King David
How to be after God's own heart.
Links | Salvation ABCs | Holy Spirit Baptism
How I use Scripture: unless quoted directly with quotation marks (““) the chapter and verse references are where you can find the verses in the Bible. I encourage you to read them, how else will you know if I’m quoting correctly? My job is to bring alive the treasures of scripture, from the new and the old, to help you study and seek God for yourself.
This is the duty of the Scribe (writer) / Teacher (explainer) Matthew 13:52
I have added parentheses to the KJV verses to emphasize the points being made, and unless otherwise noted, all scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV) which exists in the Public Domain.
David was Born Again, He Understood Sanctification, Instituted Worship, and Taught the Gospel Message
Out of the pages of the Old Testament, arises David, a singular individual, raised in nature, in the Judean pastures of Jesse. The biblical sense of him is much like how Michelangelo sculpted him. The oversized right hand of the sculpture represents the Right Hand of God, Christ.
David’s sin was a secret despising of God. For this sin, David was then chastised by God with a crucible of family strife that drove him to a lifestyle of relentless repentance, prayer, and worship. Out of this crucible came the pattern of Christianity and the life pattern for Messiah, the Son of David.
David’s heart was able to despise God, even though he loved God, and even though he had the Holy Spirit to the same degree as the Old Testament Prophets. Sacrifice covered his sins, until the seminal sin with Bathsheba that would launch David into a New Testament lifestyle.
In all of us, there is a place that despises God because we descend from Adam. It was in Moses, It was in Samson, Judas, Paul, and Peter, and it caused Demas to fall away. But the great recoveries are found in James the unbelieving brother of Jesus Christ, Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles, and in King David, the typology for Jesus Christ. This means that when you locate the place in your heart that despises God, there is Grace, and renewal available to you, greater now since the Cross than before it. In the Old Testament, they were commanded to sanctify themselves, but there was no teaching about repentance, just the command to turn back to God and to cease sin. The New Testament provides more light. But still, a teacher is necessary. I hope this article helps you to find your way out of the Chastisement you may be in and that it helps you to chase God for sanctification the way David did, with his whole heart.
Following David’s example, we all must locate the secret place in our hearts, the room in the unrenewed mind, where we despise God and slay the Serpent’s attitude with relentless repentance, prayer, and worship.
I’m going to do my best to give you an appreciation for David, as the prophecy of Jesus Christ and Christianity. David is the one who lived all the concepts together as a single Old Testament example. Even though David lived by the Law, he lived as a Christian in repentance, prayer, and worship with the power of the Holy Spirit, the same as Jesus Christ and all empowered Christians since the Cross. David is a prophetic bridge from the old to the new. Just like Jesus lived as the bridge fulfilled and straddled the old and the new. The Son of David, the son of man, follows the life pattern of David more closely than the life pattern of Moses.
Where David failed, Jesus came teaching against the source of the failure.
David was raised in nature, separated, the same as Jesus.
David learned from God as one separated, like Abraham. Psalm 18 is his last song, from his deathbed, as recorded in 2 Samuel chapter 23 and it contains David’s spiritual journey with God. In verses 43 and 44, Jesus Christ speaks through David to prophesy the coming salvation for the Gentiles.
David was the family shepherd, a forgotten slave, as Jesus is the Great Shepherd, and sold to the priests for the price of a slave. Mark 9:35, Mark 10:44; Matthew 12:50 KJV.
The Holy Spirit rested upon David and his body was quickened with supernatural physical strength and speed in the battle, so strong that when he pulled the string of an iron bow, the iron would break. The Holy Spirit rested upon Jesus Christ giving him supernatural knowledge of the plans of the enemy and enabling him to outwit them and escape physical danger.
Jesus suffered family dysfunction and death threats from his brother James because David suffered similarly with death threats from his son Absolom.
Jesus was opposed by the Pharisees the same as David was opposed by his court counselors and the elder statesmen of his family.
God subjected David to a family crucible that became his Gethsemane olive press and out of him came relentless repentance, prayer, and worship.
Jesus, the true olive, was tested at the Gethsemane olive press, and out of him came the olive oil, the Holy Spirit, intercession, and obedience.
God chose David, long before God told Samuel to fill his horn with oil and go, the same as Jesus Christ who was crucified before the foundation of the world.
David was rejected by his entire family, the same as Jesus, except for David’s elder sister, Zeruiah, who is memorialized in scripture. Zeruiah is remembered throughout David’s story in the repetitive phrase, “the sons of Zeruiah.” Similarly, Mary Magdalene and Mary, the sister of Lazarus, ministered unto Jesus and are remembered eternally in scripture because he was homeless with no place to rest his head.
The practice of Christianity follows the life pattern of David in repentance, prayer, and worship, as confirmed by the life of Jesus Christ, the model man, the second Adam that we are to imitate. The Holy One. We are to follow in his footsteps, the first of many brethren.
Both are legends within their earthly lifetime.
It is no coincidence that faith jumped from Abraham to David to Jesus, 14 generations between each, generations of double sevens. These are the life patterns believers are to follow, by the double sevens the teachings are complete in the examples of these three men, Matthew 1:7 KJV.
David’s Born Again Salvation Request & His Demand to be Sanctified
“Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me"
Psalm 51:10 KJV
This verse summarizes the born-again salvation and sanctification request. David asked God to be born again. No one is transferred from death to life in either testament without becoming born again. Abraham was the first. The OT operation was God appearing to them. If God appeared to them, their line was preserved, Genesis 32:30. God appeared to all Israel at Mt. Sinai. David is the first to ask of his own will in Psalm 51. Jesus is the Son of David, so we all ask for Salvation the same way, we ask to be made clean with a new revived spirit that was dead because of sin. In Captivity, God sent Ezekiel to preach the Gospel to the priesthood, in Ezekiel chapters 18 and 33 These chapters tell them to turn and repent from the sins outlined. Paul made a formula for his Gospel message. By studying, you will find the verses in the OT that Paul brought forward into the NT.
“Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.” Psalm 51:13 KJV
David wrote everything he knew to teach, making good on this promise to God, and today we have his psalms as prayers to pray in the dire straits of trials on the narrow way.
“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward." Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults. Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer” Psalm 19:7-14 KJV
This is the foundation for the Gospel found in Romans and a summary of sanctification found in Psalm 119. Verse 5 says that there is a race to be run and the Bridegroom, Christ, has come to help you run it. David knew the Bridegroom was Messiah.
“Nicodemus (a Pharisee) answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) speak that we (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) do know, and testify that we (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) have seen; and you receive not our witness.”
John 3:9-12 KJV
Jesus’ answer to Nicodemus is an answer to the question in his heart. God is saying, the scriptures are true and nothing was hidden from the Jews. If David knew the Gospel enough to teach it, then surely Nicodemus should have been as educated.
David’s Roles are the Typology of Christ on Earth:
Shepherd
Servant to his family
Commander of the Host of Israel and Gentile troops.
King
Prophet
Teacher of the word.
Worship leader
Architect of the Temple
Conquerer - gathered a storehouse of wealth to build the Temple
Overcomer of sin
David knew from the Law that praise belonged to his tribe, Judah, so he mandated worship as part of the Levitical Tabernacle service. The Levite sons of Korah became the master musicians who performed David’s psalms and wrote their psalms after his example.
David established the Levitical priestly courses of service; each course having its set of duties in rotation. The priestly courses were carried into the service of the Temples of Solomon and Herod. John the Baptist’s father Zecharias was part of the priestly courses.
Your Heart - The Inner Soul and Spirit
Before I talk about how to be sanctified from continuing sin, you need to understand the Heart of Man.
The heart is the center of the moral life. The heart is the factory of thoughts and desires, personality, and will. Not the brain, which is simply a computer that runs the body. Out of the heart’s overflow, man speaks and acts, whether for good or for evil.
“Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.” Deuteronomy 10:16 KJV
Circumcision is the token of the covenant because it is a cutting away of the flesh that is sensitive to worldly lusts. A separation from the flesh. This is the OT version of laying aside the deeds of the flesh, the old man. Cutting away the foreskin is a prophecy. This is why after Christ had come, circumcision was not required to become a Christian, Romans 2:28-29,3:30,4:10. Abraham was accounted righteous before he was circumcised, his heart was circumcised by faith.
“A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good, and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks”
Luke 6:45 KJV, Matthew 12:34 KJV
We all know people who claim to be saved but have a continuous stream of foul language because the abundance of their hearts has a greater percentage of unsanctified evil than sanctified good. They reside in unrepentant rebellion.
We are not indifferent to our sins. God is not unknown. Romans says he is known to all, for he formed the conscience of man. Therefore, we must root sin out in all its forms while we have Grace in the lifetime remaining to do it.
There is a percentage called the abundance of the heart out of the 100% at salvation. A portion that is either abundantly good or abundantly evil. At salvation, it is the abundantly good percentage that asks to be saved and forgiven. For the born-again, a new spirit is given, and life becomes the war between flesh and spirit to clean out or renew the portion of the heart/mind that is evil so that God can say the whole heart is fully his. As a child learns to walk stumbling, so too does the heart of man stumble while learning to walk and run; running he might fall from time to time, but then, with the help of the Holy Spirit through repentance and man’s perseverance and patience during the process, waiting for the change, he mounts up with wings as eagles as the heart is transformed to complete the glorified spirit man.
“But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 KJV
My paragraph above illustrates from crawling to walking to running to flying, but God emphasizes the concept in reverse. He’s saying once they have entered into the process of sanctification, he will not fail to bring them home. Jesus talked about “entering in” and he was talking about the Strait Gate to the Narrow Way that leads to life. Peter’s epistles hold the keys to the gate because God gave him the keys to the kingdom, and I will write about that at a different time.
To be indifferent, willingly ignorant, or to assume that we have a license to continue in our sin is to set aside the intent of God sending his Son to the bloody death penalty which we deserve. Paul called the hypocrites whited walls because they whitewashed the truth.
“But be you doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves,” James 1:22 KJV (don’t deceive yourselves that hearing is all there is.)
“Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance,” Matthew 3:8 KJV
God sent Jesus to forgive, yes. But he sent Jesus to restore man to his original state of holiness through repentance. David repented and demanded God to show him any wickedness remaining so he could repent of it. David sinned, but it was the abundance of his heart, the inward man, that desired to be sanctified, made holy, washed clean, and he was not satisfied until he was immune to temptation. He kept going. And we should keep going.
“Thou has proved mine heart; thou hast visited me in the night; thou hast tried me, and shalt find nothing; I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” Psalm 17:3 KJV (because the mouth speaks from the heart)
“You have tested my heart; You have visited me in the night; You have tried me and have found nothing; I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” Psalm 17:3 NKJV
He’s saying that his heart is clear of sin and out of the abundance of his heart, his mouth speaks no transgression according to Psalm 119:10,11.
“With my whole heart I have sought thee…Thy word I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Psalm 119:10,11 KJV
I believe that Psalm 119 was written long before David, perhaps written by Moses. It is written in the format of what old-time teachers used to call “a primer”, a teaching tool for beginners. Psalm 119 is written as a sanctification journey, linked to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph, through Tsav, a teaching primer, to make learning easier, something they could memorize. When you speak it out loud and mean it, God begins to work according to the verses where your mind must be renewed, he can work because it is according to scripture and his will to sanctify. God’s own heart wants to sanctify.
Deuteronomy 4:29 seems to be the first reference in the Law to finding God when the seeker searches for him with a whole heart and soul. Doing everything to obey the statutes of the Lord. After being sent to Babylon, Jeremiah reminded them using the same words.
“But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul,” Deut. 4:29 KJV
“And ye shall seek me, and find me when ye shall search for me with all your heart, “ Jeremiah 29:13 (the theme of my website, to teach you how).
Loving God begins with keeping his commandments and statutes:
“And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments,” Exodus 20:6, Deut. 5:10
Jesus said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” John 14:15
God chose Abraham for one reason:
“For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep ‘the way’ of the LORD, to do justice and judgment (these include mercy); that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he has spoken of him. Genesis 18:19
Of Abraham, God said to Isaac:
“Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws,” Genesis 26:5.
Before the Law was given, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were Gentiles saved by faith. Their faith was exhibited in their actions. Abraham did what God said to do immediately and without complaint, he simply obeyed God’s voice. Keep in mind that because Christ has come the command is to become sanctified, holy, not to do the Law because it is enmity against us and meant only to show us that we are sinners. The Law cannot save.
If David pursued God with all his heart and became sanctified before the Cross, we Christians have no excuse not to follow his example and Paul’s teachings to rid ourselves of sin even its temptations. I’ve experienced what I’m teaching.
Most give up and say it’s impossible, but that’s because they have not been taught. You can learn to become immune as David did. The Lord makes the changes, you simply need David’s determination to be a doer of the word in repentance and mourn over your sin according to the ladder of the Beatitudes.
“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God,” Matthew 5:8.
"Without holiness, no one will see God,” Hebrews 12:14.
The crowning principle of the Bible is found engraved on the High Priest’s crown, “Holiness to the Lord,” Exodus 39:30.
Understanding Sin and The Law
The Law incites, stirs up, and awakens the Sin Nature (the Rebel) within us. The Law makes us realize we are Rebels against God. The Sin Nature is inherited from Adam’s corrupted DNA. The blood of a child is created by its father’s chromosomes. This is why Jesus had to be born of a virgin, without male chromosomes. Jesus was born sinless without Adam’s corrupted DNA. The Rebel despises God and that rebel is YOU.
God didn’t want to add the Law, he had to add the Law. Galatians 3:19 the Law was added because of transgression. The Law was nailed to the Cross for those who by Faith receive Christ as Savior. However, when faith doesn’t cure our sins, the Law picks up where it left off until we repent and recover our Salvation. Like Paul. ‘Once saved always saved,’ is a doctrine of pride and Demons. Humility is required. After Paul was saved he said “I died,” in Romans chapter 7 trying to teach not to use laws to live right, but instead Faith.
Jerusalem was to be a brood of chicks gathered to Christ, Luke 13:34; instead, she was a brood of vipers, the offspring of the Serpent because of the abundance of evil in their hearts, Matthew 12:34. When they returned from Babylon, they killed their Prophet Zechariah between the altar and the Holy Place, Matthew 23:35, proving they never returned to God.
In the 400 silent years between Malachi and Matthew, they reverted to Levi and Simeon, the murderers of the men of Shechem, “instruments of cruelty” as Jacob said they would be in the last days. God had left them alone without any guidance, to rise as the slayers of the Lamb, as prophesied. God used their religion for a purpose. To shed the Blood of Christ. He forgave all that they did to him, any grudges that he might have had against them on the Cross before he died, as Joseph forgave his brothers, but this did not negate the need for them to accept Christ as their Savior by faith.
Jesus said if they failed to come to him they would die in their sins because they no longer had a cloak for their sins, John 15:21-24.
21 “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me. 22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 “He who hates Me hates My Father also. 24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.
Jesus’ words refer to the words God gave Moses about “That Prophet” in Deuteronomy 18:19,
19 ‘And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him, Deuteronomy 18:19.
It Is Faith In The Blood That Saves
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar (The Cross) to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood (of Christ) that maketh an atonement for the soul,” Leviticus 17:11 KJV
The Law Cannot Save - It Only Enrages The Rebel
“The Law is our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith has come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster,” Galatians 3:24-25 KJV
“And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission (of sins),” Hebrews 9:22 KJV
Notice it says “almost” all things are purged by the blood of Christ. When you get saved, God gives you a new spirit, you are a new creation. But you still have the old soul and the old mind that must be renewed to conform to your new spirit. Continuing sin caused by the unrenewed mind is the remainder to deal with it through repentance on the path of sanctification. The Rebel is now your unrenewed mind and your flesh. You need the Holy Spirit Baptism to bring Christ in as close as a brother, or you are walking alone.
Demons are a fact of Gentile life, they must be cast out, not prayed out, cast out. Soul ties and curses need to be broken. Salvation prepares you to receive The Holy Spirit Baptism which is the power to become the sons of God. To deal with your demons you must obey Mark 16:17. Only those who speak in new tongues can get rid of their own demons.
Weakness
Because the church is no longer preaching against sin. It is rare to find a church that has not denied the Holy Spirit. Once denied or blasphemed, the Holy Spirit will not work in that church. The unforgivable sin. Conviction in the church is rare and Satan as an angel of light is behind the pulpit teaching his Doctrines of Demons. Doctrines of Demons are the things you learn and believe that keep you from getting rid of your demons. Few believers are learning how to be sanctified. Sanctification immunizes the saved even against temptations and the dominion of sin by the renewal of the soul and mind, and only God can perform the internal renewal.
In the Old Testament God says many times, “You will know I am the LORD.” It means that he will renew your mind as you take personal responsibility to repent and walk holy. And you will know you cannot claim that you changed yourself.
The Secrets
In Prayer, give God verbal permission to override your sovereign will to rewire your mind. Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.
You might be mired in porn and adultery or crime, but if you give him verbal permission to override your will, the change comes much faster. By saying he has permission out loud, any opposition to his efforts by your flesh is negated, because it is your heart speaking out of your mouth, the true you, and God doesn’t need permission from the flesh. If you pray in silence, he’s not hearing permission, John 5:30. He judges that which he hears. And when the change comes, you will only be able to say that you know he is the LORD. The Covenant Keeping God. Because you cannot change yourself.
He works one sin at a time. Pick one and stick with it in repentance until you see change. The Holy Spirit will tell you what, he deals with the sins that keep you unable to learn first.
God will test his repair work in you to see if you fail the test. If you fail, go back to repentance. He works by degrees and iterations, just like a software developer.
There will be a final test of the repair. This is when you will recognize the temptation and see that it has no effect. If you fail, do not give up. It means there may be a return to the potter’s wheel, which is a greater chastisement because whatever you were to learn under the smaller tests did not cause you to learn to change your behavior.
Your progress toward full eradication of sin moves forward the faster you learn to change your behavior.
You might need to pray for help with your unbelief in the areas you just can’t seem to conquer, or, you may have a demon in the area of failure that must be cast out before God can repair your mind.
Don’t Adopt Personal Laws
General prayer doesn’t activate God’s work to change you. Giving yourself rules as a set of personal laws to live by only incites the Sin Nature to become more sinful, because rules and religion are not the way, as Paul found out in Romans chapter 7, verse 7:13. Sin is incited by spiritual laws, whether from The Law, or personal laws. Because the Law’s purpose is to drive you to Christ, to notify you that you have a big problem. This is why small sins become bigger sins as an alert system, they wake up the Rebel again who will beat you up until you recommit yourself to Christ and get back on the narrow way of repentance.
There are many commentaries online about Romans chapter 7 and the sin spiral. You can google them. Paul’s teaching in Romans 7 explains how he was unsuccessful in getting rid of his continuing sin when he applied the Law or personal laws. His sins got worse, and he lost his salvation, “he died,” until he repented and learned how to stay on the narrow path. He recommitted himself to Christ and began again. He didn’t continue without repenting. His language may be hyperbole, but it matters not. What is clear is his explanation.
Only in repentance at the foot of the Cross, asking God to perform his promises outlined in scripture and permitting him to rewrite your software gets the job done. Each of the names of God contains the promises of the New Covenant. Hallowing his 8 names as part of the Lord’s prayer pattern gets the Spirit working and Psalm 119 is a more detailed exercise. The Prayer pattern was given so that you don’t need to work hard to figure it out. His yoke is light. Here is the order of prayer that works for me as laid out in scripture examples.
Worship
Hallowing his eight covenant names using the Lord’s Prayer pattern
Repenting of any known continuing sin
Taking personal responsibility for my sin, why I can’t seem to stop it, what the reasons are that I feel entitled to do it; all these things I lay out in prayer out loud, and I give him verbal permission to override my sovereign will to change me, then ask for forgiveness.
If you are still driven to it, and cannot stop, you have a demon that is blocking God’s power. You need to bind it, cast it out, and break Satan’s curses on your body. Forgive. Break any soul ties from ungodly sex.
There is more to teach on this subject, but these are the high points that you can put to work in prayer now.
Is There an End to My Sin?
Yes, Peter said so. You can be free of your sins to the degree you repent and change your behavior. David got free. God responds with the corresponding repair work to the inner man. As you create new habits of behavior, the temptations will fly by. You will see them coming, and you’ll know they didn’t activate your behavior, and you will be astounded and you will praise God.
Repetition is your Friend
Prayer is where your requests for help are made. Demons must be cast out. We all had or have them because of the current culture and participation in it. If not in your mind, then in your atmosphere and environment lurking, waiting. We live in Satan’s kingdom. He only cares to harass the saved, not the unsaved. Many have generational demons that keep them tied to trauma, sexual sin and unforgiveness. Jesus said he has given you the authority to cast them out and power over all the power of the enemy, Luke 10:19. It’s a battle to overcome: to get free and stay free. Paul warned us to be vigilant, always checking our thoughts and behavior to be sure it is not demon-inspired. If you don’t have a quiet mind and a peaceful heart, demons are harassing you. Clay vessels don’t have noisy minds, within it should be quiet. Think about the ancient clay jars.
Weakness in the Church
None of this is taught by the church at large today in America. Pastors are idolized and teachers preach for money, caring nothing for the sheep, hirelings only, and give followers license to continue in their sins. Jesus told the Jews they would die in their sins unforgiven, John 8:21 because they were not teaching the people to turn from sin and they would not come to him, John 15:22.
Jesus’ warnings when he functioned as a Prophet were dire and chilling, not full of love or softness or even mercy. Better read the Gospels again and see him as the Prophet to acquire the Fear of the Lord, which is to turn from sin and away from evil, it is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs Chapters 1 - 3 have the definition.
The following verses apply to the church as well as to the Jews:
“Turn you at my reproof (repent): behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you (Holy Spirit Baptism), I will make known my words unto you (by pastors and teachers and revelation). Because I have called and you refused (by your own choice); I have stretched out my hand (anyway to help you), and no man regarded, but you have set at nought all my counsel (you have ignored me and worked against truth), and would none of (not obey) my reproof (didn’t pay attention to stumbling blocks): I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear comes; When your fear comes as desolation, and your destruction comes as a whirlwind (tornados); when distress and anguish comes upon you (by things you don’t understand). Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: For that they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD.” Proverbs 1:23-29 KJV
A Gospel of God’s Love is not the Gospel of Christ because it bypasses the requirement to be made new in the likeness of Christ through repentance, following David’s example, Paul’s example, and Peter’s example. They tell you to live with your sin and God will figure it out. But God doesn’t work this way.
Love is the element that is commanded as the goal line, but it is the last thing added to the believer in the order in which God rebuilds the soul, 2 Peter 1:7. Love is a result of ridding every other sin issue from your life. It happens through repentance while you are under the Blood, by Grace. This is the work: to continue in repentance and believing because your beliefs form your actions.
David Took Personal Responsibility to Repent
The vessel of honor is the vessel of God’s power, his presence. The presence of the Father because of the presence of the Son. Jesus said it was his Father who performed the miracles. Therefore, those with the power to heal and do miracles, have the presence of the Father as well as the Son. The goal is to have both, a church on fire with the power of God displaying God’s power to the lost.
If David had the Holy Spirit before the Cross as all the Prophets had it, then you can certainly have it after the Cross since the outpouring has been happening for 2,000 years and is ongoing even today, especially in this time of darkness. Jesus told his disciples even though they were evil, to ask for it, Matthew 7:11, Luke 11:13.
Eradication of sin and immunization against temptation is the goal for your life. Sanctification is the will of God for you, I Thessalonians 4:3. The narrow path that leads to life that few find, Matthew 7, is “The Way.” And it is a path of personal responsibility that teaches you to war against the darkness. “Ites” have been left in you, the land, to teach you to war and not to fear, but to trust and obey.
The One After God’s Own Heart Won’t Stop
The one that desires God enough to obey and stay on the path of holiness, despite the world’s penalties for doing so, is the one after God’s own heart.
“Concerning the works of men, by the word of thy lips I have kept me from the paths of the Destroyer.” Psalm 17:4 KJV
Personal responsibility
“I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.” Psalm 119:101 KJV
Personal responsibility
“The LORD will perfect that which concerns me…forsake not the works of your own hands” Psalm 138:8 KJV
(“For we are his workmanship created in Jesus Christ” Ephesians 2:10 )
“Search me O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my thoughts and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting,” Psalm 139:23-24 KJV (Show me my sin and I will repent of it)
“With my whole heart I have sought thee…Thy word I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Psalm 119:10,11 KJV
“You have tested my heart; You have visited me in the night; You have tried me and have found nothing; I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress.” Psalm 17:3 NKJV (David is sanctified in full)
There are verses throughout the bible with the words “foot” and “feet” highlighting the personal responsibility of walking along the narrow way. God can help your feet not to slip off the path, but it is your responsibility to walk on the path, not to the left or the right. It is good to look up the verses.
David’s Sin That Despised God
Now I’m going to turn back to David and focus on his sin that despised God. We must locate that place in our hearts where we despise God, any remainder of our Father the Devil, and slay it in repentance, John 8:44
Too many shake their heads at David and say, “Well, at least I’m not as bad as David,” when in reality we all try to hide our sins from God with fig leaves, just like Adam.
We are required by God to inspect our inward parts.
“Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom” Psalm 51:6
David understood the requirement to inspect the inward parts of a sacrificial animal. That the animal was to be opened up to inspect for internal bruising, Blemishes. Types of sin. David understood that the inspection was an analogy for the inspection of his own soul, the hidden man living in his body. And David understood that he could not hide the bruising evidence of sin from God, Leviticus 21:21, Leviticus 22:21, Numbers 19:2.
We are to use the Word of God to perform the inspection, the same as the priests use the two-edged knife or sword to inspect the animals they sacrificed. A knife for small animals, a sword for large animals.
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul (inside the body) and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner (inspector) of the thoughts and intents of the heart” Hebrews 4:12
David was a sinner like the rest of us, but his sins were covered by sacrifice so we don’t see these sins pointed out by God. It wasn’t until God told David he “despised” God that God would be able to use this sin to bring David to New Testament repentance.
David knew the 5 verses that warned the people not to covet, not to lie carnally, not to commit adultery with, and not to even desire a neighbor’s wife. David would have been taught these verses from a young age.
Exodus 20:17
Leviticus 18:20
Leviticus 20:10
Deuteronomy 5:21
Deuteronomy 22:24
Later, Proverbs 6:29 was added to say that even touching a neighbor’s wife would bring guilt. God said in Jeremiah 5:8, that the well-fed priests were horses neighing after their neighbor’s wives. God considers adultery an extreme defilement and told David he had despised God when he committed this sin and then committed the secret murder of Uriah. And though David repented and was forgiven all his sins, God remembered that David had turned aside from God’s command. His sin of adultery and murder was willful despite his faith and God said David despised him.
“Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take they wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.”
2 Samuel 12:10-12
“They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. Therefore, shall they eat of the fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices.” (as God did for David’s punishment)
Proverbs 1:30-31
“David did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.” - 1 Kings 15:5
“Save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.” Read the verse again, you will notice David is said by God to not have turned aside from anything that was commanded by God except in this matter. This means that though it is not written on the page as a direct command, God did command David to turn away from getting involved with her, whether by the portion of scripture he knew, or by the moving of the Spirit upon him. In this one thing, David despised the Holy Spirit which he had upon him, and the consequences were severe.
But fear not:
“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh (wearing fig leaves), but after the Spirit (telling the truth about their sins, not lying to God, but repenting).” Romans 8:1 KJV
“But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24 KJV
“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” Revelation 21:8 KJV
“For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie: so he was their Savior” Isaiah 63:8 KJV
Somewhere in all of us, we have sins that despise God. God knows it so we cannot hide from him. God sees everything about us, and if we try to hide behind fig leaves because we don’t want to know it, God still knows it. We need to expose our sins to our minds, take personal responsibility, and repent of them, no matter how vile they are, and be relentless about doing so.
We get one life only, and this is its purpose: to be considered worthy to escape destruction. If you lie to yourself, you are unable to repent in full.
“Watch you therefore, and pray always, that you may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:36
Whether you go in the rapture or die before the rapture, only the sanctified stand.
According to Revelation 21:8, David Was Worthy of Hell:
He was fearful of recognizing his sin, fearful it would be discovered.
He was unbelieving in consequences because of his pride in knowing God.
He was unbelieving when he ignored the counsel of the Holy Spirit.
He was a murderer by deceit (secrecy) and the abuse of his power as king.
He was a whoremonger by his adultery, making Bathsheba a fornicator and adulterer. He had other wives and concubines already, but it didn’t satisfy his whoredoms, he was willing to kill for more.
He was covetous of his neighbor’s wife - an idolater of self, Colossians 3:5.
He was a liar before God and Nathan the Prophet. If Nathan had not used a riddle to convict David, David would have continued to deny and would have been guilty of lying to the Holy Spirit which was upon Nathan, the same as Ananias and Sapphira before Peter which was a death penalty, Acts 5:5,10.
Jesus’ Message About Sexual Sin
The result of the sin with Bathsheba, for the Son of David, Jesus Christ, taught against lust, adultery, and sexual sin. When people read the words of Jesus, they don’t ask the reason for his teaching. It comes from David’s sin with Bathsheba, a parable for the sin of despising God. God remembered this sin and brought it forward to the New Testament as a teaching against lust and sexual sin including masturbation (if your hand or eye sin against you, cut it off). This sin can be conquered. It may be a fight with demons. Even with the Help of the Holy Spirit, David had a battle on his hands.
The Importance of David’s Christian Example
It is important to firmly understand what God requires of us concerning being sanctified. Personal responsibility is required. Just like it was required of David. If you cannot understand yourself and your nature the way God sees you as a sinner, you cannot overcome that which is your enemy.
The Law is the diagnosis tool, the DSM-E, the Diagnostic and Spiritual Manual for Eternity. The Law shows you your sin, defines it for you, and you are to repent of every reaction and rebellion toward the scriptures. This is why it is important to read the Old Testament.
Every verse of Scripture that makes you say, “No, that can’t be applied to me,” or “That just isn’t for our time,” or “I was never that bad,” or any verse that makes you angry, points to a sin that you must repent of even when you are agitated by scripture because of past harms and trauma done to you.
It’s amazing that after you have completed the repentance requirement, those verses no longer negatively affect you. You just read right past them knowing they are right.
What Causes the Lord’s Enemies to Blaspheme His Name?
In the wilderness journey, God said in Ezekiel 20:14, that one reason he allowed the first generation to die in their sins was to keep them from causing the enemies of the LORD, to blaspheme his name. When the Christian is disobedient in unrepentant sin, especially doing something in secret that projects into public life, it causes the unbeliever to say, “See? There is no God, you are a liar,” and your witness before the unbeliever that God exists is demolished. Your behavior matters to God in the sight of the ungodly, as a witness of the glory of God in the earth, and the truth of the Gospel.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this study and have found it useful for your walk. God bless you and may God’s blessings chase you down as you pursue him in relentless repentance, prayer, and worship, laying aside every weight of sin that so easily besets you to run with patience the race that is set before you, in Jesus’ name.