Well, as always, beautiful singing. So I've not met you. My name is Aaron, and I'm glad you're with us. I'm the preaching pastor here, and I'm glad you're with us on this last Sunday of February. So spring is coming, and I cannot wait.
So if you have a Bible with you, but open up to the book of First Samuel.
Here's text from Study will come from chapter 16, verses 22 through 20. I'm sorry, verses 14 through 23. First Samuel, 16, 14, 23. And as you open up your Bible, if you have one with you, keep it open, okay? We're just going to walk through the passage throughout the sermon, so keep your Bible open and so you can follow along.
But let me read the text here for us. And then after I get done reading, then I'm going to pray, ask for the Lord's help, and then we'll get to work, okay? So Starting at verse 14 of chapter 16, this is what the Bible says. Now, the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul and a harmful spirit from the Lord, and a harmful spirit from the Lord tormented him. And Saul's servants said to him, behold, a harmful spirit from God is tormenting you.
Let our Lord now command your servants who are before you, to seek out a man who is skillful in playing the lyre. And when the harmful spirit of God is upon you, he will play it and you will be well. So Saul said to the serpents, provide for me a man who can play well and bring him to me. One of the young men answered, behold, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite, who is skillful and plain, a man of valor, a man of war, prudent speech, and a man of good presence. And the Lord is with him.
Therefore, Saul sent messengers to Jesse and said, send me David, your son who is with the sheep. Jesse took a donkey laden with bread and. And a skin of wine and a young goat, and sent them by David, his son, to Saul. David came to Saul and entered his service, and Saul greatly loved him greatly, and he became his armor bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying, let David remain in my service, for he has found favor in my sight.
Whenever the harmful spirit from God was upon Saul, David took the lyre and played it with his hand. So Saul was refreshed and was well, and the harmful spirit departed from him. Okay, so that's God's word for us this morning. Let's pray.
Lord, we do pray that you would bless this time for the glory of Christ.
Please help me to Be a good communicator. Please give ears for the congregation to be good listeners. And we pray that your spirit would do a great work here in this time. That your spirit, through your word would lead us to all truth. That your spirit, through your word would lead us to Jesus Christ.
It's in his name we pray. Amen. Okay, so if you've been with Red Village Church for any length of time, you know that one of the things we do often is testify to the evidence of God's grace. In fact, I think there was even a sermon not that long back I mentioned this reality of our church. Now, this language of evidence of God's grace is not unique to our church.
I know many other churches do something similar to what we do. And I think it's important for us to testify to the evidence of God's grace because one, primarily because it brings glory to God. But then also it helps us not get bogged down with like, cynicism and hopelessness that easily can creep into our hearts. Because the evidence of God's grace, it gives us hope that indeed God is at work in the world around us. So now for me, often when I think about the evidence of God's grace on me, my family, the church as a whole, my mind is often taken to God's gracious work that he does through others.
In fact, if I think back over the years of Red Village Church, the vast majority of evidence of grace that stick out to me is actually God working through you, through you, being a blessing to others. Whether it be like providing care for someone who's struggling, or perhaps God working through you by sacrificially giving you things like your time, your talents, your finances to help meet a host of needs. I think of the evidence of God's grace working through you in ways like you serve the church with like, spiritual gifts. So many of the sweet things that we've experienced as a church family so many times we see the evidence of God's grace on us has been and continues to be tied to God's work through you, to use you to be a blessing. Now, I say that to you this morning to once again bring up this concept of the evidence of God's grace to actually set us up for our sermon, the next sermon that we have here in First Samuel, where we come to a text where we see the evidence of God's grace through the young man David.
Now, before we get to the text, just a reminder where we left off, where we've been actually in the last few weeks. It's all the way back to chapter eight. Remember how the people sinfully demanded from God to give them a king after their own heart to rule over them so they could be like all the nations of the area, in the area. And this is a sinful demand, because in doing this, they're rejecting God's rule over them. So in chapter nine and ten, we see God give his people over to this, their heart's desires by appointing a man named Saul to be their king, who was mentioned multiple times in her study.
Certainly looked the part of being a king. He was tall, he was handsome. However, as we have learned, Saul had some major issues when it comes to integrity, humility. And even though Saul got off to a pretty good start as king, it didn't take long for his lack of character, his lack of integrity to start to shine through. So in chapters 15 through 18, we read Saul make one major sinful, prideful plunder after another that did not bring God's blessings and favor and grace on his people.
Rather, Saul continued to bring misery to those under his care. And as Saul spiraled into deeper and deeper sins, the Lord was so grieved that he rejected Saul as king, which he did through the great prophet and priest, Samuel. And as the Lord rejected Saul as king, he promised to replace Saul with a man after God's own heart, which is what we see God do in our text last week in the first half of chapter 16. By the way, if you weren't here last week or have not had a chance to listen to that sermon from last week, that will click deliver to us, I would strongly, strongly encourage you to do so. It was a really helpful exposition of scripture.
So in our text last week, as the heart of God moved, Samuel was back on the scene and he anointed a young man named David to be the king, who in many ways did not look the part. In fact, David did not look the part in such a way that even his own dad kept overlooking him. David was basically an afterthought to his family. However, in perhaps the most famous verse from our text from last week, we learned that do not look at outward appearance of like things like height and stature, because God says, I rejected him, speaking of Saul. For the Lord sees not as man sees, man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart, specifically God's own heart, which is a good heart.
So according to God's good heart, he appointed David to be the king, to be a minister of grace, a blessing to his people. Okay, so that's where we left off last week. So technically, Saul is still the king of Israel, but David also was just anointed to be his replacement. And because of that, this actually had to be a pretty awkward time for David in our text today. Now, up to this point, Saul still seemed to be kind of in the dark, kind of clueless about the anointing of David as king.
But for David, he obviously would have known that the Lord just appointed him to be the king over Saul. So in our text today, this was like, probably an awkward scene for David. And I think actually, as you read through this text, I think we actually are to feel a little bit of awkwardness as we see these two kings in the same place. Two kings who are very different. The one Saul we just talked about was a source of misery, a source of pride, a source of arrogance.
And then the other David, to say it again, which is a source of blessing, he was an evidence of God's grace which was found in his humility and service towards the Lord and others. Okay, so that is an intro. Look back with me at the text starting at verse 14.
So in the text, we read that now the Spirit of the Lord had departed from Saul. And this is in Contrast to verse 13 from last week where we read that as David was appointed or anointed by Samuel, that the Spirit of the Lord was now rushing upon his him. And as the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David, it was now departing from Saul. And I think this here, this rushing on David departing from Saul. I think this mean is meant to be read as like, in terms of like, empowering.
So the spirit up to this point was like, empowering Saul, helping Saul with all the various tasks needed to be king. But as the Lord rejected Saul as king for all of his ongoing sin, Lord is now taking away that empowering spirit from him. Right. This is another indicator of God rejecting Saul as king, a further act of judgment on him. And as the Lord was doing this, as he was further giving Saul over to his desires, our text tells us that he's basically God is basically turning Saul over to himself.
Right. Okay, Saul, here you go. You just do whatever you want to do. Now you are left on your own. In our text, as the Spirit of God departed from Saul, we see that a very different spirit now makes its way into Saul's life.
In the text, we read that a harmful spirit from the Lord now started to attack Saul by tormenting him. Now, let me mention, this is probably the most confusing part of our passage today in that the Lord sent and Used a harmful spirit on Saul. See it a couple times in the passage. So now we know that God is not the author of evil. We know that God himself does not perform evil.
Yet we also see throughout the Scriptures that according to God's sovereign purposes that all things are under his control, like even harmful spirits. And we see this most clearly actually found in the cross of Christ where God used sinful, evil men who were trapped by Satan to, according to God's will to be the means to crucify our Lord so that through the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, God would save his people from our sins. So this is a little confusing for us to understand what's happening here in the text. But according to God's will, according to his sovereign plan, as an act of judgment on Saul, Lord now sent a harmful spirit on Saul. As mentioned, the spirit that our text tells us is tormenting him.
And as the spirit of the Lord departed from Saul to be replaced by this harmful spirit, we see in verse 15 that Saul seemed to be kind of clueless to what is taking place here. I kind of wonder if like Saul is like so wrapped up in self, he was so twisted around his own sin, so bought into his own game of manipulation, so fixated on keeping control of his power, that he doesn't recognize at all the reality of the situation of what is now happening. Saul is like, he's blind to the fact that God took his empowering spirit from him. He's blind to the fact that now there's a tormenting spirit on him. This is a blind reality that seems to be one of Saul's big ongoing issues in life.
Right? He's over and over again blind with hard heartedness. I mean, just to think, to back up just for a second, we first met Saul in chapter nine. He was blind to the reality that Samuel was the priest and prophet over Israel. He didn't know that in chapter 13, Saul was blind to reality of who was to give up the offering.
Like he gave up the offering, the unlawful offering, on his own, even though he wasn't the priest. In chapter 14, Saul's like, he's blind to the folly of his own tongue as he's just kind of running his mouth. Chapters 13 and 14, when Samuel told Saul that the kingdom was going to be torn from him, Saul's like hard hearted. He's blind to that reality. Which is why in chapters 13, moving on forward, he's so committed to all these awful acts, like he's blind to the reality, like he doesn't want this to be the reality next after the day, throughout the rest of his reign, right, Saul, he's blind to David, that David is the man after God's own heart.
He was blind that it was time for him to step away. This is actually part of the warning of Saul's life. He's so enamored by self, like he's blinded by hard heartedness. Let's say it again, he's so blind he could not even see that the Spirit of God had left him. He didn't see there's now a tormenting spirit on him or in the text.
Even though Saul was blinded by his own hard heartedness, even though he was blinded to the reality of the situation, maybe even convincing himself the state of misery is in because of some factor that he is like painting himself in a favorable light. We see that those around Saul could clearly see what was happening. Those around Saul were not blind to the situation. It was actually crystal clear to them, which is happening. Which by the way, maybe on a little side note, this is why it's so important for us to let people into our lives.
Like we might be blind to things that are just obvious to others. This is like the proverbs, why it tells us that there's safety and abundance of counsel. Without counsel from others, like, we're left as like the echo chamber of our own hearts, which is never a good idea. Our text we read the servants of Saul, the ones who could see what is happening. Like we see that they came to Saul.
And as they came to Saul, they said, hey, Saul, behold. Do you not understand what's happening? Do you not see there's a harmful spirit from the Lord that's now tormenting you? Do you not understand this, at least in part, why you're so miserable? Saul, we're not sure why you're not seeing this, but this is crystal clear to us what's happening.
However, Saul, as you're being tormented in verse 16, you just say the word and we would love to help you. Just give your servants the command. And what we will do is we're going to seek out a man who is skilled in playing the liar. And we think that the playing the liar will actually be a grace in your life. It will be a blessing to you and you'll receive some measures of comfort that will dull your misery.
Now, if you're not familiar with the lyre, this is basically a harp. So this is like a common instrument of the day. And there seems to have been some type of cultural belief at that Time that the lyre was like a source of comfort. Me also mentioned, I think this is like an appeal to some type of common grace. So now if you're not familiar with the term common grace, so in short, common grace is something that's available to all of mankind to be used to provide comforts or maybe even some measures of happiness.
You don't have to be a Christian to benefit from these. An example could be medicine. That could be a common grace. Exercise, a healthy diet. These can benefit anyone in the long winter's months.
Vitamin D, happy lights. They can be common grace to help us fight the winter blues. Maybe entertainment, hobbies, interests. Right, These all can be common grace that at least in some measure can provide some help, some comfort. Let me just read you a little bit of quote here from a famous theologian named Berkoff.
This is what he wrote about common grace. He says that it curbs the destructive power of sin, maintains in a measure the moral order of the universe, thus making an orderly life possible. It distributes in varying degrees gifts and talents to men, promotes the development of science and arts, and showers untold blessings upon the children of men, like all, all people. So that's what it seems like. What the servants here in the text are appealing to Saul to find someone who is skilled, who can perform the common grace of music to help ease Saul's misery.
So that in our text that he might be, well, verse 17, if you want to take your eyes there. After the servants of Saul made the proposal, we see that this proposal actually resonates with Saul. So Saul tells them, okay, this sounds good. In fact, I kind of like this idea a lot. I agree with you.
I think this can help. So, yes, go find me someone who is skilled with the liar. And if you can find that person, I want you to bring him to me. To which in verse 18, one of the servants, young man basically raises his hand to inform Saul that he actually has someone in mind. Saul, actually I have seen a son of a man named Jesse who is a Bethlehemite.
And this young man, he is actually really skillful at playing the liar. In fact, he can play the liar like no other. So I think he could be just the right person to perform this grace that you're looking for. And oh, by the way, Saul, let me also mention to you, this young man is not only a good skilled musician, he's even a pretty highly thought of individual. In our text.
He's a man of valor or a man of courage. He's a man of war or a warrior. Which, by the way, this here seems to be maybe something like some character traits that David had. So it seems unlikely at this age of this scene that David would have like, battlefield experience to prove that he's a man of war. So I think this is maybe talking about a skill set David had that he was displaying as a young man that was going to translate to the battlefield.
So as a teaser for our text next week, David's going to testify that he, how he fought off like wild, ferocious animals who sought to attack his sheep, lions and bears. So this is perhaps what he's referring to here as being a man of war, that he was. He had some skills to be a warrior. Although let me also mention there are some who actually think chronologically what we read in our text next week, the famous story of David and Goliath, that the events in our text next week in chapter 17 chronologically actually took place before our events in our text today in chapter 16. So this is not necessarily a reputation of David being a man of valor in terms of anticipation, but this is actually based on what he did on the battlefield against Goliath.
Personally, I tend to think this is historically comes chapter 17. Historically does come after 16. So personally I do think that this is referring to like some traits that he had. Keep going. The servant of Saul also mentioned that David was one who is prudent in speech, which is very far different than Saul, as mentioned in previous sermons, was adapt at sinfully running his mouth.
According to the servant of Saul, David also is a man of good presence. Probably referred to some of his physical appearance in our text last week. David was ruddy with beautiful eyes, handsome. So this here, right, this is a pretty impressive resume. This is an impressive, like letter of recommendation that the servant of Saul brought before his king.
But then to top it all off, the servant of Saul mentioned this son of Jesse was one who is clearly with the Lord, like the Lord is clearly, clearly with him. Right. This is an awesome reputation for young David, especially that it was clear to others that the Lord was with him, which I trust this is what we want in ourselves. Others can see the Lord was with us. So for Samuel, if Saul is a warning for us to avoid David, kind of like Samuel in previous chapters, he's a really good model for us to seek the fold, follow as the servant of Saul finished his thoughts about David.
Now, I don't know if Saul had like a HR team who was in charge of creating like a job posting and requirements and expectations, but if they did, you know, as the Servant finishes up like, could they have found a better applicant than this? Able to skillfully play the liar? The main thing they're looking for. Check. This guy plays it better than anyone.
Strong character, strong integrity. Check. Vibrant walk with God. Check. In our text, as Saul hears this resume of the son of Jesse, he's excited, like for Saul.
This is perfect. This is exactly what I'm looking for. Maybe even better than what I was looking for. So in verse 19 of our passage, Saul sent messengers to Bethlehem to find Jesse and to more importantly, find Jesse's son. And as the message from Saul came to Jesse, the message, hey Jesse, I've heard about your son David.
This one who is with the sheep. Yeah, I'm going to need you to send him here to me. No longer is he going to be tending to sheep, he's going to be tending to me. The king, which did he pause just for a second here. Can you imagine Jesse at this scene?
So in our previous text from last week, the great prophet and priest just anointed David to be king. Remember last week, all of Jesse's sons, of all the sons, David was the last one he expected to be king. Now in our text today, which is hard to know how much time has passed between the last two texts. Now Jesse is getting this message from King Saul who wants David to be sent to him. Can you imagine?
This had to be like ongoing wonder, amazement in Jesse. I'm sure he was pondering in his own heart, like, what kind of son is this? Verse 20, after Jesse received the message from Saul, we see that he grabbed the donkey which he loaded up with some bread, a skin of wine and a young goat, and he sent them to Saul along with David. And this act here just seems to be some type of contribution or tribute that Jesse's making to Saul and to the King's court, verse 21, we read that David, as he arrives in the tender destination, as he walks into the king court or the king's court, we see that he gets to work and he enters into the service of Saul, where he picks up the instrument, where he uses his God given gifts and talents, and he starts to play the lyre. And as David served as he ministered grace, he's a blessing, a blessing even to wicked King Saul.
And we see that this actually made a real impact on Saul, at least for a point. The point of our text here we see that even hard hearted, prideful Saul could see the blessing of God through David on him. And as Saul was blessed by David, we read that over Time, Saul develops a great love for him, which is a love in the weeks to come, we'll see will not last. Saul's eyes are open and becomes aware that David is God's anointed king. We'll see that he takes his love from David and tries to, like, ram a spear through him.
But in the text here, there's great love for David from Saul. And not only that, not only did Saul love David in our text, we also see that Saul trusted David in the text because also in time, Saul appointed David to be the armor bearer. Which go Back to chapter 14, the story of Jonathan. Remember the armor bearer, this is a well trusted servant who is to help, like the king or respected warrior, carry the armor into battle. And this armor bearer, this had to be someone you really trusted.
Because if the armor bearer, like ghosted you or like left his post, and if the king and the warriors left by themselves, like, that would have been an awful vulnerable position to be in. But Saul could see David, his character, his integrity, and he earns Saul's trust to be the respected armor bearer. Verse 22. As Saul was on the receiving end of this common grace through David, the gifting of David, we see that Saul now sends another message back to Bethlehem to Jesse. Yeah, Jesse, you're going to have to find a permanent replacement to tend to the sheep.
This David. Yeah, he's going to stay with me and he's going to remain in my service. Jesse, I got to tell you, David has been such a blessing. He has found such favor in my sight. I can't imagine not having him around.
Finally, our text ends this morning, verse 23. That whenever a harmful spirit of God rushed upon Saul, when Saul was really suffering with misery, you see that David would go, he'd grab the lyre and he'd play it with his hand. Once again, there would be grace, there would be a blessing that would refresh Saul to help him to be well enough to get back up on his feet. Because through the blessing of David, God would take the harmful spirit away from tormenting Saul. And by the way, this here, this grace of Saul or grace of David on Saul's life, I think actually here probably was more than just a common grace of music in the scripture.
You see that David was one who wrote a lot of psalms. In fact, a lot of the book of psalms is filled up by David. He had a reputation of being like the sweet psalmist of Israel. So at least to me, it seems kind of likely that the blessing of David that drove the harmful spirit away was because David was worshiping the Lord that Saul benefited from that sermon. I do think that this passage here is meant for us to see the evidence of God's grace that is being ministered through David.
They keep saying it. I think we should read this passage and see David as being a real blessing. I think that's actually one of the great takeaways we're going to have from this passage. Like just how different David is from than Saul, right? Saul, who was anointed to be the king after man's heart, like he wasn't an evidence of grace, like he's a picture of judgment.
Saul wasn't a blessing, rather he was a curse. But David come from God's own heart, right? There's grace here, there's blessing here. Over the last several weeks, we spent a lot of time on Saul, including a little bit today. So rather going back over the character of Saul, just further compare and contrast these two kings.
How I want to close our time here is just by focusing on the evidence of God's grace, the blessings of God found through David. And I said, again, I do think this is the primary takeaway we should have from this passage today to see the blessings of God through the king after his own heart. Okay, so as I close, let me give you just two major points that I think we can use take away from this passage. And within this first point, there's actually a number of sub points. Okay?
So first, as we think through this passage, especially as you think they apply to our hearts. So first we need to see and understand that God's blessings are commonly found through his people. In fact, for those here who have put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, that actually is one of our great purposes, right? For the glory of God to be a blessing to those around us, even the Sauls in our life. Now, the blessings of God, the evidence of his grace, are not exclusively found in God working through his people.
God blesses his people in many different ways, but this is a very common way. How God blesses, it's through his people. Is that not what we see in our text today? That's what we'll continue to see actually in Our study of 1st Samuel as David becomes more and more of a central character going forward, the blessings of God on his people through David. Friends, that should be encouraging to us.
So again, the blessings of God are often commonly found in God working through his people. People just like you and me, who for the glory of God are seeking to bloom where God has planted us. Okay, so that's the first major point. Just know God's blessings are commonly found through his people. Now let me give you a few sub points within that.
So God's blessings are found through his people who are present. Which is why we hope that you're connecting with others in ways that you're actually present in the lives of others. You know, for us like to bloom or planted like we can't bloom unless we are present enough to actually be planted for those who are. At the member meeting last week, this is actually something I briefly mentioned as it relates to like our faithfulness so much of living out our Christian faith and hopefully ways that are faithful to God. Being used by God is just being present.
Just consistently faithfully show showing up in ways that we're in the lives of other people. And we know this sounds simple, right? Just be present. But we know this is a challenge. Sometimes the challenge is a place of life we might find ourselves in.
Sometimes we're just in really busy seasons or jobs can be busy for a time. That just makes it a challenge to be present. However, within that, let's also be mindful that we also live in a world where virtually every small talk conversation we have, like somewhere along the lines we talk about like how busy we are as if being busy is like a badge of honor that we carry. And I do wonder how often this cultural badge of honor of being busy is actually unnecessarily keeping us from being present. Or often this cultural badge of honor is keeping us from like re evaluating to see why are we so busy?
Why are we so busy we just can't be present? Why are we so busy that we don't actually take time to see what we can eliminate to create margin in our life. In fact, if I can be so bold, I suggest that at times our busyness is actually sinful. Like we're so busy and it's keeping us from being present. I do wonder how many things are we are unnecessarily missing out on.
It's like we're too busy to be there. We're so busy that we're actually not being used by God to be a blessing or maybe even tied to that. How often maybe like we're physically present, but like mentally we're checked out. Like distracted by something else. Maybe just feeling the pole to always go to our phones.
Friends, for us to be a blessing to others, to be used by God as evidence of grace in the lives of others. Like we have to be present, intentionally present our presence, it matters. It puts Us in position to be used by God to bless others. That's the model of David in this text. He's someone who was present.
He was present in Saul's service. And when the harmful spirit tormented Saul, David would come, he would be present, he would play the liar and he would provide refreshment. Second little sub point here, God's blessings are found through his people using their gifts. And this is something we see really throughout the entire Bible, right? This is one of the most common ways that God blesses his people is by using the gifts he's given them to serve others.
This week I was thinking about the Old Testament story about remember how the tabernacle was built, which was like a place where God's grace would be present with his people. God didn't drop the tabernacle out of the heavens. Rather, God used skilled laborers who had talent gifting to be able to build the tabernacle. They thought about the New Testament this week. Now the church is referred to as the Body of Christ.
Where we see that the Body of Christ is like similar to our physical body that's made up of different parts. And each part has like different abilities to help the body functions. And it's through these many different parts, these many different giftings that make up the church. That's how God commonly blesses his people. In the passage the Blessings of God, the evidence of his grace was through David using his gifts.
David skillfully playing the liar, right? This is clearly something David was good at, gifted in. In fact, he was so gifted, one of the servants of Saul was eager to tell Saul about David's gifting. Now with our gifting, there needs to be some humility. We need to have discernment when it comes to our gifting, perhaps even something confirmation with others to help us see where we're gifted or maybe not gifted.
There can be a temptation that we so want something to be our gifting, that we like, try to operate in it. But in truth, that's maybe that's not where God has gifted us. So we need to be humble. We need to have some discernment to best understand how God has gifted us. But as we humbly understand and discern our gifts, where to use them, like, we're not to sit on them, we are to use them in ways that bless others.
I mentioned this at the start. When I think back over the many years of here at Red Village Church, the many evidence of God's grace on us, this is where I come to so often, the members, the parts that make Up Red Village Church, serving the church, using their gifts. In fact, in the New Testament, when we use our gifts, that's actually a real part of our worship. Which is why for us, when we think about like worship, we're not just like limiting to like the singing portion of a church service. Sometimes I wonder, like maybe the best, most pure worship that takes place on a Sunday, like when the people in the church are faithfully serving God by using their gifts, whatever the gifts may be, which does include music.
Third, the blessings of God are found in his people of character, high character. Now the danger when it comes to our gifts, whatever our gifts may be, is that we so capable of doing something in such a way that we almost don't need God to be able to do it. That's part of the folly of Saul. Remember a few weeks back how I read in some ways he was like a gifted military leader who was able to keep his enemies at bay. But what we know of Saul through it all, like he's not trusting in the Lord.
In these military campaigns, he was self reliant. He's resting in his own gifts, his character, his integrity. They were far from godly. That's very different than David. So no doubt David is very gifted.
Not just with a liar, very gifted guy. However, unlike Saul in the text, we see that David was a man of character. At least he was here. If you know the story of David over time he also had some major character issues come up. But in our text today, he's strong character, a man of integrity.
He had a reputation that preceded him. It's not just enough to be good at something like we are, to have a strong character behind it. If we don't, we will either abuse the gifts God has given to us or we can just rely on ourselves rather than on Him. Friends, we need to have strong character as we think about being used by God, which actually leads to the next thing. God's blessings are found through his people who walk with Him.
This is at the heart of David, right here. Our text simply yet powerfully tells us that the Lord was with him. The walk that David had with God was so obvious. This was the part of his reputation that preceded him. Others could see that the Lord was with him.
Listen friends, like in the end, we don't bless people in ourselves, in ourselves. We don't provide grace like only the Lord can do that. That's why we must walk with him. John 15 saying about this week, words of Jesus simply says, abide in me and I in you. As the Branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine.
Neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. Nothing.
You know, if we want to be a real blessing, listen, we must walk with God. We must walk with him in ways that he reveals we are to walk with him according to his word. Okay, so that's the first overall point. God commonly blesses through his people. That's the common means by which he pours out the evidence of his grace through his people who walk with Him.
Now the second point, God ultimately blesses through a person. Okay, now I'll say it again. Like we can't bless others on our own. Only one person can do that. And that person who can do it on their own is actually the far off grandson of Jesse, the far off grandson of David, the one who also was born in Bethlehem to the wonder and amazement, to those who are present, that is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, God's ultimate chosen, anointed king.
And this person, the Lord Jesus Christ. This is where all of God's blessings are found. And this Jesus is not simply a man who walked with God. Rather Jesus, this is the one who was and is God. Because Jesus the Christ is none other, the eternal Son of God, the second member of the Blessed Trinity, the eternal Word, who became flesh to dwell among us, who, according to the plan of God, according to the Word that God has given to us, according to the love of God, for the glory of God, Jesus desired to be with his people in such a way, so present with us, that God became one of us in every way, yet without sin.
That through Jesus Christ we see fully God, fully man. That even though the Lord Jesus Christ came to us without sin, it's mentioned according to God's good, eternal plan. God even used sinful evil men who sought to bring great harm to Jesus, which in the end they did by crucifying the Lord on the cross. And while evil sinful men killed Jesus out of their hate, it was at that scene the love of God was so present. It was at that scene the blessings of God was so present, was at that scene where we see the most clear evidence of God's grace that was fully present.
This is through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ on the third day. God fulfilled his word to his people and he provided for his people the greatest gift we could ever receive, the gift of forgiveness of Sin. This is through Jesus Christ, him dying for us. Him rising from the dead for us. God in his amazing grace, has now set his people free from the misery of sin.
And not only does he set us free from the misery of sin, God in his incredible grace, brings his people into his eternal joy. Friend, Scripture tells us that according to the eternal plan of God, that God has now blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Scripture tells us that it is through Christ God's blessings are now found on all of the nations of the earth. This is through Christ, the blessing of Christ that God is now building a kingdom for himself that will not end. Which is a kingdom where God and God alone will rule for all time.
Right? Not multiple kings, one king. And as God rules and reigns as king, his people will forever be blessed. Scripture even tells us his people will forever be like the evidence of his grace. For forever.
We will testify to God's great mercy. So, friends, yes, you and I, we're called to be blessings. We're called to be ministers of grace. But as the song sings, which we're actually going to sing at the end of our service, we do so out of praise for the one from whom all blessings flow. Church.
May our tongues always be quick to testify to the evidence of God's grace. May our hearts long to be a blessing to those around us. May we be eager to share God's word that points us to Jesus Christ. May it all be for the praise and glory of the crucified and risen King. Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you so much for the blessing of Jesus Christ who was without sin, yet became sin for us.
Thank you so much for your amazing grace that provides forgiveness of our sin.
Lord, I do pray that you would help our little church family here to be found faithful to you, to your word. And Lord, I do pray for the glory of Christ that you would continue to pour your grace through this church.
God, please help us to be a blessing.
I pray so in Jesus name, Amen.