WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:04.799 We study through books of the Bible here at the village chapel, and we have extra copies. 00:00:04.959 --> 00:00:11.119 If you didn't bring one with you and you would like one to follow along, raise your hand up real high, and we'll get one to you. 00:00:11.359 --> 00:00:15.679 I got one in the middle there, a couple over by the far windows as well. 00:00:15.839 --> 00:00:20.879 Just keep your hands up high, and the folks that are uh coming around will make sure to get one to you. 00:00:21.039 --> 00:00:24.000 You can see up on the screen if you prefer to follow on a device. 00:00:24.160 --> 00:00:28.480 Uh the password has now become Davidic Covenant. 00:00:28.719 --> 00:00:35.520 Um, you know, one, two, three, four would work, but we just like to make sure you're reaching for it, okay? 00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:37.600 So uh we're studying 2 Samuel. 00:00:37.679 --> 00:00:41.280 We're calling our study the story of unlikely redemption. 00:00:41.359 --> 00:00:44.640 And the Bible is filled with stories of unlikely redemption. 00:00:44.880 --> 00:00:53.439 God choosing those no one else would choose, using those no one else would use, loving those no one else would love, and uh that brings great comfort to my heart and my soul. 00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:55.200 I hope it does to yours as well. 00:00:55.359 --> 00:01:00.560 Last week, if you were here or at the other campus, uh we studied the first half of chapter seven. 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:04.959 Uh Tommy Bailey and Matt Pearson did a great job unfolding that for us. 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:13.920 And uh sort of a hinge point in all of redemption history, really, the Davidic covenant itself, which uh, of course is our, as I said, is the password. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:17.200 And now we're gonna look at David's response to that. 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:25.280 I'll remind you that in that first half of chapter 7, what happened was David had wanted to build the temple. 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:27.280 He wanted to build a house for the Lord. 00:01:27.519 --> 00:01:31.120 And so he had approached Nathan the prophet, talked about that. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:35.680 Nathan at first said, Go and and do all that you've you're planning to do. 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:43.519 But then upon uh God sort of intruding into the whole situation and said, No, no, no, no, that's not what I want to do, because they hadn't sought the Lord. 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:48.159 So the Lord reveals to Nathan, go back to David and tell him, No, that's not not that's not right. 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:50.319 Not David, not now. 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:53.359 Uh that's gonna happen later, but I will. 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:54.959 And then there were all these I wills. 00:01:55.040 --> 00:01:58.159 There's like 23 I wills in in that first half of the chapter. 00:01:58.319 --> 00:02:02.560 So God uh taking the initiative, making clear what he will do. 00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:04.159 And now this is David's response. 00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:05.680 He's been given a no. 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:08.639 I don't know if you've been given a no by God before. 00:02:08.800 --> 00:02:10.240 You're not the one to build the temple. 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:12.400 No, don't build a temple now. 00:02:12.560 --> 00:02:14.960 I don't know if you've heard no from the Lord before. 00:02:15.039 --> 00:02:23.199 A lot of times we don't like that word, although I do think from what I hear from some parents anyway, that no is one of the first words their kids learn. 00:02:23.759 --> 00:02:26.000 Not to obey, but to say, right? 00:02:26.240 --> 00:02:28.000 No, no, no, no, no. 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:41.199 And uh, and and so here's David with a no from God, and in the middle of all of that, uh here's his response, which I think is great, because I I think we can learn a lot about people when we hear them pray. 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:44.800 Maybe, maybe that's the way that's been your experience as well. 00:02:44.960 --> 00:02:54.319 Some people uh in praying, they they really open up their hearts or their minds open up, and you and you kind of hear them what's the deepest longing is of their heart and all that sort of thing. 00:02:54.479 --> 00:03:04.960 And so with that in mind, hearing that you know David is sort of sitting on the on the heels of this no, uh, even though there's all these promises, uh, there is this no. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:09.120 I'm sorry, you're hearing that's a bunch of guys jumping around in the attic, I think. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:11.120 I'm not sure what's not sure what that is. 00:03:11.280 --> 00:03:13.840 Aaron, tell me if I need to go to the boom mic. 00:03:14.400 --> 00:03:14.719 Not yet. 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:15.280 Not yet. 00:03:15.360 --> 00:03:16.400 Oh, we won't give up yet. 00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:17.520 Okay, all right, good. 00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:22.159 Um let me move that away from my uh my maybe it's rubbing up against me. 00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:24.080 Um we'll cut this out of the video. 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:25.439 There's no problem. 00:03:26.879 --> 00:03:30.560 Since that we're talking about prayer today, let me let me join me in it. 00:03:30.639 --> 00:03:31.520 Let's let's say this prayer. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:34.400 John Stott used to use this prayer when he opened up all of his preaching. 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:36.400 Bow your heads with me and let's let's pray this prayer. 00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:39.439 Lord, uh, please we bow in your presence. 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:52.800 May your word be our rule, may your spirit be our teacher, may your greater glory be our supreme concern through Jesus Christ our Lord. 00:03:53.039 --> 00:03:54.080 Everybody said. 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:55.120 Amen. 00:03:55.280 --> 00:03:59.199 So let's listen to, let's look in on this prayer of David. 00:03:59.360 --> 00:04:04.560 Then David the King, verse 18 of chapter 7 of 2 Samuel. 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:09.439 David the King went in and sat before the Lord. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:16.160 That's interesting because the typical position for praying back then, the customary position would be their standing or kneeling. 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:26.319 And so it's interesting that he comes and he sits, and it's it's it's almost as if in this middle of this no, he has come now to listen. 00:04:27.199 --> 00:04:30.000 And I don't know if you listen in your prayers. 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:41.759 I know a lot of times we tend to, we're in such a hurry with our prayers that we don't take time to do what I think is really some of the richest experiences, it's just listening for the Lord to speak to us. 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:48.879 Um, and usually he's reminding us of his word, as we say just a minute ago, on your word I will rely. 00:04:49.120 --> 00:04:52.959 And he's generally, the Holy Spirit is using that word to speak to us. 00:04:53.120 --> 00:04:54.560 But here he sits before the Lord. 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:57.519 He goes in and he's probably in the tent where the ark is. 00:04:57.680 --> 00:04:58.720 It's likely that. 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:01.040 And he sat before the Lord, we're told. 00:05:01.120 --> 00:05:01.759 And he said this. 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:02.720 This is what he said. 00:05:02.879 --> 00:05:05.199 Who am I, O Lord God? 00:05:05.439 --> 00:05:09.120 And what is my house that you have brought me this far? 00:05:09.680 --> 00:05:17.759 And yet this was insignificant in your eyes, O Lord God, for you have spoken also of the house of your servant concerning the distant future. 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:25.439 And this is the custom or the law, the word is Torah, this is the law of man, O Lord God. 00:05:25.839 --> 00:05:39.519 That's interesting that he recognizes that what God has said to him through Nathan the Prophet in the first part of this chapter that we studied last week, had a near fulfillment, because who am I that you brought me this far? 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:42.720 And yet it also had a far fulfillment. 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:47.600 And he says it right there, doesn't he, in verse 19, concerning the distant future. 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:49.759 And this is the custom of man, O Lord God. 00:05:49.920 --> 00:05:51.920 That what custom that you speak to. 00:05:52.240 --> 00:05:54.399 Your English translation may have that a little bit differently. 00:05:54.480 --> 00:05:59.439 That's a little tricky in some of the Bible commentaries that I read. 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:09.120 There are a couple different ways that that will roll out into English, but uh the idea there is that this is the way God deals with us and reveals himself and speaks to us. 00:06:09.519 --> 00:06:15.600 And that God is the one who sets the boundaries for life, as we read in our call to worship this morning. 00:06:15.759 --> 00:06:20.240 Um that God is the one that sets things the way they should be and the way they should go. 00:06:20.480 --> 00:06:23.519 Verse 20, and again, what more can David say to you? 00:06:23.759 --> 00:06:26.480 For you know your servant, O Lord God. 00:06:26.800 --> 00:06:34.879 For the sake of your word and according to your own heart, you have done all this greatness to let your servant know. 00:06:35.279 --> 00:07:06.639 For this reason you are great, O Lord, for there's none like you, and there's no God beside you, according to all that we have heard with our ears, and what one nation on the earth is like your people, Israel, whom God went to redeem for himself as a people, and to make a name for himself, and to do a great thing for for you, and awesome things for your land before your people, whom you have redeemed for yourself from Egypt, from nations and their gods. 00:07:07.600 --> 00:07:17.360 For you have established for yourself your people Israel as your own people forever, and you, O Lord, have become their God. 00:07:18.079 --> 00:07:37.439 Now therefore, O Lord God, the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and his house, confirm it forever, and do as you have spoken, that your name may be magnified forever by saying, The Lord of hosts is God over Israel, and may the house of your servant David be established before you. 00:07:37.759 --> 00:07:45.920 For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made a revelation to your servant, saying, I will build you a house. 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:50.959 Therefore, your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. 00:07:51.279 --> 00:07:56.480 And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are truth. 00:07:56.800 --> 00:07:59.680 And you have promised this good thing to your servant. 00:07:59.759 --> 00:08:05.920 Now, therefore, may it please you to bless the house of your servant that it may continue forever before you. 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:13.759 For you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing, may the house of your servant be blessed forever. 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:18.079 So I try to read that with a little emphasis. 00:08:18.240 --> 00:08:22.639 See what he does 40 times, over 40 times in that short prayer. 00:08:23.120 --> 00:08:26.000 The second person personal pronoun for God. 00:08:26.319 --> 00:08:33.679 You, your, your people, your house, your servant, your will, your purposes, just over and over and over. 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:34.720 And I love that. 00:08:34.960 --> 00:08:35.840 I love that. 00:08:36.559 --> 00:08:42.559 The Lord's prayer that we have up on the screen, we pray from time to time, and maybe we will today. 00:08:42.799 --> 00:08:46.399 Uh, all in the plural, but begins with God. 00:08:47.360 --> 00:08:48.320 I love this. 00:08:48.960 --> 00:08:55.519 This prayer, which uh I think is fascinating, another uh kind of prayer, that actually begins with a question. 00:08:55.679 --> 00:08:57.440 And I love this question. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:09:00.399 Um, it is a it is an ancient question. 00:09:00.559 --> 00:09:01.360 Who am I? 00:09:01.600 --> 00:09:10.240 As a matter of fact, it's so ancient that a form of it uh was said by a guy named Moses in Exodus chapter 3, verse 11. 00:09:10.559 --> 00:09:14.720 Another form of it, what is man that you're mindful of him? 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:21.840 Said by Job, later by David in Psalm 8 and Psalm 144, I think it is. 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:26.240 Um repeated again in the New Testament, who am I? 00:09:26.399 --> 00:09:30.159 What is man that you even are mindful of us? 00:09:30.240 --> 00:09:35.840 It's the quest and the question of every sentient creature on the planet. 00:09:36.080 --> 00:09:44.320 If we're aware of our own lives and we can think it all, we might be asking that question, who are we? 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:45.840 What are we? 00:09:46.879 --> 00:09:54.559 And the answer to that question is really important, but equally important is where you turn for the answer. 00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:59.279 Where we might turn for the answer to that question. 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:09.919 In this prayer, David speaking directly to the living creator God, calls him by his personal name, Yahweh, eleven times. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:15.759 So 40 of those personal pronouns, you, you, you, your, your, eleven times Yahweh. 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:21.759 He refers to himself, David does, as the servant of the Lord ten times. 00:10:22.720 --> 00:10:25.759 Um Bible scholar Ronald F. 00:10:25.919 --> 00:10:32.960 Youngblood has offered this brief little outline of this prayer, and I really liked it so much, I just wanted to post it on the screen for you. 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:37.279 Here's David praying about the present, the past, and the future. 00:10:37.440 --> 00:10:41.840 Um, stunned gratitude for divine favor, verses 18 to 21. 00:10:42.000 --> 00:10:47.440 Exuberant praise for what God has done already, verses 22 to 24. 00:10:48.000 --> 00:10:54.080 Impassioned prayer for divine fulfillment of covenant promises, verses 25 to 29. 00:10:54.159 --> 00:11:01.840 A great outline of that prayer when you think about the fact that you have past, you have a present, and you have a future as well. 00:11:02.000 --> 00:11:05.919 And why wouldn't you want to take all of that to God and then trust it to God? 00:11:06.080 --> 00:11:10.080 Why wouldn't we you want to take that as deep, burning questions in your heart and your mind? 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:11.039 Who am I? 00:11:11.279 --> 00:11:11.919 Who are we? 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:13.440 What is mankind? 00:11:13.919 --> 00:11:16.559 That God should be mindful of us at all. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:19.039 Who are we gonna take that to? 00:11:19.279 --> 00:11:21.519 The who am I that we ask? 00:11:21.759 --> 00:11:24.240 What can we learn from studying this prayer? 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:27.759 I think we can trust a sovereign God with our past, our present, and our future. 00:11:27.840 --> 00:11:34.720 And it's right to come before the Lord to sit in his presence, as David did, and express our gratitude through prayers like this. 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:44.639 I'm just gonna highlight three things, if you don't mind, if you'll permit me to, as we look at this prayer, the proper disposition for prayer is humbled gratitude showing deference. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:11:47.360 And that begins with that question, who am I? 00:11:47.519 --> 00:11:55.360 It's not so much, not only a question of identity, which that they abound in our day and in our time right now, questions about identity. 00:11:55.519 --> 00:12:00.080 There is much confusion over what it means to be a human person right now. 00:12:00.639 --> 00:12:09.519 Um partly that's because we're taking the who am I, and instead of turning it toward God, we're turning it toward finite things. 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:19.840 A lot of us, when we introduce ourselves or first meet someone, the very first thing we talk about is what we do, not who we are. 00:12:20.559 --> 00:12:23.200 And we think that we're defined by what we do. 00:12:23.840 --> 00:12:34.639 Others of us might be considering that at the very center of our lives, the center of our being, who we are, is actually answered in some other category of finite life. 00:12:34.879 --> 00:12:41.759 Maybe it's pleasure, maybe it's resources, maybe it's relationships with human persons, whatever it might be. 00:12:41.919 --> 00:12:43.759 And we say, that's who I am. 00:12:43.919 --> 00:12:45.279 I'm that, you know? 00:12:45.440 --> 00:12:48.879 And instead, here what we have David doing, he's saying, God, who am I? 00:12:49.039 --> 00:13:06.799 And he's he's it's not just identity, it's actually in view of how great God is, he's feeling insignificant himself in a proper way that I think is right for us to be reminded of our smallness from time to time, and to be, but more importantly, to be reminded of God's greatness. 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:14.559 And so the proper disposition for prayer is a humbled gratitude, showing deference to a great God. 00:13:15.120 --> 00:13:20.799 The only true, living, wise, all-powerful God. 00:13:20.960 --> 00:13:27.200 And throughout this prayer, here's what you see him recalling: our smallness, God's greatness, God's uniqueness. 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:28.559 There's none beside you. 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:30.720 There's no other God like you. 00:13:31.039 --> 00:13:32.480 Sui generis. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:34.159 He's one of a kind. 00:13:34.639 --> 00:13:35.679 And that's who he is. 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:39.519 He's in made, there's nobody, there's no other gods like him whatsoever. 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:49.279 And um, and he's he's he talks about God's character, his mighty saving deeds in the past, God's promises in the future, and he prays for those toward the end of the prayer. 00:13:49.440 --> 00:13:52.240 God's loving kindness, God's faithfulness. 00:13:52.480 --> 00:13:58.720 What God has done affirms the claims of the Bible as to what the character of God is really like. 00:13:59.039 --> 00:14:04.799 When you pray to this God, the God of the Bible, you are praying to someone who has a character. 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:10.799 He has a certain uh trustworthiness, David reminds us, and I love that. 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:13.759 Trust, of course, involves risk. 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:21.679 Some of you have been in relationships where the trust has been violated before, or where you may have violated the trust as well. 00:14:22.080 --> 00:14:25.200 It's very difficult to recover that, isn't it? 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:38.799 But here's a God who we look down through the uh ages of history and we continue to see over and over and over again how faithful God is to his promises, to what he's actually promised. 00:14:38.879 --> 00:14:40.720 And I realize we have to ferret that out. 00:14:40.799 --> 00:14:49.600 We have to figure out what has God actually promised to every person across time and culture, across all of those little categories that we have. 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:51.200 What has God actually promised? 00:14:51.360 --> 00:15:04.240 A lot of us have been trained up in sometimes in Sunday school thinking and well-intentioned and all that sort of thing, but trained up to think that every little phrase that we can lift out of any little verse can all of a sudden be claimed. 00:15:04.399 --> 00:15:13.759 We can put it on a little plaque, put it on the wall, and claim it for our own, as if God must abide by our plaques and our embroidery. 00:15:14.320 --> 00:15:16.320 Whatever we claim. 00:15:17.120 --> 00:15:20.399 And that really guts the sovereignty of God, doesn't it? 00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:32.960 Uh sometimes the promises that God makes in the scriptures are for a specific person or a specific group of people in a specific situation at a specific time, and that's exactly where it's supposed to stop. 00:15:34.399 --> 00:15:39.120 But sometimes we see promises repeated throughout Scripture. 00:15:39.200 --> 00:15:48.639 And the overarching narrative of Scripture is God continuing to show himself to be one who's eager to call out a people he can claim for his own. 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:55.519 And we see across Scripture the idea that God is eager to shower his grace upon sinners like us. 00:15:56.559 --> 00:15:59.679 That God one day intends to set things right. 00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:11.919 That all of the stuff that's wrong in this world, uh, the darkness in this world, uh, the disease, the dye, all of that is going to be completely reversed one day. 00:16:12.080 --> 00:16:14.879 That's the promise of this God across Scripture. 00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:17.840 And so He calls us to trust in Him. 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:28.240 I love the way that Augustine put it: trust the past to God's mercy, the present to God's love, the future to God's providence. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:31.039 Trust will involve risk, that's right. 00:16:31.279 --> 00:16:40.480 But that's why it's such good news that God is trustworthy, and why the proper disposition for prayer is this humbled gratitude, showing deference to God. 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:41.919 He's the one that knows everything. 00:16:42.080 --> 00:16:50.080 If I knew everything God knows, then I could pray and claim XYZ and know that he would be trustworthy for XYZ. 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:52.159 But I don't know everything he knows. 00:16:52.559 --> 00:17:14.319 So when I go out and visit folks in the hospital, when I'm praying for people who've just had an operation or people who are facing death even, I have to just always allow room for the sovereignty of God and that in his own timing, he's gonna glorify himself in each and every life, as well as in all of history one day. 00:17:14.559 --> 00:17:16.160 And I trust him to do that. 00:17:16.240 --> 00:17:16.480 Why? 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:18.079 Because he's trustworthy. 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:24.559 Secondly, I think we see in this prayer that sitting before the Lord displaces noise, hurry, and worry. 00:17:24.640 --> 00:17:26.720 I'm a guy that likes my music loud. 00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:29.519 Is there anybody else like, do you like your music loud? 00:17:29.680 --> 00:17:34.960 I'm literally driving over, you know, the roads are kind of blocked off, and you can't really get everywhere you want to go. 00:17:35.039 --> 00:17:41.599 But I drove over to the other campus this morning to speak at the 8:30 service over there, and I'm I'm winding my way through. 00:17:41.680 --> 00:17:44.000 But I've got, I mean, I've got the music up really loud. 00:17:44.079 --> 00:17:54.559 I'm pretty sure everyone around me was thinking, what's with the guy in a jacket having to, you know, all that stuff, all that music is playing, and I'm I'm playing some worship music. 00:17:54.880 --> 00:17:58.880 I'm sort of preparing my heart, but I'm doing it loud, you know? 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:03.920 And uh as I'm going to bed early in the morning, I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm waking up to the whole thing. 00:18:04.000 --> 00:18:07.119 But sometimes I need to get quiet before the Lord. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:09.599 And we've talked about this before around here. 00:18:09.759 --> 00:18:14.400 There are times to celebrate and dance like David danced, but there's also times to just be quiet before the Lord. 00:18:14.559 --> 00:18:18.720 David in this prayer goes in and he sits before the Lord. 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:21.440 And I think there's something eager in his heart. 00:18:21.599 --> 00:18:25.599 He's been told no, yet God's made all these promises. 00:18:26.240 --> 00:18:31.599 Now he wants to express his own heart to God and listen as well. 00:18:32.160 --> 00:18:33.680 And so he goes before the Lord. 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:39.279 And sitting before the Lord displaces noise, hurry, and worry. 00:18:40.000 --> 00:18:42.160 Um, God is never in a hurry. 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:44.319 I would like God to be in a hurry sometimes. 00:18:44.559 --> 00:18:45.519 Anybody else? 00:18:45.839 --> 00:18:49.200 Yeah, I would like him to be in a hurry to do what I want him to do. 00:18:49.440 --> 00:18:55.599 I would like for him to be in a hurry to stop something that's happening that I don't want to happen anymore. 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:59.039 But God has his own pace, his own timing. 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:01.599 And he's always right on time. 00:19:01.759 --> 00:19:02.160 Why? 00:19:02.400 --> 00:19:03.680 Because he's God. 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:06.400 And he's trustworthy. 00:19:06.720 --> 00:19:07.839 He's not in a hurry. 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:14.640 And when I worry, I'm I'm actually expressing my anxiety that God won't get it right. 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:18.640 That somehow he's not trustworthy. 00:19:19.200 --> 00:19:22.240 That's why the Apostle Paul can say, be anxious for what? 00:19:23.039 --> 00:19:23.839 Nothing. 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:25.839 That's pretty absolute. 00:19:26.880 --> 00:19:29.200 Be anxious for nothing, okay? 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:32.000 But in everything, and he goes on, right? 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:34.319 And he instructs us to pray. 00:19:34.799 --> 00:19:35.759 And that's beautiful. 00:19:35.920 --> 00:19:40.079 I sometimes, uh I think I've shown this before, but uh probably bears repeating. 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:41.920 I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night. 00:19:42.079 --> 00:19:45.119 I did last night at about 3.07, I think it was. 00:19:45.519 --> 00:19:46.799 Does that happen to anybody yet? 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:47.680 Okay, yeah. 00:19:48.000 --> 00:19:48.640 A couple of you. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:51.119 Uh and the older you get, it seems to happen a little more often. 00:19:51.200 --> 00:19:53.119 Okay, so it was my birthday last week. 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:55.359 I think it was appropriate that this happened to me this week. 00:19:55.519 --> 00:20:00.240 But I woke up about 3.07, and in our house we call it you get the big eye. 00:20:00.400 --> 00:20:04.079 So it's like, oh, it's 3.07. 00:20:04.480 --> 00:20:04.799 Okay. 00:20:05.119 --> 00:20:05.440 You know? 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:11.599 And there's just, so you think, okay, I'm gonna close my eye, you know, and you do that, I'm going back to sleep. 00:20:11.759 --> 00:20:14.160 You know, I got at least two more hours before I gotta get up. 00:20:14.240 --> 00:20:15.680 I'm going back to sleep. 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:19.039 And then you open eyes again, and it's 3.08. 00:20:19.920 --> 00:20:22.880 And you're just kind of going nowhere real fast, you know? 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:24.240 It's the big eye. 00:20:24.319 --> 00:20:31.839 And and and sometimes for me, that's that's about creative thinking that's churning in the back of my mind and my heart, all this. 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:34.000 But sometimes it's about worry. 00:20:34.240 --> 00:20:41.519 And sometimes it's me imagining all the different ways that if I were in charge, I'd take care of business. 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:49.279 Or I'd fix that person, or I'd respond to that person who offended me, you know. 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:53.839 And I'm writing the scripts and the narratives and all that, and I just can't shut it down. 00:20:54.000 --> 00:21:05.519 We, you know, Kim and I typically will go, okay, well, you know, grab the remote control, turn on some boring HGTV channel show and watch Hawaii Life or something like that, and just go, you shouldn't pick that out. 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:06.960 You know, and you just go over and over again. 00:21:07.119 --> 00:21:10.799 They make the wrong choice all the time, and then you turn it off and go to sleep, you know. 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:13.680 So, hopefully, because you've shifted your mind away. 00:21:13.839 --> 00:21:35.200 But but more often, what's needed for me is to do what David did, to get before the Lord, to sit before the Lord, uh, metaphorically, to place myself before God, to remind myself of how great he is, how small I am, but how faithful he is in his greatness, with all of his power. 00:21:35.440 --> 00:21:40.799 He's made all of these amazing promises, that one day he will indeed set all things right. 00:21:41.519 --> 00:21:45.359 And while we're waiting for that to happen, I will wait for you. 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:47.200 I will wait for you. 00:21:47.680 --> 00:21:50.720 On your word, I will rely. 00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:54.079 Because in his word we find his promises. 00:21:55.200 --> 00:21:59.359 In his word, we've we're reminded that he's faithful and true. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:03.359 And just and trustworthy. 00:22:04.000 --> 00:22:06.480 So sitting before the Lord is great. 00:22:06.640 --> 00:22:07.759 What are you sitting before? 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:08.880 This is a good question. 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:15.680 As I looked at this and I looked at David, he went in and sat before the Lord, and it was unusual that that wasn't really the customary play way to pray. 00:22:15.759 --> 00:22:18.799 And I went in and I thought about, you know, what am I what am I sitting before? 00:22:18.960 --> 00:22:21.680 Well, if I'm worried, I'm probably not sitting before the Lord. 00:22:21.839 --> 00:22:36.640 But if I'm humbled in gratitude, if I'm responding in deference to him, because he is trustworthy, and he is almighty and powerful, then I might be sitting before the Lord. 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:43.279 Heard another preacher say one time, if you've never sat before the Lord and trembled, you probably never sat before the Lord. 00:22:44.559 --> 00:22:47.200 He is so great, he is so powerful. 00:22:47.440 --> 00:23:15.920 When you begin to recount, as David did in this prayer, the amazing deeds in redemption history, how the Lord God interrupted history in Egypt, called out his people in this amazing thing called the Exodus that just runs throughout the pages of redemption history as a symbol of this kind of God that loves to deliver his people who are trapped in slavery and bondage. 00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:37.839 And we see all of that pointing to and fulfilled in the person and work of Christ, who saves us not just from a geographic slavery or a cultural slavery, but he saves us from our own spiritual slavery to self and to sin and sets us free to point our who am I to him. 00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:43.200 To direct it to him, because he's really the only one that can actually answer that question. 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:45.359 And when we say, who am I? 00:23:45.599 --> 00:23:51.279 to the Lord, he says, not what do you do, not what do you have. 00:23:51.680 --> 00:23:53.599 He says, You are mine. 00:23:54.640 --> 00:23:55.759 And that's the answer. 00:23:56.079 --> 00:23:56.400 See? 00:23:56.720 --> 00:23:57.599 Who am I? 00:23:57.839 --> 00:23:58.559 I'm his. 00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:00.240 Who are you? 00:24:00.720 --> 00:24:01.599 You are his. 00:24:02.160 --> 00:24:03.440 We are his. 00:24:03.920 --> 00:24:07.440 I can't replace, Ortberg says, any idol by turning away from it. 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:08.960 I got to turn towards something. 00:24:09.279 --> 00:24:10.400 See, that's what repentance is. 00:24:10.480 --> 00:24:12.000 It's a two-fold turn. 00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:17.599 Stutt made that point beautifully when he talked about we turn away from our sin and selfishness. 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:21.359 But repentance is complete when we turn towards something. 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:29.440 And what we do is we turn toward Christ, the one who's paid the price once and for all for all my sin and for all your sin as well on the cross. 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:31.599 And we trust and hope in him. 00:24:32.079 --> 00:24:32.799 Who am I? 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:33.920 I belong to him. 00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:34.960 Who am I? 00:24:35.119 --> 00:24:36.000 I don't belong to my job. 00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:37.279 I don't belong to some passion. 00:24:37.440 --> 00:24:39.200 I don't belong to my possessions. 00:24:39.359 --> 00:24:40.400 I don't belong to the culture. 00:24:40.480 --> 00:24:41.440 I belong to him. 00:24:42.000 --> 00:24:44.000 100% belong to him. 00:24:44.240 --> 00:24:45.839 And that's where you can rest and trust. 00:24:45.920 --> 00:24:46.160 Why? 00:24:46.240 --> 00:24:47.759 Because he's trustworthy. 00:24:48.000 --> 00:25:00.160 Spurgeon said the first thing for our soul's health, the first thing for his glory, and the first thing for our own usefulness, is to keep ourselves in perpetual communion with the Lord Jesus. 00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:08.400 To see that the vital spirituality of our religion is maintained over and above everything else in the world. 00:25:08.559 --> 00:25:09.519 And how's that done? 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:13.839 We abide in, we're we're branches, we abide in the vine. 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:15.599 Jesus is the true vine. 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:17.359 We find our life in Him. 00:25:17.599 --> 00:25:21.599 We found our hope, our joy, our salvation in Him. 00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:26.160 Though the circumstances around us might rage, they might be horrible. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:28.960 It might be the stormy sea like the disciples. 00:25:29.119 --> 00:25:31.839 It might be the giant that David faced. 00:25:32.079 --> 00:25:37.119 And it might be whatever giant you're facing, or whatever stormy sea you may be in. 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:45.279 But this God, this God that made everything out of nothing, this God that created and designed you, He's trustworthy. 00:25:45.440 --> 00:25:46.640 You can turn to Him. 00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:52.960 He's shown over human history that He can deliver His people, that He can save. 00:25:53.119 --> 00:25:57.680 And that's exactly what David's reminding himself of along the way through this prayer. 00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:05.519 Third and final point is this it's always right to pray for God to fulfill God's promises and accomplish God's purposes and plans. 00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:11.680 God had an agenda for David, for Israel, for the lineage of David. 00:26:12.000 --> 00:26:17.359 God intended to send Messiah, Jesus Christ, to lay down his life on the cross for the sins of the world. 00:26:17.519 --> 00:26:23.119 God's plans would be fulfilled about a thousand years after David. 00:26:24.319 --> 00:26:27.839 I get the sense here that in David's prayer that he had an idea. 00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:29.599 This is what God was up to. 00:26:29.759 --> 00:26:38.799 Look again at verse 19 there at the end, it says, You have spoken also of the house of your servant concerning this distant future. 00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:48.079 So David knew there was an immediate fulfillment, an aspect of it that's immediate, but another aspect of it that's distant. 00:26:48.400 --> 00:26:50.880 And the thousand years is some good distance, right? 00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:51.680 Yeah. 00:26:52.240 --> 00:27:04.400 But now we have the benefit of being able to look back through history, back to the cross, and understand the Old Testament in view of what happened in the New Testament and how it's fulfilled in the person and work of Christ. 00:27:04.559 --> 00:27:12.799 And so it's always right and proper, I think, for us to be praying that God would fulfill his promises according to his purposes and plans. 00:27:13.279 --> 00:27:15.119 God has an agenda for human history. 00:27:15.279 --> 00:27:18.880 God has an agenda for my story and for your story as well. 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:22.160 But God is not a vending machine. 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:29.599 God may indeed and probably will indeed say no to you and to me, just like he said no to David at this particular time. 00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:35.039 But God's no may be a not this or a not yet or a not now. 00:27:35.519 --> 00:27:36.799 It may be a not you. 00:27:37.119 --> 00:27:38.160 It may be a never. 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:38.799 That's true. 00:27:38.880 --> 00:27:39.519 It could be. 00:27:39.680 --> 00:27:41.440 Prayer is a request, C.S. 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:42.480 Lewis said. 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:44.240 It's not a demand. 00:27:44.799 --> 00:27:46.000 We're not the ones in charge. 00:27:46.160 --> 00:27:47.440 We're not the ones holding the reins. 00:27:47.680 --> 00:27:48.319 God is. 00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:51.200 We've got to remember: who are we? 00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:52.480 We know who he is. 00:27:52.640 --> 00:27:54.640 He's God, and we're not. 00:27:55.279 --> 00:28:08.160 It's important that we learn that and that perspective and trust him in all things and pray to him that his promises would be fulfilled, that his purposes and plans would indeed be accomplished. 00:28:08.240 --> 00:28:15.279 So you have the proper disposition for prayer here in 2 Samuel, which is this humbled gratitude, showing deference to God. 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:20.480 Then you have this sitting before the Lord instead of so many other things we might sit before. 00:28:20.720 --> 00:28:30.400 And that sitting before the Lord displaces all of the noise, interior and exterior noise, the hurry and the worry that so often besets us and controls us. 00:28:30.480 --> 00:28:37.920 And it's always right to pray for God to fulfill his promises and accomplish his purposes and plans. 00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:47.119 Gene Peterson, the sage-like pastor, said there's a great danger in getting so caught up in our God plans that we will forget all about God. 00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:50.400 When David sat down, the real action started. 00:28:50.720 --> 00:28:56.640 Not David making God a house, but God making David a house. 00:28:56.880 --> 00:29:07.920 I pray that God will build his house in me and in you, in us collectively, as the village chapel, all five of our services every Sunday, and all people that gather in them. 00:29:08.079 --> 00:29:10.559 That God will build his house in us. 00:29:10.880 --> 00:29:12.880 That it would be for his glory. 00:29:13.119 --> 00:29:24.720 And that whether we are suffering or whether we are experiencing great blessing, in either case, we will continue to turn to the Lord with our questions, who am I? 00:29:24.960 --> 00:29:29.839 And remind ourselves over and over again of who he is and that we belong to him. 00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:37.839 And it's fascinating to me that in this prayer, I kind of see a foreshadowing of the prayer of one of David's descendants as well. 00:29:38.079 --> 00:29:49.839 Because during this prayer, I kind of see as David sits down in the middle of just having received a no, he sits down and honors God for God's greatness and God's wisdom, and essentially says, And may your promises come true. 00:29:50.000 --> 00:29:53.119 In other words, thy will be done. 00:29:53.920 --> 00:29:54.559 Right? 00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:58.799 And what did Jesus say when his disciples said, Teach us to pray? 00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:03.279 One of the things he taught them to pray was, Thy will be done. 00:30:03.440 --> 00:30:05.519 What did Jesus himself pray in the garden? 00:30:05.759 --> 00:30:11.200 Lord, if it's possible this cup pass, but not my will, but thine be done. 00:30:11.359 --> 00:30:14.480 It's never wrong to pray for the will of God to be done. 00:30:14.799 --> 00:30:16.160 We trust him to be God. 00:30:16.240 --> 00:30:17.680 We trust him to be sovereign. 00:30:17.839 --> 00:30:23.359 Would you stand with me and let's pray as our Savior taught us to pray as we close out this service today? 00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:26.400 We'll put it up on the screen for you. 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:29.599 As we pray this prayer, remember it's all in the plural. 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:31.519 We are the people of God. 00:30:32.000 --> 00:30:37.039 Yes, we are individuals before him, much like David, but we belong to the people of God. 00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:39.759 You belong here to one another. 00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:40.480 I belong. 00:30:40.640 --> 00:30:44.720 We all belong to one another because we belong to Christ. 00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:49.519 And in Christ, none of us are ever alone for the rest of eternity. 00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:51.200 And that's a beautiful thing. 00:30:51.359 --> 00:30:52.799 We belong to him. 00:30:53.039 --> 00:30:55.119 Let us pray to him together. 00:30:55.440 --> 00:31:06.640 Our Father, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. 00:31:06.880 --> 00:31:20.960 Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 00:31:21.200 --> 00:31:26.640 For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. 00:31:26.960 --> 00:31:28.640 Amen and amen.