October 5, 2020
Galatians 3:19-29
David was the man who is called “a man after God’s own heart.” In the Psalms, he speaks about loving the law of his Lord. (Psalm 119:97) How was David a man after God’s own heart? Because Christ began a good work in him and Christ was going to see it to completion. David defeated Goliath because of who Christ was. David speaks about loving the law of God because of Christ’s work. David became king because of Christ’s work.
David proclaims who he is and who Christ is after he hears the promises of God from Nathan. God tells David via Nathan how He took him from the pasture and made him prince, has been with him wherever he went, defeated his enemies. God tells David how He is making a great name for him. He tells him that He will plant His people so they will be at peace, He will establish his kingdom forever, His steadfast love will not disappear, and his kingdom will be established forever because he will be in the lineage of Christ. (2 Samuel 7)
After hearing the promise, David understood his place in the promise.
God is using and has used him to do His will. God is fulfilling the promise Yet at the same time, the law plays an active role in David’s life. The law does not produce perfection or justification nor does it fulfill the will of God in our lives. The law reveals his sin to him. It reveals where he has done wrong when he thinks his sins are hidden. The law reveals his sin and drives him to his need for Christ.
David knew the law and loved it but it couldn’t make him do the good thing or the right thing.
The law did not prevent David from lusting after a woman on her balcony. This is a man who loved the laws of God The law did not prevent David from coveting another man’s wife. The law did not keep David from taking another man’s wife. The law did not keep David from murdering his lover’s husband.
The law does not create goodness. The law exposes sin.
Nathan spoke the gospel words to David about a kingdom that will be established forever. He also comes to David with the law after he has started a relationship with Bathsheba and taken her as his wife.
Nathan tells David a story of a rich man and a poor man. The rich man has all he needs yet he takes the little lamb from the poor man. David becomes enraged and demands that the rich man who has taken must die.
Nathan then says to David “You are the man!” “You did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun,” 2 Samuel 12:12
David’s response is Psalm 51.
The Law did not make David righteous. The law exposed David’s sin to him and those around him. There were steep and deep cutting consequences, to put it lightly. Yet God put David’s sin away. He was righteous not through the law but through faith on account of Christ.
Read Psalm 51.
These words are written by David after his confrontation with Nathan
Write it out in your words or copy it.
Loved In Spite of Self 