Good morning, brothers and sisters.
We have a new thing going, they tell me, this morning. We have a camera looking at this big green light—not so big—but not only do some have to hear me; they have to actually see me.
But, you know, what we want in our heart above everything else is to see Christ Jesus. He is the only One that we want to see, that we long to see, that we want to hear, that we want Him to speak. That is the only reason, I believe—I am convinced of it—for ministry; the only value in it.
So, let us read a few verses. I have—what did I do? My light off. I have two green lights.
Well, there are a number of verses, and we will get into them, but I do not want to read all those verses. I just want to read a few in the beginning. These are familiar verses.
The first one, reading from J. N. Darby, is 1 Samuel 13, verses 13 and 14. I know all of you know this verse. It is right after the rejection of Saul and the choosing of David.
And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly:
Thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which He commanded thee;
for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom forever over Israel.But now thy kingdom shall not continue:
the Lord hath sought Him a man after His own heart.
I know you know that, but let me read that part again:
The Lord hath sought Him a man after His own heart.
The next verse I would like to turn to is in the book of Acts. Again, it is in Acts 13, like we just read in 1 Samuel 13. I am going to do the reverse of what Brother Sheridan did. Brother Sheridan said he normally reads the NASB, the New American Standard Bible, and sometimes he reads Darby. Well, you know me: I normally read Darby, but in this verse I particularly like the New American Standard Version.
I remember years ago when this verse was read by a sister in a meeting from the New American Standard Version, how it touched my heart deeply. It has been something deep in my heart ever since.
Acts 13:36:
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.
Now, that is the meat. That is the heart of it: David served the purpose of God in his own generation. I do not want you to focus on the “underwent decay” part. I want you to focus on the first part.
Lord, we are so thankful for Your Word. We tell You again: Your words are spirit and life. Without Your Word, we perish. Your Word quickens us. Your Word changes us and transforms us, as we heard in a prayer before the meeting this morning.
Your Word brings us into that large place we heard about in Christ Jesus. So we pray, Lord, do not withhold Your Word from us this morning.
We say, in utter dependence, as we come like Peter—we often say it—“Lord, You alone have the words of eternal life. To whom shall we go?” We pray that You would quicken Your words. We pray that Your heart would be expressed somehow through vessels of clay, and that we will hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches in this hour, this late hour.
For we ask it together in the precious name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Okay. My responsibility—at least let me start here—the last several times I have spoken has been to share this burden the Lord has laid on my heart. We titled it, “The Man God Chooses and Uses for His Purpose.”
We have already shared on a couple of folks: Abraham and Moses. I think it ought to be pretty obvious to you that today we will be sharing on David.
You might wonder why I picked these three characters, because if you read the Bible, it is full of men and women that God chooses and uses to accomplish His purpose. That is the glorious thing. The Bible is not just about principles. Sometimes we think all the Bible is is principles and commands, but the glory of the Bible is that we see flesh-and-blood people like us.
James says they were of like passions. The highest of them, the greatest of them, were of like passions—just like us. But somehow God, in His mercy, chose and used those vessels for His glory.
It was pretty simple how I selected these three from the Old Testament. First of all, they are probably the most prominent. You may argue with that a bit, but they seem to me to be the most prominent in the Old Testament. Certainly, when you come to the New Testament, they are the three Old Testament characters most referenced.
You can look it up and do the count. I did it, and they are the ones most spoken of in the New Testament. That was the reason.
Then, if you wonder where we are going, we will get to the New Testament. We have one more message about the apostle Paul. We will look at the apostle Paul, and I think it is obvious why you would choose him when you go to the New Testament.
There are a couple of things critical about this burden that I think we have to talk about. God is a God of purpose. I do hope we never get tired of hearing that.
Sometimes we have a purpose, and things do not go so well. It is true for me; it may not be true for you. We change that purpose. Well, God is not like that. He does not have one purpose, and then that purpose just does not work out so well, and then He amends that purpose and begins with a whole new purpose. In the end, He might settle for what He gets. That is not the way God works.
God is a God of purpose, and everything He does is with that purpose in view. He will, in the end, complete His purpose to the glory of God. That is the good news.
Another essential thing, central to this burden, is this: this purpose is Christocentric. Now, that may be a word you do not like or understand, but it simply boils down to this: the purpose of God is centered in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 1:9–10 says the purpose of God, His will that He purposed from the ages, is to sum up—or, I like the way Darby puts it, to head up—everything in Christ Jesus. It is Christocentric. It has to do with Christ.
Everything—the Lord, this vast place we heard about this morning, this large place in Christ Jesus—is God’s eternal purpose.
But there is another central thing we need to keep in mind as we talk about these men: His purpose includes man. Think of it. This great, eternal, unchanging purpose that God will never deviate from, that He always had in His thought before the beginning of time—this purpose has to do with man.
Now, is that not glorious? Can you imagine the privilege of that? It even says in Hebrews that He did not choose the fallen angels, but He chose man.
You remember that verse Jim shared last week from Psalm 8:
What is man, that Thou art mindful of him?
And the son of man, that Thou visitest him?
Is this not glorious? I do not know—you may be one of those up-and-down kind of characters. You may not believe this, but I am a little bit like that. One moment I am in glory; another moment I may be a little down and depressed.
But we should always be encouraged. A central part of God’s purpose not only includes His Son, but includes us. We discover in Romans 8:28 that, in the end, He has predetermined that all of us would be conformed to the image of His Son, that there would be many sons in glory.
Another thing is that without man—somehow, this is a mystery—He will not accomplish His purpose. He sent the Son of Man, His own beloved Son, into the world. He sent His only Son, not as God only, but as man. His Son came into the world, and His Son fulfilled His purpose. He did all of His will.
But likewise, that purpose is to be fulfilled by us joining with God. That is why He wants to choose man and use man for His purpose.
I hope that sort of gives you the why of what we are doing. Now, I do not want to go over all of Abraham and Moses. I will just say this: Abraham was certainly one God chose. Abraham was the man of faith.
I believe the Lord is looking for men and women of faith today. You cannot help but remember the Lord’s words: “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith in the earth?”
Abraham is the standard. The just shall live by faith. The illustrations in the New Testament are of Abraham’s faith—faith like Abraham, our father.
Think of Moses. Moses had a title that I think is extraordinary. I love titles like this. He was called Moses, the man of God. Think of that.
I suppose if, at the end of your life, someone said to you, “Jerry, the man of God,” you would at least feel some sense of satisfaction that it was a life well lived. But it says of Moses again and again, “Moses, the man of God.” It ends with God saying directly, “Moses My servant.” Moses, the servant of God.
It concludes in Hebrews that the one thing about that service which was important was that Moses was faithful in all His house. I wonder: the summary of a man of God, of a servant of God—is, will he be faithful? Faithful in all His house.
That is where we have been, and today we are going to begin to look at David.
I think David is a character of whom we get a full view. Sometimes, when you look at a man, it is not pretty to have a full view. I think the same is true of David. I do not know if I want you to have a full view of me.
But David was an extraordinarily complex and multifaceted character. We cannot go into all that complexity. We said the original burden consisted of looking at a rough sketch of these characters—one ministry, a rough sketch, and not a full rendering.
Another thing we said, an impression that was laid on my heart, is that every one of these characters—and this ought to encourage you and me—was flawed. Yet God chose them and used them for His purpose.
Brothers and sisters, I do not know about you, but that gives me great encouragement. Think of David. F. B. Meyer said David was a heinous sinner.
Now, if you called me heinous anything, I suppose I would get offended—mope around a few days, maybe even yell at you. Who knows? But David was a heinous sinner. Yet God chose him. God used him to accomplish His purpose. We need to keep that in mind.
David was a shepherd, a musician, a soldier, a king, a husband, a father, and a sinner. Boy, we see the whole view of this man.
As we talk about David this morning, I am not interested simply in looking at a historical record. You can do that, and I think there is much benefit in it. In fact, if you do not do that, I do not know how you will be able to glean the nuggets from a life.
But you need to go beyond a historical record of these characters. You have to see into their heart. You have to see what characteristic God used. What was the thing God saw in them, that He could choose them and use them for His great purpose?
In that way, this is not just a historical study. It is really an application: What, in a life, is God looking for? What is He after in your life and in my life? It was not just David’s life, Abraham’s life, Moses’ life, or Paul’s life. What is He looking for?
If we can glean some of those principles—what He is looking for—then maybe we can be helped to see what God is after in man.
You cannot consider an Old Testament character and his impact on the Old Testament without considering David. You cannot. He holds a place of highest honor in the Old Testament.
Dean Stanley said there is no other character to be compared with David in the complexity of his elements: his passion, his tenderness, his generosity, and his fierceness. A complex character.
We know the details; we know his life. We ought to consider the significant things in his life. His significance cannot be overestimated in the Scriptures.
Think of the name David. It means beloved, beloved of the Lord, or His beloved. He is the only one in the Bible with that name.
I know you could argue with me and say, “What about Son of David?” Well, still, David is the only one in the Bible with his name, and it means beloved of the Lord, or His beloved.
I believe, brothers and sisters, this is not just true of David. When Paul wrote that great epistle to the Romans, he called them, in the introduction, beloved of God, called saints—Romans 1:7, I think, if you want to get it right. Do not depend on my memory.
Every one of us is beloved of God, not just David. Every one of us is beloved. We can somehow think, “David, Abraham, Moses—these great patriarchs—they were the beloved of God.”
You can certainly think of Daniel. When he concluded his prayer in Daniel 9, it says, “Thou art one greatly beloved.” But do you know that you also are one greatly beloved? You were called, just like the Roman believers. You were chosen, just like the Roman believers. He wants to use you, just like the Roman believers, to accomplish His purpose.
Psalm 78:70–71 says this, speaking of God:
And He chose David His servant,
And took him from the sheepfolds;
From following the suckling ewes He brought him,
To feed Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance.
He chose David. “He hath sought Him a man,” it says. That is the premier verse about David: God has sought a man. In Psalm 78, He chose David. Well, He chooses us, and that is what we need to keep in mind.
Why was Saul rejected and David chosen? Think about it. I believe it boils down to one thing: his heart.
Saul was a man of the flesh. In every aspect he was outstanding. The people wanted him. God allowed it. He was head and shoulders above everyone else. He was a man’s man. He seemed to be the perfect king, but he was a man of the flesh, and his heart ended up not being right.
So, in the end, Saul was rejected and David was chosen. It is, first of all, when it comes to David, a matter of his heart.
Another thing about the significance of David: his last words are recorded in 2 Samuel 23:1–7. We will not read it, but he refers to himself as the sweet psalmist of Israel. That was the title he gave himself.
If you have been a Christian any time, you begin to appreciate the value of the Psalms. David probably wrote half of the Psalms. Of the 150 Psalms, they believe David wrote 73. Now, that is close to half.
I do higher math—not like Jim, I am afraid. I love those letters: calculus, derivatives, partial differential equations. I do not say that I understand it, but I love it. So, 75 would be halfway—higher math.
But David wrote the Psalms, and from those Psalms we get a window into this man. That window shows us unmistakably what his heart was like.
Many of us could not worship God without the Psalms. We could, but you understand: the Psalms have aided us. David’s own worship has become our worship.
Psalm 103:1–2 says:
Bless the Lord, O my soul:
And all that is within me, bless His holy name.
Bless the Lord, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits.
Through David’s voice, many of us have been made worshipers. Many of us would not know how to pray if it were not for David.
You remember that psalm of repentance in Psalm 51, after that great sin with Bathsheba. How many times have you been led to make David’s prayer your prayer?
Psalm 51:10 says:
Create in me a clean heart, O God;
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
How often we should pray that. Many of us would not know how to repent appropriately if it were not for David. Psalm 51:4 is so pointed. It is the essence of what sin does:
Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned,
And done that which is evil in Thy sight.
Many of us would never know the blessing of forgiveness if it were not for David’s Psalm 32:
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven,
Whose sin is covered.
It says of Augustine that Psalm 32 was written on the walls of his bedchamber. He knew the blessing of forgiveness.
I remember when I was saved, when I was young—the kids love to say “long-haired hippie”—and I was twenty years old. The night I was saved, I cannot explain it to you, but this was unmistakably embedded in my memory: the feeling, the sense of cleanness, of having your sins lifted and that burden rolled away, and the rejoicing in the spirit over that moment.
David said, “Blessed are those whose transgression is forgiven.”
The New Testament, thinking of David’s significance, opens with a verse about David:
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.
—Matthew 1:1
That is how the New Testament opens. Now, I think that is strange. I think Matthew got it wrong. I do not understand what Matthew was thinking. Did he not know Abraham was before David? How could you get it so wrong?
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, Son of David. It is there for a reason. This man has a significant place in Scripture that we should take note of and try to emulate.
Even when the Lord closed out the book—His last testimony of Himself in Revelation 22:16—He said:
I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.
I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright, the morning star.
The last thing He said about Himself. My, we should take note of it.
But above everything, if we miss David’s heart, we miss everything about the man. Remember that word in 1 Samuel: God is saying, “I have sought a man.” Psalm 78 says, “I have chosen David.” And He says, “A man after My own heart.”
Heart is the key to understanding David. It is his most significant feature. If you see all of his acts and miss the heart, you miss the heart of it. If you see his sins and miss the heart, you miss what God has to say.
Here is the problem with Saul, and here is the problem with the sons of David. Jesse, David’s father, had eight sons. When Samuel was called to anoint the one who would be king, only seven were brought before him. David was left behind and thought so little of.
Can you imagine? I do not know if you had seven kids, or two kids, or three kids, but if you went on vacation and took two kids when you had three, and left one at home—can you imagine?
But where was I? Jesse’s sons, right? You remember Eliab? Oh, he was outstanding. Even Samuel was fooled. Samuel said, “This is the guy. This is it. He is perfect.” It just seemed like that was the one.
But the Lord had to correct him with these words in 1 Samuel 16:7:
Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him:
for the Lord seeth not as man seeth;
for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.
There is the key. Miss it, and you miss everything about David. God looks upon the heart. That is David’s most prominent feature.
Soon Samuel said, “Is this it? We have been through the seven. Is there not anybody else?” Oh, Jesse remembered little David, off in the field with the sheep—forgotten, even by his father.
No wonder David’s own Psalm says:
When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the Lord will take me up.
He knew it. It was his experience.
So, brothers and sisters, God looks upon the heart. I think there is one word that defines David’s heart: passion. I think Dean Stanley had it right in choosing that as his first description of David—his passion.
We use this expression when we talk about people: “He or she is all heart.” Sometimes we mean it in a sentimental way. But in fact, David was all heart. David was full of passion.
The reason God could choose him, the reason God could use him, was because of his passion. Passion has become a dirty word. I do not know who co-opted and stole that word, but in our generation that seems to be happening a lot.
But passion simply speaks of the deep things that are in your heart. It speaks of those things which are prominent in your heart, those things which are first in your heart, those things that override everything else in your heart. That is what passion is.
David was not perfect. I think I have already told you that. But it says in Scripture he had a perfect heart towards God. Now think of that. Does that not encourage you?
We think God is looking for perfection. God is not looking for perfection. If He did, He would not have chosen you, and He would not have chosen me. He is looking for a heart of passion. That is the difference. That is what David had.
I want us to look, in the little bit of time we have left, at three passions. As I have meditated over the years and thought, “Why does David have such a significant place before God and in Scripture, that the Lord Jesus would say, ‘I am the root and offspring of David’?” it seems to me to boil down to these three things:
To me, that is a quick sketch of the life of David. You can fit everything into those holes. You may have an expanded view better than I have, but at least you can understand David from those three perspectives.
Now let us look at the first: a passion for God Himself. I believe this is an essential element that is missing in much of Christianity today. Many of us do not have a passion for God Himself. But David, in fact, had a passion for God Himself.
Passion is essential in this world for success. We often talk about people as passionate people. It is no different in the economy of God. Passion is essential, and the essential passion is a passion for God Himself.
You leave that passion out, and you cannot be one God chooses. You cannot be one God uses for His purpose. That, to me, tells what David was like.
It was not just the things of God. It was not just what God did for him. It was not just the benefits, the deliverances, or the victories. It was a passion for God Himself.
Brothers and sisters, if I can leave any impression on you today when I sit down, I hope that thought bears deeply in your spirit, because I think it is the most important thing. Let me put it this way: I believe this is the crowning jewel of a heart for God.
If you neglect it, and you do all the other things, and you have all the other service, and you have all the other doctrine right, then you will miss the heart of God, and certainly the impact of David.
Many of us can say we have known the Spirit’s leading. I think many in this room could say that. Sometimes a few people say that regardless of whether they know it or not.
People will come to me and say, “The Lord has led me to do this.” I always step back a little bit and think, “What do I say?” They are coming to me for counsel, and they say, “The Lord has led me to do this.” Well, I quickly say, “You had better do it. What did you come for? What is the purpose of your coming?”
But I usually say, “Make sure the Lord led you.”
We have all known the Spirit’s leading, but listen to what David said. This is the passion for God Himself. In Psalm 23:1, the shepherd psalm—everybody knows it—David said:
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
David did not just say, “The Spirit of God has led me. I have discovered His leading here and there. He brought me through that place.” He said emphatically, “The Lord is my shepherd.” Can you see the difference? There is a difference.
That was the key to David’s life.
Many believers, I hope all believers, can say, “I am saved.” Surely you should be able to know if you are saved and have the assurance of salvation. If you do not know, number one, how miserable you must be; and number two, I doubt that you are a Christian. You need the assurance of salvation.
Many believers can say, “I am saved,” but what did David say in Psalm 27:1?
The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
Do you notice the difference? He did not just say, “The Lord saved me.” He said, “The Lord is my salvation.” That is different. That is a passion for God Himself.
Many can say they found strength in the Lord, thankfully. How many times have you known the Lord’s mercy to deliver you when you were in a tough place? Every one of us has known times when we did not think we would get through—almost did not know if we would get through.
But in the end, you could delight in the Lord and say, “The Lord delivered me from that situation.” Many can say that. The Lord has strengthened them in many dark hours.
But here is what David said, also in Psalm 27:1:
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
You see the difference? The Lord is the strength of my life. What a passion for God Himself.
I think this is tremendous. David was probably the most pursued man in history. You may argue that Osama bin Laden might be up there as well. God bless him—he is gone. I am sorry for the politics.
David was pursued by Saul. Saul was driven to madness. You remember when the women sang that little song:
Saul hath slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands.
It drove Saul to madness. They would bring David out of the fields, from the sheep, and let him sing and play his lyre. That demonic thing that came over Saul would be calmed, and Saul would return to his natural self.
Then Saul hurled his spear—not once, but twice—at David, and David was delivered. Driven by jealousy, David was pursued. He was already anointed king, yet he was running and living in holes and caves, in the cave of Adullam with the four hundred men.
He was even pursued by his own son, Absalom. It is one thing for old jealous Saul to throw spears at me and try to kill me. It is another thing altogether when my son is hunting for my head. Pursued. Greatly pursued. Great difficulties.
Yet David made this great discovery in Psalm 18:2:
The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
My God, my rock, in whom I will take refuge;
My shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.
That is what he discovered. This is a passion for God Himself.
Many might say, “The Lord gave me this, and the Lord gave me that,” and it would be true. But David made a precious discovery about the Lord Himself. I wonder if we have made it.
Psalm 142:5 says:
I cried unto Thee, O Lord:
I said, Thou art my refuge,
My portion in the land of the living.
My portion in the land of the living.
I asked Ken to sing a chorus that meant so much to us in our early years. We used to sing it all the time. Forgive me if you think we have been here so long that we think we have it all straight. We do not. I would never infer that.
But I can tell you, there was some discovery made about the Lord—God Himself being our passion—that was real. I remember we would come together, and sometimes in the Spirit we would just be singing unto the Lord:
O Lord, Thou art our portion,
The Christ and coming King;
Of all Thy grace and glory
Forever we will sing.
For soon shall be Thy crowning
In power and majesty.
O Lord, Thou art our portion
Through all eternity.
We would sing it again and again, and it meant something.
I came from a charismatic background, and I remember great blessings. I do not want to take away what the Lord gave me and showed me, but I remember the first time it was shared with me—“Himself.” What it meant to us as a company. It was a passion for God Himself.
I remember how we used to sing and read it:
Once it was the blessing,
Now it is the Lord;
Once it was the feeling,
Now it is His Word;
Once His gift I wanted,
Now the Giver own;
Once I sought for healing,
Now Himself alone.
Brothers and sisters, that was David. That is what I think God is looking for.
David put it this way in Psalm 27:4:
One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
Can you say that? “One thing have I desired.” I do not know. I have had some inkling of that over the years, and that verse has deeply impressed my heart.
This was one who had a passion for God Himself, and he could say, “One thing have I desired; that will I seek after.” You can desire it, but will you seek it like gold and silver—pursue it?
His desire was to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life, for this one purpose: to behold the beauty of the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, I think this is first love. We often wonder what the Lord meant when He rebuked the Ephesian church in Revelation 2: “You have left your first love.” I believe this is it.
It is not that complicated. Service should continue. Labor should continue. Studies should continue. All these things are good, but if we have lost that passion for God Himself, what is left? To me, this is first love, and this is what He is looking for.
David did not just have a passion for God Himself; he had a passion for God’s house. You may not think that is important, but if you think it is not important, then you have to chop off most of the life of David.
Early, this thing came into his heart. He was a shepherd in the field. You remember that great shepherd Psalm, Psalm 23. How did he conclude it?
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life;
And I will dwell in the house of the Lord
Forever.
Brothers and sisters, he could have said anything. He could have concluded that masterpiece of literature—if you see it as nothing else—with anything. But he concluded with this one thing: that he would dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
Look at Psalm 84. This is a psalm David wrote to the sons of Korah:
How amiable are Thy tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts!
Now, “amiable” is a word some of us do not use too much. I do not ever wake up in the morning and say, “Linda, you look amiable.” She might hit me. But it simply means, “How lovely.”
Psalm 84:2 says:
My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth
For the courts of the Lord:
My heart and my flesh cry out
For the living God.
If you do not think this is talking about passion, you miss the mark. Do we say, “Lord, how lovely are Your courts? How lovely is Your house? My heart, my flesh cry out. My soul longs for the courts of the Lord.”
Most people understand Christianity in the context of their own life and relationship with the Lord Jesus. Brothers and sisters, I am telling you, that is not enough.
It is important. It is vital. You cannot live without a singular, involved, deep relationship with the Lord Jesus in the Spirit. You cannot live without that. It is indispensable.
But you cannot cut off the other half of what is in God’s heart: His longing for a dwelling place. That is a passion that entered this shepherd boy’s thoughts as he gazed at the heavens, looked at the stars, and looked at the wonders God had made.
It entered into his heart. No one told him about this house of God. I believe as we draw near the Lord, He begins to share with us His secrets.
We are His friends. You remember Abraham, the man of faith. The Lord said, “Why should I hide from Abraham the thing that I do?” James called Abraham the friend of God.
God divulged His deepest secrets to Abraham. Moses, the man of God, spoke face to face with God. When you read about Moses’ life, it says over and over again, “God spoke to Moses.” He had a relationship that was face to face.
On the mountain, at the burning bush, He spoke face to face with Moses, and He shared His deepest secrets. A lot of people believe that when Moses went up to Mount Horeb, the whole thing was about the law. But that was only a part of it.
God said:
And let them make Me a sanctuary;
That I may dwell among them.
—Exodus 25:8
This was His secret. He shared it with the man of God.
In the New Testament, we are the friends of God. Remember the Lord Jesus, before He left, in John 15. He said to His disciples, “I call you friends. I no longer call you bondservants, because a bondservant does not know what his master is doing. I have shared with you everything the Father has shared with Me.”
His secrets.
Brothers and sisters, I think the secret He shared with David was this matter of the house of God.
You remember the story in 1 Chronicles 17:1–2:
And it came to pass, as David dwelt in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet,
Behold, I dwell in a house of cedars,
But the ark of the covenant of the Lord dwelleth under curtains.Then Nathan said unto David,
Do all that is in thine heart;
For God is with thee.
This is what was in his heart: to build a temple for the house of God.
Look at 2 Chronicles 6:7–8. This is Solomon speaking of his father David:
Now it was in the heart of David my father
To build a house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
But the Lord said to David my father,
Whereas it was in thine heart to build a house for My name,
Thou didst well that it was in thine heart.
This is God speaking. It was good that it was in your heart. God later explained, “I did not share this with any man.” But David, as God’s friend who had a passion for God Himself, drew near to God, and God shared with him the deepest secret of His heart.
It was like the Lord Jesus in Caesarea Philippi. John recently shared on that. He shared the deepest secrets. It was a turning point.
If you do not understand Matthew 16 as a turning point in the Gospel, you miss the Gospel of Matthew. When the Lord Jesus stopped His disciples and asked, “Who do men say that I am?” Peter received the revelation:
Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
That was the deepest thing in God’s heart. Then the Lord shared another deepest thing in His heart: “Peter, you are a stone. That stone I have chosen. That stone I will use. On that rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.”
That is what He shared—a turning point, the deepest thing in His heart.
We were talking the other day about two conferences ago. I do not know if you are like me; you sort of tend to forget the messages. But I will never forget Stephen sharing on Matthew 16. He shared that the Lord Jesus revealed what was most prominent in His heart.
This is what David saw. Do we have a passion for the house of God? I think it is essential.
Finally, David had a passion for God’s purpose. I have already read the verse in Acts:
For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep, and was laid among his fathers.
—Acts 13:36
Brothers and sisters, sometimes too many words obscure the reality. The New Testament summary of David, I think, is in this one verse. What was his ultimate passion? He served the purpose of God in his generation.
Now let me tell you something. I know you have heard this before, but this is the only life you have. It has gone by so fast. I used to be a young fellow when I came here, when I was twenty years old—forty-two years ago. A young fellow. I cannot tell you where forty-two years have gone, but boy, they have gone.
You have one life. I heard a brother preaching the other day say, “You do not have any do-overs.” This is it.
I like do-overs sometimes. Every time I go to the golf course, usually on the first tee, when I am tightened up so tight and wound like a rubber band, the ball goes skittering off into the woods. I say, “Can I have a do-over, please? One mulligan, just one. It is all I ask for this hole.”
You do not have any do-overs.
David knew something. He knew that in his generation, the one thing he wanted to do, the one passion that was in his heart, was to serve the purpose of God in his generation.
Brothers and sisters, that is his legacy. What a legacy.
I tell people all the time, I would like some of my peers to say, “He was a pretty good engineer.” I would like my friends to say, “He was a pretty good guy.” I would sure hate it if my children said, “He was lousy.”
But, boy, if they could say of me—and of you—like they said of David, “He served the purpose of God in his generation and then fell asleep,” I believe you would have to conclude that was a life well lived.
I believe this is the legacy of David.
God said, “I have sought a man.” God said, “I have found a man.” In Psalm 78, He says, “I have chosen a man,” and it was David. He chose this man. He used this man. Through this man, He accomplished His will.
Now, brothers and sisters, do we have that passion for God Himself? I will make this three points. If you cannot remember all the other things—and I know it is difficult; that is why I take notes—it helps me concentrate and helps me go back.
Do we have a passion for God Himself? Not just the things of God, not just the blessings, not just the deliverances, but for God Himself?
Do we have a passion for God’s house, or is that sort of out of our repertoire? Do we only think about me and God? Fellowship is glorious. I tell you what: when it is only you and God, fellowship is always glorious.
Church life is not the easiest place to live, but it is God’s passion. He shares it with His friend, and He is looking for those who have that thing in their heart. He will say of them, “It was good that it was in your heart.”
Then the last question is: Do we have a passion for God’s purpose? Do we?
My prayer is that we will somehow. If you feel like I am talking down to you, I am not. I am with you. Please do not take that impression.
But I want to tell you: let us make it our prayer, “Lord, in our generation, can we serve Your purpose?” That will be enough.
You may have many other blessings, many other trials, many other experiences, but if that is the legacy of your life, you are a man that God chooses and a man that God uses to accomplish His purpose.
Father, we just commit these words to You. We know it is only the Holy Spirit that can take words and make them real. We are again pleading with You for Your anointing to do what we cannot do—to somehow make alive Your Word.
May it seize upon us the way it seized upon this young shepherd boy, who was chosen and used so greatly.
We want to again offer ourselves to You. We know somehow, just like in life, our passion dies. Lord, You are a God who is willing to renew our passion.
So we say:
Renew in us a right spirit.
Make it so of us as it was of David.
We offer ourselves to You once again by the Spirit of God, that You will do this work in us. We offer You praise and worship as a result.
In Your precious name. Amen.