Let’s read a few Scriptures to start our time. First, let’s look at Philippians 3.
Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.Philippians 3:12-14
Then in Revelation 3—this verse was read last week—Revelation 3:7:
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
He Who is holy, Who is true, Who has the key of David, Who opens and no one will shut, and Who shuts and no one opens, says this:Revelation 3:7
Noting that little phrase: “Who has the key of David.”
Now, I want to read something out of the Darby translation. Let’s turn to Matthew 11:12.
But from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens is taken by violence, and the violent seize on it.
Matthew 11:12
Lord, we do come and continue in Your presence. We are so thankful for that great assurance of Your presence: “Fear not, I am with you.”
Lord, we are so grateful that You have not left us alone. You have given us Your Holy Spirit. You have given us Your Word. We have Your life within, and Lord, by faith, we lay hold of that today.
As we read about Paul, he had been laid hold of for something which he wanted to attain to. Lord, today we want to lay hold of this time for all that You desire to accomplish. We are thankful that we can offer ourselves to You.
We know that at times we are not very good listeners. We are dull of hearing. We pray that we would all have ears to hear what You are saying to us this morning.
Lord, we are thankful that we declare that You are Lord over the time, because we know whenever we gather together, there is great opposition. But we are thankful that we gather in the victory that we have in You, Lord. In Thy name we pray. Amen.
Bobby opened this morning with a verse out of what we have been studying on Friday nights. This verse in Matthew 11:12 had come to me on a Friday night also: “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of the heavens is taken by violence, and the violent seize on it.”
I think when we first hear that verse as believers, it catches us a little off guard. But the more we consider it, the more we hear about it, we realize what the Lord is really saying there.
When the Lord is speaking of the kingdom, He is really speaking of Himself. The kingdom is a Person; it is not a thing. It is not something you are attaining to, but the kingdom is a Person. The kingdom is when Jesus Christ is King of our lives—when He becomes King of our lives, not just on our lips, but in reality within our hearts.
We know also that the violence being spoken of here is being violent with ourselves, not with others. It comes naturally for us to be violent toward others. But the Lord is calling us to be violent toward ourselves.
The violence He is speaking of is the violence of that cross working daily in our lives: saying no to self, no to those things that we desire to do, and no to the things that we feel entitled to.
“This brother did such-and-such a thing to me. I am entitled. I have the right to get back at him. This brother did such-and-such a thing to me. I have the right to be mad at him. I can pout all day long. My mother would not let me do this, so I am just going to sit here and pout.”
You know, we do not want that. We are going to say no to all of that. The violence is saying no to that, and yes to the power of His life within us. That is a violent thing to us, because He desires that we would be conformed to His image, prepared for His return. That is the goal. That is what He is looking for.
In these days, as we go along, it seems like the days are getting heavier and heavier. It is like the oppression of these days just weighs on us. Even though we have a desire to go on in the Lord, we find ourselves getting weary.
It is like, “Oh, here is enough. Lord, just give me one day. Just let me have one day where nothing is going on.” But then all of a sudden, it floods in again.
We can be encouraged because, in the book of Judges, when times were pretty bad—there was no king in Israel—there was one named Gideon. A little phrase in Gideon’s life always encourages me. It says that when he was pursuing those who were against the Lord, Gideon was weary yet pursuing.
I think that is almost our theme in these last days. You know, we are weary, but we want to keep pursuing. We do not want to stop because we are weary.
It can be pretty easy to settle down. We can stop and say, “Lord, I am just tired. I have reached—I am part of the 47 percent now. I am on Medicare and Social Security. My whole political philosophy has changed. I am a recipient.”
It is easy to say, “Oh, I am just going to sit down.” It gets so tiring. But no, it can be hard to keep going on.
You have been in church life for ten, twenty, or thirty years, and you say, “Lord, it does not seem to get any easier. We continue to sin, and I have these sins that I get entangled with. I keep tripping over them. I just cannot go on. I am not worthy, and this is not working.” We just want to check out.
Or, on what we think is the positive side, we can say, “Oh Lord, this is good. I have a nice little life now. Things are going okay at work. The family is okay. The kids are out of the house. The job is somewhat stable. I go through the motions and go to the meetings.” We can just be content. I think we have something almost like that spirit of Laodicea.
But the Lord is not wanting us to settle down. He is wanting us to keep pressing on. This is what we read about Paul in Philippians. The Lord wants us to really press on and to keep going.
Once we make that step and say, “Lord, I really want to follow You. I want to be that disciple of Yours,” it is like the gates of hell are unleashed against us. Everything comes from every direction. Things that used to be peaceful suddenly become difficult.
Even like the lake that we used to sail across so peacefully: all of a sudden, the motor does not work, and we are caught by the tide. The motor has always worked. Every year the motor has worked. All of a sudden, it does not work, and we are swept away.
But the Lord is calling us in this hour to really keep pressing on, because He wants us to finish well.
It is not just finishing the race. We have a great race in which we are involved, and He wants us to finish well. He does not want us to come hobbling along, barely scratching in.
At times we say, “Oh Lord, if I can get to heaven, if I can just cross that line.” No, He wants us to finish well. He wants us to finish triumphantly in Him.
As you look back at those verses in Philippians 3, you see that this is the testimony of Paul’s life. When Paul wrote this letter to the church in Philippi, there were not really doctrinal issues. He was not correcting them on anything. They had a couple of problems among a couple of sisters there, but in general this letter was an encouragement and a testimony.
Paul had a heart-to-heart relationship with those in Philippi. He was encouraging them all along to press on, to know the love of Christ even more, and to press on.
Paul says:
Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect; but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:12
Paul knew that he had been gripped. Christ Jesus had laid hold of him. Are we aware that our Lord Jesus has laid hold of us? He has always laid hold of us with a purpose.
Oftentimes we think about laying hold of Him, and praise God for that. But He has laid hold of us. That is past tense. That is done. He has us in the grip of His hand, and He never lets us go.
We may not experience that all the time. We may not sense it or feel it in the midst of the storm, but He is that anchor that holds within the veil, that anchor that holds us through whatever storms of life. Praise God for that.
Paul had this sense, and he was not going to be content. He continues:
Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.Philippians 3:13-14
These are amazing verses when we stop and think of Paul laying it all aside.
Consider what Paul had already done in his life. He had already written Galatians. He had already written the letters to those in Thessalonica. He had written the Corinthian letters and the letter to the Romans. Yet he was saying that he was laying it aside. He was not counting it as value when speaking of putting behind him and not regarding anything.
This was not speaking of his former life. It was speaking of his life with the Lord. He knew there was more, and he wanted to really press on.
Paul knew difficulties. He had suffered much physical affliction. As we look through the Corinthian letters, we know of all the things he had suffered: the shipwrecks, the robbers, and the burden he had for the churches. He was pressing on.
He also knew that he was rejected by many people. Many places Paul went, he was not received; he was rejected. Even in places where he was received, after he left, Judaizers came in and tried to rearrange things. They said his teaching was not right, his message was wrong, and they tried to add to and distort what Paul was saying. These were constant battles that he went through.
But praise God, Paul had this desire: “There is more. There is more that I want to experience of Christ.” Do we have that taste?
Paul was close to another church: those in Thessalonica. He encouraged them in a similar way to press on and to know the Lord more fully. Look at 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10.
Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;
for indeed you do practice it toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more.1 Thessalonians 4:9-10
It is wonderful how Paul commends these dear ones in Thessalonica. He says, “You yourselves are taught by God to love one another.” Loving one another is not a natural thing. Our brother shared last week that this brotherly love is not a natural love.
But these dear ones in Thessalonica allowed themselves to be taught by God to love one another. They allowed that cross to work in their lives: to love the unlovely and to love those with whom they had difficulty. They were allowing the Lord to work in their lives in a wonderful way.
Then Paul continues in verse 10, commending them because they were even practicing this toward all the brethren in Macedonia. If we received a personal letter saying, “Wow, you really know how to love the brethren, and you are practicing it,” we would think we had arrived.
We would say, “This is great. This is the Christian life. I can do this. I am being commended.” But Paul does not stop there. He wants us to continue on.
He says, “But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more.”
This little phrase, “excel still more,” this much more, has really been on my heart lately. There is so much more that the Lord wants us to enjoy of Himself. There is so much more of the riches of Christ for us to experience.
We can have such a natural tendency to settle down, to be content where we are, or to become discouraged. But the Lord is saying, “There is much more.”
“I am thankful for all the expressions of Christ that I see in you. I am thankful for all of your labors of love. I am thankful for all that you are doing. But there is still much more.” Let us not sit back and rest on our laurels. We thank the Lord that He keeps calling us to press on more and more.
There is a vastness in every aspect of the Lord. There is that hymn, “The Vastness of God’s Mercy,” something like that. Whether we think of His mercy or His love, Paul tries to describe His love: the length, the breadth, the height, and the depth. Then he gives up—you cannot describe it. There are these unsearchable riches of Christ.
But we find ourselves becoming satisfied with the little bit we have. Praise God, there were ones like Paul and others who wanted to experience more of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, in these last days, I think one of the real secrets for us to press on all the way to the end is to have this desire for more of Christ—the more of Him that we can experience.
Remember when the nation of Israel came out of Egypt. They spent forty years in the wilderness, and then through Joshua they entered the promised land. They took much of the land, and there were many battles. But when Joshua was old, weak, and about to die, the Lord said to him, “There is still very much land to be possessed.”
There was still land that they had not laid hold of. The Lord is saying to each one of us, “There is still much of Christ that I want you to possess. I want you to experience more of that, so that there can be this testimony of My very life.”
The kingdom of God is not something only in the future. There is a kingdom future, but there is also a kingdom of God now that we can experience, with Him as King and Lord of our lives every day.
We can enjoy the riches of knowing Him prevailing over all the things of our lives, whether spirit, soul, or body. He is King and He is Lord, and He is jealous to show us the excellency of Himself.
I would like to use one person in Scripture as an example, because he had many successes. Throughout his successes, he could have become very content. He drew upon the Lord, and the Lord was faithful. He responded to the Lord, and there were many times when he could have been content.
There were also many times when he had failures, and he could have quit. He could have said, “I am not worthy.” But he kept pressing on all the way to the end, all the way that he touched God’s heart. I am speaking of David—David, that man after God’s own heart.
David was the one God used to bring in the kingdom of Israel upon this earth. Let’s turn to the book of Acts. Paul testifies of David during his first missionary journey.
And after He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, “I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.”
Acts 13:22
Then at the end of David’s life, Acts 13:36 says:
For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers, and underwent decay.
Acts 13:36
As you look at these two verses—the one testifying that David was a man after God’s own heart who would do all His will, and the other saying that David served the purpose of God in his generation—these are the bookends of David’s life.
This is what held David. All that was within David’s life was governed by these two things that the Lord had spoken concerning him. It is a great testimony.
We read that verse in Revelation about the key of David. I really believe these two verses concerning David’s life are the key of David’s life. If we are looking for the key of David, what was the key in David’s life? I think it can be summed up in these two verses.
David was a man after God’s own heart. He was not pursuing his own interests; he was pursuing God’s interests. He did all of God’s will. He did not just talk about it. It was not theory.
It is easy to sit around and talk about God’s eternal purpose. It is easy to talk about the house of God. It is easy to talk about the kingdom of God. But are we doing it? Are we putting what we are talking about and learning into action? Is it becoming reality in our lives?
That was David’s secret. He not only knew the will of God. So often, we love this little verse, and we leave off the last part of it. We say, “I have found David, the son of Jesse, a man after God’s own heart.” Wow.
But it does not stop there. It says, “Who will do all My will.” He did the will of God. The Lord shows us His purpose and shows us His heart so that we can put it into action and do His will.
Because David knew God’s purpose and it governed his whole life, David was always pressing on for the much more. What I would like to do is take a bird’s-eye view of David’s life and see how he pressed on more and more to know and experience the Lord, allowing the Lord to meet him in many different ways.
We will also see the conflicts David went through. There were many times when David had opportunities to become content and just settle down.
We are introduced to David in 1 Samuel 16. I am not going to refer to many verses, because I am keeping this very general. I might give you a chapter every now and then, but there will not be many verses, so you can relax. I might catch you off guard every now and then, just to keep you on your toes.
The Lord was displeased with Saul as king, and He was looking for another king. Samuel went to Bethlehem, to the house of Jesse, to find one.
Samuel first looked at the oldest son. He was a big, strapping fellow who looked like he would be a good king, and Samuel thought, “Oh, this must be it.” But the Lord said, “No, that is not it.”
He went through all the sons and asked, “Do you have any other sons?” They said, “Well, we have this younger one. He is out in the fields tending the sheep.” Samuel said, “Bring him in.”
They knew that Samuel was there looking for somebody special. They brought in David, and when David came in, it registered within Samuel’s heart: “This is the one.” Samuel anointed him. This was David’s first anointing as king.
In many ways, David could have stopped there. The youngest had become the number one within his family. He had shown up all his brothers. None of them had been anointed, but he had. If his goal in life had simply been to be the prime one within the family, David could have stopped right there and become very content.
He could have said, “This is my realm. I have been anointed, and none of my other brothers made it, but I got it.” But there was something in David’s heart that kept him pressing on. He was not content with that.
Later in 1 Samuel 16, when the Spirit of God had departed from Saul and Saul was being tormented, David was called in to play the harp for Saul. David would play the harp, Saul would settle down and become peaceful, and David had a pretty good life there.
David could have thought, “This is a pretty good life. When the king gets disturbed, I just play the harp, and he settles down. I do not have any other worries in life. I get to eat the king’s food. I live in a nice place. The king even has some pretty daughters. I think I will just settle here and be a harp player for the rest of my life.”
But the Lord had more, and David knew there was something more. He kept pressing on. He was not content just to be that harp player.
Because he was pressing on, Saul honored him more and made him his armor-bearer. To be the armor-bearer for the king was really a trusted position. When you are going out into battle and somebody else is carrying your armor, you want to be able to trust that person. You want to make sure he can protect you, because he is carrying the shield in front of you. He is protecting you from the enemy, the spears, the arrows, and everything they are trying to throw at you.
David could have thought, “Wow, look what I have achieved. I am the armor-bearer the king trusts. This is a pretty good life. Wherever the king goes, I go. I just hold up a shield. I get to have exciting times and go into battle, but I am protecting the king.”
He could have settled down there. But no, there was something within him. He had been caught by the Lord, and he kept pressing on.
Then, in 1 Samuel 17, David went and defeated Goliath. All Israel was cheering David. Here was this little fellow with stones, and he had slain Goliath. He did not even have a sword; he had to take Goliath’s sword to cut off his head.
Again, David could have been content with the praises of men. But he was not. He kept pressing. He knew there was something that kept him pressing on in spite of all the blessings.
Sometimes we can allow the blessings of God to become a hindrance. When the Lord blesses us so much, we can become content. We say, “Look, the Lord has provided this. The Lord has blessed me with this. Wow, this is a good life.”
But David was captured. He kept pressing on.
Right after that, David became Jonathan’s best friend. Their souls were knit together. David could have thought, “Wow, look, I am best friends with the king’s son. I can hang around here and get all the benefits.”
Most of us, when we grew up, were not part of the privileged class. But perhaps you knew somebody who lived in the big house. Every once in a while, you got to visit them, and you thought, “Wow, this would be kind of neat, living here.”
I remember an uncle who was a doctor. I remember going to his house as a young boy, and I thought his dining room table was the largest table in the world. They had a separate dining room with this huge table. When I grew up and went back, it seated ten people or something, you know. But I thought, “Wow, you get to go over there.”
This was like David with Jonathan. “I get to hang around Jonathan. I get all the benefits of Jonathan. This is a good life.” But again, David kept pressing on.
David continued to go into battle, and he became a mighty warrior. Abner, the commander, trusted David. David would go out, win great battles, and slay people. Again, he could have said, “Look at how the Lord is blessing me and protecting me. I do not know exactly where I am in the chain of command, but I am doing pretty good. This is a good life.”
But David did not stop there.
Finally, Saul was killed, and David was anointed king of Judah. He had risen to be king over his own tribe, one of the twelve tribes. That was a pretty good position. Again, he could have said, “Wow, now I am head of the tribe. This is good.” But he knew God wanted more.
David became king of all Israel, but even then he did not settle down.
Saul, when he became king, made it for Saul’s own benefit. He robbed, he raised taxes, and everything went into the king’s palace. The king was not serving the people; the people were serving the king.
But David had such a heart for the people. He had a heart for God’s interests, and he knew what the Lord wanted.
When David became king, what was the first thing he did? He went and took Jerusalem. He was a man after God’s heart, and he knew that God had this place that He wanted. Nobody else had ever thought about Jerusalem, but David went and took it.
Then he was touched in his heart in such a way that he said, “We need to bring the ark.” The ark of God was out there in Kiriath-jearim, and David wanted to bring the ark to Jerusalem.
But he was not content merely to have the ark there. He said, “We need to build a house for the Lord. The Lord needs a house here.”
David always knew there was so much more. He had experienced so much of the Lord, and he had been so faithful to the Lord, but he was always aware that there was much more.
David himself did not build the house of the Lord—let me correct that. He was told, “No, you cannot build the house; your son will.” But did that stop David?
In 1 Chronicles 22:5, it says that David made ample preparation before his death. Even though he knew he would not be the one to build the house of the Lord, he provided for the house of the Lord. He said, “I will make preparation for it.”
David kept pressing on because he knew God’s heart was for a house. He was not interested in himself. He did not say, “Well, if I cannot do it, I am just going to quit. I will sit in a chair and not do anything.”
No, David was for God’s heart and God’s interests, not his own.
Even when David was weak and old, he knew God’s heart was that Solomon would be king. Adonijah tried to be king, but David rose up, even when he was weak and in his bed, and ensured that Solomon was made king after him.
Even on his deathbed, David was pressing on for God’s heart and God’s interests. He was standing for that. There was always so much more. He was never content with where he was.
David kept pressing on more and more to experience the goodness and faithfulness of the Lord. To me, that is so encouraging. I love the life of David because there is a pressing on there.
We know that David was not a sinless man. We know of his sins and his failures. And we know, as we look back through David’s life, that I have looked at it somewhat through rose-colored glasses. At each one of those times of pressing on, there was great conflict.
David had to experience the cross. He had to deny himself. He had to refuse to consider only how others were treating him. He kept pressing on because he was captured.
Each one of these steps in his life involved conflict, but he allowed the Lord to meet him and carry him through it.
When David was anointed over his brothers, we know from 1 Samuel 16 and 17 that his brothers really looked down upon him. They did not think much of him. He was almost not even thought of.
When Samuel came to the house, David was not even considered. He was out there tending the sheep. How do you think he felt growing up, being totally overlooked? David was Mr. Irrelevant of that time.
For anybody who follows the NFL draft, Mr. Irrelevant is the last guy picked in the NFL draft. He was a tight end from South Carolina this year. But anyway, I do not need to do that.
David was almost irrelevant within the family. Then, when he went to face Goliath, remember how his brothers treated him: “What are you doing here? Who is taking care of the sheep? Why are you here?” He was not accepted.
But he did not allow that to hinder him. He pressed through. He denied those natural feelings of desiring acceptance from his brothers because he knew he was accepted by the Lord, and he wanted to be pleasing to Him.
Even in the conflict with Goliath, what really touched David’s heart was that Goliath challenged and profaned the name of the living God.
David said, in effect, “Do you know Who you are talking about, Goliath? Do you know which God you are speaking of? This is the living God. This is not my battle. Do you know Whose name you are profaning?”
David was standing there for God’s interests, for His sake.
I do not think David was naive enough to think he could take Goliath in his own strength. But he had learned to trust in the Lord through the bear and the lion. The Lord had delivered him, and he knew that as he stepped out, the Lord would deliver him from Goliath.
Sometimes we defeat a lion or a bear, and all of a sudden we think we can wrestle anything. We find out pretty quickly that we cannot. We come up pretty short. But praise God, David learned to trust in the Lord.
David was in Saul’s house as a harp player, but all of a sudden the spirit of jealousy came upon Saul. Saul was hurling the spear at David, though David was Saul’s number-one servant, doing everything he could for Saul.
Saul heard the people cheering when David came back into town: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” Then that spirit of jealousy arose.
How do we feel, brothers and sisters, when we have the conference coming up, or normal work groups, and we do something while somebody else does something and gets all the praise? Is there jealousy? Do we get jealous with one another?
It shows our self-centeredness. We are doing it for ourselves. But we can be honest. We can say, “Lord, when so-and-so got recognition and I did not get recognition, I was jealous.” But we do not stop there. We say, “Lord, that is not right. Deal with the jealousy within me.”
The issue in Saul’s life was that he did not allow the Lord to deal with the jealousy in him. In the other things, when the Lord encountered Saul, he never allowed the Lord to deal with him.
But as David went through conflicts and trials, he allowed the Lord to meet him. The cross became a wonderful way for David to deny himself.
David escaped, even after he had married Saul’s daughter. Saul was still trying to trap him. It might have seemed wonderful to be married to the king’s daughter, but the king was plotting against him.
David had to flee. We know of all the fleeing he did in the wilderness, the strongholds, and the caves, while Saul pursued him.
You wonder whether David at times thought, “Is this really worth it? Samuel anointed me king. Is this really worth it?”
How many times in our individual Christian lives, and how many times in our life together, have we honestly said, “Is this really worth it?”
Honestly, if you have never asked that question, you probably have not been in the battle. When you are in this battle for life, when we are pursuing the Lord, there will be times when we think, “Man, is this really worth it? I just want to check out. I want to buy that cabin in the mountains, sit up on the hill, and do nothing.”
But David was held, just as Joseph was held by a dream for all those years. David was held because God’s purpose and God’s heart had captured him.
If we do not know God’s heart and purpose for us individually and corporately, it is not worth it. There will be things that come up in these difficult days of life, and we will not be able to go on.
But when we come to the end of ourselves, His life and His enabling power will strengthen us to go on—not somehow, but triumphantly. It is not by our own strength; it is by Him. It was by the grace of God, that life of the Lord, that kept David pressing on.
David denied himself so much that even when Saul was delivered into his hands, David would not kill him. David was hiding in a cave, Saul came in to rest, and David could have slain Saul right there. But David denied himself. He would not lay a hand on God’s anointed.
What a precious thing. So often, we lay our hands on God’s anointed too quickly.
Would we really know that denying of ourselves and allowing the Lord to work? David knew that his God was big enough to take care of Saul.
Sometimes, when we look around at situations, our God is so small. We make our gods so small. But we have a great big God. Sometimes men are bigger than God in our eyes. Sometimes circumstances are bigger than God in our eyes.
But if we see Him for Who He really is—if we see His majesty and His enabling power—we are able to go through in a triumphant way.
At times David became desperate. He said, “I have had enough of this fleeing. I am fleeing to the Philistines. I am just going to go over here.” He lived with the Philistines for a while, but the Lord would not let go of him.
Finally, the Philistines chased him back. By then, his family had been captured by the Amalekites. But David inquired of the Lord. He had learned a lesson.
Even after his family had been captured by the enemy, David inquired of the Lord concerning what he should do. The Lord said, “Go get them.” David went, he got them, and it says that David recovered all.
What a wonderful testimony. At the end of 1 Samuel, it says, “David recovered all.” Nothing was lost. David recovered everything and brought it back.
That is the way our Lord Jesus is with us. Even though we make a mess of things, go where we should not have gone, and do what we should not have done, when we repent and come back to Him, there is a recovering of all.
The recovering is knowing more of Christ. It is not a recovering of our old self. It is a recovering in which we now know Christ in a way that we did not know Him before.
Some lessons in life, you do not want to experience twice. When we hear some testimonies, a person knows Christ in a certain way because they have been through very hard and difficult times. You would never volunteer to go through those times again, but you are thankful that you went through them, because if you had not gone through them, you would not know Christ in that way.
As you know Him, there is a strengthening and an enabling.
David was anointed king of Judah, but then there was civil war between Abner and David, between Saul’s armies and David. There was conflict. But praise God, the Lord was with David. The strength of David increased, and the strength of Saul’s armies decreased.
When David became king of all Israel, he went to capture Jerusalem. Those in Jerusalem did not simply say, “Sure, you can have our city.” No, it was a well-fortified city. They had to come up with a plan. There was a battle over Jerusalem. There was a battle over the place where the Lord wanted to place His name.
It would have been easy to leave Jerusalem, saying, “That is too hard to capture. We could never do that. We will take the rest of the land.” But David knew that was the center. That was where God’s heart was. So David battled, went in, and took it.
Even as David brought the ark up, we know that the first time he did it according to his own mind. He did not consult the priests as he should have. His own men were bringing up the ark, and we know the tragedy when Uzzah was slain because the ark tipped over.
David became offended, but the Lord met him, and David learned from it. He repented. He learned the right way. The priests carried the ark, and they brought it in.
Even when David was told that he could not build the house, he did not let that stop him.
We see David’s life through many triumphs and falls. He was able to be recovered by the Lord. David fell into temptation with Bathsheba, but he repented. There was genuine repentance. David said, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
David had to endure the rebellion of his son Absalom. He had to flee Jerusalem. He did not take things into his own hands. Absalom came in, but David was able to come back.
Then, toward the end of his life, David numbered the people, seeking selfishly to see how great his power was. But by the mercy of God, the Lord convicted him. Again, David repented.
He came to that place of repentance, that threshing floor of Ornan, which ended up being the very foundation—the place for the house of God. It is interesting how the house of God began from a place of repentance.
That characterized David’s life. He knew that when he had sinned against the Lord, there was cleansing through the blood, and he could come back. There were consequences, but praise God.
We can see within David one who was held by God’s heart and purpose. He did not know everything of the Lord at that young age, but he knew that God had a heart and a purpose.
I believe when David started out in life, he had no idea that he would capture Jerusalem and make preparation for the house of God. But as he went on, he discovered more and more of those riches.
That is what the Lord is calling us to today. He wants us simply to be pressing on more and more, knowing the riches that we have in Him.
There are many lessons from David’s life and many applications. But we can come back to these three questions. If we look at those verses concerning David’s life, we have to ask ourselves honestly: Are we people after God’s own heart? Are we people after God’s heart, or are we simply in it for ourselves?
As we come to this table on the Lord’s Day, are we coming just because of ourselves? If we are for ourselves, we are giving thanksgiving. It is interesting: there are two words—thanksgiving and worship.
Thanksgiving means we are thankful for what we have received. Worship means remembering Him; the focus is on Him, on Who He is. We remember Him. We are not thinking of ourselves. We are doing this in remembrance of Him. We put Him before us.
Would we be people after God’s own heart? And are we doing all of His will?
It is interesting in Acts 13:22. It says David would do all His will. It does not merely say David would do His will. I think the Lord wanted to make a point there: “David will do all My will.”
That is a challenge for us. Are we willing to do all of His will, or do we just want to do part of His will—the part we like, the part we enjoy, the part that is convenient to us? Are we willing to be those who will do all of His will? That is what He is looking for in this last day.
And are we those who are serving the purpose of God in our generation? Praise God, David was able to serve that purpose.
The Lord is looking for ones in this day and time who are willing to serve His purpose in this generation. However long the Lord delays, whether the younger ones are raised up, it is not too early to start serving the purpose of God in our generation.
David started at a young age. Joseph started at a young age. We can go on and on with Daniel and Timothy. They started serving the purpose of God at a young age.
Whatever age we are now, whatever generation we are, we want to be serving the purpose of God right now. We do not want to allow things to trip us up.
We are thankful for all that David overcame—whether family issues, betrayal by men, overwhelming obstacles, self-interest, or self-glory. He was exalted and people were cheering him, but he was always pressing on.
He did not allow his failures or his sins to stop him. He did not allow his family—even when his sons forsook him—to cause him to condemn himself. He allowed the Lord to meet him, and he kept pressing on.
In this day and time, we sometimes try to complicate things. But the Lord is simply looking for that key of David among His people in this day and time.
That key of David was that he was a man after God’s own heart, who would do His will, do all of His will, and serve His purpose.
As we desire to be those who are possessing the kingdom, taking hold of that kingdom, may we be willing to allow the violence of the cross to work in our lives every day, in whatever specific areas are needed.
The thing about it is that we do not have to worry about orchestrating the cross. If we give ourselves to the Lord, He will arrange our lives in such a way that we can learn of Him. He will train us. He will teach us of Himself, so that we can decrease and He can increase.
May we not be those who end up content. But may we be, as Paul said, those who “excel still more.” There is a much more out there that the Lord wants us to enter into. May we be those who are entering into that much more.
Let’s pray.
Lord, as we think of one who pressed on and was never content, our hearts are immediately drawn to You.
Lord, You left the splendor of heaven. You came upon this earth. You took the form of man. You were that Spirit of a bondslave.
Lord, You allowed Your love for Your Father and Your love for the church to lead You all the way to Calvary. Then, praise God, death could not hold You. You defeated it. You rose up from the grave, and now You are seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
Lord, You kept pressing on for that much more. Lord, we want to be those who are found still pressing on.
As that song we sang says, we want to go deeper—deeper in Your love, deeper in Your Spirit, knowing more of You, Lord.
May we not be content with only a superficial relationship, but allow You to touch every aspect of our lives, that we could, in some small way, be used to hasten Your return.
In Thy name we pray. Amen.