A Person After God's Heart

Let me ask you a question. This should go right to the very heart and core of your being alive. What is your purpose in life? What is it that you are trying to accomplish in your life? Surely you've thought about this and thought about it a lot. In fact, it may be hard on the Sabbath day not to keep thinking about it. What are your ambitions? What is your purpose? What is your main goal in life? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it probably goes something like this. To be happy, to be healthy, to enjoy life, to have a comfortable living standard, to be entertained, to have possessions that are nice to have, maybe exciting to have, to have certain opportunities, be they relationships or opportunities to be involved in various things that are exciting, could be a career, could be travel, hobbies, to have a life that's full and complete and fulfilling, and one that is devoid, as you might say, of pain, problems. You want to get rid of those difficulties, challenges, inconveniences. What is your goal and your purpose in life?

And then let's ask in contrast, what is God's purpose and goal for your life?

Well, hmm, and is there a contrast between the two? Between your purpose and goal in life and God's purpose and goal for you in life. The Bible tells us that God created us in His image and His likeness for a reason, for a purpose. He has a purpose in making you. He has a purpose for your being on this earth for 70-some years that's allotted to sort of the normal lifespan of humans.

Does your purpose and goal match up with God's purpose and goal for you? That's what I want to talk to you about today. And we'll examine this in the life of one who was able to set us an example of merging the two. Because your goal and purpose in life does not have to be separate from God's goal and purpose in life. The two can merge, entwine, unite, be in harmony, and work very, very well. Very well, indeed.

If we look at the world around us, we see a common pursuit among human beings to acquire, to possess.

There's so many things that are for sale and things that intrigue and maybe encourage us to open our wallets, to have those things. And once we get them, well, what was the movie titled years ago? The World is Not Enough. It just seems like there's more to be had. And whenever you see one thing and perhaps acquire it, lo and behold, you'll find something even bigger and better.

I was talking to an individual yesterday who was a retired dentist up in the northwest United States. And he said, you know, I bought a boat one time. And then a year or two later, I sold it and bought a boat that was two feet longer. And he said, there actually is a term among yachtsmen where you have two-foot idis. You just want a boat that's two feet bigger than the one you have.

And I'm sure that's sort of the case. Two-foot idis goes along with so many things, be it a house, property, a vehicle, who knows, maybe a person's own stature.

Two-foot idis. Never quite satisfied with what we have. Well, in the world around us, acquiring wealth, making a name for ourselves, is kind of like what King Saul was doing. If you go back into ancient Israel and you have the first king that the nation of Israel demanded from God, they got somebody that looked like he was going to work out well. But King Saul, though at first he certainly was a little humble in his own eyes or small in his own eyes, began to see opportunity for himself. He began to see the nation of Israel, the kingdom of Israel, as a palette on which to paint his own desires, needs, wants, goals. And he began doing so. He began generating a certain fame, certain power, possessions for himself. He began even changing the law of God around so that it would favor those things that he wanted to acquire in position, status, and wealth.

He went about making quite a name for himself. And there's a passage in the Bible that's very relevant to that. It's Acts chapter 13 and verse 22. I'd like to begin here in this topic reading this passage because the first thing we learn about this man who had done so much for himself is simply a statement that says, and when God had removed Saul... Oh, well, that was fast. That was quick. When God had removed Saul, there was something about Saul that didn't fit with God's plan for him. And God simply had to remove him from the physical kingdom of Israel. And when God had removed Saul, it says, He raised up for them David as king, to whom he also gave testimony and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after my own heart who will do all my will.

From this man's seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior, Jesus. Those two individuals, both kings of Israel, one succeeding the other, stand in stark contrast to each other. One has a statement that says, when God removed him, and the other had a statement that says, this man had Jesus Christ born through his descendants. And we're going to see in a little while, though, that's not all. One was against the will of God, and the other fulfilled the will of God.

Today we're going to see what constitutes being a person after God's heart. And that's the title of the sermon, A Person After God's Heart. Are you a person after God's heart? Would you like to be a person after God's heart? Would you like to fulfill the will of God and amount to something of greatness? Or do you want your epitaph, maybe in the Acts chapter or Acts book number two, to read, and after God had removed him or her? And that's very possible. That's very possible for any one of us. So let's take a look today at this human being that God called a man after his heart and see what made him that, what made him special, and what also enables him to be an example that you and I can relate to very, very well. David was the son of Jesse. If you would live back in that time, you wouldn't have known Jesse because Jesse was a fairly obscure man in an obscure family from an obscure village in an obscure part of the Kingdom of Israel. So there's nothing big about Jesse or his family. They lived in the negligible village of Bethlehem, which was very small and not in a very prominent spot at all. It's said that David was born around the year 1085 BC. So this goes back about 3,000 years. He was the youngest of eight sons of whom we don't know very much. And this youngest of the son, of course, we know was a keeper of his father's sheep. So far, we haven't really discovered much uniqueness, excitement for David.

He was just a kid growing up in the country of Judea. Yet he was anointed by Samuel when he was about 15 years of age, and he was anointed to be the king of Israel.

He slew Goliath when he was about 23 years of age. He became king of Judah after Saul died at age 30. He became king of all Israel under the United Kingdom at about age 37, and he died at about 70 years old. Now, can you identify with any of that? That's not too lofty, is it? You come from a rural village, hurting some sheep around, and at 15, okay, something happens. You get a calling. At age 30, you start in working, and at age 70, you die. I'd like to point out some things in David's life. His story in the Bible begins with him as a youth, a young boy, probably little ambition. How much ambition could you have? Would you have, by the example of your family, the example of the environment that you were in? It was a very rural, agrarian society without much wealth at that time, and a person's wealth was really counted in the livestock that you had. It's like so many pastoralists or cultures that pasture cattle, sheep, and goats. A lot of their wealth is on the hoof. And so even though he may not have had a lot of ambition, and it's hard to have ambition when the sheep are dumber than you, and they make, you know, some noises, and that's your company for most of your life as you wander around through the hills. But at the same time, we have to understand there's some responsibility there because he was in charge of the family's wealth and keeping that family's wealth. There was a wilderness around Bethlehem. It was rocky. It was mountainous. It's not particularly good agricultural land close to Jerusalem, where it's high up in the mountains. It's uneven territory there. And in that wooded land, there are many enemies of sheep. Sheep are interesting in that they're mostly light-colored white, and the landscape around them is dark. And so they stand out. They have no natural defenses, and they make a lot of noise. They don't see very well. They put their heads down to graze and wander around, and they get lost often. And so there are a lot of things that work against a shepherd protecting the valuable assets of the family. The shepherd also would have to be able to take care of the sheep. Sheep don't really know where to go to eat or where to go to drink. And so you have to steer them in that direction. You have to shepherd them. You have to lead them. You have to guide them. You also have to take care of them. It's not like you're right at home. You have to treat their maladies, their illnesses, treat their wounds. You have to help them when they get full of gas and can't get on their feet. You have to defend them by attacks of wild beasts. There in Judea, there were many wild animals that would kill a sheep, but two of the most dangerous were bears and lions. Now David was no match for bears and lions, but we do know through the Bible that he was very devoted to keeping the assets of the family from harm. And he was relentless on getting those sheep back to the family safe.

Not only that, though, but Judea was infested with what were called banditi, or bandits, we might say, in the modern vernacular. These were individuals who were running from the law, most of them. They maybe had committed crimes and didn't want to face up to the penalties for those crimes. They could have been thieves, murderers, bandits themselves.

They could have deserted out on their family or committed some act by which the law required a penalty or even death from them. And so they were hiding out. There were lots of them. And they were, as you might say, living on the Lamb. You know, when I thought about writing that in the notes, they were living on the Lamb, I thought, well, yeah, David's lands.

You know, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what living on the Lamb means.

And you had these individuals who were around. But he was there to protect and enhance the bulk of the shepherd's property, to encourage those sheep not only to stay alive, but to produce and to be growing wool and to be getting stronger and the numbers increasing.

So as we look at David and his life, we see an individual much like you, believe it or not. He's one that you can identify with, I can identify with. We have been given responsibility with insurmountable odds. In some cases, we're not good at our spiritual lions and bears, are we? But at the same time, we're going to find that David followed a certain path that made him successful in the end. And we can follow that same path and have similar success. I'd like to bring out four points today about the life of David. The first one was that he was God-reliant.

David was a God-reliant individual.

He didn't only rely on God, he depended on God.

God was his source of life. And David came to know that at a young age.

He had constant reliance on God, and God interacted with him and helped him be victorious and successful in just about everything.

Later on in life, David realized that God had constructed the law, and every king was to sit and write the law, and know the law, and rule by the law. And David said, God has made this law, and he's made it perfectly. And I'm not to tamper with it. I will rely on God's law.

God did not leave anything to human wisdom, or capriciousness, or interpretation.

No, God had the law. He said, these are my laws. And if a man does them, he will live by them.

The laws were made, and they became the constitution and the bylaws for the nation of Israel.

You know, God had it all figured out. All of it worked out. And then he brought together this nation and said, this is how I want you to order yourself, govern yourself, live. God had the constitution and the bylaws all laid out. What David was, was to use them, to follow them. And he was faithful. He was a faithful king who ruled using God's constitution and his laws.

He did not enact any new ones. He didn't change anything. In fact, the Messiah, when he came, you remember, said, I did not come to abolish the law, not to change one little slight mark on a single Hebrew letter of the law.

David was God-reliant and faithful to what God taught him. The God of the Old Testament, Jesus who had become Jesus Christ, was faithful to the law that was committed to him. And he said, only those words which the Father has given me do I speak. Only those things do I do that the Father has given me. He was faithful. You see how the person after God's own heart is really riveted to doing the will of God, living by the laws of God, being faithful and reliant on God. That is so important.

David took very, very good care to abide by the laws as they were, and also to govern his subjects according to those laws.

In Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 1, notice what we read about our calling. Hebrews chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. Therefore, holy brethren, there's something holy about the brothers and sisters that have been called into the church of God. We are called saints in the Bible. Saints is not referred to someone who has practiced magic or some sort of special powers. No, that's not a saint. A saint is one who is repented of their nature, their sins, has then been grafted into the family of God by the Holy Spirit, and they are growing in the character and mind of God. Those are the ones called saints. And that is because of the Holy Spirit, and therefore we are holy brethren, hallowed by God, hallowed by his Spirit. We are partakers of the heavenly calling. This is not something that mankind has engineered. This is something that God has drawn us to. It's a heavenly calling from God himself, where no one has taken liberties with God's Word and his law and created something else or fashioned something else. This is God himself calling us. Going on, it says, consider that Jesus, the Apostle and high priest of our confession, was faithful to the one who appointed him. Just as Moses also was faithful in all of God's house. Here is where we see the legends of the Bible already named are Moses, David, Jesus, everyone being faithful. Can we see how if we're going to be a person after God's heart, this has to be the core of it. We have to be faithful to what God says. Not to the little ideas that perk up in our minds and we think, oh, well, this scripture maybe means something else, or I've got this little spiritual news flash that popped in, and, oh, I think maybe that'll work, or leave ourselves to human reasoning. Now, we've got to be faithful, faithful to the Word of God, faithful to Jesus Christ.

Going on, it says, yes, Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder of the house, this house, this church, this body of Christ that you are and that collectively we all are, has a builder. And that builder is an architect, and there is a mind, and there is purpose, and there's direction, and this thing is supposed to grow into something that is the goal of God, and that's you, and that's me. And so we see here that He is the builder of a house, and He has more honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone. Who's your house being built by? Who's my house being built by? Who is the architect? Whose purpose and will and goal is being achieved in your life and in my life? That's the question. The builder of all things should be God. In verse 6, Christ, however, was faithful over God's house as a son, and we are His house if we hold firm the confidence and the pride that belonged to hope.

Well, we are faithful if we hang on to the things confidently that God has called us to accomplish, the direction that He wants us to go. The second point about David is, yes, he was faithful, and yes, he was reliant to God, but he was a sinner. David was a sinner, not just a little sinner. He is a big sinner. All sin is big. All sin transgresses the law of God, and all sin requires the death penalty, because the wages of sin is death. He who transgresses the law of God is going to die. The soul that sins, it shall die. And David was a sinner. Can you identify with that? I hope you can. I hope you can identify with the Apostle Paul, who said that he was a sinner.

I hope you can identify with all the people in Hebrews 11, the faithful, who have had their time and lived their life, and they did make mistakes. We had among us one, Will Magreelie, who had a life in the past, just as we all did, conducting ourselves in this world, and yet was called, just as you were, just as David was, just as Moses was, just as Saul, who became Paul, was, and Peter, and John, and the rest of the apostles. And we've tasted of the good life.

David committed adultery with a woman called Bathsheba. Now, I don't know if she got the name before or after the event. And I'm kind of jesting a little bit, but Bathsheba, I mean, I mean, what do you expect? What's going on here? Why was she on the roof of her house, taking a bath, when, see, the flat roofs of that period, and even the common day in the Near East, you have flat roofs because things are built close together, and that's where you go. When you want to go outside, you go up on the roof. Up on the roof is cool in the evening. You can see.

You can also see the neighbors. People hang out up there. I didn't really realize it was customary for women to go up and bathe on the roof. But nevertheless, here's Bathsheba. Maybe she thought everybody was gone to war because there was a big battle going on. But anyway, he and Bathsheba got together, and they were both married, and Bathsheba got pregnant. And so what happened was, you had a situation developed that was a huge crime. Because in the Bible, if you commit adultery against someone else's husband or wife, which they both did, the penalty is death.

That's what the penalty is. And that penalty now loomed over the king of Israel and the wife of the general of the army. So what happened was they had to somehow mask this so that there would be no penalty. You don't know how human nature gets going. So start to figure in reason. Once you became pregnant, the secret is out. Well, it could be out. Unless you can get your riot to come home, and maybe then you can sort of attach the baby to daddy instead of the neighbor. Well, that didn't work out because Uriah, as the story went, would not do that under the certain circumstances. He just didn't feel it was right and proper for his men to be out there fighting and him to be home enjoying family life. So that didn't work out. Well, then with that not working out, the death penalty is really looming over because, you know, Bathsheba is starting to show.

And somebody's got to take credit for this baby. And so the subsequent murder of Uriah, Bathsheba's husband, was not just to save face so that he didn't get caught from adultery. It was to keep him alive and her alive. And they sacrificed a really fine man in doing so.

After committing one crime, they committed others and various things, and it grew and grew.

So it was their lives are Uriah's and they chose Uriah's. It was a tough, tough thing.

Now, that's a very visible thing the Bible records. I don't even know if the people in Israel knew about it. You know, probably wasn't in the local newspapers. It was probably hidden. And probably just a few people knew about it, including those who were writing the words of the Bible. But, you know, God says that every secret will be found out. And these things sometimes are shown for our examples. And so you can have an individual who has pretty sterling character, but also who makes mistakes. Same could be said for Bathsheba. We don't know much about her character, but her husband sure had strong character, and she made a mistake as well.

Paul says in Ephesians 2, when we all conducted ourselves in the lusts of the flesh, we're all in this together. We're all humans, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we're by nature children of wrath, just as others. You know, the children of wrath were not thoughtful of others. They weren't really thinking of Uriah. They were thinking of themselves, and the wrath fell on Uriah. That's the same whenever we gossip. We're not thinking of others. Our wrath or our harsh words fall on others, or whatever the deeds are that are done from one to another. In Psalm 51, there's an incredible chapter of the Bible that's been preserved for us about this very event. What do you do if you really mess up like David did? Do you go out and put a gun to your head? They didn't have guns back then. Do you put a sword to your head? Do you jump off a cliff? What do you do? Do you say, well, I should be killed because I broke this law, but since Uriah died, no one knows about it. What I ought to do is confess before everybody and then let him kill me. David didn't do that, did he? Instead, here we see Psalm 51. It's called a prayer of repentance, and under the heading in the New King James Version, it says, to the chief musician. David not only came clean with this, he made a song about it. He put it to music, and probably more than any other recorded passage in Scripture, this man pours out a repentant heart, a repentant spirit that all of us can identify with. It is just the most deep, open repentance recorded anywhere in Scripture. And let's read a little bit of it. It says, a psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone into Bathsheba.

So you can read about that story and what took place. And here was a psalm that he wrote, Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies. Here's where we go when we sin. We go to God in repentance, and we ask for mercy. We desire to change and get back in harmony with Him. It says, blot out my transgressions. Don't blot out my life. I don't need to put a gun to my head. I don't need to get all despondent. I just need to be forgiven. That's what I need. That's what you and I all need every day of our life. We don't need to become so guilt-laden that we can't get on our knees and pray to God, pile up all these things in our mind, all of our guilt to where we're not fit to live or God can never listen to us because we're so bad. To just have those disappear in an instant is a fabulous thing. And that's all we have to do. Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

The Bible tells us that if we repent, God is happy. He is pleased to forgive us of our transgressions. Read that over in the book of 1 John. In fact, you find that the angels in heaven rejoice, sing when a person comes to repentance. It's an exciting thing to God. He gets excited about that. Why is it so hard for us to do that? I don't know. It's a tough thing. I guess we wound our pride, our ego, or something, and therefore it's hard to acknowledge and you want to get quiet or go away. I don't know. That's what I tend to do. But God wants us to repent. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. And God says in their sins and iniquities, I'll remember no more. It's gone. Jesus Christ died. His blood was poured out, and they're gone. He took them. It's a wonderful thing that we can come to Passover and celebrate that event that Jesus did. He said, when you take the bread and you take the wine, do this in remembrance of me. We're not going to Passover to remember ourselves and our sins. We're going there to remember that which cleanses us from our sins, which is the noble, wonderful, loving sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Fabulous thing that he did for us. It's a wonderful thing. We followed up the night after with the night to be much remembered or observed where it's like, wow, let's celebrate the fact that his death got rid of our slavery to sin. It's like those Israelites got freed from their slavery to Egypt, and they could walk out and be free. They weren't slaves walking out. They were free men. They didn't bring mortar and brick with them, sort of carried along. No, they were free. In fact, they were given jewelry and clothing and sin on their way in a totally different state. And that's how you and I are. We are forgiven and we are clothed, as it were, with holy garments, quite clean linen, and we are sent on our way called saints of the Most High, holy, his chosen.

The royal priesthood that God is developing to reign with Christ.

It's really a positive, positive thing. He says in verse 3, For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.

He didn't deny and wiggle around and try to excuse it. No, he says, I'm looking at this right on. I have messed up. I acknowledge this. Against you only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight.

In verse 7, Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. That's what I want. Whiter than snow.

You know, over in Philippians chapter 3, I believe it's in verse 13, Paul has this very forward-looking philosophy that reflects the nature of God and the plan of God, the divine will of God. He says, I'm not perfect, but this one thing I do, I forget those things which are behind. You know, what a wonderful, wonderful thing. We don't have a logbook. A logbook is a log of where you've been and what you've done, and you can go back and read the logbook. I have a pilot's logbook that goes back 28 years, and then go back to every flight and see where it went and who was there and how long it took and things like that. God does not have a logbook of every mistake that you made. You know, we're not required to go back, you know, haul our logbook around and, oh, let's see, what did I do last year or 10 years ago or whatever it was? No.

Those things which are behind, I forget. Forgotten! That is so beautiful, brethren. What if God were different? What if He wanted us to go around feeling guilty and be remembered of all the mistakes we've ever made? But He doesn't. Something about our nature does that. I don't know why, but we like to kind of grubble in our past, but God wants us to forget that. And He says, I press forward to the high calling, you know, through Jesus Christ. Press forward to the finish line. I find that so encouraging. And for those who are being baptized, and we have a baptism next week in Yuma, by the way, I always like to go through that because it's almost shocking when you're almost drowning in your sins and your problems because God is showing them to you through that first repentance that you're going through. You think, how am I ever going to get out of this? I try and I can't. Well, it's not about your mistakes. It's about your successes. It's about the finish line. It's about the goal. It's the direction. It's a wonderful, positive thing. Going on here, we find in verse 8, make me hear joy and gladness. That's what God wants in our life. His way can mesh with our goals, joy and gladness and happiness and prosperity.

That the bones you have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. We're looking for a change here, a different heart, a different mind. Help me not to think like I've been thinking and do like I've been doing. I want something new, something different, something clean, and God can do that. Do not cast me away from your presence and do not take your Holy Spirit from me. Sometimes we have to ask that because we'll borrow off in our own direction, seeking our own happiness and goal and purpose in life. Next thing we realize, God's kind of endured this for a while. He's probably getting tired of me.

What if he just pulled the plug, as it were? What if he just pulled his Spirit? What if he just gave up on me? David, the Apostle Paul, the one who says, that which I want to do I don't, that which I don't want to do, that's what I end up doing, knows the patience, the long suffering of God in his love. But here, he says, you know, don't desert me. Don't pull your Spirit from me. Restore me to the joy of your salvation and uphold me by your generous Spirit. It's a wonderful thing to be involved in fulfilling God's purpose in your life, along with the personal purposes and goals that you and I have as human beings. The two can be very, very compatible if they are according to the will of God.

In 1 John, it says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. See how positive again that is? It's just wiping it out. If we confess him, he's faithful to forgive them all and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So David was a sinner. Yes, he was, but he was forgiven of that. And the process of the forgiveness, the repentance, the Holy Spirit of God working in him, made him a saint. A saint in the same way that if you've been baptized and have God's Holy Spirit, you are too. You are a child of God. And that's just a term that is used and sometimes misused.

But he was a saint. His character grew through this. You know, sins were not David's habit. In a sense, we all have habitual sins and so did he, but it wasn't his way of life to go around sinning. He didn't see how many Bathsheba's he could have illicit relationships with. That wasn't him. We don't read of him doing that again. We don't read of him occasionally sacrificing a general in the army or some other individual in order to get himself ahead. That was not part of his character. It was not part of his nature. And with God's Holy Spirit, his character grew and became stronger. He returned to God through repentance. He didn't repeat it. He hated sin when he saw it. He tried hard not to do it. And God forgave the guilt. He restored him to a position of honor. And in fact, David went on to rule over the golden period, the golden United Kingdom period of ancient Israel when the Kingdom of Judah in the south and the northern kingdom were united for a time under David and Solomon. We see in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17 the new creation that takes place in you and me as well. 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 17. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. A new creation. We are not that same old man or old woman that we were before God called us and cleaned us up. We are a new creation, a new creature. Old things have passed away.

Behold, all things are becoming new. We are being renewed day by day.

Now all things are of God who has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation. That is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. See this reconciliation, this healing of people's relationships, God and man, God and godly people together, and ultimately the whole world being reconciled to one another. As Jesus talked about in John chapter 17 where the Father and He were one and He was wanting us to be one with them. That reconciled unity. That's what God is looking for. And we can abound and increase in that love. We can grow in that direction. Let's notice 1 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 12.

1 Thessalonians chapter 3 and verse 12.

It says, And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all. We are to grow. That's His goal for us. Growth. Becoming stronger as saints. Just as we do to you. Verse 13. So that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness. Does that mean that you are sinless? No, but you are blameless. How can you be blameless if you sin? Well, by having the same repentance that David showed there in Psalm 51, when we repent, God is faithful to forgive us and cleanse us of our sins. And therefore, we are blameless. We are guiltless.

That He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints. You know, it's not about being perfect every minute of your day. It's about ending up perfect. It's about wanting to be perfect. But when we aren't, and when we fall, it doesn't mean that's it. It doesn't mean game over. The bells don't ring, and you're not out.

No, we will be perfect, and we are to be perfect. We are to be totally sinless, but that is only because our sins are being removed. A new heart is coming on. A new character is growing. The baby is learning to walk, you know. And as time goes on, we will have less and less sin, but we will never be without sin, except those times when we are totally forgiven of that sin, and that sin has been removed from an outside source. And we will be holy before God the Father when Jesus Christ returns with all His saints.

We want to be part of that. Now, the fourth area about David was he became a valuable asset to God's kingdom, both the physical kingdom in Israel and also the coming kingdom of God. Now, how could a human being be a valuable asset to the spiritual kingdom of God? We see that as part of the mystery of the reason why humans exist. Is that God is creating children. God is creating family. God is creating God beings in the future that will be like Him, that will be in the same form as Him, that will be with Him, and be in His very family.

That is God's purpose for you. That is God's will for you. That is something that He is doing that cannot exist unless we become faithful, unless our will submits to His will. It's so very important that we do not have a differing mind or want to take most of what He has but sort of adulterate it and change it a little bit. Remember how faithful David was with the Word of God?

How faithful Moses was with the Word of God? How faithful Jesus Christ was with everything the Father told Him? It's so important that we are the same so that we will be of value to the Kingdom. Because if you take all of what God says but change it just a little bit, well then you're on a different track. And if you have the same construction, the same powers, the same general family characteristics that God the Father and Jesus Christ have, you would be a much greater adversary than Satan the devil would ever be.

Because he is only on the angelic level. But what would a God being be like who had a different mind, a different direction, a different view, a different faith, a different mindset, different goals than what the rest of the God family had, you see? It's okay to think as an independent person, but it's not okay to think independently of the way that God thinks and lives and acts.

And so we're on this earth to show God. Are we going to do it His way? Are we going to do what He says? Or are we going to do it our way? David became a valuable asset to God's Kingdom. We read in Ezekiel 37 beginning in verse 24. Long after the death of David, God says something about him. I don't know that David ever knew this in his life. He died a man at age 70 in a way that we could probably identify with.

Wasn't that pleasant? Wasn't fast? He tended to be abhorred by those around him, tended to be disgusting evidently to those who were around him. And that's just the way this human life expires much of the time. Something we can identify with. Even though he is a man after God's own heart and he has prominence in the Kingdom of God, he still went through what humans go through. And so did Jesus Christ. He went through what humans go through.

It says here in Ezekiel 37, verse 24, David, my servant, shall be king over them. He's talking here about the reconstituted Kingdom of Israel that will exist in what we would call Palestine at the return of Jesus Christ. He's going to bring a remnant of all the 12 tribes, 13 if you split Joseph in half, Ephraim and Manasseh. He's going to bring a remnant of all those tribes together. He's going to bring them back into those very hills and flatlands and valleys.

And he is going to establish David as a king over them. Why do you think he's going to put David as a king over them? Well, because David was such a faithful king. God was able to work with him the first time. You know, I don't know how much like God we are in every detail, but we tend to repeat successes. You know, if I need something done, who do I get to do it? Oh, the last person that did it and did it right. Right? If somebody gave you $10 and you needed $10, the next time you needed $10, who would you ask? Well, you go back to the last person and gave you $10. That's a good reason not to give somebody $10 when they ask. Or make sure they don't know who your name and address. One of the worst things you can do is donate $5 to charity, I found out. It's a noble deed, but they will bankrupt themselves trying to get another $5 out of you, it seems, because we tend to repeat successes. Well, there was no king who served God over the house of Israel better in all ways than David. And he was faithful in all those ways. And plus, he was a man after God's heart. Who do you think God's going to use as a king over Israel? Well, no, it's a no-brainer because it says right here. They shall also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes and do them. How does he know that? Because I'm putting David over them. And they did it last time. David did a really good job. He wasn't just king, he also worked with the religion of the country. Religion and state were not separate back in those days. And David saw that, for instance, the priests who came in to work at the temple could be a little better organized. And so he developed an order for the Levites who served at the temple. And down through time, long after David's death, as the kings of Israel would lead Israel into sin and back and forth, and they would invariably restore things back to the way that David had set them up.

It was, you can just read about it, do it like David their father had. Because he had done it so well, he became the way of doing things right. And so here we see in verse 25, they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob, my servant, where your father's dwelt, and they shall dwell there, their children's children forever. My servant David shall be their prince forever. Verse 26, Moreover, I shall make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them. I will establish them and multiply them.

David established and multiplied sheep, and he established and multiplied the kingdom, and its borders, and its wealth. This man is a good fit for this job, isn't he? And don't forget, Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you. And there's so many of his parables that said, based on what you do here, I'm going to use you over there, and I'm going to prepare a place for you.

In Ezekiel 34, verse 23, God said, I will set up one shepherd over them. It's interesting that David was a shepherd. He knew about sheep, and he is called a shepherd here. I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them. David wrote the 23rd Psalm, which was sheep and shepherd analogy, David being the sheep and God being the shepherd. He understood that role very well. He's comfortable with that role. He liked that role. Nothing wrong with being a sheep in the sheepfold of Jesus Christ. And David will feed them. Even my servant David, he shall feed them. And he shall be their shepherd. Verse 24, And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David, a prince among them. Well, you begin to see here David and God are working together. And when you stop and think about it, Jesus Christ is going to establish his throne in Jerusalem. And Jerusalem happens to be the capital city of the nation of Israel in the future. So David will rule there. Christ will be the king. David will be the prince among them, or the king, depending on which term you want to use. See how that harmony goes together? And where will the first fruits be? Where will the saints be? Always with Christ, he said. Meet him in the air, and ever will be with the Lord. He says in Revelation chapter 3, I will make you pillars in the temple of my God. You've got the temple, you've got the king, you've got the, you know, the saints together. There's a lot here, brethren, for you and me. If we want to be after God's own heart, we have a lot in common with this story. In John chapter 10 and verse 11, Jesus said, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. But a hireling, he was not a shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees. The wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. But David didn't do that. He went and took the sheep out of the mouth of the bear, out of the lion. You're not going to have it. It may not be alive, but it's coming with me. We're not going to lose any here. And God supported him in that. But the hireling flees because he's a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I'm the good shepherd. I know my sheep. I'm known by my own. As the father knows me, even so, I know the father and I lay down my life for the sheep. That's some of the conviction that we have for each other and for God and his way and the family and the kingdom. We're part of something. We are sheep. We have that white clothing, as it were. And yes, we're very exposed and very vulnerable and easily picked out and easily targeted. But we have a shepherd and we are part of that body.

Now, what about you and me? Well, like David, you are a potential asset in the family of God and in the kingdom of God. But you see, it's God's kingdom we have to seek.

Gave a sermon a couple years ago about seeking first the kingdom of God. Well, we have our own kingdom, don't we? As we began the sermon today, it was about what are your goals? What is your purpose? We can have this individual goal and purpose in life, but are we seeking our own kingdom, our little intrinsic human-based physical pursuit? Or are we seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness? The two can be the same if we just reallocate our mental resources and faculties and desires and bring them in harmony with God's purpose for us. Jesus said in Matthew 16, verse 24, if anyone desires to come after me, oh, you see, it's not about pursuing our own way, is it? If anyone desires to come after me, to follow Jesus Christ. In other words, he has a direction already mapped out. He who desires to come after me in my direction, let him deny himself, not do his own will, let him do my will, my Father's will, and take up his cross. You're going to endure some adversity. You're going to go through repentance and growth and trials and problems. You're going to learn through all these experiences. I'm going to make sure that everything works out for good that you experience. If you have me and my laws and my spirit in your heart, he says, for whoever desires to save his life, to do his own will, like Saul, remember King Saul? He was there to do his own thing and he was really doing it big. That person's going to lose it. It just says, and God removes all. But whoever loses his life for my sake, David lost his life for God's sake. Saul, the other Saul, remember, the Jew Saul, he lost his life for God's sake.

He became the Apostle Paul. That individual will find it. You put the old self away. You die to the old self. You're going to find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world? If you become the king of Israel, like Saul did, and loses his own soul, Saul was rejected.

Verse 27, for the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each according to his works.

This is the important thing about our life. As Wilma Greeley's life was was ebbing. I told her, I said, Wilma, God loves you and you will be in his kingdom. And she squeezed my hand just like that. That's what is important to us. That's what is important to you. I know it is. That's what's important to me. But we have to be a person of God's heart, of God's will.

You know, David became a zealous follower of God. Just an overview of his life. He was a teacher. He was a teacher of the law. He was a leader in worship. He was an inspirer of the praise of God. Just look at all the Psalms. God made him an unqualified hero. He was a skillful captain, a steady patriot, a wise ruler. He was a faithful and a generous friend. He was an inspired musician and poet. By birth, he was a peasant. But by the grace of God, he became king and will always be king.

What does that have to do with you and me? What does his success have to do with you and me? Well, you know, it's an example of a fellow human on the same path that you and I are on today. And it's very encouraging. We each have the same opportunity to be or to become a person after God's own heart, to reach the spiritual status of Jesus Christ, to be king, to be a priest in the very kingdom of God. You know, the examples and the parallels abound. I'm just reviewing some of them.

Both were born in Bethlehem. Jesus was born in Bethlehem. David was born in Bethlehem. Fairly obscure places. Both were born to fairly obscure parents. Both were born to poor parents. You and I, it says in 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verses 26 through 31, are not the wise, not the knowable, not the big ones of this world, but we're the weak and the base things that God is using at this time. David, his name is Beloved. That's what David means, Beloved. Jesus Christ was said by the Father, this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

Jesus Christ will say of you, well done, faithful servant at his return. God calls us the Beloved.

We are all of that same respect and admiration and love and care when we are of the mind of God.

Jesus Christ is coming to rule the world. David is coming to rule Israel. You are coming to rule over cities, Jesus said. Some will receive five, some ten. I don't know if there's a cap or a limit.

See that we're going to be doing this together. Jesus Christ is King of kings.

And then there are other kings. David, us, it says, we'll rule with him. Revelation 5.10 says, it has made us kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth.

I've mentioned where the thrones will be and the pillars in the temple, all in Jerusalem together. In closing, God has given you the tools and the time in your life to succeed in your calling.

What will you do with it? What will you do with all this opportunity? I'd like to finish by reading Jude 1, beginning in verse 20, going on through 25.

The little book right before Revelation has some profound words for you and me as we look at our life, the purpose of our life, the goals of our life. Jude 1.20 says, but you, beloved, there you are. David was beloved. Jesus Christ was the beloved son and that the father was well pleased. You and I are called beloved. Building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.