New King, Same Lord Series

Introduction:

A. The story is told of a time when the Pope had just finished a tour of the Napa Valley and was taking a limousine to San Francisco.

1. As the Pope talked with the chauffeur, he admitted that he had always wanted to drive a limo, but had never had the chance.

2. The chauffeur decided to give the Pope the opportunity, so he pulled over, hopped in the back and let the Pope take the wheel.

3. As the Pope was proceeding down the highway, he decided to see what the limo could do.

4. As the limo neared 100 MPH, suddenly the Pope noticed the red and blue lights of the highway patrol in his mirror.

5. He pulled over and the trooper came to his window.

6. When the trooper saw who was in the driver seat he said, “Just a moment please, I need to call my superior.”

7. So the trooper ran back to the patrol car and called the police chief, saying, “I just pulled over a very important person. What should I do?”

8. The chief asked him, “Is it a Senator?”

9. “No Sir!” replied the trooper, “This guy’s more important.”

10. The chief then asked, “Is it the Governor?”

11. “No! Even more important!” replied the trooper.

12. “Is it the President?” asked the chief.

13. “No! Even more important!” replied the trooper.

14. The chief was now very frustrated, who can be more important than the president. “Who is it then?” screamed the chief.

15. The trooper replied, “I don’t know Sir, but he’s got the Pope as his chauffeur.”

B. I thought you might enjoy that little chuckle as we get started.

1. As we continue our study of the life of David we have to keep in mind that although King Saul was a very important person, and David was perhaps an even more important person, neither were more important than God.

2. No one is more important than God. The greatest people of all time, just might be worthy of being God’s chauffeur.

3. We may become God’s faithful servants, but God is the Almighty.

4. Today we will see the changing of the guard in Israel.

5. Israel has a new king, but most importantly, they have the same Lord.

C. In our study today we come to the continental divide of this series on the life of David.

1. It is a good time for us to look back at some of David’s yesterdays, and look forward to some of his tomorrows.

2. Without this kind of perspective, we might miss the full impact of David’s life and the lessons we need to learn from it.

3. David’s life was sprinkled with a mixture of accomplishments and disappointments which are worth noting.

4. David’s life gradually built toward a peak at the time of his sinful encounter with Bathsheba, and then it was all downhill after that.

5. One commentator described David’s life like a roofline slanting progressively upward in triumph.

6. Bathsheba is at the peak of the roof, and then the rest of his life is a downhill slide of one tragedy after another.

7. Nevertheless, in spite of David’s public and personal victories and defeats, God still saw him as a man after God’s own heart.

D. The verses we read as the Scripture Reading from Psalm 78 do an amazing job of wrapping up David’s 70 years in three short verses.

1. God chose David and took him from the sheepfold to the palace.

2. David shepherded Israel according to the integrity of his heart and with his skillful hands.

3. The first part of his life and reign were a model of integrity and character, but sadly, and unfortunately, he wandered off the path of integrity and suffered numerous tragedies as a result.

E. Let’s spend a few minutes looking at how David became the king.

1. How did he take the throne?

2. Did David storm into the role and demand that everyone submit to him and his rule?

3. No, David was a sensitive man and a man after God’s own heart and he allowed God to bring all Israel under David’s leadership in God’s time.

4. You remember that David was not a usurper, even though he had had numerous opportunities to take Saul’s life, but he refused to do so.

5. Samuel anointed David to be the next king, but David has had to wait close to 15 years for that to come into fruition, and a lot of those years were spent running for his life as a fugitive.

6. God has been working and preparing David to be a great king.

The Story:

A. Our story today begins in chapter 1 of Second Samuel.