There's going to be a king greater than David, greater than Psalm, greater than Hezekiah, greater than Asa, all of the kings.
[01:04:57] He's going to live and reign forever.
[01:04:59] And it is King Jesus.
[01:05:02] And upon this blessing of the kingship, yes, God is going to be with David.
[01:05:07] God is going to be with Solomon.
[01:05:08] But there's going to be a special blessing that God is going to have with his own son. We see the center of adoption here, there, and God's faithfulness is going to be extended to this eternal King Jesus. And this Christ,
[01:05:23] this Messiah, the son of David, who's truly God and truly man, the one who's going to live and reign forever, he is the one I want you to look towards. And so what God is also doing for David
[01:05:38] it's helping them to see that after this covenant after this promise there's going to be another covenant each covenant building upon another and this is ultimately pointing to the new covenant the gospel what we did here today at the Lord's table
[01:05:53] remembering the grace of God by sending forth Christ and here it is the unity of the fellowship that God is going to give Solomon is going to be there with Jesus us. He will never leave us or forsake us. And here we see that the kingdom of God is at hand.
[01:06:14] God's rule and reign are present here in active with David, with Solomon. It's present then, it's present now. And so God is helping David to understand, look beyond the walls, look for eternity. And this is the Davidic prominence that God gives to King David.
[01:06:37] So even though David's not going to witness any of this take place in his own life, he trusts.
[01:06:44] He trusts in the promises of God.
[01:06:46] And he knows this is going to be, this is going to happen all because God initiated and is going to sustain this covenant and as well as the new covenant.
[01:06:55] And so now, I know that was a very brief overview of the Davidic covenant.
[01:06:58] And I know that we could spend weeks, if not months, on this promise that is fulfilled by God.
[01:07:05] but now we're going to move into the servant's prayer david's prayer of response and now you understand from this davidic covenant now you know the why if you know the why you're able to charge ahead right and now you know the why now you know why david is praying and again like i
[01:07:25] said in the very beginning my hope and prayer in this section of scripture will be a call to action for you. So for you to be a faithful follower of Christ. So let's begin. If you have your outline
[01:07:39] with us, you can begin looking with me in verses 16 through 20 by looking at our first point in this prayer. And David starts where all prayer needs to start, and that is by praising the
[01:07:50] greatness of God. By praising the greatness of God. Look with me in verses 16 through 20.
[01:07:57] Then David went in and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord God?
[01:08:02] And what is my house that you have brought me thus far?
[01:08:06] And this was a small thing in your eyes, O God.
[01:08:09] You have also spoken of your servant's house for a while to come and have shown me future generations, O Lord God.
[01:08:18] Let me stop there.
[01:08:20] So I want to pull out for you in this first section of David's prayer two things that he pulls out for you to see God's holiness on display, his character, his greatness on full display. And then out of those two characteristics of God that we see,
[01:08:36] there's two responses that David has. The first thing that we see is David praises God's grace, his unmerited favor. If you look with me in the text, here is how we see this.
[01:08:51] If you notice, beginning in verse 16, and as well as in verse 21, there are three rhetorical questions that David asks. He first says, who am I, looking at his own life there in verse 16.
[01:09:04] In the latter half of verse 16, he says, who is my house, i.e., he's talking about his own offspring, Solomon. And then if you look in verse 21, he goes to the nation of Israel,
[01:09:15] the people of Israel. This rhetorical question, like all rhetorical questions, is a figure of speech that David is praying, stating back to God and recognizing that he didn't deserve any of this. He realizes, as well as in his own life and in Israel,
[01:09:35] they didn't deserve any of this. This all comes from God's loving kindness extended to David, extended to Israel, and extended to you to see God's grace at work in their life.
[01:09:51] He provides for David.
[01:09:52] He provides for Solomon.
[01:09:53] He provides for Israel.
[01:09:55] And the questions here are just a pure act of humility and reverence for the Lord to do this in David's life and as well as in the nation of Israel.
[01:10:08] And so he praises God for his grace.
[01:10:11] The second thing he does here in this first section of prayer, he praises God for his providence, his providence.
[01:10:19] God has provided the way for David to be king and for this house to be built and for this future eternal kingdom to be established and set up all by the hand of God. And it all comes by his gracious hand. It's an act of providence.
[01:10:37] David realizes, as we see in the text, and as God tells him there, if you look back in verses 6, 7, and 8, God reminds him of this. He reminds him of how God has provided for him that he was of the
[01:10:50] lowest of the low, a shepherd of the sheep, and now he is king over Israel. How does it happen?
[01:10:58] God provided the way. God provided the way. And this doesn't leave David's life. If you read further into the life of David, you would see that he keeps this heartfelt desire, this knowledge of God providing for him all throughout his life. I would encourage you to write this
[01:11:20] down or turn over with me just very briefly to Psalm 139 for just a moment. And in Psalm 139, David begins in verses one through four by saying, oh Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
[01:11:36] You know when I sit down, you know when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar, you search at my path from lying down. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, oh Lord, you know it all
[01:11:47] together. David prays in verses 13 through 15. He says, for you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works.
[01:12:03] My soul knows it very well. God is all-knowing. God is all-powerful. God is everywhere. He's all present. And David here in Psalm 139, as well as here in his prayer, is seeing the providence of
[01:12:18] God at work in his own life. I would encourage you even write down if you'd like to 1 Chronicles chapter 29 verse 14 as David's life is ending and he's praying this blessing over Israel and as well
[01:12:32] as with for Solomon. David prays in chapter 29, he says, but who am I? Again, asking that rhetorical question, who am I, O Lord? And who is my people that we should be able to offer us to thus
[01:12:44] willingly, for all things come from you, and of your own we have given you. So, very humbling, isn't it, to realize as Jesus prayed in John 15 or told his disciples, apart from you I can do what?
[01:13:00] Nothing. Nothing. And David realizes everything that he has all comes from the providence of God.
[01:13:06] But now we see out of this, there's two responses. There's two responses out of this prayer.
[01:13:12] the one the first is is how David longs to be with God if you look with me in verse 16 out of seeing God's grace out of seeing God's providence at work what does he do in verse 16 he wants to be
[01:13:27] in the presence of God look with me in verse 16 then David went in and sat before the Lord he sat before the Lord David's actions there after hearing this promise that's going to be fulfilled
[01:13:42] immediately runs and wants to commune with Yahweh.
[01:13:46] When I was studying this text, I thought about the phrase that I know you've heard before, that actions speak louder than words.
[01:13:54] Well, David's actions obviously show a heart that has been changed by the living God.
[01:13:59] And his first response is, I want to be with you.
[01:14:03] I want to be as close as I can with you.
[01:14:05] And he does by sitting in the Ark of the Covenant.
[01:14:09] That word even in the Hebrew, sat, means to dwell, to remain there. David was there for a long time, but he longed to be with God.
[01:14:19] The other response that we see, and I believe it's pretty apparent from the text, is how humble he is before the Lord. Could you imagine receiving this from the Lord?
[01:14:32] All of this. And David has the right heartfelt response, and he humbles himself before the Lord.
[01:14:42] He shows humility.
[01:14:44] And even, I think, by the rhetorical questions, extolling the character of God, he exemplifies humility before the Lord.
[01:14:53] One who realizes this all comes from him.
[01:14:57] We even see this same mindset that we're supposed to have out of the Lord's Prayer in Matthew chapter 6 of Hallowed Be Your Name.
[01:15:05] Reverence before the Lord.
[01:15:07] And that is the right response all of us should have as we worship Him before our triune God. But with all of this, God's full greatness is on display.
[01:15:21] And this is the starting point. This sets the tone for the rest of the prayer, to give God praise for His majesty and His grace, for His holiness being poured out in David's life, and as well as you can even see it today and even in your own life, can't you?
[01:15:38] to see God's hand of providence even now in this act of worship on this Lord's day.
[01:15:46] It all comes from Him. And we see this again and again, like I said, as I referenced in Psalm 139.
[01:15:53] David praises in Psalm 86, verse 8, there is no one like you among the gods, O Lord, nor are any of their works like yours. You can look at all the religions in the world.
[01:16:08] Nothing will even come close to what we see God doing here in David's life, but even in your life, can you? Any other religion, it's some man-made idea that tries to get you to be a better person
[01:16:24] or try to get you into some man-made version of heaven. But know what we see from this response by David extolling the greatness of God, His holiness. It's helping us to see His character and wanting the glory of God to shine, what David shows us truly is that apart from the Lord,
[01:16:49] we are a total helpless people, aren't we? That everything comes from him. And so David here in this first point, this is where it all starts. And that's why David in this opening prayer, he says,
[01:17:03] making known all of these great things. And this is the starting point. This is where the first part of this recipe of this prayer, the servant's prayer starts by seeing his character. But then as we move into our second point, we see another characteristic of God. I've already mentioned
[01:17:26] this before. We see his grace, we see his unmerited favor, but now we see it in the form of salvation, that God's salvation is on full display in David's life for Israel and for you,
[01:17:41] Christian. Look with me in verses 21 and 22 in the text. David says and prays the Lord, and who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be
[01:17:59] his people, making for yourself a name for great and awesome things, and driving out nations from your people, before your people, and whom you redeemed from Egypt. And you made your people Israel to be your people forever, and you, O Lord, became their God. So one of these,
[01:18:21] this humble state that David is praying, that is in, excuse me, and as well as we see in this prayer, but also in a continuation of praising the greatness of God as he realizes God's hand
[01:18:34] of salvation. Redemption is right before his eyes, and you see it right here in verses 21 and 22.
[01:18:41] And David right here is showing us, right here, God's sovereign hand to save and to redeem his people right here in 21 and 22 is election. God's sovereign hand of election right here in the text. It's an amazing act. When you look at the people of Israel, they weren't special
[01:19:04] because they were many. They weren't special because they had a great land mass. No, the reason why they were even called special was because God called them special. So God is the one who saved them. Even with David, as we've seen previously, David realizes that he didn't do
[01:19:23] anything. He's not special because he's won battles for the Lord. No, it's all because of God's saving grace, unmerited favor in his own life. But we see here salvation right here in the text. God's loving kindness poured out. But in verses 21 and 22, here's what we also see. And
[01:19:48] this is important for us to understand this promise that David is receiving from the Lord.
[01:19:53] and for you to see how majestic God's hand of redemption is in your life.
[01:20:01] Because one, what he states here in verses 21 and 22 is that this is a continuation of God's saving grace.
[01:20:09] Redemption continues.
[01:20:11] This isn't plan B here that God is telling David.
[01:20:16] No, this is a continuation of plan A.
[01:20:19] For when you see it even in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15, when the fall of man happened and you see the first proclamation of the gospel there, that there's going to be one who's going to crush the seed of the serpent. When you see even with
[01:20:33] the Noahic covenant and you see it with Abraham, you see with Moses, it is a continuation of God's redeeming hand, all the way pointing to Christ. We're reminded of this, how the redemption continues as God told Moses in Exodus chapter 6, verse 7. God says,
[01:20:54] therefore tell the Israelites, I am the Lord. I will bring you out under the yoke of the Egyptians and deliver you from their bondage. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and the mighty acts
[01:21:05] of judgment. I will take you as my own people. I will be your God. And then they will know that I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.
[01:21:17] Does that sound familiar? It very much echoes what we're seeing here. But also remember, like I said just a few moments ago, we're in the book of the Chronicles. This is post-exile.
[01:21:29] So the Israelites reading this would be reminded of how they've returned back to the land.
[01:21:36] So they're realizing everything from when they were exiled those days and now returning back, that God's hand of forgiveness and mercy has been extended to them. And so they, in their lifetime, are recipients of salvation. But then I would be remiss not to be reminded here in verses 21 and
[01:21:58] 22 that the future is found in Christ, in Jesus, pointing to the Messiah. And here I put some cross-references there in that first section of your outline for you to be able to see this idea
[01:22:15] of the promise of Christ. But you can look up those, but we're also reminded in Romans 9, 26, as Paul is quoting the prophet Hosea, those who are not my people, I will call my people.
[01:22:32] And her who is not beloved, I will call beloved. It's God's hand of salvation for Israel, but for all people, Jew and Gentile, right here in the text. So it's like David takes a step back
[01:22:47] for a moment, and he realizes what he's been saved from. He realizes, as God reminded him, remember what I took you from, and now who you are. So David, even as we've seen these rhetorical
[01:23:01] questions, takes a moment and realizes everything in his life is an act of grace. Salvation is an act of grace. You ever been in that position before, when you take a step back and realize
[01:23:12] what you have been saved from maybe someone has helped you out in a in a dark time I remember one time when I was little we were visiting my aunt and uncle and I had fallen down as a little
[01:23:24] kid down this this hill a huge hill and I was by myself and I remember I told this to the students during VBS I cried out for help no one was coming and then at the top of the hill of all people
[01:23:37] to see the last person I wanted to see was my own sister because I knew she was going to lead me there. But to her credit, she helped me. And out of that, I had to create a financial payment plan
[01:23:51] for the rest of my life. But nonetheless, I can remember that day, even as a little boy, realizing, listen, I was stuck, but God's, but she saved me. And the same thing when you realize
[01:24:06] your own salvation. When I was studying this text, I immediately went to my bookshelf and went to R.C.
[01:24:13] Cyril Sproul's book, Saved From What? Anybody read that book? If you haven't, write it down and buy it, Saved From What? And it is a book on my shelf that almost the pages are falling out,
[01:24:26] but what he's reminding the believer he's saved from is the wrath of God for sin. And one of the quotes in that book, R.C. says, a substitute has appeared in space and time, appointed by God
[01:24:39] himself to bear the weight and the burden of our transgressions and to make expiation for our guilt and to propitiate the wrath of God on our behalf. R.C. Spohr writes, this is the gospel. This is it.
[01:24:57] Never forget what you've been saved from. Never forget that. And if you notice, it gets even better. There's more cherries on top of this sundae. Because notice that word in verse 22, forever. Number one, what David's pulling out, again, he's pointing to the eternal reality
[01:25:16] of the kingdom of God. Even looking to this future king of kings, looking at how Jesus is going to live and reign forever as he is now, and he always has been. And this is the hope for
[01:25:29] David, hope for Israel, hope for you, so you can know that eternity, eternity is what you have to look forward to, just like Phil said just a moment ago, to be with Christ forever. But then again,
[01:25:44] he puts one more cherry on this thing by helping you to see this eternal reality that you're going to be with God forever. As we see the end of the ballgame there in Revelation chapter 21,
[01:25:58] and I heard aloud from the voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be to them as their
[01:26:08] God. Ladies and gentlemen, one day we will be with Him forever. Isn't that good? Listen, I'll never forget the church I used to attend in college. And I remember one time the pastor who was preaching
[01:26:21] told the story, the sad story, of the pastor's own mother never wanting to get saved. And even on her deathbed, wanted nothing to do with Christ. And I'll never forget, and he even gives it shivers
[01:26:34] in my bones now how his mom on her own deathbed said, I'm scared to die. Never accepted Christ.
[01:26:43] But I've also been on the other side of the token where I've been on someone's deathbed before where there's hope, there's confidence, there's a day that they will know they will be with, in just a few moments, they'll be with Christ forever. But ladies and gentlemen, never forget
[01:26:59] the gospel. Never forget what God has saved you from. Never forget as David is praying back to God what you have been saved from. What a glorious God that we have. And I'd be remiss not to say to
[01:27:17] you this day that if you don't know Jesus, call on Him today. Call on Him today so that you can be saved and have this confidence that David has, that I have, and that you can have that is found
[01:27:31] in Christ alone. So now we get to our third point, get to our third point. So we've been reminded of the greatness of God. We've been reminded of His saving act of grace. And now
[01:27:51] David is able to eat this ice cream sundae, so to speak. And now he's sitting back with confidence, knowing that all the promises of God are fulfilled, are fulfilled. So if you look in this
[01:28:06] third point here, beginning in verses 23 through 27. David says, beginning in verse 23, and now, O Lord, and now, O Lord, let the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house be established forever. And do as you have spoken, and your name will be
[01:28:27] established and magnified forever, saying, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel's God, and the house of your servant David will be established for before you.
[01:28:38] For you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him.
[01:28:45] Therefore, your servant has found courage to pray before you.
[01:28:50] And now, oh Lord, you are God and you have promised this good things to be to your servant.
[01:29:00] So all the promises are fulfilled.
[01:29:02] David is confident, not in his own effort, but he realizes in this promise that he has received from Yahweh that God who has initiated this covenant with him will also sustain it will sustain this covenant
[01:29:19] because the chronicler as he's writing this and you can see this actually in the sister passage in 2 Samuel chapter 7 because the chronicler knows that David is not going to live and as we know from scripture
[01:29:36] he's not going to live a perfect life He sins, falls into sin.
[01:29:41] We see even with Solomon, he does the same.
[01:29:43] And all the other kings after David are going to mess up, sin before the Lord.
[01:29:49] They're not going to be a perfect king.
[01:29:53] But David knows in this closing prayer that this also is a call for him to be faithful and to trust and to know that even though the road isn't going to be easy, He has nothing to fear
[01:30:10] because the Lord's promises are going to be fulfilled and this covenant will happen.
[01:30:17] But if you notice in verse 23, I want to point out two things for you in this last section of the prayer.
[01:30:24] In verse 23, we see God's omnipotence on full display.
[01:30:32] It says in verse 23, Oh now, O Lord, at the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house be established forever and do as you have spoken. The reason why I'm talking about the greatness of
[01:30:43] God again here is because what he's showing you here is that through the character of God, he's showing you that his word will be fulfilled because it's based upon the character of God.
[01:30:54] He's stating here in this last section of the prayer that the Lord's word will not fail. It can't fail. Why? Because God could never fail. So it's like a full circle, like the ring on your
[01:31:08] hand if you're married. It can't break. It's just an unending circle. And here that's what David is helping you to see with this, the omnipotence of God, the character of God on full display. He can't
[01:31:19] go against himself. So David knows in his heart this is going to happen. A house is going to be built. There's going to be a true king who will reign forever and years to come. David knows this
[01:31:30] is going to take place. He realizes that even though he's going to fail, leaders are going to fail. God never fails, and He is sovereign over all, and His sovereign will will be, will happen.
[01:31:46] We see this in Psalm 89, verses 35 through 37. As is once for all, I have spoken of my holiness.
[01:31:54] I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever. His throne before me like the sun, like the moon established forever, a faithful witness to the sky. We see that with Israel, and we see that with you here today as a born-again believer. Isn't that good? Isn't that
[01:32:15] good? We see that his word has never failed. But then if you look in verses 24 through 27 specifically, he says in verse 24, and your name be established, and here it is, magnified forever.
[01:32:34] David's chief concern now is not for his own offspring to be famous or to get the glory.
[01:32:43] He's wanting God to receive all the glory.
[01:32:47] That's what he wants.
[01:32:50] That's his desire now.
[01:32:53] And we see this in this last section of the prayer.
[01:32:57] He's wanting the name of the Lord to be magnified, as we see there in verse 24, so that your name will live forever.
[01:33:06] And in this section of the prayer, when the Lord's name is magnified, when you see the glory of God to shine like the sun, you're able to see who God is, his holiness on full display.
[01:33:20] And in turn, what that does for the nation of Israel, for you, it's like a magnet.
[01:33:25] It draws you in like a fly to a fly trap.
[01:33:29] It's drawing you in faster than you realize when you see the glory of God on display.
[01:33:34] And David realizes that even as Solomon builds this house, this physical structure that will be displayed, he realizes that even the structure itself will be a picture for the kingdom of God.
[01:33:48] And that's why he prays only for himself, but for his offspring.
[01:33:54] Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but for your name be glory forever.
[01:34:00] And ladies and gentlemen, that really is the prayer for all of us in this place.
[01:34:06] And if we're really honest with ourselves, we are reminded the reason why that you exist and I exist is for the glory of God.
[01:34:18] Never forget in John 1.14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
[01:34:23] And we have seen his glory, the glory of the only one son who came from the father full of grace and truth.
[01:34:33] And so this is David's prayer.
[01:34:38] This is David's prayer.
[01:34:39] And so now I want to move in to our last section of this sermon and to move into the application. So what do you do with all this? So what do you do with all this? So remember, I wanted to make that connection back to Grant's sermon
[01:34:57] back on June 28th when he was in Titus chapter 2 verse 9 where he reminded us in the scriptures that bondservants would be dismissive to their own masters and everything there to be well-pleasing and not argumentative. And if you remember, Grant, he would be so impressed with me.
[01:35:21] I mean, I'm just quoting his stuff off like here. And I'm pretty good. I remind myself that daily.
[01:35:30] But if you remember, he also read to us in Colossians 3.23, that whatever you do, work heartedly as for the Lord and not for men. So if you look at David's prayer, which again, I titled
[01:35:42] the servant's prayer. How do you connect all this together? Well, first, it's not in your notes, but you can put this. Never forget you are a servant of the King. Never forget the gospel.
[01:35:56] Never forget where you have been saved from. The fact that you are able to sing songs of praise, the fact that you are even breathing now is all an act of mercy in your life. And you,
[01:36:10] as you remember the gospel, and as you remember what King Jesus has done in your life, You, too, are to have this mindset that you, too, are a slave for Christ, a bondservant for the
[01:36:22] King. And that's your worldview. That's the lens that you see everything through it. And so, because of this mindset and this life, this prayer, it's also a call to action. And the first point that you were to call this call to action is that you were commanded to pray. You were
[01:36:43] commanded to pray. We see in verse 17, as well as all throughout Scripture, that God commands His people to pray, to be a praying people. You see from Adam walking with God, you see with Noah,
[01:36:57] you see with Abraham, you see with Joshua beseeching the Lord of how to go and find the promised lamb. You see with the prophets seeking after the Lord. You see Jesus going into the desolate place to pray. You see in the early days of the Christian church that the apostles
[01:37:13] dedicated themselves to the teaching, the fellowship, the breaking of the bread, and what?
[01:37:18] The prayer. The prayers. We've seen Matthew chapter 6 when Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray. Ladies and gentlemen, you're commanded to pray. And this is something that you may step back and go, well, Kenny, we know this. The question I'd like to ask you in this point of
[01:37:34] application is, are you praying? Are you praying without ceasing? Do you set time every day to go before the Lord in prayer? Do you see from this account, and as well as in 2 Samuel chapter 7,
[01:37:50] the importance of communing with the Lord? And how, when you pray, it is an expression of faith and trust and dependence upon God. And out of this, our second point of application that we see from the text is, do you long to be with God? Do you long to be with God? Remember in verse 16,
[01:38:18] what does David do? He immediately goes to be with the Lord. He longs to be with Him. Think about, for example, people that you love to be with. Your spouse, a good friend, me. Anybody
[01:38:37] with me? Okay. My wife didn't even raise her hand. But think about, do you long to be with God?
[01:38:49] You long to be with God. It's been humbling for me this week, and as I'm preparing this text, I keep going back to verse 16, that David's immediate response is to go to the Ark of the
[01:39:01] Covenant. David tells Solomon in chapter 28, serve Yahweh with your whole heart. The prophets constantly told Israel, seek the Lord. King Asa, seek the Lord while he may be found. James chapter four, verse eight, draw near to the Lord and he will draw near to you. Mary and Martha in Luke
[01:39:20] chapter 10, where was Mary? Sitting at the feet of Jesus. Do you long to be with him? Do you wake up daily longing to get into the Word and be a man or a woman of prayer? I don't know about you,
[01:39:35] when I don't do my quiet time, it's like I lost an appendage. It's like I'm lost for the day.
[01:39:42] It's like I can't get air in my lungs. I need it. And so do you long to be with the Lord? Do you set time daily to be with Him? Do you long to be here at the King's Chapel to serve the Lord
[01:39:55] and to partner together as we advance the kingdom of God.
[01:40:01] Do you long to be with him?
[01:40:04] What are your affections and your desires are?
[01:40:06] What are they on right now?
[01:40:09] And the third thing, most importantly, as David echoes here, is don't forget to live according to God's will.
[01:40:19] That's what matters at the end of the day, is to live according to the will of God.
[01:40:24] That's why Jesus in Matthew chapter 6, after he tells the disciples not to worry, one of the ways you're not able to worry is that if you seek first what? The kingdom of God and His righteousness, His righteousness.
[01:40:37] But I want, don't you forget, in the text, remember in the first half of the chapter, David wants to build this house for the Lord. But notice, David doesn't pray about it. Neither does Nathan. But what you find is that even though God says, no, you're not going to build it,
[01:40:58] what we see and this is what happens through prayer is even though sometimes circumstances don't change your heart changes and it's being transformed by the Holy Spirit so that you can be walking in righteousness and walking according to his word and so even though God's will will
[01:41:19] always reign supreme and even though sometimes when you're praying your heart out and it's not coming to the outcome you want, the Lord is making you holy and praying so that your life can be
[01:41:33] according to his will. So as we close and as we end our time this morning, like I said at the very beginning, this is the prayer of every disciple of Christ, every disciple of Christ,
[01:41:50] and as well as a call to action for you so that you can be found faithful in the sight of God.
[01:41:59] And so my prayer is that you will see the greatness of God in your own life on full display.
[01:42:05] You will be reminded of what you have been saved from.
[01:42:09] Be reminded of the gospel.
[01:42:11] And you will also live for his glory and to live according to his will.
[01:42:19] And that's the charge for you.
[01:42:22] And now it's time to act.
[01:42:24] Let's pray.
[01:42:26] Father, apart from you, we can do nothing.
[01:42:32] And so Lord, as your people, as your servants. Help us, Lord, to be faithful in your sight. Help us, oh Lord, to be men and women that live a life for your honor and for your glory. For Lord, that is why we exist. So Father,
[01:42:56] thank you for the promise of the Messiah. Thank you for our salvation. Thank you for your mercy you've given to us. Thank you for your grace you've given to us. And so, Lord, help us now to act
[01:43:08] faithfully according to your word. Father, we love you, and we pray these things in the good name of

[01:43:15] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_05]
[01:43:15] Christ. Amen. Let's stand together to him till all of his wonderful works. Go and live for the honor

[01:47:40] [SPEAKER SPEAKER_01]
[01:47:40] of God. You are dismissed.