Covenant Reformed Presbyterian Church

I am so thankful for the realistic picture the Bible gives us even of the heroes of the faith like David. It shows us their godliness as well as their sin. This is helpful for our walk. But this is not the best part. The best part is that the Bible shows us how God's grace intersects with their lives. This helps us to trust Him and love Him better. Today, we see David in a time of weariness. He pursues relief in a sinful way.

In 1 John 4, John has much to say about love. In 1 John 4:7-12, we saw how, as those who are adopted into God's family, we have the perfect conditions for love—a new nature from God and new environment in His house. In 1 John 4:12-19, we saw how our security increases as we mature in love. Today in 1 John 4:20 – 5:5, we are going to see still more about love. Here, we are given a reality check about our love, and then we are sent to Him for help. It is a tremendously helpful passage! Let's dig in.

In 1 Sam 26, we see David, God's anointed king, having to deal with Saul all over again. Back in chapter 24, King Saul had been pursing David to destroy him in almost exactly the same way until one day when he entered a cave, unaware that David was hiding there and was forced to confess when David spared him that David was righteous and he was wicked. He left David alone for a while after that (chapter 25), but in 26 he is at it all over again

This week, we are going to look at one of the effects of "maturing love:" It makes us secure. A child who grows up in a loving family becomes more and more mature in that love and more and more secure about his place in that family. He knows that He belongs there. Our reading today is 1 John 4:12-19. As has often been the case in our study of 1 John, we have a transitional verse that was included in last week's reading: verse 12.

Today, the sermon will be a little different. We are going to look at the subject of Polygamy. We have David's Polygamy set before us in our text, 1 Sam 25:39-44.

Today in First John, we are covering chapter 4, verses 7-12. In the last three sermons we looked at evidences that we know God. The first one was that we obey God as God. The second is a subset of the first… we love our brothers—other Christians. The third evidence is that we follow those who preach the truth. This week, John shows us from whence love comes—the source of it.

Our gracious Lord is so wise and faithful in bringing about His purposes and kingdom. Last week, David glorifies God by refusing to take vengeance on his enemy, but this week, God is glorified by restraining David from taking vengeance.

1 John 3:24 is a transition from commandment keeping as an evidence that we know God to having the Holy Spirit as an evidence that we know Him.

Revering God is a rare commodity in every age. David is a refreshing exception of someone who truly revered God. Let's take a look.

Suppose you have two people who profess to believe in Christ. But one practices righteousness and the other does not. Last week, we saw in 3:4-10, that John says the one who doesn't doesn't know God. Suppose, however, that both of these individuals practice righteousness in the ways I just described, but one of them does not love his brother? That also is inconsistent with a true Christian profession. That is our topic this week in 1 John 3:10-23. Verse 10 is a transitional verse from the sign of practicing righteousness to the sign of brotherly love.

God has a pattern He frequently follows of sending us to the wilderness for training. When you get down to it, this present world is a time of wilderness training for believers. This does not mean we should be hard and without compassion. Christ isn't (Hebrews 4:14-16). In 1 Samuel 23, we have David being trained in the wilderness with the men God gave him.

The characteristic we are looking at this week in 1 John 3:4-10 is one that, until you look at more closely, might be unsettling. "If You Know God, You Don't Sin."

God has been very kind to give us His word. It is like no other writings. He speaks to us. Today we have come to 1 Samuel 22 where we have a contrast between Saul and David. Saul shows us where we are headed if we put our life in our own hands—David shows us where we are headed if we put our life in God's hands!

John is continuing to exhort us to abide in Him—to go on with the real Christ whom we know through the gospel—but adds the blessing of sonship. We are God's children.

Today in our sermon series in Samuel we come to chapter 21. This the continuation of the account of David's rise to the throne. To the onlooking world, it certainly does not look like he is being raised up to reign! Presently, King Saul is trying to kill David. David is a fugitive, trying to avoid death. We see David brought to desperation, but we see God at work in times of desperation.

Today, in our sermon series from 1 John, we come to 1 John 2:18-27. It relates to last week. Last week, in v. 12-17, John told us that those who know God don't go after the world. This week, in v. 18-27, he tells us that those who know God don't go after antichrists.

We often speak about covenants in the church with good reason. Without covenant promises from God, we could not be sure of His intentions toward us. In our text today, God gives us a beautiful picture of how covenants work.

In our Sunday Afternoon Services, I have been preaching through the First Epistle of John. John explains that He has written this letter so that the reader might learn of Jesus Christ and have fellowship with Him and with the Father. John is especially concerned in this letter to help us know that we know Him. Today, John declares to us as believers that we do know the Lord