2 Samuel chapter 15. Look in verse 32. And it came to pass that when
David was come to the top of the mount, where he worshipped
God, behold, Hushai, the Archite, came to meet him with his coat
rent, and earth upon his head. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.
Our Father, we thank you for this great privilege, together
with your children, to worship you, to recognize that you're
our God, you're our hope, that you're God, the sovereign ruler
of all things, the creator and sustainer. You're God alone. Beside you, there is no other.
Would you be pleased to grant us this afternoon, as we come
here for a few minutes, A few of us assembled in the name of
Christ our Lord, would you be pleased, our Lord, to give us
the spirit of grace that we may worship as your servant David
did of old. May we acknowledge who you are,
come with our hearts, with our very souls into your presence
through faith, a sincere and honest conscience before you,
and worship you this afternoon. Oh, Lord, You know best. As it was said in the bulletin
this morning, if You left a very day for us to arrange our own
matters in this world, what a wreck we would make. We don't know
what's best for us. We don't know the next step to
take. Oh, we would ask Your directions,
Lord, in everything. We honor You by acknowledging
helplessness and blindness, lack of wisdom and everything. We pray and ask the Spirit of
the Lord through the Word of God to direct our steps in all
that we do and give us grace to be content and to seek you
daily and to wait upon our God, to wait at your doors as a poor
dog does his master's door. to wait that you would come out
and speak and look in our direction. What a joy to live in the hope
of that. Thank you for the dear saints
that's gathered here this evening. Thank you for the good meal we
just received, for our health, for all you've given us, our
Father. We bless you for it. In Christ our Lord's name, Amen. I thought this was a wonderful
passage here. It's found in verse 32, when
David came to the top of the hill where he worshipped God. That may not seem anything unique
or out of the way with this man because David was a man of worship
from his youth. He worshipped the Lord. He tells
us that sometimes early in the morning he would get up just
to pray and seek the Lord. Sometimes, he said, I permitted
the night watch. He was up late at night seeking
the Lord, reading His precious Word. He said, at morning and
noon and at evening, I called upon the name of the Lord. He
was a man after God's own heart. He worshipped the Lord in faith.
He said, I believe, therefore have I spoken. He worshipped
the Lord in his patience. I waited patiently for Him, and
He brought me up out of a horrible pit. He worshiped Him in praise,
let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. And He praised
Him Himself, gave thanks in everything. That's the way we worship, isn't
it? By giving thanks unto the Lord. In all things give thanks,
for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Praise in the Lord in every situation we find ourselves in. Praise
in His name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord,
O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. That's what David
said. And that's the way this great
man worshipped. He worshipped the Lord. And our text here in verse 32
is no exception. We're told there he worshipped
the Lord. But I tell you, this was a unique
situation this great man found himself in. I mean, his circumstances
was one of great grief and had to be one of burdensome. David
was in it this time. First of all, let me show you
three things about this. First of all is the burden of
David's present time. What a burden he was in. at this
present time. Here in verse 13, in this same
chapter, here in verse 13 of chapter 15, he says, There came messengers
to David, saying, The heart of the men of Israel are after Solomon,
Absalom your son. He's stolen their heart from
the king. And David said unto all his servants
that were with him at Jerusalem, Arise, and let us flee, for we
shall not else escape from Absalom. Make speed to depart, lest he
overtake us suddenly, and bring evil upon us, and smite the city
with the edge of the sword. And the king's servants said
unto the king, Behold, our servants are ready to do whatsoever our
lord the king shall afford. And the king went forth, and
all his household after him. And look what is said over in
verse 29 and verse 30. And Zadok therefore and Abithor
carried the ark of God again to Jerusalem, and they tarried
there. And David went up by the ascent
of Mount Olive, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered. And he went up barefoot, and
all the people were with him, covered, every man his head.
And they went up weeping as they went. Can you imagine the present
burden this man found himself in? His own son sought to overthrow
him and kill him. His favorite and best counselor
had turned on him and went over to Absalom, David's son. David here had temporarily lost
his kingdom. He lost his authority, he lost
his city, he lost his house. He was fleeing for his very life. And in this very circumstance,
the Bible says he worshipped God. Now, ain't that amazing? Our present circumstances, no
matter how grave they may seem, should never keep us from the
worship of our Lord. Our circumstances may have changed,
and they may have changed for the worse. They may be great,
but you know something, brothers and sisters, our God hasn't changed. Things may be bad with us at
this time. What's it like in your little
kingdom? I don't know what's going on in your heart. I don't
know what's going on in your home. But you know, and it may
be bad. It may not be well with you at
this present time. Your present time may find you
under a great, great burden. But you know something? Your
Lord has not changed. You have changed. Your situation
has changed. It did for this man. But the
Lord is the same. And you know something? It may
not be well with you and me at this present time. We may be
under a great deal of stress and burden. But you know something?
Our Lord, everything is well with Him. It's well with Him. And if it's well with Him, shouldn't
that comfort us? Spurgeon made the statement one
time. He said, you may have fallen upon hard times. But he said,
think of this. If you've got a friend that you
love dearly, And things are going well with him. Doesn't that have
a tendency to cheer you up? And you and I have a friend,
don't we? We have a heavenly friend. God is our friend. Jesus Christ is our friend. And
things are well with him. Doesn't that cheer you up? David stopped right in the midst
of this tremendous burden. that he was suffering, and he
worshipped. He worshipped. What's going on
in your little kingdom? Are you stressful? Is there a
voice whispering to you, flee to the mountains? Well, stop
and worship. No matter how dreadful your circumstances
are, no matter how burdensome you are, steal away in some portion
of the day and get along with the Lord. and worship Him. When there's no jobs coming in,
and you're out in the garage by yourself, and finances are
tight, and the present seems to be burdensome, when a heart
is broken up with a bitter, woeful cup, then's the time to go to
Christ all along. There he worshiped the Lord. under his present burden. But
there's something else that's amazing about this situation
that David found himself in. Not only the present burden that
he was under, but the knowledge that he must have had of the
sins of his past. The knowledge of the sins of
his past. Look here in chapter 12 and verse
9. David was here. And his son was
trying to take his kingdom, and David was fleeing from him. And
David had to know the reason why this had all happened. And
you remember why it happened? The cause of David's sin. And
when he looked back just a few months, and his memory soared
back to this time, right here in the twelfth chapter, where
the Lord told him what was going to happen in the future. This
is where Nathan came to David after David had sinned with Bathsheba
and committed murder against Uriah. Nathan confronted him
in verse 9 in chapter 12. Look at this. Wherefore hast
thou despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his
sight? Thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite
with a sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife. Thou
hast slain him with the edge of the with a sword of the children
of Ammon. Now therefore," look at this,
"...the sword shall never depart from thine house, because thou
hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite
to be thy wife. Thus saith the Lord, Behold,
I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house."
And when David here was fleeing from Absalom, don't you realize? that this was in his memory,
this was up on his heart, I know what I've done. Oh, he thought
back to this time when Nathan told him, the Lord said the sword
will never depart from your house. David, of your own flesh, out
of your own house, will I raise up trouble because of what you've
done. Sin is forgiven the Lord's people. When we confess our sins, thank
God he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. But you
know, brothers and sisters, sometimes a child of God's sin may so displease
the Lord that the rod will never leave his house for him. We studied
about Moses in our Bible study just a few days ago. And we're
this great man of God. It's just almost unbelievable.
A man that was said to be faithful in all his house, yet did not
get to enter the land of Canaan. And it was because of the one
time that he rebelled against the Lord. Remember that? The
Lord said, You're not going in, Moses, because you did not honor
Me at the waters of Myrtle. One time. But it so grieved the
Lord that He said, No, to this great man, And we see him there
upon his knees, Lord, let me go in and see the goodly mountain.
Let me see this land of promise. No, no. And you know we see in
that that our Lord is sovereign in his rod. When it comes, it comes sovereignly. We can't escape it, can we? We
can't lift the rod from him that yields it. And sometimes a sin
may be so displeasing to the Lord that he says, like he did
to David, David, the rod will never leave your house, and the
source of your greatest grief is going to come from your own
loins, your son. How many times I've added you,
I know I've experienced that. My children have committed some
awful, awful sin that has just grieved my soul. And I remembered
when I was a young man, and I did the very same thing. And it was like the Lord was
saying to me, take that, my child. Learn from that, my child. But here's the comfort, isn't
it? Here's the comfort. This condition, with this memory
of his past sins, David worshiped. I know sometimes it may seem
difficult, but brothers and sisters, remember this. This rod is from
the hands of the loving Father. And he doesn't put the rod to
his children for his good, but for theirs. And no chastening
of the present seems to be joyous, how it grieves the conscience
sometimes, but is from the hands of a tender and loving Father
who chastens for our good. David realized that. And he realized
no doubt, he realized, that though he felt the rod, he was made
to taste the memory of what he had done, yet at the same time
that sin was all forgiven. So he worshipped. Oh, David said,
I'm going to die. And Nathan said, you shall not
die. The Lord has put away your sin. Will you remember it? Will
you be grieved over what you've done? It's so against the Lord
and contrary to Him. Yes, you will. Yes, you will. Is it possible that you and I
may commit a sin? for which we may the rest of
our life feel his rod." Oh, how careful, how careful you and
I should be. David worshipped even though
he was burdened with the knowledge and memory of the sin of his
past. And something else back here
in our text, and I want you to look at this, and we'll finish
with this. Something else. Here in verse 25 and 26, the fear and anxiety of the future. David had an anxious attitude about the future. And look what
he says in verse 25 of chapter 15. And the king said unto Zadok,
Carry back the ark of God into the city. If I shall find favor
in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again and show me both
it and his habitation. But if, but if, he thus say,
I have no delight in thee, David, behold, here I am, let him do
to me as seemeth him good. Do you notice that? David had
no idea what was going to happen tomorrow, did he? He had no idea
if the Lord was going to restore him to his kingdom or let him
go on like he was going, fleeing until the day of his death. The
immediate future was so uncertain he could not even plan what he
was going to eat tomorrow and what he was going to wear. What
would you do, brothers and sisters, if everything suddenly hanged
in the balance in your life? If you were brought to the place
that you could not plan for tomorrow, your job, your finances, your
health, your family, even the meal that you would eat or clothes
that you would wear, everything hung in the balance. What would
you do? Well, here's the situation David
found himself in. And this is why this word here
is so remarkable. Were he worshipped. But David, what about tomorrow?
I have no idea. What are you going to eat tomorrow?
I don't know. Will you ever be restored to your kingdom? I have
no idea. Will you get back into Jerusalem?
I just don't know. I don't know to put one foot
in front of another. And then he bows and worships. What is worship? Is it not our
total and utter dependence upon God for everything? What is it to be saved? Is it not the surrender of our
souls up to Him for Him to save them? What is it to worship Him but
a surrender of our tomorrows unto Him who holds tomorrow?
And the trusting of our needs unto Him that supplies all our
needs according to His riches in glory. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. And I'm persuaded that He's able
to keep that which I've committed to Him. against that day. What did Paul commit unto Him?
Everything. I thank brothers and sisters
that we never give God any more honor than when we are brought
to the end of ourselves. And we cannot even see the rest
of this day to planet, let alone tomorrow. And we have to commit
everything unto Him. What of you? What have you got? What will you have tomorrow?
Who knows anything? But we know who holds tomorrow,
don't we? And we worship Him. Be careful
for nothing, the Apostle said. Be careful, be anxious for nothing. Why? Because we can affect nothing. But if I'm not anxious about
tonight, If I'm not anxious about tomorrow, what is there about
tonight that you can affect? Are we not really and actually
as helpless as David was to affect anything? Aren't we in the same
boat, he says, if, but if, if, if. Isn't that our future? If. Who holds our future? And I think that's where we honor. I think that's where we worship.
Be careful for nothing. Be anxious about nothing, because
you can affect nothing. But in everything, through prayer
and supplications, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known
to God. And the peace of God, which passeth
all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through
Christ Jesus. were he worshiped. God bless his work.