2 Samuel 7 (Part 2) Bible Study (David's Prayer of Gratitude) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

Can we show our appreciation to the praise team for, blessing us week after week, especially tonight for the worship and just applaud? And and I applaud you for singing because, as we know that once we come to sing, it's not a performance that we're witnessing. It's a it's an effort that we all contribute to. You know, singing is, a command in scripture. It's not a suggestion.

And so when we come to sing and when we do sing with, fervent hearts, we're actually obeying the lord Jesus. And so I'm glad that tonight, I felt like I was in a room with five, six hundred people. I don't know if you felt the same way, but I was just overwhelmed by your voices and I was ministered to. Well, now we worship in the word. So meet me in the book of second Samuel, and we are still in chapter seven, but we are at the halfway mark.

Tonight, we're continuing to examine one of the most important chapters in all of the Old Testament and perhaps the most crucial and vital and most pivotal chapter in both first and second Samuel. You heard of it, last week, if you were here last week, that what we're dealing with in this text is essentially a covenant that God makes with a man by the name of David, and that covenant is still in effect today. That covenant is still yet to know its complete fulfillment, and that covenant touches so many aspects of the new covenant that you and I are enjoying because of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you really think about it, when you read the prophets, what you'll see is that they often refer back to this chapter, this covenant that God makes with this king as a source of hope and as a reminder to to who they are called to be and what God is planning to do through them, and it it was an encouragement for holiness. And when you open the first book of the New Testament in Matthew chapter one, there we see the genealogy of Jesus pointing us back to David, yes, and back to Abraham, but proving that he is from this royal line that has great significance, not just for Israel, but for all of history.

And and even when you go to the last book of the canon, even when you come to the concluding verses of holy writ, you and I, we saw this last week in in conclusion. In Revelation twenty two sixteen, The Lord Jesus declares that he is the root and what? The descendant of David. I mean, this is this is how he chooses to identify himself in the final moments of us closing the entire library of sacred scripture. And I believe in part why Jesus did that was so that as we come to the end of the book, which tells us of the future, the Lord makes that statement to tell all generations, all nations, all peoples, I kept my promise to David.

I kept my promise to David all the way until the end. And so this covenant, which is really unconditional, is more about God proving his faithfulness than anything else. It's not so much about Israel though. God selected and elected Israel to be the display case of his faithfulness, but it is ultimately about God's character proving himself to all of us that he is a promise keeper. Last week, you and I saw God's response to David's passionate desire to build him a house, And this week, we're going to see David's reaction to God's answer to his initial request.

And we're going to read these verses in a moment. And as I do, as we've been doing week after week, you're gonna lean in and pay attention as you follow in your bibles. And what we do as a drill so that we can practice the the skill in our own lives to look at the scriptures and ask questions, you're gonna see certain things that stand out, and then you're going to make some observations. And I it edifies me. It edifies me to see what you're able to see because I saw those things, many of those things during the week, and then for you to see it in one reading, in one sitting, it's just like, wow.

Wonderful. So pay attention as we now come to verse 18 and follow until the it's a lot of verses, so we have to really pay attention. Don't let your mind get distracted. But here's what the text reads. Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, 'Who am I, oh Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me thus far?

And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, oh lord God. You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come and this is instruction for mankind, oh lord God. Your version might say diff something different in the last phrase there. Verse 20. And what more can David say to you?

For you know your servant, oh Lord God. Because of your promise and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness to make your servant know it. Therefore, you are great, oh Lord God. For there is none like you, and there is no God besides you according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people?

Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods. And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever, and you, oh lord, became their god. And now, oh lord god, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken, and your name will be magnified forever, saying the Lord of hosts is God over Israel, and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, oh Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant saying, I will build you a house. Therefore, your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you.

And now, oh lord god, you are god, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now therefore may it please you to bless the house of your servant so that it may continue forever before you. For you, oh lord god, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever. What a prayer. What a prayer.

Keep in mind that the this is David's response to the Lord telling him, you're not gonna build me a house. I'm going to build you a house. And what he means by that is not a physical house, but a dynasty, a royal line that would usher in the Messiah. This is David's reaction. So as we read that, as you heard that, as you followed along, anything stand out to you in this in this prayer?

Yes?

David always refers to himself as your

servant. Very good observation. Your servant. Your servant. Your servant.

Your servant. He refers to himself as your servant. Very important. Anything else? Yes, Ryan.

He sat before the Lord. Did you see that in verse 18? He went in and sat before the Lord. We will touch on that. Very good.

Yes.

Mhmm. Sure. We need, you know, Elizabeth said that. Mhmm. I know it's just a very humble response.

It is a very humble response. Right from right from the gate. Who am I? Who am I? Yes.

Beautiful. Evan. Did you see that? Evan pointed out that the motivation, the the the stirring factor of God establishing this Davidic covenant is that his name would be magnified. Oh, lord.

Your name is going to be so magnified through this. I can't wait to see how it's gonna be done. What a man. What a man. Yes.

Great point. Anything else? Very good observations. Yes, Regis.

Yes. So he is God. He chose and then he became Yes.

So God's election of Israel is on display here. It's very clear he chose them. And do you remember in our study of Deuteronomy why he chose Israel? What's that? They were the least sure.

But there's another reason. Right? You had your hand up? Yeah. They were the least.

That is one thing. But remember when the Lord says, I loved you, and does he explain why he loved them? Yeah. He made a covenant with Abraham, but why did he even choose Abraham? If you go to Deuteronomy chapter seven and read the first several verses, you'll see that the Lord says, you don't have to turn there.

He goes, I loved you, and then you're ready for the explanation. He goes, because I loved you. Lord, can you expound a little bit more on why it is that you love Israel? And he doesn't really give a reason for that. We can pick out some characteristics of why God would choose Israel in order to magnify himself, but when God explains it, he goes, I loved you because I loved you.

Interesting. Maybe a couple more. Yes. Yes. Absolutely.

Last week, we touched on how suffering is not the only thing that reveals who we are. Success has that same effect. And David here is only being promoted more, and the more he seems to be promoted, the lower he seems to go. That that doesn't tend to have the the same effect on a majority of people, but for this man he does. And there's a there's a important reason why which we'll touch on at the end of the study.

One more maybe.

Yes. The first one is seven, will you explain something to prayer to you?

In in other words, there is a motivation. Something from his heart sprung up for him to be able to come before the Lord in this way, and we're gonna see what it was that touched his heart and gave him the courage to come before the Lord in this way. Are you ready? Verse 18. And by the way, before we start, we're not gonna deal with this text the way we usually do.

We're not gonna go line by line. We're not gonna go verse by verse. Instead, we're gonna we're gonna hover over the text and have a bird's eye view over all of it. And as we go through this text, we're really just gonna pluck at different verses, and and we're gonna try to survey the scene to to try to identify dominant themes. So we're not gonna go over every single verse here.

We're just gonna just fly over, and we're going to just touch this verse, touch that verse, kinda like what we just did now, looking at observations and trying to connect all of them as we go through. But let's start with verse 18. Then king David went in. Where did he go? We can only speculate.

Some would believe and some would say. He came as close as possible to the ark of the covenant. He went in. Now here's what's what's touching to me, and our sister brought it up in the beginning. King David, that's how the narrator identifies David.

But how does David choose to refer to himself throughout his prayer? I'm your servant. In this short prayer, a total of 10 times, he says your servant, your servant, yours the Lord's servant, the Lord's servant. See, in eyes of man, David was a king. But because David lived in the light of God's presence, he saw himself as nothing more than a servant.

Regardless of the occupation, regardless of any role that he had in this world, He ultimately saw himself as a servant who has been called to serve in a particular way. And what ministers to me about this is because David as a king saw himself no greater than anybody else by identifying himself this way. Does anybody know anything about David's mother according to the word of God? We know something about the father more than the mother. Right?

I mean, you have kind of there's questionable things about the relationship between David and his father, Jesse. He didn't even include him when Samuel asked for all the sons to come before him. So that that's there's a question mark there. But David's mother, does anybody have any clue from the scripture of what we know about David's mother? There is a first verse that reveals something about her.

Psalm 86 verse 16 tells us something about David's mom. And in Psalm eighty six sixteen, we read David in another prayer, looking to the Lord and saying, turn to me and be gracious to me. Give strength to your servant, the son of your maidservant. The son of your maidservant. From that, we can make the strong conclusion that David's mom was a genuine servant of God.

How did she serve God? In what capacity? We can only assume perhaps it was solely in the confines of her home. And if she had any influence on David, that's enough for us to realize what kind of a servant she was. But But David is not just speaking here by the spirit, he's speaking by way of testimony.

His own eyes have have seen his mother over the years. She's a servant of God. She loves the Lord. She fears the Lord in such a way that she he can pen this in a prayer and say, oh, God, would you remember where I came from? Would you remember your servant, my mom, your maidservant?

And I I thought about that when I read how he refers to himself as a servant because his his mom is an unknown vessel hidden, loving the Lord behind the scenes. We don't even know her her name. We don't know what she did in detail, and she's a servant of God nonetheless. And yet in contrast, David her son, a renowned king, a popular psalmist, a a warrior. And yet when he says your servant, in essence, he's saying, I am no better than my mom, who nobody knew about, who nobody praised, who nobody promoted, who nobody applauded.

I'm a servant, just like my mom was a servant. And in essence, you and I, though we exercise different gifts, though we exercise different positions, we all share the same status before God. We're all servants. In our own respective ways, we are all servants of God. We all stand on the same level before the cross.

In fact, Jesus takes it to another level. When he when he seeks to to teach us how we should view ourselves, he goes even further than how David says it. In Luke seventeen ten, if you want a verse to I don't know. You can choose whatever verse you want. But this is one of those verses that I try to live under as a banner.

In Luke seventeen ten, Jesus says to his disciples, so you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say what are you supposed to say when you are faithful? Is it up there already? Okay. What are you supposed to say when you when you fulfill your ministry? What are you supposed to say when people thank you?

What are you supposed to say? And not necessarily say it out loud, but I think say to yourself, we are unworthy servants. Not just servants, unworthy servants. We've only done what was our duty. So the lord says, don't even see yourself as a servant.

I want you to see yourself as an unworthy servant. You know what that means? You're not doing me a favor by serving me. Now what a terrible thing that is, to think that we come to the house of God or to think that we serve God outside of his his church, and, lord, I'm doing you a favor. Just put it on my point sheet, and I'll come back to refer to that when I wanna redeem something.

You are not even worthy to serve God. I am not even worthy to serve him, to wait on Him, to die for Him, to live for Him. That's how holy He is. It's an honor to serve God, no matter what it demands of me. So even in in the act of service, I'm supposed to realize and rehearse over myself, I'm not even worthy to do this.

I can't believe I get to do this. That's how the Lord wants us to feel about how we serve him. Not to compare, not to compete, not to try to to elevate ourselves in position and title. No. You're unworthy regardless of what you do.

Now we come back to this text. Then king David went in, and our brother mentioned it, and he sat before the Lord. Now I'm not gonna sit because it might take me a while to get back up. He sat before the Lord. I want you to visualize that.

Here's this king who sits on a throne, but in the presence of God, he sits on the floor. He's so humbled by the majesty of God that he can't he we would not even dare to sit on anything that would try to compete with the majesty of God. Now here's the thing that's interesting. Sitting is not a common posture of prayer in the Bible. It's not.

Kneeling is, laying prostrate is, but sitting is not so common. And we don't wanna read too much into this, but if I were to let's say let's say you you came over to my house. Right? And you're standing at the door, and I say, sit down here. Why are you standing?

Sit down. What am I asking you to do? I'm asking you to remain longer. Right? I'm asking you to linger.

I'm asking you to to park, so to speak. And I believe there's something here with David sitting in the presence of God, sitting before the Lord. He was essentially choosing to remain in God's presence. He he was essentially saying, I'm here to to extend my stay before the face of God. Right?

So he's not entering in and out to pay his dues. He's not, in thoughtless transition trying to just come in and out. He is essentially saying, Lord, with this posture, I'm coming before you because I enjoy you. I enjoy sitting at the feet of Jesus. It was a deep delight for David to know that he can come with a a swollen heart, not always like we heard, not just because of brokenness, but because of the goodness of God, and to spill his soul before the Lord, knowing with full trust that this God, this almighty being, hears everything that he's saying and takes it into consideration.

This like this was like, I can't believe this is possible. And so he sits before the Lord, essentially saying, I'm not going anywhere too quick here, Lord. I wanna give you my undivided attention, and I wanna give you focused affection. That's what that posture communicates. Can I ask you just a simple question?

In in this busy life, in this transient culture that we live in, when was the last time you've genuinely, not necessarily physically, but in your heart, paused and placed yourself before God. And where were you saying, Lord, I'm going to consecrate this select time to simply adore you. And I and I know it's different for all of us how that looks. But is this something we even crave? I think that's an important question.

Is this something we long for? Right? Lord, I just wanna sit before you. I really, in private, just come before you, and I just wanna, as a response to the goodness that you have shown me, to declare how good you are. That is something that you and I have a privilege of doing as believers in Jesus Christ.

And we don't have to pack our bags. I remember going to the airport once and I seen this group of young Muslims and they were going to fulfill their their their pilgrimage. Right? They had to go all the way to Mecca and do a bunch of stuff, and I thought to myself, my god allows me to come wherever and whenever. And that's what you and I have in Jesus Christ, and it is there that you find rest.

It is there that you find peace. It is there where you find instruction. It is there where you find true true genuine fellowship with almighty God. Believe that. Right?

But sitting here also symbolizes something else. So at the end of the service sometimes, depending on what shoes I'm wearing, sometimes I'm talking to people. I say, can I sit down for a little bit? Not because I'm lazy, but because my feet sometimes do weird things. So I gotta sit down.

Right? So what does that symbolize? I heard somebody whisper it. Rest. Rest.

Right? So I'm looking at this, and I'm trying to think in my mind also of different different characters in the Bible who have sat before the Lord. Can you think of some? Who who sat I saw your mouth. Mary of Bethany who sat before the Lord while her sister was running around, right, trying to bake and cook and put things together and ends up criticizing Mary.

That's a whole different sermon on its own. Yes. She sat before the Lord, and and Jesus this is the good portion. This is what she's choosing to do. It won't be taken from her, and this is a good thing.

Absolutely. There's there's other places as well. Who else sits before the Lord? He's not a main character, but it's an important picture. Well, it's gonna say that the disciples were burning of Jesus' words.

Yeah. They sat before the Lord. Jesus sat when he taught at times. There's a particular character in Jesus' ministry that I am that I am thinking of that was highlighted for sitting before him after something occurred in his life. All this will be good then.

Do you remember in the country of the Gadarenes? Did it click yet? Here is this wild man. Chains can't subdue him. They try to do everything to lock him up, and he keeps breaking those chains, and he keeps running around terrorizing the towns and the neighborhoods.

Jesus steps on the scene, delivers him from a legion of demons, and then the the the city hears about it, and they're terrified because their business some of their businesses were just crashed. And so they approach the scene, and they find this man who had the reputation of being unstoppable with his craziness, clothed in his right mind, and Luke tells us in his version, sitting before the feet of Jesus. And what's what's so comforting, what's so powerful about that picture is that beforehand we're told that the demons in him would drive him into the desert. He was restless. He was wild.

He was uncontrollable. He was constantly on the move, but one encounter with Jesus Christ kept him in one place. And that rest that you see with this man, I I don't know why, I picture him just like his legs are folded with brand new clothes sitting at Jesus's feet. And what that teaches is that when the Lord truly encounters you and saves you and delivers you, He satisfies you. And now, unlike what you were like before, you're not running around trying to find some kind of solution to the torment of your soul.

Like we just heard, there is no peace for the wicked. Now you can sit. And here's the thing, by sitting you're saying, I don't wanna go anywhere. And so that man, what he teaches is, I'm not looking for anything else anymore. I found it right here.

Right here. You know, sometimes I look at people throughout the years, throughout the past ten years, especially young people, and they are restless, many of them restless. And they feel like they have to travel everywhere just to keep their minds busy. Try try to find some experience that will will calm their nerves. Or they they go from relationship to relationship or they go from job to you can just see how restless they are.

And I I often think if you only have tasted his goodness, if you've only allowed the the genuine power of God to win your heart, you you can stay in one place. And I'm not saying that the physical movements there is always alluding to that, but sometimes it does. Sometimes it does. And so we see here that that David sits before the Lord. He's satisfied, and he just wants to pour out his heart, and this is what he's about to do.

We read it. Right? So now we come to this text, and I want us to again, we're bird's eye view. We're not going verse by verse. Can I draw something to your attention?

We mentioned a lot of things that we do see in David's prayer. What's a key thing that's missing in his prayer? And it's not a negative thing. What is missing in David's prayer? Now here's how we can hone in, and we can we can because there's a lot of things missing.

Right? Technically, there's a lot of things missing. But in light of God's response to his desire to build him a a house, what would you expect David to do if he was in the flesh? There I'll say that much. Complain, murmur, sulk, grumble.

So David doesn't come before the presence of the Lord. You know what, Lord? Man, I'm just trying here to help you out. I I wanna do this for your name's sake. You don't want me to do it?

Is there somebody better than me than what I've done for you? None of that. He responded to God's no with gratitude. Not grumbling, gratitude. And there was no evidence of irritation.

There was no sign of resentment. There is no there is nothing else but a submissive spirit that could genuinely accept the fate that God had ordained for his days. David, you're not gonna do this. There's somebody else I have in mind. And this man could could accept that.

He could embrace that in a worshipful spirit. That's significant. Listen. The willingness to worship God pay attention to this. The willingness to worship God and his sovereignty in the face of his denials is one of the truest marks of a mature man or woman of God.

The ability to worship God in the face of his denials is one of the truest marks of a true man or woman of God. Do you know why David could accept the no from God? Because David, as we heard, was a servant of God, and he believed that about himself. I'm your servant. Do you know why it is that some Christians get upset with God, bitter against God, complain to God?

It's because they believe God is their servant. We wouldn't wanna admit that, but that's why that's why some people become so sour in their souls is because they have adopted this idea as much as they go to a conservative bible believing church. They've they've adopted this concept that if I ask God, He better give it to me. And if He doesn't, then He's not worthy of my total devotion. Well, my sister, my brother, since when did God owe you anything?

Just be real with that. Since when does God owe you and I a thing? Anything that we have, even the clothes on your back, right, the ability to see through these eyes is a gift in itself. God doesn't owe us a thing, not one thing. And David understood from the position of a servant, I can take a no.

In fact, look how look how he addresses the Lord in verse 22 of their chapter. Second Samuel seven twenty two, therefore you are great, oh Lord God, for there is none like you, and there is no God beside you according to all that we have heard with our ears. Okay. Now let's be honest. How many of us can say in light of a no, like a closed door or something happening or us feeling that we are being guided into a direction of life that we did not intend to move towards can say, you're great, Lord.

You're great. I can genuinely say you are great. You and I should be able to say that every time. Not just great, he's greatly to be praised because he's a great God who is infinitely kind, infinitely wise to us who are infinitely unworthy. And I get it.

You and I are wrapped with this flesh that doesn't like rejection, doesn't like declines, doesn't like refusals. Right? So, there's a discipline that we need to have to be able to avoid that, ugly face before God. And it's really found in David's prayer here. Do you know how David can do this?

Not just because he saw himself as a servant, but there's a second thing here. David in his prayer is focusing on what God gave him, not what God didn't give him. Look at verse 18. Then king David went in and sat before the Lord and said, who am I, oh Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me this far? This man is not bothered at all by the fact that he was not handed the sole responsibility of constructing a house for God.

He's not he's not stirred at all because he's captivated by something else. He's captivated by the realization of God's providential dealings up to this point in his life and the excitement of what God has for him in the future. This is what consumes him. This is what gets him going. This is what brings him before the presence of the Lord with a mouthful of praise.

And look, it's obvious here that he was overwhelmed by the past mercies of God. He's overwhelmed by what he's going to do. And as much as this chapter is about a unique covenant between God and one man that's not to be repeated, there's a code. There's a code here in this context. And this code in this context reveals a characteristic of God that applies to each of us here on this Friday night.

And here's here here it is. You ready? Our days, our days, each of our days are divinely planned even when plans don't go according to our plans. Confusing? Our days are divinely planned even though things don't go according to plan.

Let me let me put it this way. For the true servant of God, when anything seems to fall through, it in actuality falls right into place. When anything seems to fall through and in reality, if your hand is in the hand of God, falls exactly where God intended it to be. And the Lord could have told David after David said, I want to build you a house. He could have told David, you're not going to build me a house with somebody else and kept it at that.

But he doesn't do that. He tells David, you wanted to build me a house, I'm actually going to build you a dynasty, and in this process, I'm gonna have a temple built for my name. In other words, David, you have this one desire, I have a greater desire. You have this one idea, I have this bigger plan. And he communicates that to David.

Now here's the thing, the Davidic covenant, though we benefit from it, it's not it's not about us. You're royal you're not gonna have royal lines. Right? That's not happening. That's already established, and it's working now.

But you have promises as a Christian. You really have promises catered towards you because you're in Christ, because Christ is the firstborn among many brethren. We are co heirs with Christ. You and I have certain promises for us. How many of those promises do you truly rehearse and believe for yourself?

You ready for this? I wanna ask you personally how much the promises of God filter your view of the future, of your future. And here's one way to test that. It might sting you a little bit, but it's good. It's healthy.

Alright? How many promises do you know from God's word that you actually hold onto for your life? Anything running through your mind? I'm not asking I'm not asking if you believe that God has made promises to his children. Every Christian would say yes.

I'm asking a very specific question. Which promises in God's word do you actually hold on to and believe applies to your life, fill in the blank, your name? I'm curious to know actually, because I'm about to give you a homework. Tell me some promises that you believe in God's word. Amen.

Ephesians two eight. Beautiful. Yes. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Again, my question is not which what promises do you know in the Bible?

Which ones do you hold on to that come to your mind, that that that visit you in a specific moment or circumstance? Those promises I'm asking about. Isn't that interesting? Isn't that interesting? This book is pregnant with promises.

Pregnant. And not in a way of condemnation, but even if for myself. When I when I looked at this, I thought, look how much of of God's promise to David just stimulated him. And I paused. I stepped back.

I said, Lord, teaching the Bible, quoting the Bible, but what promises really can bring me to my knees in worship? I can tell you some promises about eternity, about salvation, about all that, but which promises do I really believe? Here's your homework. Alright? You're gonna go to God's word this week, and you're gonna look for a promise.

Not just a random promise, but a promise that you know will will bless you, and that you can look to, and that you can memorize. Next week, I'm going to ask what promises you learned for your life, and I hope to see as many hands as possible. That's your assignment. That's your assignment. Can I give you one of mine?

One of the ones that, I often think about and come to me in times of need and in times of persecution. This is a promise in Hebrews thirteen five, and it says this, keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for He has said I will never leave you nor forsake you. But second to that, so we can confidently say the Lord is my helper, I will not fear, what can man do to me? That's a promise in the new covenant. And what's beautiful is both of those quotations, I will never leave you nor forsake you, and what can man do to me?

The Lord is my helper. I will not fear what can man do to me, are are both the first one, arguably, the second one, definitely from the Psalms. From the Psalms. And the New Testament author pulls it out of the book of Psalms and throws it at the new covenant Christian. He says, that's for you.

That's for you. And so I've known moments where, lord, you need to step in here. Well, I told you I'll never leave you nor forsake you. Watch me pull through. And I've known moments where men have reared their ugly heads and have threatened.

And I've told myself and others, if the lord is truly with us, man can't do anything to us. You see, we need to know the promises of God. We can't be illiterate with this. We can't be. It's it's affecting God's glory to a degree, and it's affecting something of our our joy in the Lord.

Okay. So we see here that David David understood something clear, which brings me to my next point. Look here to verse 27 of second Samuel seven. This is this is wonderful. David says, for you, oh Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, I will build you a house.

Therefore, your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. So David is telling the Lord and telling us, there is a reason that I am able to come so freely, so boldly before the Lord. And what's that reason? What does he say in verse 27? What gave him the courage?

What invited him to come so close to the Lord and to speak in the way that he speaks? Revelation. You have made this revelation. So, you and I cannot mature in our praying until we first mature in our understanding of the Word of God. It was revelation that pumped in him the courage to pray in the way that he prayed.

A a praise filled prayer. Right? Heart stirring prayer. Passionate prayer. God glorifying prayer.

That all stemmed from revelation, something that God had made known to him, his word, yes, in his life, but also the word that we have before us. That is the very thing that caused him to be able to praise and to be able to pray. Can I tell you why many Christians don't praise and why many Christians struggle to pray? They lack insight concerning God's revelation. That's one major reason why.

When you come to this word, you have to understand that it is the source of many of the things that you and I tried to do in our spiritual journey with the Lord. But before I get there, have you noticed that David in this prayer expresses wonder and amazement in the form of questions. Anybody notice that? So look at verse 18. We saw it.

Right? Who am I what is my house that you've brought me thus far? Now if you have the King James or the New King James who has the King James? I know that you do. Who has the New King James?

New King James? Does verse 19 spell out as a question? Because I know the King James does. Right? Yes.

So if you have the New King James or the King James, verse 19 is another question. Any other translation come to verse 20. And what more can David say to you? That's another question. For you know your servant, oh Lord God.

Now scroll down to verse 23. It's a longer question. Who is like your people Israel? The one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be his people. We scroll down.

Whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods. This man this man, based on his personal history with God and the the history of the nation of Israel, comes before the Lord in wonder wrapped in questions, stunned by the goodness of God where he goes, God, who am I? God, who is this nation? God, I can't believe that these things are true. But it all comes from what God has done, who God says he is, what God has promised us.

That is the very thing that got him going. And I want you to see that, as I said earlier, communion with God and so many aspects of our spirituality is dependent upon your engagement with the Bible. K. There's a reason why, the the leaders of this church, when we preach and we exhort, there's a reason why much of our application is know your Bible. Get into the Bible.

Read your Bible. Study your Bible. Know your. Why? Because we understand that the Bible itself testifies about itself.

That so much that we wanna master or know the maturity in comes from first a foundation that is what you're holding in your hand tonight. K? I'm gonna prove it to you. Colossians three sixteen. Let the word of Christ do what?

Oh, you have the word in you. Yes. Dwell in you richly. Richly. Every time I read that verse, every time I'm in Colossians, I ask, lord, and I and I do an inventory.

Is your word in me? Not just in me. Is it in me richly? That's what I'm is the tank on on the letter f? Is it abundant?

Is it is it there? Is it overflowing? Is it on my tongue? Is it in my thoughts? Is it something I sing, Or is it just in a corner of my heart?

That's not what the Holy Spirit is saying. The Holy Spirit, let it dwell richly. Let it be a spring that bubbles up. Let the word have that kind of abiding force in your life. And when you go to Colossians three sixteen, you see the results of the word of Christ dwelling in us richly.

There's two main things. The first is what? Teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. K. When the word of Christ dwells in a person richly, they now reach to an ability where they can they can be a source of great wisdom, guidance, exhortation, and warning to others, and others can recognize that.

So then you become some source of a of a well where they can draw from, not because of anything who you are, but what lives in you. Right? So now because Christ's word's in you, it comes out of you and it touches those around you. That's what happens when the word of Christ dwells in you richly. I can guarantee you, somebody who has the word of Christ dwelling in them richly can't keep the word of Christ dwelling in them silently.

This just doesn't happen. I know those people. Brother, I I just saw this in the word of God. Do you believe this? I've just been studying this, and they just can't stop.

Or when you give them when you ask for advice, it always points to something in the bible. Right? It's not like every scenario, and I know a few people like this, any scenario in life, you ask them for advice. Like, well, you know, this will happen to Moses. Do you remember that?

Do you remember what it is? Everything is a reference to a text, a reference to a story, a reference to a promise, a reference to a warning, and I'm blessed by it because it's God's word. It's God's word flowing. And many of those times, it's a it's something that I maybe forgot, something that I missed, but I am so blessed when somebody has the word of Christ in them richly. But the word of Christ dwelling in us in such a degree is not just intellectual.

It's emotional because he goes on to say singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in your hearts to God. The more you study, the more you learn, the more you will discover in the sacred book wonderful things, the more sparks will flicker in your soul and will electrify worship. So the word's in you and just something happens. Right? There's just these these embers and then you're they're being blown up by the word of God and then a flame starts and then it begins to start and cause you to sing, not mechanically, not routinely with your mouth, blah blah blah, hymns, not that.

Paul says with thankfulness in your heart. Your heart is engaged. Your heart comes to life. If something happens to you and and to the point where you're unashamedly singing to the Lord as a result of what? A talented worship band?

A a a new kind of song with new tricks and a and a very clever bridge or no. Because the word of Christ dwelling in you richly. The word of Christ being poured into you richly through deep theological music. Something happens. It begins to affect you even emotionally.

And thanksgiving. Right? Thankfulness in your heart. That's you learn that you read anything in the word and you realize, oh, he's worthy of my gratitude, and it comes from a a genuine place of pleasure. Here's the thing.

You have some people have this weird misconception in Christendom, I don't know, and it it circulates, that coming to the Bible, studying the Bible, reading the Bible is intellectual gymnastics. It's heady and if you're if you're well versed, if you're educated, you're probably dry, you're probably stuffy, you probably don't have an intimate walk with the Lord. And I get it because those people exist because it's not an automatic promise that the more you study, the more you'll be blessed the way Colossians talks about. It depends on your attitude and approach to the word of God, I e the Pharisees. K?

So that's true. There is protocol and very limited protocol, just really humility and longing to know God on a personal level and obey the word. But there's this weird idea that if you if you learn, if you compare, if you get deep, if you do all these things with with words on a page, it's intellectual, it's academic, but it's not spiritual. It's one of the most spiritual exercises you can be doing. Can you think of another passage in one of the epistles where the realities that I just read to you from Colossians three sixteen are very similar?

Think. Addressing one another in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs. Give me thanks in your heart. Thank you. Did you hear that?

In the very same place where Paul tells the Ephesians to not be drunk with wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. K. I want you to see this. In Ephesians five eighteen, turn there very quickly. Here's what I'm about to show you.

The results of the word of Christ dwelling in us richly are identical to the results that come from being filled with the Holy Spirit. Have you ever noticed that when you compare those two texts? Look. Ephesians eight eighteen is only an expansion of what Colossians three sixteen says. And do not get drunk with wine for that is debauchery, but be filled with the spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

So look what the Holy Spirit is trying to show us. Having the word in you is synonymous, inseparable to being filled with the Holy Spirit. So if there this this idea of, ignoring or neglecting the Bible, but hopefully wanting to be filled with the Holy Spirit is a delusion. It's a delusion. It doesn't exist.

And people, and I've seen many Christians like this, who claim to be spirit filled people, right, but have little respect for the proclamation of the word of God, studying the word of God, expounding the word of God, such people have a false sense of spirituality. No matter how much emotion they they they they show, demonstrate, I'll tell you this, many of the people that I've known in my own life that were that seemed to be the most excited about God, but were very shallow with the word of God, that it was a vacuum cleaner, just collected dust in the house more than anything else, are in dangerous places today. The and sin, serious sin, ugly sin, because they were chasing spirituality without being anchored in the word of God, and that will eventually lead you into heresy. Eventually. It's gonna lead you into weird practices, weird doctrine, or all right all out sin in the end.

But the Holy Spirit says, if you wanna be filled with the Holy Spirit, guess what? You need to be filled with the word of God. That's what he's trying to say by this. They have the paralleling effects. So eat this word.

Suck the honey out of this word as Spurgeon would say. Just just indulge in this word and realize that if you come with the posture of obedience, of of humility, of worship, then the spirit's power will flow into your heart as you bring this word into that heart. And so David could come in this powerful prayer before God's presence because of verse 27, which tells us of a revelation. That was the thrust that brought him into this intimacy with the Lord, God's word itself to him in his life. Believe that for yourself.

I hope that revolutionizes our lives. Revolutionizes our lives. If you want your prayer life to be blessed, if you want your singing to be blessed, if you want your attitude to be blessed, if you want your emotional state to be blessed, hug this word. Embrace it. Know it.

Grow in it. Talk about it. Love it, and watch what will happen to you. I won't go too much further. Let's come back to our prayer here, maybe with one final thought.

Many of you have brought up all of these points. Here's one last one before we close. David's praying was motivated by God's glory. Our brother read it earlier in verse twenty five and twenty six. And now, oh lord god, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken.

Pause. For what? For what? Lord, because I, you know, I I did do pretty good, didn't I? As a shepherd, I was faithful when I was unknown.

Yeah. I stood up to Goliath when nobody else would. I could have killed Saul, but I didn't. I'm so humble. I think I'm gonna write a book about me in humility.

Oh, verse 26. And your name will be magnified forever. David's longing for God to confirm his promise to him and his descendants was so that for generations, God's name would be exalted. That that was what moved his heart to the core. And I wanna tell you this.

Live like that. Pray like that. Make decisions with that in mind for many reasons. Right? Or else we will we will be indicted for the crime of using God as a means for our own glory.

That's a that's a very ugly crime. But for other reasons, I don't think people are aware of the wonderful security and joy that is reserved for those who are completely convinced that they want God's glory to be known at any cost. There is something so protective and pleasurable living that way. A heart that's engulfed to this degree, literally, when your heart is just coated with that, it leaves no room for jealousy, for envy, for pride to penetrate and make a home in that heart. It it just like living for God's glory is like a bulletproof vest for your soul.

It's very difficult to infect that person with something as hideous as what we see in Saul. So because David was so in love with the glory of God, when God said, David, I love what's in your heart, but you're not gonna be the guy that's gonna build me this house. David can say, who am I? Who am I? Spurgeon said, be willing, oh vessel in the house of the Lord, to be hung up on a nail in the wall or to be laid aside in a corner, if so God would be glorified, for thus was it with David.

See what he's saying there? Be pleased to be hung on a wall by a nail or be be be pleased to be stuffed in a corner if in doing so, God would be glorified. So, David could could receive the no because if the no meant God's glory, then let it be no. You see? More than that, David, when he saw God using somebody else, blessing somebody else, promoting somebody, was not was not okay.

You're in the way. Even if it was his son Solomon. Right? And you might say, well, of course he's happy. It's his son.

Who who wouldn't be happy? Who wouldn't feel some kind of pride if their son was being used by God in such a way? Are we actually under the persuasion that sin cannot so kill us that we can actually look at a relative even our own offspring and despise them? Do you do do we forget so easily about Saul? Who with his own son Jonathan, when he seemed to be a threat to receiving praise, he he he did something about it.

That's how ugly sin can make us. And yet this man David was not shifted in any direction because he was so grounded in this the glory of God really. And so when it came to to Solomon being elevated, being promoted, you know what David could do? He can encourage him. So David David had the door closed of not being able to build the temple.

But what did David do? We we know this. What did he end up doing about the temple? He prepared all the material. He said, okay fine.

If I can't have that position then let me do whatever I can to to to make sure that God's glorified. I have all these resources. I have all these connections. We're gonna get all the material. Yes.

So he gathers all the material and prepares for his son. And more than that, in first Chronicles 28, he looks at his own son. You don't have to turn there, but listen to these words. This man who was told, no. You're not gonna build.

Your son is gonna build can look at this son of his and say to him in verse 20 of first Chronicles 28. Then David said to Solomon, his son, be strong and courageous. Be strong and courageous, and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you until all the work of the service of the house of the Lord is finished.

David was able to energetically encourage Solomon. Do you know why? Because of the glory of God. And if we don't live for the glory of God, do you know what can happen? We are in danger of envying the very ones that we're supposed to be encouraging.

Right? We're in danger of looking at a brother or sister who's been anointed by the Holy Spirit, who has been who has been given greater expansion of influence, and to feel as though they are a competitor instead of a partner for the glory of God. But because of the glory of God, here's how powerful it is to live with this motivation. Whether you are the means or not by which God's goal is accomplished, because you're all about that goal regardless of the vessel, even if it's not you, you can rejoice. Yes.

God is being glorified through him. God is being glorified through her. God's name is being praised in this way. Even though you're not involved, even though you're not the direct agent, because you were so enthralled by the glory of God, wherever it is coming from, you can rejoice. And listen.

This is a genuine struggle for genuine disciples of Jesus Christ, even even the closest disciples. Remember when one of the disciples came up to Jesus, hey, Jesus. They're trying to cast out demons in your name, but they ain't with us. Jesus said, what are you talking about? They are for us.

And so there there's always that that temptation to struggle with our identity in God, and I think the solution is really living for the glory of God. How do we get there, though? K. Live for the glory of God. Live for the glory of God.

How do I get there? I believe the answer is here. The answer is in this text. Some might say, well, have a big view of God. Have a have an awesome view of God.

Yes. That's that's in part. But I know many people who who love the word of God, at least information in the word of God, who can soar in their explanation of the word of God, and they're eaten up by self glory. So it's that's that's just part of the solution. Can I tell you what I think is the the the biggest ingredient missing for people to be perpetually in that state of living for the glory of God?

It's because they don't have an accurate view of themselves. That's why. How did David start? Who am I? That's where you need to be.

That's where I need to be. Who am I? Have a big view of God and have an honest perception of yourself. And I think sometimes we focus so much here that we think that we're just, like, a little bit under Jesus. Like, he's just a little bit better just like how we think of heaven.

We think heaven is just, like, a little bit better than America. That's why we struggle, like, I don't know if I wanna go back. I don't know if I wanna go to glory. It's like you have no idea what you're talking about. K?

And so there needs to be something of our application of the word. We say, Lord, show me who I really am. Show me who I would be without you. Show me how dependent upon I am by your microsecond mercies in my life. Tell me realize that if you call me for the rest of my life to tie the shoes of those who serve you, that even in that I would be seen as an unworthy servant.

May God help us in that. There is so much protection, so much pleasure, so much promise in living with those three words in mind. Who am I? Who am I? Lord, we thank you for this bible study, for being able to share with one another what we've seen in this text.

And, Lord, tonight, we take it to heart and we say, who are we? Who are we to be saved by your grace? And who are we to be used for your glory? And who are we to be able to meet in this place freely to worship you? Who are we?

What are we? We are but dust and ash. Lord, the very fact that we can sit, the very fact that we can move, the very fact that we can breathe, the very fact that we can we can learn is because you have allowed us to. Lord, tonight, we just pray that there would be a revived campaign in each of our lives to master the word of god. Lord, may it be said of every person here, whether this is their home church or not, that the word of Christ dwells in us richly.

Lord, protect us from a vain pursuit of the word of God, and help us, Lord, know the full potential as we come to this word day by day. Lord, with this one life that we have, may we be a spectacle to an unbelieving world and to a host of angels who are watching the wisdom of God being unfolded through the church. We ask, Lord Jesus, that you would, infuse in us a humility, that you would teach us how to sit at the feet of Jesus, that that would not be a duty. That would be a deep delight to know how we can just pause on everything saying, oh, I just want to sit with him and speak to Him and tell Him how wonderful He is and tell Him my needs and pour out my my wants to Him. Lord, revive revive that pursuit.

Lord, in this place, we sing to you because we have been receiving the word of God. May that overflow as we respond in worship. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.