Feb 6

Written by: Russell
Monday, February 06, 2012 5:30 PM 

Blessed Of The Lord

Text: 1 Chronicles 17; John 6:66-69 (See these scriptures in full at the end of the entry).

Introduction

What is the best way to live? What should we hope to achieve from our short time in this world? As with all things we will get many opinions if we were to ask people. 

You may have noticed that the Bible claims to show us the way to live that the Lord personally guarantees to be the best way to live. Another opinion!

The Example of King David

In Chron. 17 the Lord tells David that he is not to build a temple that is a permenent structure. His son after him would do that  The Lord also tells David that He would bless his family. And that there would always be a son of David on the throne of Israel.

So David has the Lord's will for him - as in the 'Laws of Moses'. Now he also has personal leading for his personal life from the Lord. And like all other children of God, David must respond to the Lord. Either yielding to the will of God, or as most - rebel against it.

The Lord's disciples in the NT also had to make this important choice that all children of God must make. Accept the Lord's revealed will for them, or just as the wicked - do their own thing.

John 6:66-69

66 From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. 67 Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? 68 Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. 69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.

We see David's response from verse 16.

From the previous scriptures, and other scriptures, we know that David has walked with God. The Lord, as He works with all others, woed David. And David has responded. He has learned, in his personal walk, Who the Lord is.

And so when the Lord tells David that He has plans for David's family. Plans that will continue forever. David KNOWS that that is good. Most Christians today would be horrified today to hear that the Lord had plans all laid out from them for the rest of their lives. Plans that include their children and future grandchildren forever.

With the experience and learning that David has gained from his walk with the Lord  until then. David, KING David, is humbled. For him this is too wonderful to appreciate.

This is not just the Lord making David's family great in the eyes of man, but David - and his family - being the head of God's people! What a high responsibility! What a priviledge!

A very important point though is that this would all be done the Lord's way. King David yielded to the Lord, that Israel the kingdom of God, had to be done God's way! Here in church this morning, this may be something that we would all agree is obvious. But you know! God's way too often goes out the window when we are out there living life. The time when we show the Lord just how convinced we are that we believe that His way is best! At the same time we are showing the world how convinced we are that the ways of God are best too.

There are two distinct areas of God's will that each child of God must find for their individual life:

God's Will For All Believers

This we find in the Bible. For our times in the Church, that will be in the New Testament. Specifically from the day of Penticost onwards we have the teaching for the new thing that the Lord is doing - the Church. Here we will learn what the church is and what it's purpose is. And then what a Christian is, and our purpose - generally is.

Example: 1 Thessalonians 4:3 "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication:"

God's Specific Will For The Individual

Within the declared will of God for all believers is the specific will of God for the individual. God's will for the individual will never be contrary to the general will of God for all believers.

Here we are primarily speaking about how the Lord wants to use us in His purposes in this life. How must I be useful to Him?

This will involve our reading God's Word. Meditating on what we read. Studying God's Word. All the while learning Who God is, and what is His declared way to live in His world. As David discovered, when the Lord blesses us. That's it that bless will continue. No person, or circumstance can remove it.

The Lord's secondary will would be in other non-spiritual things. Things like what career should I choose? Who should I marry? Where should I live? And such things. Sometimes there isn't really a morally right thing. But the Lord knows which would best support our usefulness to the Lord.

Conclusion

When we are blessed of the Lord, none call hinder us!

Have you found such confidence in the Lord? Confidence that we saw King David find.?And then the disciple of the Lord find?

Scripture Passages Referred To Above:

1Chronicles 17:1-27
1  Now it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in an house of cedars, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD remaineth under curtains.
2  Then Nathan said unto David, Do all that is in thine heart; for God is with thee.
3  And it came to pass the same night, that the word of God came to Nathan, saying,
4  Go and tell David my servant, Thus saith the LORD, Thou shalt not build me an house to dwell in:
5  For I have not dwelt in an house since the day that I brought up Israel unto this day; but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another.
6  Wheresoever I have walked with all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built me an house of cedars?
7  Now therefore thus shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I took thee from the sheepcote, even from following the sheep, that thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel:
8  And I have been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name like the name of the great men that are in the earth.
9  Also I will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, and they shall dwell in their place, and shall be moved no more; neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any more, as at the beginning,
10  And since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. Moreover I will subdue all thine enemies. Furthermore I tell thee that the LORD will build thee an house.
11  And it shall come to pass, when thy days be expired that thou must go to be with thy fathers, that I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons; and I will establish his kingdom.
12  He shall build me an house, and I will stablish his throne for ever.
13  I will be his father, and he shall be my son: and I will not take my mercy away from him, as I took it from him that was before thee:
14  But I will settle him in mine house and in my kingdom for ever: and his throne shall be established for evermore.
15  According to all these words, and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.
16  And David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?
17  And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; for thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O LORD God.
18  What can David speak more to thee for the honour of thy servant? for thou knowest thy servant.
19  O LORD, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all this greatness, in making known all these great things.
20  O LORD, there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
21  And what one nation in the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his own people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness, by driving out nations from before thy people, whom thou hast redeemed out of Egypt?
22  For thy people Israel didst thou make thine own people for ever; and thou, LORD, becamest their God.
23  Therefore now, LORD, let the thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house be established for ever, and do as thou hast said.
24  Let it even be established, that thy name may be magnified for ever, saying, The LORD of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God to Israel: and let the house of David thy servant be established before thee.
25  For thou, O my God, hast told thy servant that thou wilt build him an house: therefore thy servant hath found in his heart to pray before thee.
26  And now, LORD, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness unto thy servant:
27  Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever: for thou blessest, O LORD, and it shall be blessed for ever.

John 6:66-69
66  From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.
67  Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away?
68  Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.
69  And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.