2 Samuel #25: an exposition of 2 Samuel 22:1-51. This message by Pastor Rod Harris was delivered at Trinity Baptist Church on Sunday evening, September 29, 2013.
Intro:
You know you’re getting old when you hear your father’s voice coming out of your mouth. You’ve reach the age when you are saying those things that drove you crazy as a kid and you swore you would never say. “You want to cry? I’ll give you something to cry about.” “Yeah, well we walked to school when I was a kid.” “That cost how much? Do you know what a candy bar cost when I was a kid?” But age does something to you. As you get older your perspective changes. You really do see life another way.
When faced with your own mortality life really takes on new dimensions. Things once thought indispensable are no longer important and things once insignificant now take center stage. When faced with the reality of how precious life is, we all get a little nostalgic. And if we are honest we look back and realize that it is all by the grace of God. That I think is the backdrop for our text this evening.
David is looking back over his life and gives thanks for God’s goodness and deliverance.
This is Psalm 18.
If you look at the title as it appears in Psalms it is quite long!
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David,
The Servant of the Lord, who addressed the
Words of this song to the Lord on the day
When the Lord rescued him from the hand of all his enemies,
And from the hand of Saul, He said:
The title gives us a clue about its historical context.
In the context of 2 Samuel the Psalm appears almost as David’s final words.
It is as if David is giving thanks to God for His deliverance throughout his long life of service.
His deliverance from the hand of Saul.
From foreign enemies during his reign.
And from his own son Absalom.
This is a long passage so I want to deal with it in summary fashion. As we work our way through the passage I believe we are going to find that…
Thesis: At the end of the day, the righteous know they owe everything to the grace of God.
David is at the end of his days and as he looks back his is under no illusions.
His wealth, fame and fortune are not due to his intelligence, his cunning as a military leader or his economic strategy – it is due to the grace of God and the grace of God alone. In summarizing David’s life we could talk about a great and powerful king. Yet David’s view is that there is a great and powerful God.
There are three things I want us to note briefly in our text.
- God graciously comes to the aid of His people. (22:1-20)
- God graciously provides for those who trust in Him. (22:21-31)
- God graciously ensures that His kingdom will prevail. (22:32-51)