Benjamin Hatch brings a message from 1 Chronicles 28 as part of our series, "House of God, House of Kings," a series in the Book of 1 Chronicles.
Redeemer Bible Church of Fort Bend
Walk in a Manner Worthy of Your Calling (1 Chronicles 28)
with me now to the book of First Chronicles today we're going to look at chapter 28. Originally I was going to preach on chapters 28 and 29 but there's just so much here so we're going to extend the series by a week. Today chapter 28 if you're using the Bible on the seat backs it's page 331. First Chronicles chapter 28 the entire chapter beginning in verse 1. David assembled a Jerusalem all the officials of Israel the officials of the tribes the officers of the divisions that serve the king the commanders of thousands the commanders of hundreds the stewards of all the property and livestock of the king and his sons together with the palace officials the mighty men and all the seasoned warriors then king David rose to his feet and said. "Here are me my brothers and my people I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the Lord and for the footstool of our God and I made preparations for building but God said to me you may not build a house for my name for you are a man of war and of shed blood yet the Lord God of Israel chose me from all my father's house to be king over Israel forever for he chose Judah as leader and in the house of Judah my father my father's house and among my father's sons he took pleasure in me to make me king over all Israel and of all my sons for the Lord has given me many sons he has chosen Solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. He said to me it is Solomon your son who shall build my house and my courts for I have chosen him to be my son and I will be his father I will establish his kingdom forever if he continues strong in keeping my commandments and my rules as he is today now therefore in the sight of all Israel the assembly of the Lord and in the hearing of our God observe and seek out all the commandments of the Lord your God that you may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever and you Solomon my son know the God of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought if you seek him he will be found by you but if you forsake him he will cast you off forever be careful now for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary be strong and do it then David gave Solomon his son the plan of the vestibule of the temple and of its houses its treasuries its upper rooms and its inner chambers and of the room for the mercy seat and the plan of all that he had in mind for the courts of the house of the Lord all the surrounding chambers the treasuries of the house of God and the treasuries for dedicated gifts for the divisions of the priests and of the Levites and all the work of the service in the house of the Lord for all the vessels of the service in the house of the Lord the weight of gold for all golden vessels for each service the weight of silver vessels for each service the weight of the golden lamp stands and their lamps the weight of gold for each lamp stand and its lamps the weight of silver for a lamp stand and its lamps according to the use of each lamp stand in the service the weight of gold for each table for the showbread the silver for the silver tables and pure gold for the forks the basins and the cups for the golden bowls and the weight of each for the silver bowls and the weight of each for the altar of incense made of refined gold and its weight also his plan for the golden chariot of the caribim that spread their wings and covered the arc of the covenant of the Lord all this he made clear to me in writing from the hand of the Lord all the work to be done according to the plan then David said to Solomon his son be strong and courageous and do it do not be afraid and do not be dismayed for the Lord God even my God is with you he will not leave you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished and behold the divisions of the priests and the Levites for all the service of the house of God and with you in all the work will be every willing man who has skill for any kind of service also the officers and all the people will be holy at your command all God's people said amen let's pray may the words of my mouth and the meditation of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight oh God a rock and redeemer we pray these things in Jesus name amen. One of the most important figures in the history of Mexico was Pancho Villa. Villa was a revolutionary in the early 20th century and his political gamesmanship and terrorism led to the rise and fall of multiple governments and a 10 year long revolutionary war. Villa was very powerful and he was very popular he had a big following until he was assassinated in 1923 and as Villa lay dying he reportedly said these words to one of his friends don't let it end like this tell them I said something Vian knew that his followers would expect that he should go out in a blaze of glory with some famous last words but he couldn't think of any so he told his friends to make some up and he did that because Vian knew the inspiring impact that somebody's last words can have we tend to view someone's last words as an encapsulation of who they were and what they stood for we tend to view them as some of the most important words a person ever speaks because dying people don't usually waste their words they've got the presence of mind and the wherewithal to speak and they choose to expend the energy to do so you know that they believe what they're saying really matters that's why the last words of so many famous people have been preserved it's why the Texas Department of Corrections website maintains a list online of the last words of every executed prisoner in the state's history that's why legally someone's last words may be admitted as evidence in a courtroom even though they're hearsay because we all know the last words matter earlier we heard Paul's last words what a charge they were to Timothy right last words matter and today as we continue our series in the book of first Chronicles we come to the last words of King David words which point us to some powerful truths about God and which pointedly challenge us about how we live now David's last words are so rich we're not going to get through all of them today so today we're going to look at the first half of David's last words here in first Chronicles chapter 28 and today we will see two of David's final exhortations first obey God because you can trust him and second fulfill your calling because God faithfully empowers his people we begin with our first point obey God because you can trust him over the last several weeks we've seen the kingship of David his conquest of Jerusalem his multiple military victories his sins his reorganization of the religious and civic life of Israel and most of all his desire to see God worshiped in a temple building and the preparations that he made to construct such a temple but now David is about 70 years old and he is an old man now today we might not like to hear that 70 means we're old because thanks to modern medicine we've got a lot of people today who lived past the age of 70 so we tell ourselves 70 and 70 is the new 50 right but a lot of that thinking comes from our eternal quest in America to pretend that we are all young and vigorous instead of accepting the truth which is that 70 is not young in fact we read about David in the first verse of the book of kings king David was old and advanced in years and although they covered him with clothes he could not get warm there's a verse for those of you in marriages where one of you is always warm and the other is cold if you're always cold that's not a good sign first king says that was a sign that king David was frail and spent but as we come to first Chronicles 28 he summons the energy to attend to one last task as Israel's king chapter 28 verse 1 David assembled Jerusalem all the officials of Israel the officials of the tribes if the officers of the divisions that served the king the commanders of thousands the commanders of hundreds the stewards of all the property and livestock of the king and his sons together with the palace officials the mighty man and all the seasoned warriors David gets all the important people in Israel together the royal family the political and military elites his own advisors and servants for this one meeting and almost all of chapters 28 and 29 happen at this meeting and it starts like this verse two then king David rose to his feet now that is unusual in the ancient world king sat down and made their pronouncements while everybody else remained standing but here old David musters the energy to rise to his feet to show his hearers this is really important you need to listen to this as this old shepherd now exhorts his flock one last time and here's what he says verse two here me my brothers and my people i had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the lord and for the footstool of our god and i made preparations for building but god said to me you may not build a house for my name for you are a man of war and of shed blood we saw back in chapter 17 david had an idea he wanted to build a temple for god a permanent building so that the ark of the covenant the earthly throne of god what's described here is god's footstool the place where heaven meets earth so that that might have rest say what's that mean so that it won't be carried around from place to place anymore to be under a tent david wanted a permanent structure for it a very worthy idea from a worshipful king but we saw that god told david no because we saw last week the temple was a building that represented a great truth that god is faithful to his word back in deuteronomy 12 god had told israel someday i will give you the promised land someday you will enjoy peace from all your enemies and now that peace has been won now the temple could be built but god said that a man of war like david could not build his house of peace so david david's plans were vetoed by god why because god had better plans look at verse four yet the lord god of israel chose me from all my father's house to be king over israel forever for he chose juda as leader and in the house of juda my father's house and among my father's sons he took pleasure in me to make me king over all israel and of all my sons for the lord has given me many sons he has chosen solomon my son to sit on the throne of the kingdom of the lord over israel he said to me it is solomon your son who shall build my house and my courts for i have chosen him to be my son and i will be his father i will establish his kingdom forever if he continues strong in keeping my commandments and my rules as he is today what was god's great plan in a word it is election god's plan revolves around god's choice that's the word we see in these verses again and again right that god chose god chose israel out of all the nations on earth and god chose the tribe of juda out of all the trimes of israel and god chose the family of jesse out of all of juda's families and god chose david out of all of jesse's sons and now god has chosen solomon out of all of david's sons to be king and why has god chosen solomon to fulfill his great promises through him because back in chapter 17 god made some big promises to david god said i'm going to make you into a royal dynasty solomon coming to the throne begins to fulfill that promise and god promised that one of david's sons would build a temple god says it's going to be solomon and god said he would treat david's successors as his own sons and here god says that's what i'm going to do with solomon and god said he would make david's dynasty into an everlasting dynasty and god speaks here about establishing solomon's kingdom forever and so god's election of solomon is the means by which god will fulfill begins to fulfill his promises to david and perform his good purposes so god denied david's plans in order that he might enact his own better plans because god knows better than we do and because god's choices govern history now friends we all in life at times have plans or hopes or dreams for a good health or a good job or a good spouse or good kids for a good relationship with our extended family for a good life and sometimes our plans do not come to pass sometimes god tells us no like he told david and when god tells us no we've got to remember isaia 55-9 as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts god knows more than we do god is wiser than we are and friends god is sovereign isaia 44-9 i am god and there is no other i am god and there is none like me declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done saying my counsel shall stand i will accomplish all my purpose i have spoken and i will bring it to pass i have purposed and i will do it friends god is not just some passive observer out there god is the mover who plans and guides and executes the plan for history as effigions one says he works all things according to the counsel of his will and friends that is good news because god is good and because god has promised good for his people roman's 828 we love this verse right we know that for those who love god all things work together for good for those who are called according to his purpose does that mean that life's going to be sunshine and rainbows no the next verse tells us what the good is that god wants to bring about in our lives for those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son so believing friends when things don't work out in our lives the way we want we've got to understand that is not because some random event has happened that god poor god he was just helpless and he couldn't stop it no and it isn't a cruel thing from a god who doesn't love or care about us no friends god directs the flow of history and the course of our lives in his perfect wisdom knowing what is best to unfold his glorious purpose to achieve his good designs which will ultimately result in god's people being made more like Jesus at all of that means then friends we can trust god and the darkest moments of our lives even when our plans come to nothing even when our hopes prove fruitless because god's plans are better and what are god's plans well it's still to elect to choose listen to this first Corinthians chapter one verse 26 consider your calling brothers not many of you were wise according to worldly standards not many were powerful not many were of noble birth but god chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise god chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong so that no human being might boast in the presence of god and because of him you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from god righteousness and sanctification and redemption friends god is still choosing where he has chosen from eternity past and god has chosen to save specific people pulling us out of this dark world and making us his so that he might accomplish his purposes and what are those purposes what Paul tells us in first Corinthians one one of them is to expose the folly of this wicked world so god doesn't choose as the world would god doesn't generally choose the high and mighty the beautiful people the intelligentsia and that's good news for most of us right god usually picks what the world looks down on to demonstrate that he rejects all that this unbelieving world loves and values and to ensure that no human might boast in his presence more than that Titus 2 14 says Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works another purpose of god is he is saving a people to belong to him and those whom god has chosen those that he calls to be his people he causes to come to faith in Jesus he said i don't know about that i don't know how else you can interpret first Corinthians 131 because of him you are in Christ Jesus it's not because of us it is because of god and his sovereign choice that every believer comes to faith in Jesus and friends when we do we find in Jesus wisdom and peace and forgiveness of all of our sins and hope and holiness that's god's good plan now maybe listening to this the thing i don't like this i wish things were different maybe we wish there was no election god should just give everyone free will to determine their own destiny right friends if we actually saw what that looked like we wouldn't want that for very long Genesis 6 5 says the wickedness of man is great in the earth and every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually Romans 3 says none is righteous no not one no one understands no one seeks for god if god just outsourced the whole thing to us nobody would be saved we would all continue in sin forever and wind up in hell the whole race would be condemned god's election is a mercy maybe we think okay elections great and all but i really wish god would elect differently my loved one who doesn't believe i'm worried they're not elect my loved one who has died i think this is the reason we often have trouble with this doctrine because we consider those that we love and who reject the gospel and we earnestly want them to be saved right and election tells us that their fate is in god's hands and we want god to save them but it doesn't seem like he has or or or did and so i think that emotional anguish often causes us to rage at this idea of god's election as being unfair isn't that the paramount value in america today everything should be fair everyone is owed a fair shake everyone should have opportunity in this case the opportunity to believe and we tend to think that election runs contrary to that but friends that's the wrong way of thinking first because god doesn't know any of us anything except judgment Romans 3 23 says all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of god Romans 6 23 says the wages of sin is death what does god owe us is death and hell only and yet god is gracious and i want to tell you today god does give people a chance to believe paul says in act 1730 now god commands all people everywhere to repent and god has given his son jesus who lived the perfect life we failed to live who died on the cross for our sins who has risen victoriously from the dead and god demands that all the world turn to him and repent in faith and friends that offer is genuine and legitimate but god has revealed in his word that we are all dominated by sin's power and so left to our own devices no one will come god has given opportunity and we have blown it and so yes god eternally purposed to elect and draw that he might save some is that unfair no it's gracious and kind if you have questions about that let's think about our passage a little bit doesn't god have the right to say i will choose israel's king from this tribe or this family is god unfair in picking david over his brothers to sit the throne or solemn and over david's other sons did god owe all of david's sons an equal opportunity to be king did god oh all of israel's tribes an equal shot to be the royal tribe did god oh all of the nations an equal chance to be his chosen people is it not for god to choose these things is he wrong to do so no and friends if that was true back then it's still true today if god was right to choose solemn and over his brothers to become his adopted son then how is god wrong today when he chooses believers out of this world to be his adopted sons and daughters if god was right to pick israel out of all the nations to be his chosen people in the old testament then is god wrong today as he chooses believers out of the world to constitute his new testament people if god was right to pick solemn and over david to build the temple is god wrong today as he adds new souls to his new and better temple the church now all of these graces were for god to bestow as he willed in the old testament so too is the grace of salvation in the new and if we're uncomfortable with that then friends i have nothing else to say to you in the end except remember that god's ways are better and higher than ours and believing friends we are called to faith to trust this god to believe his word to believe that he is good that he knows best that his plans are always right so we should trust what the bible says about this god and his good and loving purposes in election and we can trust him with our eternal destiny and we can trust his plans even for our seemingly unbelieving loved ones but the trustworthiness of god means not only should we trust him with the biggest questions of life salvation or our big hopes and dreams now friends because god is trustworthy that that means that when he tells us how to live here and now we should also listen to what he has to say we should trust him we can believe his word when he tells us to say yes to holiness and no to temptation and that's where david goes next with this speech he starts off by showing us the trustworthiness of god as we see in his his great plans and promises but it ends with the logical corollary which is that if god can be trusted then we should obey him david introduces this back in verse six where god says i will establish solomon's kingdom forever if he continues strong in keeping my commandments and my rules as he is today that word if loom's lord doesn't it and its presence might surprise us because back in chapter 17 god promised david an everlasting dynasty an unconditional promise free from ifs and buts so why then is solomon's continued kingdom conditioned on his obedience to understand this we must distinguish between god's promise to david and god's choice of solomon god promised that david's dynasty would last forever unconditionally but god did not promise that solomon's rule would continue undisturbed forever unconditionally in fact god warned in second samo 714 when he solomon commits iniquity i will discipline him with the rod of men but my steadfast love will not depart from him as i took it from sol whom i put away from before you god said solomon would sin and his sin would be punished but while his sin would be punished it would not lead to the end of the dynasty as sol sin had led to the end of his dynasty but sol solomon's sin was punished first king's 11 at the end of his life he deserts the lord and god took 10 of the the 12 tribes of israel away from his kingdom but his kingship did not end he remained on the throne two tribes remained subject to him but his dominion was reduced because of his sin so god chose solomon and yet david says solomon must obey now in verse eight david draws a parallel point look at verse eight solomon god's chosen king must obey therefore israel god's chosen nation must obey verse eight now therefore in the sight of all israel the assembly of the lord and in the hearing of our god observe and seek out all the commandments of the lord your god that you may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever now let's follow the logic here god made promises about solomon god began to fulfill those promises by electing solomon so solomon needed to obey god also made promises concerning israel exit is six eight i will bring you into the land that i swore to give abraham isek and jacob and now god has begun to bring this promise to pass for under david's kingship the land was israel's more than it ever had been before and israel had peace like it had never known before the promises were being fulfilled the outcome then is the same therefore israel needs to obey israel's election is god's chosen people and its enjoyment of god's promises did not mean that they were now free to live however they wanted friends it doesn't work like this god shows you god has shown you as promises are good so now you're secure go do whatever you want no friends that is never true in the bible israel's continued occupation of the promised land was conditioned on their obedience this is clear throughout the torah you're on twenty eight and twenty nine god said to israel if you walk in my ways i'll keep you in the land and bless you but if they failed to leviticus 1828 the land will vomit you out when you make it unclean as it vomited out the nation that was before you persistent failure to obey god would lead to israel's ejection from the promised land and that's in fact how the book of chronicles ends the second chronicles 36 Jerusalem is destroyed and the israelites go to exile so for israel just like for solomon the right response to the truth about god's faithfulness is obedience now this is a long and theological point i've just dropped on you let me summarize it point of the first eight verses is simple god is good god is sovereign god is faithful god is trustworthy god makes promises and brings them to pass so we can trust him and therefore we should obey him that's the point so what then does this have to say to us here today friends god is still the same as he was back then and the right response to god's goodness and sovereignty and faithfulness and trustworthiness today is still obedience now maybe you're here today and christianities new to you and you're like okay well what do i need to obey to earn god's favor and be saved friend understand our good works do not earn god's favor or salvation Ephesians two eight and nine says by grace you have been saved through faith this is not your own doing it is the gift of god not a result of works so that no one may boast we read earlier no human being will be able to boast in the presence of god so salvation is never anything we earn by our works it always comes from god as a free gift but if you have no idea what god wants from you today let me tell you this three times in the new testament salvation is described as obedience to the gospel here is the gospel this is the good news that comes from god in 1 Corinthians 15 3 christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures he was buried he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures and he appeared that's the good news and how do we obey that good news jesus said in mark 115 repent and believe the gospel or as we read earlier in act 1730 god commands all people everywhere to repent so you've got to turn away from our old lives that we've been living because friends we all start out as people in bondage to sin who just live for ourselves and do whatever we want we've got to see that road is destruction it is leading us to hell we've got to turn away from our old lifestyle by turning to Jesus in faith the Romans 10 9 says if you confess with your mouth that jesus is lord and believe in your heart that god raised him from the dead you will be saved we've got to believe that jesus death and resurrection alone can bring us into a right relationship with god and friends that relationship is characterized by recognizing jesus as lord believing that he is god the son who took on human flesh who has the right to rule over us and tell us how to live that he calls us today just as he called his disciples 2 000 years ago saying follow me the life that is saved by jesus and knows jesus is the life that becomes characterized by following jesus not because obedience are in salvation or merits god's favor because the but it's because the right outcome of a real trust in christ is obedience it is following the lordship of christ and so friends the right initial response to god is that we must obey the gospel but if you're here as a believer today i want to tell you the life that you live now is also to be marked by obedience it's why the apostle john says in first john 2 3 by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments the ordinary pattern of the believer should be the attempt to obey the commands of christ which he gave directly or by his apostles in the new testament now friends we will not attain sinless perfection in this life so i first john one says if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us friends we're not sinlessly perfect and we won't be in this life it's also why he writes in first john 2 1 i am writing these things to you so that you may not sin but if anyone does sin we have an advocate with the father jesus christ the righteous one god is merciful to us believing friends but we need that mercy because we still sin sometimes terribly sometimes we get stuck in sin for whole seasons of our lives but the general trajectory of the life of the believer will bend towards obedience i remember hearing once that when apollo 11 was on its way to the moon it was off course something like 98 of the time but it was constantly making course corrections possess the believer's life too from start to finish the trek is wobbly it is not always a straight line but if you look at it from a distance you will see that the ark bends just as apollo 11 went from the earth to the moon the believer's life bends from slavery to sin towards christ likeness that's why jesus can say in john 14 15 if you love me you will keep my commandments because that's how jesus has built this whole thing believers will obey luke 646 he says why do you call me lord lord and not do what i tell you jesus has an expectation his people will walk in obedience to him indeed a life that professes christ not characterized by any bent towards obedience is a life that is self-deceived james 122 be doers of the word and not hearers only deceiving yourselves or luke 649 jesus says the one who hears these words of mind and does not do them is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation is that good building principles no foundation no he says when the stream broke against it immediately it fell and the ruin of that house was great see the authentic christian life is marked by obedience say okay but what does that mean and how how do i obey god well that's what we see in our last point fulfill your calling because god is faithful to empower his people now david speaks to solemn at this great assembly look at verse nine under you solemn and my son know the god of your father and serve him with a whole heart and with a willing mind for the lord searches all hearts and understands every plan and thought if you seek him he will be found by you but if you forsake him he will cast you off forever be careful now for the lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary be strong and do it then david gave solemn in his son the plan and over the next ten verses we see the plan in great detail for the construction of the temple plans that david says in verse 19 came from god himself and david turns them over to solemnum verse 20 then david said to solemn in his son be strong and courageous and do it do not be afraid and do not be dismayed for the lord god even my god is with you he will not leave you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the house of the lord is finished and behold the divisions of the priest and the leivites for all the service of the house of god and with you in all the work will be every willing man who has skill for any kind of service also the officers and all the people will be holy at your command so david turns the preparations over to solemnum and he tells solemnum you need to love god and pursue god and you need to get to work do what god has decreed for your life build the temple now what application should we take from these verses on one hand we must see how they point to jesus david tells solemn and be a man who knows and serves god with his whole heart solemn and failed in that but david's greater descendant jesus didn't jesus sinless sinlessly and utterly loves and serves the father with every fiber of his being jesus said truthfully in john eight twenty nine i always do the things that are pleasing to him jesus life is totally dedicated to the father or we could consider how jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of these promises god made to david yes solemnum succeeded his father and started the dynasty but jesus lives forever and finishes him jesus's resurrection life is how david's dynasty lasts forever and while solemnum builds god a temple jesus builds god a new and better temple not out of brick and stone but out of uh believers one conversion at a time talked about that last week in afesians two twenty two where paul says to the church you're growing into a holy temple in the lord jesus is building his church it is the people for his possession we are the new and better temple and so jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of the charge that david gives solemnum here and yet the takeaway here is not pure theology because while these verses point us to jesus they also have something to say to us too about how we live and we see that i think when we consider how familiar some of david's expressions and ideas are in this speech because many of the things david says to solemnum the new testament writers say to us to encourage us in the christian life so david says if you seek him he will be found by you that sounds a lot like james four eight drawn near to god he'll draw near to you yes in our natural state or condition we don't seek or draw near to god but those that god draws to himself and enliven's we do approach god and as we do the glorious truth is he wants us to find him he wants us to know him because he's a loving god or how about this warning if you forsake him he will cast you off forever that sounds a lot like the warning passages we looked at in the book of hebers right especially hebers chapter six which says real faith always perseveres to the end and which warns that there is a type of apostasy the type of falling away from the faith which can put someone beyond the possibility of repentance if with knowledge and an understanding of the reality of the gospel we choose not to submit to the gospel but to instead desert it in favor of sin and repudiating christ there is no way back for us that's what he brews six says it sounds a lot like what david tells solemnum here how about this the lord god even my god is with you he will not leave you or forsake you doesn't that sound familiar to us he brews thirteen five says i will never leave you nor forsake you jesus says behold i am with you always to the end of the age the end of roman's age says neither death nor life nor angels nor rulers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor anything else and all creation is able to separate us from the love of god and christ jesus our lord god's with his people so that the truth that david communicates here are the same truths that stand behind many of the important commands of the new testament and so it is legitimate for us to find application for ourselves in these verses too but what is that application over and over here david tells solemnum do it fulfill your duty build the temple friends jesus has given us a great duty that we are to do also Ephesians four one walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you've been called that's the church god has given us believing friends consider the calling god has put our lives in christ we have forgiveness and redemption and justification we have been set apart as holy unto the lord we've been sanctified we have been adopted into god's family we have been promised an everlasting inheritance in the bliss of the new creation face to face with god that is the highest of high callings what promises there are in the gospel and friends god's made promises to us and these promises have become or they've begun to become visibly true jesus has died and jesus has risen the promises the groundwork of the promises has been secured and so the conclusion just like it was for solemn and for israel is that we must obey because of god's faithfulness because of his promises which are now coming to pass we must obey we must live it out and what does that look like it doesn't mean i come to church on sunday morning for 90 minutes with a fake smile and i'm half awake and i use christian vocabulary and then i leave and go do what i want the rest of the week we are called to do a david tell solomon here serve god with a whole heart with a willing mind because as david says here you can't fake god out he doesn't just know your deeds he knows your thoughts he knows the hidden intentions of your heart so we're not just called to some outward obedience and we're not called to just occasionally strive for holiness no friends god calls us to an all of life whole-hearted response and we can think about this in two ways who we are and what we do so who are we to be? Book of Ephesians at the end tells us we are to be people who put off the old self and put on the new self friends you got to put off the old self. Ephesians 4 17 says you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do in the futility of their minds and then paul describes a whole bunch of sins lying sinful anger stealing corrupting talk wallowing and bitterness sexual immorality crude joking drunkenness from does this sound like you you know our world says ah that stuff's no big deal. Ephesians 5 says let no one deceive you with empty words for because of these things the wrath of god is coming upon the sons of disobedience. At one time you were darkness now you are light in the Lord walk as children of light believing friends we've got a war against our sin we've got to discontinue our old practices and get them out of our lives we've got to put off the old self and we've got to put on the new self now when we think about inner transformation in the Christian life we usually think about two things prayer and Bible study and they're really important first the saloonians 5 17 says pray without ceasing second Peter 3 18 says grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ so yes we renew our minds and we put on the new self by seriously and intentionally committing ourselves to prayer and Bible study and yet in Ephesians 4 and 5 as Paul describes the life that is worthy of our calling this is how he talks about it as being the life that builds up our brothers and sisters in Christ that is eager to maintain unity in the church that speaks the truth with one another that confronts sin in one another that works hard that encourages one another that forgives one another that admonishes one another that submits to one another that's how Ephesians 4 and 5 speak about what Paul calls the new self created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness do you notice something about that list almost everything on that list about the new self entails an involvement in the lives of other believers this is one of the biggest transformative realities of conversion we stop living a life all about ourselves and we start living a life geared towards serving and helping other believers friend does your life evidence this transformation who or who here do you regularly meet up with to build up or encourage or warn or confront are you growing in the characteristics that reflect that the life of God is really in you does your prayer life show that God is really in you does your knowledge of the scripture are you growing spiritually are you committing yourself to internalized truth about God through his word is your life involved with other believers or does it look just like it always has even before you are converted does your life look indistinguishable from the lives of unbelievers around you believing friends we are not who we used to be God has declared we are different therefore we must live differently our character and outlook must change and so must our activities not only are we to serve and love one another in the church Jesus has told us how to deal with the outside world Matthew 28 19 go make disciples who are you trying to win for Christ in your life what unbelievers do you have spiritual conversations with you know many of us the unbelievers we need to attend to most are in our home our kids our spouse maybe our parents your friend group your co-workers is there anybody who are you going to invite to our upcoming evangelistic Sunday on August 11th friend think about it and pray about it and then act on it friends God has given us a great calling an important duty we've got to put off the old self we've got to put on the new self we've got to give the gospel to the lost and when we say that man it sounds so simple doesn't it and yet living it out is so tough it's so tough to do it as David says here how do we do it not by our own power as David says your God is with his people always that's a great encouragement it means when we blow it with sin we don't just have to quit the faith when things look too tough we don't have to shrink back in fear David says we can be strong and courageous and do it because God is with us first Corinthians 6 19 says do you not know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God the Spirit in us enables us to grow in godliness it's not that we in our own strength grow ourselves or accomplish any of these things the Galatians who became legalists thought that they did they thought they could do it in the flesh Paul says this to them in Galatians 3 3 are you so foolish having begun by the Spirit are you now perfected by the flesh for instance not that we in our own strength as fallen people are able to do the work of God it's God's Spirit who does it but that truth is not an excuse for inaction so often believers today have this lozai fair attitude about life in spirituality oh if I just sit around on the couch let go and let God and God will change me as I do nothing and if I do anything well then I'm adding works and I can't do it no friends that is a false approach to the Christian life four times the Bible tells us the righteous shall live by his faith we grow as we do things we grow as we live the life of faith as we take steps of faith we must strive to do what God tells us to do we must strive to flee temptation we must strive to resist sin we must try to grow and holiness by the ordinary means of grace by prayer and Bible study and being involved in the community and friends as we do these things as we give the gospel to the lost the Spirit of God will work in us and he will take our meager weak efforts and transform them to achieve God's purposes but friends that will only happen if we do it it isn't going to happen if we just sit around twiddling our thumbs we have to get up off the bench and get into the game and do it and if we do the promises that God is with us and his spirit will work through us to achieve his good purposes and friends not only has God given us his spirit and not only has God called us to the life of faith but there's one more resource God gives us which we see here in verse 21 as David tells solemn and he will be able to discharge his duty as he leans on the people God has put around him believing friends you're not called to live an isolated life of lone ranger christianity God has put you in a church the community of faith lean on fellow believers who are to encourage you and help build you up just as you are to help build them up friends this is one of the most important ways that we're built up by our church not just the teaching ministry but the encouragements and admonitions we give to one another friends God's spirit works through God's people as we are about God's business and speak God's word that's you want to understand how things are going to change in this world it's when God's people go out and evangelize when God's people get involved in the church because we cannot expect God is going to work through us and we just sit in the couch and do nothing we are called as David Cole Solomon to do it and get as we do it he does the work through us so to conclude friends let us do it these last words from David have a lot of powerful truths God is faithful God is trustworthy God's plan is good God is with his people and we see how these truths about God connect to our lives because of who God is we should obey we must obey the gospel if you've never come to Christ turn to Jesus and be saved repent and believe the gospel believing friends we are to do it let us obey the commands of Jesus let us walk worthy of the high calling of God let us be who he has called us to be let us put off the old self let us put on the new self let us do what he has commanded us to do knowing that as we try to live out this life by faith his spirit will accomplish his good purposes through us at friends as we do these things we can be confident in our great God and in his unfailing plan which he is bringing to pass throughout the ages for First Thessalonians 524 says he who calls you is faithful he will surely do it