David Walked With God In Worship

Temple Baptist Church - 8-20-2017

Psalm 23

Introduction: Psalm 23 was probably written in David’s youth but it was representative of his life’s desire.

A.  As it was with Joseph, it would take a series to deal with the David.  I did a series a few years ago on King David because of his godly influence on the nation of Israel plus the vast amount of Scripture about him and written by him. 

B.  This morning, I want to key in on one thought: what made David a man after God’s own heart.  To be a man or woman after God’s own heart, it would require that you walk with Him!

C.  David was the only man in the Bible who was called a man after God’s own heart.   Acts 13:22-23  And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.  (23)  Of this man's seed hath God according to his promise raised unto Israel a Saviour, Jesus:

1.  Out of the heart are the issues of life.  Our heart is who and what we are.  When the Bible mentions the heart, it exposes the inward man.  We will look at what made David such a man and how David walked with God.

2.  Can you imagine what God’s heart is like? 

a)  Our heart is who and what we are.  God’s heart is who and what he is!  David’s heart was “in tune” with the heart of God.  In tune means to be harmonious. 

b)  “A man after God’s own heart” is an amazing statement.  David must have walked with God though the Bible does not use that terminology but, neither did it say that about Job, Abraham, Moses, and Joseph. 

D.  David was a great man and possibly one of the most renown in Israel.  But he was a man of both success and failure.  Great were his conquests and great were his failures.  He succeeded big and he fell hard.

E.  Again, I want to say that God uses flawed men because there is no other kind.  God’s people are saved, not perfect.  They are positionally pure but, practically, they are just sinners saved by grace.   Thank God for His loving kindness, compassion, mercy, and grace.  Speaking of David, “God didn’t throw away the clay!”

F.  I have thought on this for a while and I believe that I have the answer. What made David a man after God’s own heart was his worship. 

1.  David loved the Lord.

2.  David honored the Lord.

3.  David feared the Lord.

4.  David reverenced the Lord.

5.  David, as the sweet psalmist of Israel, worshipped the Lord.

G.  David wrote 78 of the 150 Psalms!  He was given the title “The Sweet Psalmist of Israel!”  Too bloody to build the temple but pure enough to worship God.

H.  In the New Testament, our Lord said, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”  (John 4:24)   

1.  Worship in spirit and truth.  There must be worship in truth or there can be no worship.  There must be worship in spirit or there can be no worship.  Our spirit is God conscious.  Being “God conscious” and worshipping in a Biblical, holy manner. 

2.  For the most part, modern day worship is self-conscious:  all about feelings and emotions.  It is worldly with no respect for God’s house or God’s way.  Worship and worldliness cannot co-exist as one must destroy the other.  To worship is to be holy and to be worldly is to be unholy.

3.  To worship in spirit and truth is to do so with respect, holiness, and truth.

I.  David walked with God in worship.  He was God conscious!  From the first mention of David’s life, we find that he had a heart that panted after God.  From a child watching over his father’s sheep to a King, David knew what it was to worship God.

1.  David worshipped the Lord in his personal devotion.  Psalms 63:1  O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

2.  David worshipped the Lord in his private life.  Though David did not write this Psalm, it is consistent with his life.  Psalms 42:1-4  As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.  (2)  My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?  (3)  My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?  (4)  When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

3.  David worshipped the Lord in his public life.  2 Samuel 6:13-15  And it was so, that when they that bare the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings.  (14)  And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod.  (15)  So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet.

4.  David worshipped the Lord when he faced danger.  Psalms 27:1-6  The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?  (2)  When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell.  (3)  Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.  (4)  One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.  (5)  For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.  (6)  And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD.

5.  David worshipped God when he was disappointed.  Psalms 42:3-5  My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?  (4)  When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.  (5)  Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

6.  David worshipped the Lord in his faithful dedication.  Psalms 122:1  I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD.

Psalms 27:4  One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.

7.  David worshipped God when he faced death.  2 Samuel 23:1-7  Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,  (2)  The Spirit of the LORD spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.  (3)  The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.  (4)  And he shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds; as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after rain.  (5)  Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.  (6)  But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken with hands:  (7)  But the man that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the same place.

Psalms 72:18-20  Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.  (19)  And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.  (20)  The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.