David: A Testament of Love for God’s Word

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Good morning. Welcome to Victorious Faith. I’m Cherry Campbell. This morning I’m going to continue sharing with you the message I began sharing with you yesterday. That is part one in a series of messages that I preached in our Victorious Faith services called, What Made David a Man After God’s Own Heart. So join me now in our live service for the continuation of part one of this series, What Made David a Man After God’s Own Heart. And if you’re going to love God, you have to love his word. And there are people who love God but don’t think anything about his word, the Bible, the scripture. They don’t seek the Bible, the word. They don’t study. They don’t read. They don’t listen to it. They don’t hunger to be taught the word. And so John 1, in the beginning was the word. The word was with God. The word was God. The word was God. God is the word. The word is God. They’re inseparable. And then in the book of Revelation, Jesus comes on a white horse, and on his thigh he has this name written, the word of God. He is the living word of God. John 1, 14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. So you cannot say you love God if you don’t love his word. If you say you love God, but you don’t care about his word, you don’t pay attention to his word, you don’t read his word, you don’t study his word, you don’t listen to the teaching of his word, then according to scripture, you don’t really love God very much. Because to love God means you love his word. You love what he says. I mean, even think of your family. Think about a spouse if you’re married. If you love that person, you also hang on to what they say. You listen to what they say. You don’t say, I love them, but I’m ignoring everything they say. I love you, honey, but I just don’t hear anything you say. That’s not love. So love is paying attention to what a person says. I mean, even a good spouse, a good husband, a good wife, you’re a good listener. Paying attention to what your spouse says. Or if you love your children, you listen to them. Well, if you love God, you’re going to listen to him. You’re going to seek his word. You’re going to find out what he says. You’re going to want to know what he says. So love for God equals love for his word. So if you don’t love his word, if you’re not spending time seeking his word, reading his word, studying his word, listening to teaching about the word, If you don’t love his word, then you don’t really seriously love God. Because you cannot love God without loving his word. He is expressed through his word. The word became fresh and dwelt among us. So David was a man after God’s own heart. He loved the word of God. There were so many scriptures about this. Psalm 18, 22. And these are all Psalms of David. All his laws are before me. I have not turned away from his decrees. I have not turned away. He’s kept them. Psalm 19, verses 7 through 11. The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. Skip to verse 9. The ordinances of the Lord are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold. That’s how precious his word is. They are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. Do you think God’s word is sweeter than honey? By them is your servant warned. In keeping them there is great reward. Praise God. So his words are more precious than gold and sweeter than honey. Do you love his words so much that you think his word is sweeter than honey? Psalm 40, verse 8. I desire to do your will, O my God. Your law is within my heart. Psalm 119. Now, I did a study on Psalm 119 because there are several psalms that are called orphan psalms because the author is not named. There are quite a few Psalms that do not begin the first verse with a Psalm of David, a Psalm of the sons of Korah or whoever. There are quite a few Psalms that do not have, I mean, most Psalms do have an author named, but there are several Psalms that have no author attached to them. And so you wonder who wrote that. And it could have been a lot of different people. So I checked on Psalm 119 because Psalm 119 is an orphan psalm. It does not start out by saying who authored it. And I found a wonderful article or blog you might call by a Jewish rabbi who gave a whole long list of proofs why he is completely convinced Psalm 119 was written by David. And I don’t have time to go into all of it, but I’ll mention a few of them. In the book of Psalms, where an author is named, there is never the phrase… Your servant, David, your servant, except in David’s own Psalms. None of the other authors say, I am your servant. Only David did that. And so your servant is named throughout the book of Psalm 119. It is one of the trademarks of David. other things in it. He was using Hebraic phrases. This phrase, he said, is only found in one other psalm that was written by David. Or this phrase is only written in psalms written by David. This style is only used by David. And he had a list of proofs again and again. So there were so many listing phrases. He says, I am convinced there is incontrovertible evidence. that Psalm 119 was written by David. So I wanted to bring that out because we’re using Psalm 119 to express the heart of David. And so I am convinced also by reading and setting that, that Psalm 119 is written by David. And he says in verse 20, my soul is consumed with longing for your laws at all times. Verse 97, oh, how I love your law. I meditate on it all day long. Verse 103, how sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Verse 148, my eyes stay open through the watches of the night that I may meditate on your promises. Do you love God’s word? Do you seek his word? Do you study his word? Do you read his word? Do you listen to his word? And then, number six here, David was a man of prayer and fellowship with God. He fellowshiped with God. Psalm 5, verse 3, In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice. In the morning, I lay my request before you and wait in expectation. He waited on the Lord. in the morning. And he said, you hear my voice in the morning and I’m waiting to listen to you in the morning. Verse seven, five, seven, but I, by your great mercy will come into your house in reverence. Will I bow down toward your holy temple? Psalm 17, 15. And I, in righteousness, I will see your face. When I awake, I will be satisfied with seeing your likeness. Notice he just longs to see the Lord, to talk to the Lord, to fellowship. with the Lord. Psalm 23, and I named Psalm 23 because I always think of it, you know, we know David was a shepherd before he went into King Saul’s service. He kept his father’s sheep. He played the harp. And so while he was out there in the fields shepherding, I believe, I’m fully convinced, he was fellowshipping with God. And so that’s why I brought Psalm 23 in here in his devotion, his prayer and fellowship with God. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. This shows his devotion and his fellowship with God. And Psalm 26, verses 6 through 8. I go about your altar, O Lord, proclaiming aloud your praise, telling of all your wonderful deeds. I love the house where you live, O Lord, the place where your glory dwells. I love your house. I love the place where your glory is. I want to be in your glory, O God. Do you ever pray that? I have. I do. Lord, I want to be in your glory. I want to be in your presence. Psalm 63, verses 1 through 8. Also a Psalm of David when he was in the desert of Judah. O God, and we sang this song tonight. O God, you are my God. Earnestly, I seek you. My soul thirsts for you. My body longs for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. We sang that chorus tonight. It’s beautiful. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live. And in your name, I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods. With singing lips, my mouth will praise you. On my bed, I remember you. I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you. Your right hand upholds me. Now it takes us right into the next one. David was a man of praise and worship. And this last psalm, I’m just going to point out again in Psalm 63 that we just read. He’s a man of praise and worship. He said, verse 3, my lips will glorify you. Verse 4, I will praise you as long as I live in your name. I will lift up my hands. And then in verse 7, I sing in the shadow of your wings. He was a man of praise and worship. Now, do you praise and worship God? And I don’t just mean listen to the radio. No, your own heart taking time, your own mouth speaking out praise. Now you can sing your praise. You can also speak your praise and worship. And God doesn’t care about your voice. If you don’t have a good voice, that’s all right. God can hear your heart and your heart sounds beautiful if it’s sincere. So whether you sing or speak, your praise and worship. Do you, on a regular, consistent basis, sing or speak out praises and worship to God? Are you a man or a woman of praise and worship? How often do you do it? If you don’t do it very often, just know you need to kick that up a notch. Do it more. Praise him and worship him more. 1 Samuel 16, 18. As I mentioned before, I’ve seen a son of Jesse Bethlehem who knows how to play the harp. So that was just one of the scriptures I wanted to show you that David played the harp. Well, what did he do with the harp? Play rock and roll? No, he played praise and worship. I’m sure all of his songs were devoted to the Lord, at least when he was in his time of fellowship with the Lord. 2 Samuel 6.14, David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might. Have you ever shaken loose your reserve? and danced before the Lord. If you haven’t, I challenge you to do it. If you have to even go into your bedroom or closet and close the door, go ahead, close the door. But do it. What you just heard was the continuation of part one of a series of messages that I preached in our victorious faith services called What Made David a Man After God’s Own Heart? And we will continue this message again tomorrow. So join me again tomorrow and remember God loves you. You are blessed and highly favored by the Lord.