Responding to the Promise of God (1 Chronicles 17:16-27)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.439 --> 00:00:07.000 If you're able, please remain standing and let's hear God's word from first chronicles 2 00:00:07.080 --> 00:00:13.509 chapter seventeen. This is now the second half of this chapter and the first 3 00:00:13.509 --> 00:00:18.269 half of the chapter. Last week we considered God's covenant with David, his 4 00:00:18.510 --> 00:00:25.219 promises, and now we hear David's response, the prayer that he prays to 5 00:00:25.339 --> 00:00:30.260 God, response to the promises that he has received. So this is first 6 00:00:30.260 --> 00:00:37.929 chronicles chapter seventeen versus sixteen to the end. Let's give our attention to God's 7 00:00:37.929 --> 00:00:45.289 word. Then King David went in and sat before Jehovah and Said Who am 8 00:00:45.409 --> 00:00:50.280 I, Oh Jehovah God, and what is my house? That you have 9 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:54.320 brought me thus far? And this was a small thing in your eyes, 10 00:00:54.359 --> 00:00:58.799 Oh God. You have also spoken of your servants House for a great while 11 00:00:58.920 --> 00:01:03.670 to come and have shown me Future Generations, Oh Jehovah God. And what 12 00:01:03.829 --> 00:01:08.510 more can David say to you for Honoring Your Servant, for you know your 13 00:01:08.629 --> 00:01:14.310 servant, for Your Servants Sake, Oh Jehovah, and according to Your own 14 00:01:14.430 --> 00:01:19.299 heart, you have done all this greatness, in making known all these great 15 00:01:19.420 --> 00:01:25.260 things. There is none like you, Oh Jehovah, and there is no 16 00:01:25.500 --> 00:01:30.500 god besides you, according to to all that we have heard with our ears, 17 00:01:30.739 --> 00:01:34.810 and who is like your people, Israel, the one nation on earth 18 00:01:34.849 --> 00:01:40.969 whom God went to redeemed to be his people, making for yourself a name 19 00:01:41.250 --> 00:01:47.010 for great and awesome things, and driving out nations before your people, whom 20 00:01:47.090 --> 00:01:52.879 you redeemed from Egypt, and you made your people, Israel, to be 21 00:01:52.959 --> 00:02:00.200 your people forever. And you, Oh Jehovah, became their God. And 22 00:02:00.359 --> 00:02:05.629 now, O Jehovah, let the word that you have spoken concerning your servant 23 00:02:05.709 --> 00:02:09.389 and concerning his house be established forever. And do as you have spoken, 24 00:02:09.909 --> 00:02:15.259 and your name will be established and magnified forever, saying Jehovah of Hosts, 25 00:02:15.699 --> 00:02:21.659 the God of Israel, is Israel's God, and the House of your servant, 26 00:02:21.659 --> 00:02:25.139 David, will be established before you, for you, my God, 27 00:02:25.259 --> 00:02:30.969 have revealed to your servant that you will build a house for him. Therefore, 28 00:02:30.650 --> 00:02:35.849 your servant has found courage to pray before you. And now, Oh 29 00:02:35.889 --> 00:02:40.330 Jehovah, you are God and you have promised this good thing to your servant. 30 00:02:42.449 --> 00:02:46.680 Now you have been pleased to bless the House of your servant that it 31 00:02:46.759 --> 00:02:51.800 may continue forever before you, for it is you, Oh Jehovah, who 32 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:58.870 have blessed, and it is blessed forever. May God bless his word to 33 00:02:58.949 --> 00:03:15.740 us. Please be see you kids, you know that when God speaks, 34 00:03:16.020 --> 00:03:21.620 you are to respond, because you know, as the adults know, that 35 00:03:21.740 --> 00:03:27.610 when authorities speak to you, you're supposed to respond. If mom or dad 36 00:03:27.810 --> 00:03:30.650 says, Hey, I want you to go clean the dishes off the table 37 00:03:31.289 --> 00:03:36.689 and you just look at them and you don't respond and you don't say anything. 38 00:03:36.729 --> 00:03:39.289 You don't say a yes or an okay, or can I finish this 39 00:03:39.330 --> 00:03:43.719 up first, you know you're going to be in trouble. You know you're 40 00:03:43.719 --> 00:03:46.719 going to get something like have you heard me? Did you hear what I 41 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:51.280 said? Well, this is true for all of us. When an authority 42 00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:58.750 speaks to us, we are supposed to respond and we're supposed to respond appropriately 43 00:03:58.909 --> 00:04:02.349 and fittingly. Sometimes that's a command. If someone who is in charge of 44 00:04:02.430 --> 00:04:05.909 you says you need to do this, you say yes, I will do 45 00:04:06.069 --> 00:04:11.060 this. That's an appropriate and fitting response. But there's other kinds of things 46 00:04:11.139 --> 00:04:15.339 that people say, other kinds of ways in which we respond. Sometimes somebody 47 00:04:15.420 --> 00:04:19.899 may give you a gift. Imagine somebody gives you a really great gift, 48 00:04:20.459 --> 00:04:25.410 something you've been waiting for, something that you've really been wanting. It's been 49 00:04:25.449 --> 00:04:30.250 on your list for some time and you get it, they put it into 50 00:04:30.250 --> 00:04:33.649 your hands and you look at it and you just turn around and walk away. 51 00:04:35.449 --> 00:04:40.319 That's not an appropriate response, is it? Where's the thank you, 52 00:04:40.920 --> 00:04:45.319 where's the wow, I really appreciate this, or how did you do this 53 00:04:45.560 --> 00:04:51.759 or how did you know? When people speak to us, especially when authority 54 00:04:51.949 --> 00:04:57.149 speak to us, especially when somebody WHO's an authority over US gives us a 55 00:04:57.310 --> 00:05:04.990 gift, we're called to respond and to respond in an appropriate way. But 56 00:05:05.110 --> 00:05:11.300 when it comes to God, many, many people, including me, fail 57 00:05:11.459 --> 00:05:17.019 to respond or we fail to respond in a proper way. Perhaps some of 58 00:05:17.060 --> 00:05:21.209 these things are familiar to you. A God speaks, he offers something to 59 00:05:21.290 --> 00:05:26.329 you, he promises something to you, and you act as if it's kind 60 00:05:26.370 --> 00:05:33.250 of an automatic thing, as if you deserve it. It was. I 61 00:05:33.410 --> 00:05:39.639 was reminded recently. Elder for a reminded me recently how often we we pray 62 00:05:39.720 --> 00:05:44.680 for things and then we don't return thanks for them after we've received them. 63 00:05:46.519 --> 00:05:48.879 We Act as if it's automatical. Of course I deserve this, of course 64 00:05:49.000 --> 00:05:54.269 I get to have this thing. We have this kind of presumptive thing, 65 00:05:54.870 --> 00:05:59.910 presumptiveness about us, like we deserve this, so God must give this to 66 00:05:59.990 --> 00:06:01.589 me. Of course he offered it to me. I'm that kind of guy. 67 00:06:02.430 --> 00:06:06.779 Well, no, that's not right. This is a poor response to 68 00:06:08.139 --> 00:06:12.500 assume and or act as if the things that God gives us are automatic or 69 00:06:12.579 --> 00:06:17.379 that we deserve them. That's a that's a poor response. Others don't respond 70 00:06:17.459 --> 00:06:21.410 to what's offered, but respond to something else. God gives them one thing 71 00:06:21.490 --> 00:06:26.889 and they respond as if he's given them another, failing to actually pay attention 72 00:06:27.129 --> 00:06:33.480 to what's been given. Others fail to respond properly by fearing receiving. God 73 00:06:33.680 --> 00:06:39.360 says here's a gift, it's for you, and they say no, couldn't 74 00:06:39.360 --> 00:06:43.120 be for me, I don't believe you get it away from me. I 75 00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:47.230 don't deserve that. I'm a sinner, I'm unholy, I'm not good enough 76 00:06:47.910 --> 00:06:53.750 to get a gift from God. Well, that may be true, but 77 00:06:53.829 --> 00:06:58.670 if God desires to give a gift, surely he's figured out a way to 78 00:06:58.790 --> 00:07:04.660 make you worthy or to make his purposes worthy. So acting as if it's 79 00:07:04.660 --> 00:07:11.139 automatic, not responding properly, responding in fear there's probably a bunch of other 80 00:07:11.220 --> 00:07:15.009 ways. We can list bad ways to respond to God giving a gift to 81 00:07:15.129 --> 00:07:23.449 us. But here in first chronicle seventeen, in David's prayer, we have 82 00:07:23.649 --> 00:07:30.199 this very wonderful example, a great example of how we ought to respond when 83 00:07:30.199 --> 00:07:34.519 God gives us something. We have this holy example of what it means, 84 00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:39.800 in particular, to pray. This is how we respond to God, by 85 00:07:40.160 --> 00:07:45.269 praying to him. We're told here and for or we're given this example in 86 00:07:45.389 --> 00:07:50.069 first chronicles seventeen how to respond to the Lord, a holy way to respond. 87 00:07:50.670 --> 00:07:55.310 But more than that, God also teaches us in this passage the why 88 00:07:56.269 --> 00:08:01.259 we ought to respond or the what we are responding to. So I want 89 00:08:01.300 --> 00:08:05.139 to think about David's prayer this evening with you and will do so under three 90 00:08:05.300 --> 00:08:11.740 points. First, a covenant for David, Second, a prayer for God 91 00:08:11.660 --> 00:08:18.250 and third, an example for us. So three things, a covenant for 92 00:08:18.370 --> 00:08:22.930 David, a prayer for God and then an example for us. Those are 93 00:08:22.930 --> 00:08:26.089 our headings. So First, a covenant for David. If you want to 94 00:08:26.089 --> 00:08:30.319 understand the prayer of David, if you want to understand why it's a good 95 00:08:30.399 --> 00:08:33.200 example of a of a prayer, you have to understand the thing that he 96 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:39.200 is receiving, and this we considered last time, but you'll notice it's also 97 00:08:39.279 --> 00:08:43.909 embedded here in the prayer itself. It's a good reminder that David's prayer is 98 00:08:43.990 --> 00:08:50.029 actually responding to a particular promise. So, for example, in Verse Twenty 99 00:08:50.070 --> 00:08:54.750 Five, and there are other places, but in verse twenty five we read 100 00:08:54.429 --> 00:08:58.820 for you, my God, have revealed to your servant that you will build 101 00:08:58.820 --> 00:09:05.820 a house for him. Do you remember what David's talking about here? Do 102 00:09:05.860 --> 00:09:09.210 you remember what happened in the first part of first chronicles? Seventeen? David 103 00:09:09.330 --> 00:09:18.769 is in his palace, his beautiful palace made of Cedar Imported Wood, majestic, 104 00:09:18.929 --> 00:09:22.970 standing there and he looks out on the Ark of God, which he's 105 00:09:22.970 --> 00:09:28.919 gone through a lot of trouble and and and and a lot of pomp and 106 00:09:28.039 --> 00:09:31.759 circumstance and other things. That's not the exact what I want to use, 107 00:09:31.840 --> 00:09:35.039 but there's been a much ado about bringing the arc to Jerusalem and he looks 108 00:09:35.080 --> 00:09:39.309 out on it and he says, is it right for God to dwell in 109 00:09:39.429 --> 00:09:43.230 a tent? And he goes to Nathan, remember, he goes to Nathan 110 00:09:43.269 --> 00:09:45.669 and says, I'm going to build a house for God. I'm going to 111 00:09:46.029 --> 00:09:50.389 make a temple so that I'm not in this great palace and God's in a 112 00:09:50.470 --> 00:09:52.019 tent, but so that God can be in a palace as well, a 113 00:09:52.220 --> 00:09:58.379 temple. Nathan says, Go David, do what's in your heart. But 114 00:09:58.419 --> 00:10:01.980 then God comes to Nathan and says, don't tell him that. Chell him 115 00:10:01.980 --> 00:10:07.889 the opposite. Tell Him, don't build a house for me, because I'm 116 00:10:07.889 --> 00:10:11.289 going to build a house for you. That's the good that God gives, 117 00:10:11.370 --> 00:10:16.450 that's the present that God gives to David. He says, you want to 118 00:10:16.490 --> 00:10:20.450 build me a house? No, because I'm going to build you a house. 119 00:10:20.129 --> 00:10:24.000 And when he says a house like that, he doesn't just mean this 120 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:28.679 a palace that David already has built, although God has certainly given him that, 121 00:10:28.440 --> 00:10:33.879 but he means this great family and, in particular, a son that 122 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:41.230 will come and establish this family of David and the throne of David forever. 123 00:10:41.470 --> 00:10:46.990 You remember how many times that word forever is used in God's promise to David, 124 00:10:46.669 --> 00:10:50.820 over and over and over again. If memory serves it's something like eight 125 00:10:52.019 --> 00:10:56.059 times. He says forever, I will establish this forever, forever, forever. 126 00:10:56.820 --> 00:11:00.980 God doesn't just want another king to come after David. He wants to 127 00:11:01.100 --> 00:11:07.169 establish a dynasty through this servant of his forever, a throne to rule over 128 00:11:07.370 --> 00:11:13.289 his people and over the nation's for all eternity. This is what God promises 129 00:11:13.330 --> 00:11:18.570 to David. David says I should build God a temple and God responds by 130 00:11:18.639 --> 00:11:24.639 saying I'm going to build you a house, a kingdom of throne for all 131 00:11:24.759 --> 00:11:31.519 eternity. Well, that's the promise, that's the Covenant for David. So 132 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:39.110 what's David's prayer for God or to God was? We Look at David's prayer, 133 00:11:39.870 --> 00:11:43.830 you can see different ingredients. You could think of it as ingredients, 134 00:11:43.990 --> 00:11:46.980 like ingredients for a cake. A good cake will be made up of, 135 00:11:48.379 --> 00:11:52.059 you know, sugar and flour and eggs and probably some other things. I 136 00:11:52.100 --> 00:11:56.379 don't really cook, but this cake takes ingredients right, and a good prayer 137 00:11:56.419 --> 00:12:03.090 has certain ingredients to it as well, and we see several of those here. 138 00:12:03.769 --> 00:12:11.450 The first thing you see is humility. That's the first ingredient of this 139 00:12:11.690 --> 00:12:16.039 prayer. Notice how David Starts. He's been given this amazing promise. God 140 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:20.480 has made this covenant with him. And what does he say? Well, 141 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:26.279 of course I'm a king after all. No, he says, who am 142 00:12:26.360 --> 00:12:33.470 I? Who Am I, Oh Jehovah, God, and what is my 143 00:12:33.909 --> 00:12:39.990 house that you have brought me thus far? You See, even before considering 144 00:12:41.110 --> 00:12:43.659 the future promises that God has just said he will give it to David, 145 00:12:43.700 --> 00:12:52.139 David says, even what you've already given me I don't deserve. You remember 146 00:12:52.220 --> 00:12:56.019 what God said and the first person, first part of first chronicles, seventeen, 147 00:12:56.139 --> 00:13:00.090 he says, you were nothing, you are a shepherd and I've made 148 00:13:00.169 --> 00:13:05.049 you a king. You remember, too, how that shepherd boy was chosen. 149 00:13:05.129 --> 00:13:09.090 Samuel, when he comes to annoint him, goes and goes and he 150 00:13:09.529 --> 00:13:13.559 he looks at all the brothers and and he thinks, will surely it must 151 00:13:13.559 --> 00:13:20.120 be one of these. And David sort of left left, left alone, 152 00:13:20.159 --> 00:13:22.240 until finally says to Jesse, is there anyone else? He says, well, 153 00:13:22.279 --> 00:13:26.789 there's my son and my son David, and that was the one, 154 00:13:28.669 --> 00:13:35.070 this shepherd boy, this boy God would turn into a king. But this 155 00:13:35.350 --> 00:13:39.870 great thing that's happened to David, David says, and this was a small 156 00:13:41.029 --> 00:13:45.139 thing in your eyes. Oh God. This is a good reminder, by 157 00:13:45.220 --> 00:13:48.980 the way, of events and things that happen in our lives. These things 158 00:13:48.019 --> 00:13:54.779 happened to us which are cataclysmic, life changing. Maybe it's a great thing, 159 00:13:54.019 --> 00:13:58.210 maybe it's a great turmoil, whatever it is, but to God, 160 00:13:58.210 --> 00:14:03.929 David says it was a small thing in his eyes to do something so great. 161 00:14:05.529 --> 00:14:09.360 You, here is humility. Who Am I, he even says in 162 00:14:09.519 --> 00:14:16.120 verse eighteen. He you finds himself a somewhat speechless. And what more can 163 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:20.279 David say to you for Honoring Your Servant? Have you ever felt like that 164 00:14:20.840 --> 00:14:26.269 before God, to simply not have the words to express your thankfulness, to 165 00:14:26.309 --> 00:14:35.070 be somewhat speechless at the goodness of God's grace? That's humility, and you 166 00:14:35.230 --> 00:14:39.419 notice that the humility is not a focus on himself. Sure, David says 167 00:14:39.539 --> 00:14:43.139 who am I, and he reflects on his weakness, but it's all in 168 00:14:43.179 --> 00:14:48.980 the context of God's greatness, of what God has done for his servant, 169 00:14:50.580 --> 00:14:54.850 the great things God has done, how small it was in his eyes. 170 00:14:54.370 --> 00:14:58.809 When David speaks in this way, he's humble, yes, but he's humble 171 00:14:58.250 --> 00:15:03.250 and it's true humility because he's focused on God. It's not a false humility 172 00:15:03.289 --> 00:15:11.679 where he's focused on himself, and in that he's not obsequious. That's a 173 00:15:11.720 --> 00:15:18.120 word that means like in genuine groveling, this kind of flattery or way of 174 00:15:20.320 --> 00:15:24.549 puffing up someone who's an authority over you, over you so that you can 175 00:15:24.629 --> 00:15:28.549 be thought of as being better. That's not what's going on here. David 176 00:15:28.629 --> 00:15:37.940 is truly humble, but this humility has another ingredient mixed in with it. 177 00:15:37.100 --> 00:15:43.980 It's a humility that's mixed with courage. Remember that example I gave before, 178 00:15:45.419 --> 00:15:48.820 where the person is given a gift and refuses to Receive Says No, I 179 00:15:48.940 --> 00:15:54.769 don't want it because they're afraid of give it getting the gift. That's not 180 00:15:54.970 --> 00:16:00.690 what happens with this piety of David, this godliness. He is humility, 181 00:16:02.529 --> 00:16:07.840 this who am I is mixed with courage. Listen to verse twenty five again. 182 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:11.519 For you, my God, have revealed to your servant and that you 183 00:16:11.639 --> 00:16:18.360 will build a house for him. Therefore, your servant has found courage to 184 00:16:18.559 --> 00:16:23.750 pray before you. Have you ever thought about that? What gives you, 185 00:16:25.789 --> 00:16:30.230 in all of your sins and all of your failures and all of your hostility 186 00:16:30.309 --> 00:16:36.980 toward God, what gives you the right to go before the Almighty God and 187 00:16:37.179 --> 00:16:42.500 say anything, to ask him for forgiveness, to praise his name. I'm 188 00:16:42.779 --> 00:16:48.570 what would make you think that you would be worthy to go before God? 189 00:16:49.250 --> 00:16:56.570 Well, David has courage to do that. He has courage because of the 190 00:16:56.690 --> 00:17:00.049 promise. We go to God and we ask him for forgiveness, because he 191 00:17:00.210 --> 00:17:03.839 says, if you come to me for forgiveness, I will forgive you. 192 00:17:03.880 --> 00:17:08.880 You See, when we do that, we're trusting in God's promise more than 193 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:14.880 we are in our sinfulness. And that's what David does here. He says 194 00:17:15.240 --> 00:17:21.390 you have revealed this thing, so I have found courage to pray before you 195 00:17:21.990 --> 00:17:26.789 and to ask that your will will be done. If God hadn't said it, 196 00:17:26.910 --> 00:17:30.339 we wouldn't have a right to respond in the way that we do. 197 00:17:30.779 --> 00:17:34.819 But because he says it, we can go and courage, with boldness and 198 00:17:36.019 --> 00:17:40.099 confidence, before the throne of God and say I'm going to ask you, 199 00:17:41.940 --> 00:17:47.410 creator of the heavens and the earth, to do something because you have said 200 00:17:47.450 --> 00:17:53.009 you will do it. That kind of prayer, that humility and courage prayer, 201 00:17:55.049 --> 00:18:00.440 is a prayer of faith. So we have humility in David's prayer. 202 00:18:00.480 --> 00:18:06.559 We have humility mixed with courage. We also notice that this humility is is 203 00:18:07.079 --> 00:18:12.789 not a flattery. It's the praise that he gives God is not undeserved or 204 00:18:12.910 --> 00:18:18.630 excessive, but it's truly genuine. We might say that the flip side of 205 00:18:18.710 --> 00:18:23.230 this is praise. Our prayers should be filled with the praise of God. 206 00:18:25.670 --> 00:18:30.900 Notice some of the things he praises. In Verse Nineteen, he praises God's 207 00:18:30.940 --> 00:18:34.420 will. He says, for Your Servants Sake, Oh Jehovah, and according 208 00:18:34.460 --> 00:18:40.420 to Your own heart, you have done all this greatness, in making known 209 00:18:40.460 --> 00:18:45.849 all these great things. You See, God wasn't pressured into doing something. 210 00:18:45.890 --> 00:18:51.049 David didn't manipulate him into building in a house. God did it because he 211 00:18:51.569 --> 00:18:56.720 wanted to do it according to his own heart. This is David. One 212 00:18:56.759 --> 00:19:00.200 of the David's ways of praising God. He says, he praises him for 213 00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:08.119 the for the greatness and the goodness and the authority of his will. That's 214 00:19:08.119 --> 00:19:14.109 verse nineteen. He also praises God for his uniqueness. That's in the next 215 00:19:14.150 --> 00:19:18.869 verse, Verse Twenty. How about this? There is none like you. 216 00:19:18.990 --> 00:19:26.940 There is no God besides you that's unique. There is one God, David 217 00:19:26.019 --> 00:19:30.019 says, when he goes before God to pray to him, to thank him 218 00:19:30.019 --> 00:19:34.740 for this gift he doesn't go before a Pantheon, he doesn't make his choice 219 00:19:34.779 --> 00:19:41.329 among various options. He goes before the one and only God and he praises 220 00:19:41.410 --> 00:19:47.609 God for being that one God, that he is completely and entirely unique, 221 00:19:47.650 --> 00:19:52.640 that there is no one besides him, no one comparable to him. So 222 00:19:52.759 --> 00:19:56.839 he praises the will of God in Verse Nineteen, he praises the uniqueness of 223 00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:03.559 God in verse twenty, and then he praises the uniqueness of God's promises to 224 00:20:03.759 --> 00:20:10.230 Israel. In other words, he's praising the Work of God in Verses Twenty 225 00:20:10.269 --> 00:20:14.549 One and twenty two. Who is like your people, Israel, the one 226 00:20:14.710 --> 00:20:19.549 nation on earth whom God went to redeem, his people, making for yourself 227 00:20:19.589 --> 00:20:25.220 a name for great and awesome things in driving out the nations before your people, 228 00:20:25.740 --> 00:20:33.180 whom you redeemed from Egypt? David Praises God's people because they are God's 229 00:20:33.259 --> 00:20:36.450 people. It's a way of praising God. It's like if you went to 230 00:20:36.529 --> 00:20:40.730 a museum them and you were looked at a piece of pottery and you said, 231 00:20:41.089 --> 00:20:45.890 wow, this is an amazing piece of pottery. You're not just praising 232 00:20:45.009 --> 00:20:49.319 the pottery right, you're praising the maker of the pottery. You'll look at 233 00:20:49.359 --> 00:20:52.480 the plaque next to the next to the work, and you'll say, look, 234 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:56.240 who's done this? Maybe you hear a piece of music on the radio 235 00:20:56.279 --> 00:21:02.079 and you say who composed this? Who wrote this? You desire to give 236 00:21:02.279 --> 00:21:07.349 praise to the maker, and that's what David Does by looking at this work 237 00:21:07.509 --> 00:21:11.670 that God has done in Israel. So he praises the will of God, 238 00:21:11.829 --> 00:21:18.069 he praises the uniqueness of God and of his works and finally, he praises 239 00:21:18.150 --> 00:21:22.059 the goodness and greatness of God, these works that he says are not just 240 00:21:22.740 --> 00:21:27.460 big, but they are good, they are great. In Verse Nineteen he 241 00:21:27.740 --> 00:21:32.819 says they are great, these things are great, and then in verse twenty 242 00:21:32.859 --> 00:21:38.009 six he calls them a good things. So these are ways in which David 243 00:21:38.130 --> 00:21:41.849 Praises God. This is a way to respond to a gift that you've been 244 00:21:41.890 --> 00:21:47.279 given, to come humbly before the one who's giving you a gift you don't 245 00:21:47.279 --> 00:21:53.680 deserve, to offer to them a respectful attitude, a heartfelt attitude of thankfulness, 246 00:21:55.440 --> 00:22:00.680 but also praise for who they are, the goodness and kindness that they 247 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:06.869 have done. That's a true prayer, a prayer that belongs only to God. 248 00:22:07.630 --> 00:22:12.269 So we have humility, humility that's mixed with courage. We have praise 249 00:22:12.390 --> 00:22:18.579 and finally, we have, in David's holy prayer, requests, things that 250 00:22:18.700 --> 00:22:26.819 he asks God. This is another important ingredient of prayer. He says of 251 00:22:26.299 --> 00:22:33.809 various things, in verse twenty three, for example. In Verse Twenty Three 252 00:22:33.849 --> 00:22:37.410 He says, and now, Oh Jehovah, let the word that you have 253 00:22:37.569 --> 00:22:44.720 spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house be established forever and do as you 254 00:22:44.839 --> 00:22:49.000 have spoken. What is David asking here? He's asking that. That a 255 00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:55.680 petition that Jesus mentions in the Lord's prayer. He asks that God's will would 256 00:22:55.720 --> 00:23:00.190 be done. He says that he that he asks that God that the word 257 00:23:00.309 --> 00:23:06.029 that he has spoken would be done, that God would do it. This 258 00:23:06.230 --> 00:23:11.829 is a way of really trusting in God's promises and not doubting. If God 259 00:23:11.029 --> 00:23:15.059 promises to give you something, even if you haven't yet received it, the 260 00:23:15.099 --> 00:23:18.980 right response is to say thank you, not well, we'll see how you 261 00:23:19.099 --> 00:23:23.779 do right. This is God we're talking about. We're not talking about a 262 00:23:25.180 --> 00:23:30.170 fallible human being. We're not talking about someone who breaks their promises over and 263 00:23:30.289 --> 00:23:34.289 over and over to you. We're talking about God, who steadfast love is 264 00:23:34.410 --> 00:23:41.130 forever, whose mercy endures from generation to generation. We're talking about God, 265 00:23:41.369 --> 00:23:45.119 who is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, whose word 266 00:23:45.519 --> 00:23:51.079 never fails. When God says, David, I am going to establish your 267 00:23:51.200 --> 00:23:57.789 throne forever, David Responds rightly when he says do this, I trust you 268 00:23:57.869 --> 00:24:03.670 to do this. So this is what he asks God. He this is 269 00:24:03.710 --> 00:24:08.349 the request that God would do his will. He also asks two other things. 270 00:24:08.789 --> 00:24:14.259 Briefly, in Verse Twenty Four, he asks that God would be glorified 271 00:24:14.380 --> 00:24:18.980 in this work. He says it, inputs it in this way, and 272 00:24:18.259 --> 00:24:26.250 your name will be established and magnified forever, saying Jehovah of Hosts, the 273 00:24:26.289 --> 00:24:30.089 God of Israel, is Israel's God, and the House of your servant, 274 00:24:30.089 --> 00:24:36.250 David, will be established for before you see what David's praying. He's saying 275 00:24:36.329 --> 00:24:41.160 that God is you give me this gift. I pray that you will do 276 00:24:41.480 --> 00:24:45.519 your word, the thing that you have promised, and not only will you 277 00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:48.759 do it, but because this gift is to be given and because this kingdom 278 00:24:48.799 --> 00:24:55.990 is to be established forever, that you would therefore be magnified and praised forever. 279 00:24:57.109 --> 00:25:03.509 Does that ever figure into your prayers, that God would be praised and 280 00:25:03.789 --> 00:25:07.460 magnified, that he would be glorified in the works that you have asked him 281 00:25:07.460 --> 00:25:11.619 to do, works that are according to his word and to his promise. 282 00:25:12.500 --> 00:25:18.900 I hope so. These are good ways to pray. And then, finally, 283 00:25:19.460 --> 00:25:25.930 his final request is that God not only would be magnified or glorified in 284 00:25:26.130 --> 00:25:32.089 his work in building David this house, but also that his people and David 285 00:25:32.170 --> 00:25:37.880 would be glorified or blessed in him. David doesn't see himself simply as being 286 00:25:38.000 --> 00:25:42.079 separate from this work of God. He sees it himself wrapped up and involved 287 00:25:42.119 --> 00:25:49.029 in it. So in verses, in the final verses, he says this. 288 00:25:51.710 --> 00:25:56.069 Now you have been pleased to bless this house of your servant, that 289 00:25:56.150 --> 00:26:00.269 it may continue forever before you, for it is you, O Jehovah, 290 00:26:00.269 --> 00:26:06.619 who have blessed and it is blessed forever. He has promised this good thing 291 00:26:06.900 --> 00:26:11.980 to David, and David Asks that he would indeed find good in it, 292 00:26:11.619 --> 00:26:18.369 that he would find blessing in it. So what are the ingredients of David's 293 00:26:18.410 --> 00:26:25.009 prayer? What are the ingredients of a of a prayer that rightly responds to 294 00:26:25.130 --> 00:26:34.559 a gift of God, humility, courage, praise and requests. So this 295 00:26:34.920 --> 00:26:42.480 is David's prayer for God, to God, and we've heard of God's covenant 296 00:26:42.599 --> 00:26:48.430 to David. But finally we realize and see that this prayer is not just 297 00:26:48.950 --> 00:26:55.710 David's prayer, but it is an example for us, and this is somewhat 298 00:26:55.710 --> 00:27:02.099 obvious, isn't it? These are obviously good things, good and holy responses 299 00:27:02.539 --> 00:27:07.180 that we are to emulate, ways in which we are also to pray. 300 00:27:07.339 --> 00:27:11.660 When we ask how we should pray, what should be the ingredients in our 301 00:27:11.700 --> 00:27:17.009 prayers, these are the things on that God would have us do. David's 302 00:27:17.049 --> 00:27:22.769 example was given a partly for this, but we have to remember that God's 303 00:27:22.849 --> 00:27:29.730 prayer are God's promise to David is not just his promise to David, it's 304 00:27:29.809 --> 00:27:36.640 also a promise for us, and this is important because it will affect the 305 00:27:36.720 --> 00:27:41.720 way that you pray. Let me explain. If a friend came to you 306 00:27:41.880 --> 00:27:48.309 and said, Hey, I god gave I was a God gave me a 307 00:27:48.430 --> 00:27:52.109 spouse. I really wanted a spouse. God has given me a spouse and 308 00:27:52.190 --> 00:27:55.990 I've prayed to him and I've asked him and I've praised him and I've thanked 309 00:27:56.029 --> 00:28:00.380 him and I've asked that he would make this a good marriage and these kinds 310 00:28:00.420 --> 00:28:03.140 of things. You might look at that and let's say your friend is a 311 00:28:03.299 --> 00:28:07.140 good, holy person, a Christian who is acting piously before God, and 312 00:28:07.579 --> 00:28:11.819 you hear their prayer and you say that's good, I was a good prayer. 313 00:28:12.210 --> 00:28:17.569 I should pray more like that now. That would be a good thing, 314 00:28:17.690 --> 00:28:22.410 and in some ways that's what we have here with David. God promises 315 00:28:22.529 --> 00:28:26.769 something to David, David Responds, we get to hear that response and we 316 00:28:26.769 --> 00:28:30.880 should say that was a good response. I should pray like that. But 317 00:28:32.039 --> 00:28:37.359 it's more than that. God's promise is to David. Are Not just this 318 00:28:37.839 --> 00:28:42.309 singular event in David's life which David responded to and we learned this moral lesson 319 00:28:42.470 --> 00:28:48.589 from. God's promise to David is a promise to us, because this House 320 00:28:48.750 --> 00:28:55.549 that he establishes is a house that is established in Jesus, and Jesus is 321 00:28:55.740 --> 00:28:57.380 the one who is common and who said, if you believe in me, 322 00:28:57.579 --> 00:29:03.099 you will belong to me, you will be my brothers and sisters, you 323 00:29:03.140 --> 00:29:07.700 will belong to my house. The inheritance that I earn I give to you 324 00:29:10.490 --> 00:29:17.089 so that means when God is making this promise to David, we are called 325 00:29:17.170 --> 00:29:22.289 to respond not just in the way that David did, but to the things 326 00:29:22.450 --> 00:29:29.480 that David did. Does that make sense? David's covenant is not just David's 327 00:29:29.559 --> 00:29:37.400 covenant. It's Pete and Francis has and Vanni's and mine. It's our covenant. 328 00:29:37.839 --> 00:29:41.589 It's the covenant that God has promised to us. So we respond not 329 00:29:41.750 --> 00:29:47.269 just with the ingredients of prayer, but we respond to the same gift. 330 00:29:48.670 --> 00:29:52.579 There is, of course, something of a difference, and it's in this 331 00:29:55.220 --> 00:30:00.740 the David is praying about something that is largely in the future. We are 332 00:30:00.900 --> 00:30:06.220 praying about something that we are very much in the middle of. This would 333 00:30:06.220 --> 00:30:11.170 buy be like going back and reading your your grandma's prayer journals or something, 334 00:30:11.210 --> 00:30:17.009 and you read and they're aligne her praying for you and that one day such 335 00:30:17.089 --> 00:30:18.529 and such a thing would happen, and you say, wow, that thing 336 00:30:18.650 --> 00:30:25.319 is happening right now. God is answering Grandma's prayer from fifty years ago. 337 00:30:25.880 --> 00:30:29.799 Here I am in the middle of it. It's like that, only the 338 00:30:29.920 --> 00:30:37.470 generations are not fifty years, it's hundreds of years. God made this promise 339 00:30:37.630 --> 00:30:41.670 to David and we are in the middle of the fulfillment of it. God 340 00:30:41.710 --> 00:30:45.190 has sent his son, Jesus, the son of David, to come and 341 00:30:45.430 --> 00:30:52.059 build this house, to build that temple, and he's doing that living stone, 342 00:30:52.099 --> 00:30:56.700 as Peter Calls us after living stone, lock by block, brick by 343 00:30:56.819 --> 00:31:02.339 brick, God is building this temple out of us, a place for his 344 00:31:02.500 --> 00:31:10.210 spirit to dwell and to dwell forever. So when we pray David's prayer in 345 00:31:10.410 --> 00:31:15.809 response to the promises God has given us, we're not just responding in the 346 00:31:15.890 --> 00:31:22.279 way that he did, but responding to the what that was given. We're 347 00:31:22.319 --> 00:31:29.680 not mimic merely mimicking a style, but we're grasping hold of the same substance, 348 00:31:30.119 --> 00:31:38.869 which is who is Jesus Christ. This is our hope and in many 349 00:31:40.069 --> 00:31:47.420 ways we get to pray a prayer and make praises and ask things that are 350 00:31:47.500 --> 00:31:53.259 even much farther beyond what David could even imagine. We can understand David's prayer 351 00:31:53.339 --> 00:32:00.019 in a way that he didn't even fully understand, because we've seen how God 352 00:32:00.180 --> 00:32:02.650 has fulfilled these things. We're in the middle of these, were in the 353 00:32:02.690 --> 00:32:07.890 middle of these. The fulfillment of these promises. So you might put it 354 00:32:08.009 --> 00:32:14.089 this way. If David could have confidence and courage to go before the Lord, 355 00:32:14.930 --> 00:32:20.160 will you be fearful? Will you'll be ashamed? May It never be. 356 00:32:21.759 --> 00:32:24.880 We go before the Lord knowing that God Godd Him, God has sent 357 00:32:25.119 --> 00:32:30.430 Jesus to die on a cross to forgive us our sins. And that has 358 00:32:30.470 --> 00:32:35.829 happened. The Cross has happened, the resurrection has happened, the ascension has 359 00:32:35.910 --> 00:32:39.029 happened, the pouring out of the Holy Spirit has happened, the building of 360 00:32:39.190 --> 00:32:44.069 the up of the church, not just in Israel but all over the world, 361 00:32:45.099 --> 00:32:52.099 is happening. We are happening. And so how will we respond? 362 00:32:53.420 --> 00:33:00.089 Well, we stand before the Lord and we say who am I? And 363 00:33:00.250 --> 00:33:05.410 we stand before the Lord and we say I don't know what to say. 364 00:33:06.490 --> 00:33:10.650 And we stand before the Lord and we go before him with courage and boldness. 365 00:33:12.690 --> 00:33:15.000 We praise him for the works that he has done, the things that 366 00:33:15.079 --> 00:33:20.880 he is doing, and we say, may your will be done here on 367 00:33:21.039 --> 00:33:25.119 earth even as it is in heaven. We ask him to bring about the 368 00:33:25.200 --> 00:33:30.430 fulfillment of these promises. We look forward to the resurrection of the dead, 369 00:33:30.750 --> 00:33:35.230 we look forward to Jesus is coming and his promises being fulfilled. We look 370 00:33:35.349 --> 00:33:40.230 forward to all the enemies of God coming under subjection to him forever and ever 371 00:33:40.819 --> 00:33:51.380 and ever. That's how we pray and that's how we live. Let's go 372 00:33:51.420 --> 00:33:52.299 to the Lord in prayer.