God Provides a King | Messiah: The Coming King

Sermon Transcript:

(transcribed with AI)

Well, good morning everyone. It is good to be here with you all. Those of you who might not know me, my name is Jonathan. I have the privilege of being one of the pastors here. Very exciting if you were with us last week, you'll know Pastor Rich stepped into the position of our community life pastor, and so it's a joy. I'm not the pastor, I'm one of the pastors here. It is a joy.

But this morning we are also beginning a new sermon series here. We're gonna spend the next couple of months actually looking at the life of King David, we're gonna walk through his life. Now the life of King David has to be one of the most famous stories in the Bible, right? Recently they've been making movies and TV shows, all kinds of things, and they have, there's plenty in the past. Different stories and retellings of David's life. There's been plenty of them over the years, and for good reason.

David's life is an interesting one, right? There is action, there is drama, there is romance, there is betrayal, there is this rise to power, and even the challenge once he gets there. I mean, the Bible story, it reads like a movie, doesn't it? I mean, you get this young shepherd boy, humble, now rising to be the king of Israel, the greatest king in their history. I mean, you can see it, right, he is a man going off leading armies into battle, valiant and brave, and yet he's also a poet, just pouring out his heart before God in the Psalms. Right? It's all here, right? It is one of the most fascinating stories in the Bible, and it's been put in, I'm sure, every single Sunday school curriculum that's ever been made, right? If you went to Sunday school at some point, you probably heard a lesson about David and Goliath, right? Everyone knows David and Goliath, it becomes a saying, right, it's a David and Goliath kind of situation, right? The small guy taking on the big one.

And yet for all of this fame about his life, there is so much that we often miss. In fact, sometimes the fame of what we think we know begins to actually occlude what the Bible really is saying. Because we know the story of David and Goliath, but far less known are all the stories of David and Jonathan, or David and Mishal, or probably unknown are the stories with David and Doeg the Edomite, Nabal, or the betrayal at Kayla, right? There's all kinds of stories in the Bible that we just completely gloss right over, and we think, well that doesn't have anything to do with us.

And yet the truth is, the Bible spends more time on the life of David than anyone else in the Bible. Now, let me defend that point for just a second, because we get a lot about Moses and Jesus, right? Those would be the two. But Moses' life, we only start his story when he's about 80 years old. Right? In one chapter, the Bible just jumps 8 decades. Even Jesus' life that there's far more written about. Really focuses on just 3 years of his life. Whereas David, actually we meet him as a young boy and we follow him through pretty much every event of his life until his death. We know more about David's life than really anyone else, especially cause as he writes the Psalms, we get to see what he's even thinking during these times. Right, the Bible spends about 50 chapters going over David's life. Not to mention all the psalms he writes. There's a ton of our Bible that is dedicated to this man, and so the question we need to ask right at the outset is, why? Why does God spend so much time telling us the details of his life? I mean, sure it's entertaining, but there's gotta be a better reason, right? There's gotta be more to it than that.

And maybe let me ask the further question, why should we care? Right? Why should we care about the life of someone who lived some 3000 years ago? Right, David lived about 1000 BC. 3000 years ago, on the other side of the world, in a different life stage, in a different situation. Why should we care about what he did?

And so as we go through this series, I want us to answer those questions. Why does God spend so much time, and why should we care about it? But even as we get going, let me start with this. Yes, David does live 3000 years ago and in a very different situation than you and I find ourselves. And yet for the past 3000 years, people have not changed nearly as much as we sometimes think. Truth is we still live in a sinful fallen world, with sinful fallen hearts, and as we go through the story of David, we find very similar patterns to what we ourselves will face.

Right, David, is gonna have to go through a number of hardships, and he's gonna ask himself, how do I actually be faithful to God through these things? How do I continue on trusting God when I am terrified? David has to deal with a lot of fear in his life. He's gonna be running for his life for most of our series. Trying to escape, trying not to be put to death. How do we deal with it when people close to us betray us? David's gonna get betrayed more than once. How do we handle it when people apologize and we know that it's not sincere? Actually, that's gonna come up more than once in David's life.

See, yes, he lives a long time ago. But actually the same issues are the ones that we face today. The story is very much the same because this world is still sinful and the human heart has not changed nearly that much. David's life shows us both in its best and worst moments, he is a man very much like us.

But I'm gonna argue there's far more to the reason why. Why does the Bible spend so much time with this man? It's because David is going to show us Jesus. God's plan from the beginning was that David would point us to Jesus. God anoints David to be king of Israel 3000 years ago in order to show us what the king of kings would be like. He is a lens, a signpost, a marker that's meant to point us forward to the coming of Jesus. He is foreshadowing in the very best of ways, because he's going to reveal what Jesus is like.

And so this morning, as we open our Bibles, let me invite you to open. 1 Samuel chapter 15. We're gonna start right at the very end in verse 35. You can find your way there if you have a Bible with you, and then put your finger in it for just a moment, because today what I want us to do is instead of just getting right down into it, I want us to see the bigger story. We're gonna start in Genesis, we're gonna go to Revelation, whole Bible here this morning, because I want us to see God's plan for David in the grand storyline of what God is doing on this earth. David is significant for what God is doing, and I want us to see why does the Bible spend so much time here. It's because David is gonna show us Jesus.

So, we're gonna start God's plan for a king. Because here's what we need to realize at the very beginning. God's plan for a king didn't start with David, or Saul, or any idea that we came up with. This was God's plan from the very beginning.

Genesis chapter one, when God creates the world, creates Adam and Eve, this is what he says.

Then God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the heavens, over the livestock, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

The very first thing God says about Adam and Eve is that he has given them a dominion. That is, that is a king's area of authority, in fact, it's the whole earth. And when God created Adam and Eve, what did he do? He put them in a garden. And I know for us we don't think much of that fact, but in the ancient world, the only people who had a garden were kings. Right, everyone else had fields to grow food, vegetables, whatever, they had fields, the king had a garden to enjoy. God places Adam and Eve, gives them a dominion and puts them in the garden because they are meant to be king and queen over God's creation, this royal kingdom that represents God perfectly. They were made in his image, image bearers of God. That's, this is what God created for them, a kingdom was the plan. Where the king represents God perfectly.

But if you know the story, you know it doesn't take very long for that picture to be shattered. Sin enters into the world, instead of them representing God, they wanted to be God. Take his place. The fall comes, sin breaks this perfect picture. They are exiled out of the garden, royal status revoked, as it were. Their dominion would no longer be a perfect garden, but it would bear thorns.

But in the face of this sin, that wasn't the end of God's plan. In fact, that was very much still part of it. God had a plan in mind to restore that perfect kingdom. He gives them a promise, right away, Genesis 3 gives them a promise that one day a child would come, that would crush sin forever. And this is what the Bible is about. The story of the Bible moving forward is the story of saying, I'm waiting for this child. I'm waiting for this one who would come, who would destroy sin, who would restore the kingdom of God. And we're waiting. Who is he? What will he be like?

And so we get to a man by the name of Abraham, right, Abraham, and God gives him a promise, right? God says to Abraham, you who have no kids, I'm going to give you a son, and through your son shall come a blessing for the entire world. We're meant to hear the echoes of how God created the world in the very beginning, and God says through you Abraham shall come many people. Nations and kings, Genesis 17, God promises,

I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations and kings shall come from you.

From Abraham would come a blessing for the world that involved royalty. God's plan wasn't forgotten.

And God is faithful to his promise. Abraham and Sarah have Isaac, and then they bear Jacob. Jacob has 12 sons become the people of Israel. The nation is coming, but we're waiting, where is this king that was promised? But the people of Israel, they end up in Egypt. Not ruling, by the way, but actually being ruled over. They have a problem, they were supposed to rule as a king, and yet they're being enslaved. God sends Moses to bring them out, redeem them out of slavery, brings them to himself, and he meets with the people on Mount Sinai, and he gives them a new promise. Exodus chapter 19, we read,

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

Right, God calls them a kingdom of priests. God had not forgotten his royal plan, this was to be a kingdom that represented God. That was their job, that's what they were supposed to be doing. The problem is they didn't represent God. They've been released out of slavery. They were still in the bondage of slavery. So they didn't represent God, and the truth is, they also didn't have a king. They were a kingdom that had no king.

And so God actually begins to tell them, here's how you will have a king, Deuteronomy 17, Moses tells them,

When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it, and then say, I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me. You may indeed set a king over you, whom the Lord your God will choose.

See, God always had a plan for them to be a kingdom. That was always part of the plan, but they were called to wait for the one God had in mind. God had a king for them, and they were called to wait, and so the story as it moves forward, if you know the book of Judges, they come into the land, but they have no king. In fact, the repeated refrain throughout the whole book is,

In those days, there was no king in Israel, everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

You read the book and you find out how much of a problem that is. It's a mess, everyone's doing what they think is right, the whole thing is nearly on the brink of civil war and breaking up constantly. They needed a king to help them. But instead of waiting, They figured, you know what, I can do this myself. If that isn't a small picture of what sin looks like, of trying to say, well this is what God has promised, I'm pretty sure I can do that myself. And so they choose their own king.

That you saw In 1 Samuel chapter 8, we find the prophet Samuel warning the people, trying to get them not to do this. It says in that day, Samuel speaking.

You will cry out because of your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord will not answer you in that day. But the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel, and they said, no, but there shall be a king over us, that we may also be like all the nations.

Here is the story of the Bible, rebelling against God's plan. Saul anointed king over Israel, and to be fair, he looked the part. He was tall, strong, handsome, everyone said, yeah, that's a good leader right there. He even starts off pretty well, does some things that are good. But it doesn't take long before the same problem that happened to Adam and Eve happens to Saul. He didn't want to follow God. He wanted to be in charge.

And now that brings us to David. God's answer to the promises that he has made all along, and the foreshadowing that is yet to come. So if you still have your Bibles open, you still have your finger in there, read with me, 1 Samuel chapter 15. It's our tradition here, we stand as we read God's word. If you're able to, stand with me. 1 Samuel 15, starting in verse 35. This is God's word.

And Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death, but Samuel grieved over Saul, and the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel. The Lord said to Samuel, how long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and go, I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself, a king among his sons.

As for the reading of God's word, you may be seated.

Here is the story of the Bible. God makes a promise. Mankind in its sinfulness tries to do it on their own, is unable, in fact faces not only the pain and sorrow of sin, but even the rejection of God, only for God to raise up a savior. That's exactly what's going on here. Right now this is the book we're gonna spend a while in, in our series. We're gonna spend our time walking through 1 Samuel, so let's just get a little bit of a lay of the land. Right, we've been introduced to two people here. The first is Samuel. Samuel, for whom this book is named, is both a priest and a prophet. We meet him actually, right at the very beginning of the book with his mother crying and praying out to God for a child. And finally God answers her prayer in Samuel. Samuel is born and she dedicates him into the service of God. Samuel grows up in the tabernacle, serving God. In fact, it becomes very clear early that God is speaking to Samuel, and so he became this prophet and sort of de facto leader in Israel. Kind of a very close to a prophet, priest and king. Samuel is the one who ends up anointing Saul to be king, despite all of his warnings and his protest against it.

Saul, at the very beginning. As we said, looked like a leader. He looked like the guy who should be in charge, but it became really clear early on, there were some cracks that were forming. He started doing really good things, he tried to lead them, he even listened to Samuel every once in a while, but it also became really clear that he was impulsive, impatient. And he was unwilling to really follow God, especially when it might cost him something, Saul wasn't willing to do that. In fact, throughout the story as you read of King Saul, God is warning him, Saul, turn back from what you're doing. Saul, if you keep doing this, I will remove you from being the king, and Saul does not repent. He continues on, charges sort of headlong, ignoring all the consequences, even at one point, nearly putting his own son to death because of a foolish thing that he said.

Until finally the last straw to break is earlier here in chapter 15. God sends Saul, he says, there's the Amalekites, they have been attacking you, they've been going after you all the way back since Exodus. Saul, it's time. You're to go, you are to attack them, wipe them out, and you are not to keep anything. Don't keep any of the spoils for yourself, destroy it all. And so Saul goes and he wipes them out. He wins the battle, he's victorious, and then he takes a look at all their stuff and he thinks. I'm just gonna keep that for myself. What a waste to throw all that away, to just burn, no, no, no, I'm just gonna keep it for myself, and God is furious with him.

And you might say, I mean, that seems like a minor thing, doesn't it? Right? Who, what's the big deal if he keeps some extra stuff? But put it into our context here, imagine you were something like the police commissioner. And so you go and you have a SWAT team and you say, there is a whole drug empire that's operating in this city, it's your job, I need you to go wipe them out. SWAT team goes in, wipes them out. And then they look around and they think, there's a lot of cash here. Do you know how much these drugs are worth on the street? Why would we get rid of that? You know what? Forget it. Let's just keep it, we can sell it ourselves. I mean, certainly that's something makes sense to do. What would you say? Hold on, that's not your job. Your job is not to go take that, not to go replace that drug kingpin and just become one yourself. No, you're supposed to get rid of it. You've actually stopped being a police force, you've become the very thing you were sent to destroy.

Essentially that's what Saul has become. Instead of listening to God, instead of actually obeying him, instead of saying I'll have nothing to do with this stuff, no, what does he do? He says, well, I'll keep it for myself. And God says, that's it. The kingdom is no longer yours. I'm taking it away from you. And so verse 35 says, Samuel did not see Saul again until the day of his death. God would not speak to him again. And Samuel grieved over Saul.

See, I think it's important to notice even right here. As Samuel knew all the problems of Saul, saw firsthand, Saul's unwillingness to follow God, all of his reckless things that he was doing, and yet when he sees the consequence of his own sin, Samuel is not laughing at him. He's not rubbing his hands with glee, what is he doing? He's mourning. To see the consequence of sin play out in someone's life is always a matter of sadness mourning. Even God is not celebrating as Saul fails. End of verse 25, says the Lord regretted that he made Saul king over Israel.

Now, let's be clear, when it says God regretted. It doesn't mean it the way that you and I regret something. Right? I regret something when I do something, I don't realize what the consequences are gonna be, I don't know how bad it's going to be. Oh, I realize it now. OK, now I really regret what I've done. That's not the way that God operates. God already knows the future. He knew what Saul was going to do. He knew all of those things. In fact, just a few verses earlier, verse 29. It says,

And also the glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man that he should have regret.

God doesn't regret the way that we do. When it says God regretted it, it means God felt the sorrow that sin causes. See, we always need to be a little bit careful whenever we compare our experiences with God's, right? There are similarities, but there's also differences. But we do need to understand God is not emotionless, stoically sitting unmoved by anything. No, in fact, we're told God feels joy, love, and even sorrow. New Testament, Paul writes in Ephesians that the Holy Spirit is grieved when we sin. That's what we're seeing here. God is grieved over the sin of Saul. To see the destruction that sin should cause, that sin causes should always cause us sorrow. We do not laugh as other people face the consequence of their actions, but rather mourn.

And yet God will not allow grief to be the end of the story. In fact, chapter 16, verse 1,

Lord said to Samuel, how long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I will send you to Jesse. The Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.

God has provided a king. Where sin has caused its destruction, God has provided. God will answer the promises that he has made, and God will choose his own king, a man after God's heart.

See what we find here is that God already had chosen David. In fact, even chapters earlier, back in chapter 13, we read, when God is warning Saul. He says,

But now your kingdom, Saul, shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.

God already had David in mind to be this king, and early on we start seeing the differences between David and Saul right away. Right, whereas Saul is unwilling to follow God, David's heart is set to follow after God. David is an incredible role model of what it looks like to follow God faithfully. But hear me. That doesn't mean that he is perfect, that he is somehow a perfect person. No, in fact, we're going to see plenty of David's mistakes. David is nearly going to give into his anger and murder with Nabal. He is going to give into his lust with Bathsheba, we'll see him give into pride with the census. David makes mistakes.

But perhaps the biggest difference between him and Saul is his willingness and his quickness to repent. David is a man who repents quickly. In fact, after he sins with Bathsheba, Psalm 51, he writes,

Have mercy on me, oh God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.

When Saul was reprimanded, he ignored it. He tried to pass it off, or he would try and, or he would be sorry for getting caught. David repents of his sin, throws himself on the mercy of God alone. David is a man after God's own heart because he understands the mercy and love of God for those who haven't deserved it.

See, I think all of those reasons are why the Bible spends so much time with David, and yet there is one more even greater reason we need to see. Because God gives David a covenant. God makes another promise with David. Later on in David's life, 2 Samuel chapter 7, God comes to him and says,

When your days are fulfilled, and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son.

Here is the promise that God gives to David, that someone from his line, one of his sons, will inherit an eternal kingdom. An eternal kingdom with an eternal king who will represent God as father and son.

See, here's why we spend so much time with David, because we realize it is from that David that the Messiah will come. It is his line, his lineage, and this king who will sit on the throne. Return to the Garden of Eden, to the kingdom of God, where the king will represent perfectly, represent God perfectly through the line of David. His son after him will destroy sin. Why does the Bible spend so much time with David? It's because through him, God has a plan for the salvation of the world through the greater king of kings.

And see, this is what the rest of the Bible is looking forward to. Who is the son of David who is supposed to come, and so you follow the kings, and you watch their lives, and every time a new king shows up, you think to yourself, is this the one? Is this the one? Is this the son of David who is to come, and over and over again, some do well, some don't. All of them die. None of them have an eternal throne, none of them have an eternal kingdom. In fact, it's not long before the entire nation goes through a civil war, they break. The line of David isn't even ruling over all the nation. A few 100 years later, they're dragged off into exile in Babylon. There is no more king, even when they return back to their land, they still don't have a king, and for once it looks like the promises of God are completely over. There is no more king. For 400 years, there's no king and there is silence. Did God forget?

And so that's why the very first line of the New Testament reads,

The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David. The son of Abraham.

This whole story has been leading to this. God has been promising over and over, a child would come who would bring blessing to the world, who would sit on an eternal throne, and when Jesus comes to his ministry, what does he announce? The kingdom of God has come. Jesus is the answer to all of the promises that God has been making from the very beginning, that one day sin would be crushed, that a king would sit on the throne of David. Jesus is this king of kings, the royal story of God's work is found in Jesus.

Because God provided for himself a king among his sons. See, in that sense, Jesus is a far truer provision because God provides Himself. God steps into our world as the son of David to fulfill all the promises that he has made. Jesus is the one who crushes sin. By taking our sin on Himself, Jesus goes to the cross, bears the punishment of God against our sin, so that we, like David, can throw ourselves on the mercy of God's forgiveness. It was because of Jesus that we can do that. Jesus is the one who brings this blessing to the entire world. Because this is not good news for just one group of people, but for all people. Jesus is the one who perfectly represents God because he is God Himself. Jesus is the one who sits on David's throne forever because he not only died, but he rose again. Death shall never, he shall never die again. Death is conquered and defeated. Jesus is the only one who can do this.

This is why Paul writes, 2 Timothy,

Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my gospel.

The good news is that Jesus is the son of David, who fulfills all the promises God has made, who has dealt with our sins, who reigns forever.

And see, here's where the story still isn't even done. Because God still has more yet to come, as we will see Jesus sit on the throne on this earth. The book of Revelation is written with this in mind, and in fact the final, one of the final things Jesus says in the final chapter of our Bible. We read,

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.

The very end of our Bibles, we see God is faithful to His promises, that the Son of David will sit on the throne forever. From beginning to end, this is the plan of God. This was the picture of what Jesus Christ would do, the kingdom of heaven that is waiting for us. Genesis to Revelation, there is one picture, Jesus will reign.

And so as we look into the story of David over these coming months. I want us to see not simply how did David live. Not simply to be entertained by his life, but to root ourselves in the assurance of God's promises. God does not forget, he does not fail to keep any of his promises, so that when we come before him and we confess our sins, repent and throw ourselves upon his mercy, we know for certain because of the death and resurrection of Jesus, he will forgive. For everyone who trusts in him, we can be certain he will forgive.

I know a story from 3000 years ago seems distant. But we're looking at a picture of our king. We're seeing what it looks like to follow the king of kings. So, here's the final thought I want to leave you with. If Jesus is the son of David. He is our king. We follow him, we follow Jesus as a subject follows his king, bending the knee and giving him all our loyalty. We serve as subject of the King of kings, Lord of Lord, royal emissaries on his behalf. We have the privilege to represent Jesus to the world around us as we wait for the coming of our King. I'm excited for this series, because over and over again, we are gonna see Jesus.

Let's pray together.

Oh heavenly Father Oh, I thank you so much for the incredible things that you have done through the life of David, to show us more of you. Father, I pray that as we walk through this series that we would read our Bibles with our minds open and ready to see what Jesus has done. Father, I pray that we would trust you, that we would realize that every promise that you have given is sure and steady, that we can lean our whole life upon you. Father, I pray that we would follow Jesus as our king, bending our knees before him. Father, even as you send us out, as the emissaries of your good news found in Jesus Christ, may we reflect you. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for how you teach us, how you remind us of this good news in Jesus Christ. We ask all this in your name. Amen.