We’ve spent the past couple of months now looking at the life of David, a man after God’s own heart. As I said at the very beginning, perhaps the greatest value of David’s life is that he shows us that it is possible to live out our spirituality here in the real world. It’s not always easy; it’s not always pretty. Like David we stumble and fall along the way. We sin and we fall short of God’s purposes for our lives. But it is possible, by the grace of God, to pick up the pieces and move on with life.
We began by seeing that God uses ordinary people in ordinary circumstances – people just like you and me – to carry out His purposes here on this earth. We’ve seen that our relationship with God impacts our work and our worship, our religion and our relationships, our passion and our pain.
This morning, we’re going to take one last look at the life of David. In 2 Samuel 22, we find that David sings a song to God. As we’ve already said, 1 and 2 Samuel are not arranged in a strictly chronological fashion. The books tend to be arranged more in terms of theological themes. So it’s not surprising that this song of David, which occurs near the end of the accounts of his life in these two books, is more or less a summary of David’s life and what he’s learned about God during that journey.
This song is also found, with only a few minor changes in the wording, in Psalm 18. Both the inscription of Psalm 18 and the introduction in 2 Samuel 22 seem to indicate that this song was first sung or written by David when God delivered him from the hand of Saul. I can’t prove it for sure, but it seems to me that David probably first wrote this song shortly after he became king of Israel and it so accurately reflects his relationship with God that he repeats the song again near the end of his life. It’s even possible that this song was so special to David that he sang it often in his worship of God.
A lot of commentators have looked at this passage and view it primarily as a prophecy of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. I certainly think that is an appropriate way to view the passage. But I’m convinced that David’s song has much more to teach us. In fact, I want to suggest to you that in his song, David very clearly presents the gospel, the Good News, even though it is still over 1,000 years before Jesus will come to earth and complete the gospel through His death and resurrection. So I’ve titled my message this morning, “The Gospel According to David.”
You all know how I like to make things a s simple as possible, so I’ve created an acrostic for the word “G.O.S.P.E.L.” to help us grasp and remember this gospel message.
Grasp God’s nature
Observe my nature
Stop trying to rescue myself
Place my trust in what God has done
Excel in my faith as God equips me
Lift my praise to God
Grasp God’s nature (vv. 1-4)
David’s song begins, and we’ll see in a few moments, it also ends, with God. The gospel message always begins with an awareness of who God is – His nature, His attributes, His purposes and His ways. David uses a lot of different pictures here to describe God and each one tells us something about the nature of God. [Ask the congregation to identify these descriptions]:
• Rock
• Fortress
• Deliverer
• Shield
• Horn of my salvation
• Stronghold
• Refuge
• Savior
As I read this list, it becomes quite apparent that David was so wrapped up in God that he saw God in everything around him. He looked at a fortress and he saw the protection God provided from his enemies. He thought about a horn, which was a symbol of strength and conquest, and David recognized that it was God who provided every victory in his life. David looked at the strongholds around Jerusalem and they reminded him of God’s supply and that God is where we find rest and refreshment. And then there was perhaps David’s favorite picture of God – a rock. In a sense a rock is the farthest thing from God – in our eyes at least it is probably one of the lowest things in the created order. But David could even look at a rock and think about the fact that God was the solid foundation for his life.
The gospel always begins with God. Until we see God as the perfect, holy, powerful God that He is, we can’t even begin to understand why we need a Savior. God is the perfect standard by which everything else is judged.
Once David saw God as He really is – perfect and holy, that led immediately to the second aspect of the gospel that we see here in David’s song. After I grasp God’s nature, I need to…
Observe my nature (vv. 5,6)
Once David saw God as He really is, he looked at his own life and he recognized just how far he fell short of the standard God set. David, although he was a man after God’s own heart was far from perfect – and so are we.
The Perfect Story: There was a perfect man who met a perfect woman. After a perfect courtship, they had a perfect wedding. Their life together was, of course, perfect.
One snowy, stormy Christmas Eve this perfect couple was driving along a winding road when they noticed someone at the roadside in distress. Being the perfect couple, they stopped to help. There stood Santa Claus with a huge bundle of toys. Not wanting to disappoint any children on the eve of Christmas, the perfect couple loaded Santa and his toys into their vehicle. Soon they were driving along delivering the toys. Unfortunately, the driving conditions deteriorated and the perfect couple and Santa Claus had an accident. Only one of them survived the accident. Who was the survivor?
The answer: The perfect woman. She’s the only one that really existed in the first place. Everyone knows there is no Santa Claus and there is no such thing as a perfect man.
A Male’s Response: So, if there is no perfect man and no Santa Claus, the perfect woman must have been driving. This explains why there was a car accident.
We can all get a chuckle out of that story, but the fact is that none of us, no matter how good we are, even come close to measuring up to God’s standard of perfection. David was an adulterer and a murderer. Sometimes he got proud and did things his way rather than seeking God’s direction. And as a result, David was, at least in a spiritual sense, a dead man, which is exactly how he describes himself in these verses.
But before we’re too quick to condemn David, we need to recognize that every one of us has fallen short of God’s standard of perfection, too. We may not commit adultery or murder, but, as Jesus said, when we lust or hate or brother we’re just as guilty as David. And as a result, we too, become spiritually dead. Here’s how Paul described our human nature:
As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.
Ephesians 2:1-3 (NIV)
Not a pretty picture, is it? But without the grace of God in our lives, that’s exactly the condition all of us find ourselves to be in when we look at our lives and compare them to the sinless perfection, the holiness, of God. Notice that the Bible says that we were dead in our transgressions and sins. That’s an important concept, because a dead person can’t rescue himself. Sometimes, when a person’s heart stops beating, someone else can perform CPR or use a defibrillator to resuscitate the person. But I’ve never heard of anyone being able to do that to himself or herself. The same thing is true spiritually – we’re incapable of rescuing ourselves because we’re dead!
And that leads us directly to the next aspect of the gospel. I need to…
Stop trying to rescue myself (v. 7)
When David saw God as he really was and he realized his own spiritual death, he didn’t try to rescue himself – He cried out to God. David realized what the Bible clearly teaches – we are incapable of rescuing ourselves. I think this is probably the hardest part of the gospel for most people. We all like to think that we’re pretty self-sufficient and that we can take care of ourselves and we apply that same attitude to our relationship with God.
In fact, two recent surveys by the Barna Group bear out that observation. In a 2001 poll, only 30% of the people surveyed affirmed the principle that a person cannot earn his or her way into heaven based on their own good works. Perhaps even more surprisingly, only 3 denominational groups – Assembly of God, Pentecostal, and Non-denominational churches – had more than 50% of their members that believed that no one is capable of earning his or her way into heaven based on good works. In a 2003 survey, 50% of those who identified themselves as born-again Christians contended that a person could earn salvation based on good works.
I know for a long time in my life, I figured that God had this giant scoreboard up in the sky and that as long as I did more good things than bad things, I could earn my way to heaven, even if I only made it by the skin of my teeth. But the problem with that approach goes all the way back to what I think about God. If I really believe that God is holy, I know he can’t allow any sin or evil into His presence. That would not be consistent with His nature. So even one sin in my life disqualifies me from earning my own way into God’s presence.
Here’s how the Apostle Paul described this principle:
Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
Ephesians 2:9 (NLT)
Like David, once I realize that I’m dead and I can’t rescue or save myself, it leaves me only one option – I have to cry out to God and depend on Him to rescue me. That leads us to the next aspect of the gospel. I need to…
Place my trust in what God has done (vv. 8-20)
In this section of His song, David describes in quite vivid terms the process of God coming down from heaven to rescue him. And I love how he ends this section:
…he rescued me because he delighted in me.
Wow! Do you grasp the significance of that statement? God loves us so much that he looked down on our helpless condition and He left His throne in heaven to come down to this earth to rescue us. I doubt if David entirely understood the significance of this part of his song. After all, it’s more that 1,000 years until God does exactly what David sang about. The Lord Jesus Christ, who is 100% God, put on a body and left the glory of heaven to come to this earth to live a sinless life and then die on a cross to do what we couldn’t do – rescue us from our spiritual death.
As David sang:
"He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemy, from my foes, who were too strong for me.
2 Samuel 22:17, 18 (NIV)
But God didn’t just do that for David. In Jesus Christ, that’s exactly what he has done for every one of us. But we do have a part in the rescue mission. When God reaches down to rescue us, we do have to accept His offer of help. And we do that by placing our faith, our trust, in what God has done for us. Again, the Apostle Paul described that process:
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Romans 10:9, 10 (NIV)
If I want God to rescue me, I have to trust in Jesus Christ alone as the means of my rescue. That’s at least in part what it means to make Jesus the Lord of my life. It means that I give the entire control of my life over to Him. It’s not enough to just say I trust Jesus as a kind of fire insurance and then just go on trying to rescue myself.
Far too many people view the gospel as being Jesus plus something else:
• Jesus plus my own good works
• Jesus plus Allah
• Jesus plus Buddha
• Jesus plus Mohammed
• Jesus plus some New Age rituals
But it’s not Jesus plus anything else that rescues me – it’s Jesus alone. God doesn’t need my help and He doesn’t need anyone else’s help in rescuing me. In fact, every time I try to control the rescue operation, I’m just going to mess it up because I don’t have the knowledge or the means to make the rescue.
So if my own good works are worthless in the process of my rescue, do they have any part at all in my life? We’ll answer that question as we look at the next aspect of the gospel. I need to…
Excel in my faith as God equips me (vv. 21-46)
If we’re not careful, we’ll look at verses 21-25 and get the completely wrong idea. It almost sounds that David is claiming to be sinless before God. But we know for sure that’s not true. All we have to do is to go back earlier in 2 Samuel and listen to David’s own words after Nathan had confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba:
Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
2 Samuel 12:13 (NIV)
David knew that he was a sinner. But he also recognized that God, in his mercy and grace, had chosen to take away his sin. You’ll notice that the words we just read in Chapter 22 come after God’s rescue of David. Once God rescues us, we are considered righteous in God’s eyes, not because of how we live our lives, but because of what Jesus has done for us. Again, listen to the words of Paul:
God made him [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NIV)
So David was righteous in God’s eyes only because God had made him righteous. But that doesn’t mean that David, or that we, are free to just live our lives any old way we want after God rescues us. In verse 29, David begins to describe all the ways that God has equipped him to serve God. Once again, notice that this all comes after God rescues David. It is clear that it is not David’s works that earn his rescue. We don’t have time to read all these verses this morning, but it’s clear to David that every good work he did was out of gratitude to God and that he was equipped by God to carry out each and every one of them.
The gospel is more than just fire insurance; it is more than just a way into heaven. It also impacts the way that I live my life every day. Once Jesus becomes the Lord, or Master, of my life, the gospel impacts the way I live out my life every day. It means that I do the good works that God prepared for me in advance to do out of gratitude for what he has done for me.
Many well-meaning Christians have given the mistaken impression that the Christian life is easy, that’s it’s just a matter of sitting back and letting God pour his blessings into our lives. But if we’re truly followers of Jesus Christ, the Christian life requires discipline and hard work. One last time, let’s look at the words of Paul
Dearest friends, you were always so careful to follow my instructions when I was with you. And now that I am away you must be even more careful to put into action God’s saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear. For God is working in you, giving you the desire to obey him and the power to do what pleases him.
Philippians 2:12, 13 (NLT)
Many of you may be more familiar with other translations that call for us to “work out our salvation with fear and trembling”, but I chose to use the NLT translation this morning because it very clearly shows that we can only do that through the power of God. It is God who gives us both the desire to obey Him and the power to carry out the good works that please Him. But all that comes after we accept Jesus Christ into our lives as our Forgiver and our Master. It is never the means of being made right with God.
As I pointed out at the beginning, the gospel both begins and ends with God. And that brings us to the last aspect of the gospel. I need to…
Lift my praise to God (vv. 47-50)
As David looks back over the gospel at work in his life, how can he do anything but lift his exuberant praise to God? God has revealed Himself to David, so that David could see what God is really like. And then God has reached down and rescued David from the spiritual death that ensnared him due to his sin. Then, as David placed his trust in God’s work in his life, God equipped him and enabled him to accomplish God’s purposes in his life. It was all about God and so David lifted his praise to God.
How can we do anything less? God has worked, is working, and will work in our lives to do all the things we could never do for ourselves. He has not only taken care of our sin, He also gives us an abundant, fulfilling life here on earth right now. And one day, His work in our life guarantees that we will get to spend eternity in His presence.
When we grasp the significance of God’s work in our lives, it should transform our worship. And I’m not just talking about Sunday mornings. It ought to be that we can’t wait each day to express our gratitude and praise to God for what He has done for us.
The message this morning is one that every one of us needs to respond to in some way. All of us here this morning are at different points on this journey through the gospel. But regardless of where you are, God is calling you to respond to Him right now:
• Some of you have never grasped the nature of God. You’ve never acknowledged His perfection and holiness. If you’ve never done that before, you need to start right now. You can pray right where you sit this morning and ask God to reveal Himself to you. I guarantee that is one prayer God will answer. And then you need to do your part by reading the Bible each day because that is the main method that God uses to let us see Him as He really is.
• Some of you understand that God is perfect and holy, but you’ve never acknowledged your own sin. You’ve never really discovered that you are spiritually dead and that there is nothing you can do to rescue yourself from that condition. You can pray to God right where you are and acknowledge your sin to Him. You need to do that before you can go any further on your journey.
• My guess is that there are many of you here this morning who are still trying to earn your relationship with God. Maybe you’ve even prayed and asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life, but, just in case, you’re still trying to live a good life for the purpose of earning God’s favor. You need to stop doing that right now. You need to pray and acknowledge to God what you’ve been doing and then you need to change your thought pattern that thinks you are capable of rescuing yourself.
• Some of you need to take the essential step of placing your faith and trust in Jesus Christ alone. You need to pray to God right now and thank God for providing for your rescue through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And then you need to acknowledge to God that you are trusting what Jesus has already done as your means of being rescued. You need to commit to making Jesus Christ the Master of your life.
• Some of you have already taken those first four steps. Maybe you’ve even been a Christian for quite a while. But you’re not really doing anything to serve God. You’re not working out your salvation. Even though God has equipped you, you’re not doing good works out of gratitude for what God has already done for you. You need to pray and thank God for the desire to do what pleases Him and the power to carry out His work and then you need to get busy with the work God has given you to do.
• And if you’ve done all that, you are obviously reaping the benefits of the gospel and you need to praise God for all that He has done and is doing in your life.
