The name of this message is called The Life Filled With Love. And although we just read chapter 24, we still have the same verse up at the top of your handout from last week, 1 Chronicles 23 verse 1. And when David was old and full of days, he made Shlomo, his son, king over Israel. And that's the jumping off verse I guess that we'll use, because we're really looking at verses, chapters 23, 24, 25, really up to 27 overall of what David has done as it reflects upon our lives. Well, that's the word of the Lord, and let us pray again. Our most blessed and gracious Father and God, in Jesus' name and for his sake, we thank you, Lord, for the truth that is set before us. We ask you, Father, to be glorified in our time as we worship you from the word, and may Christ be exalted. May we draw close because of the truth of your word and because of what Christ has done and not because of anything that we do. We love you Lord and thank you as we worship you from the word today. Be exalted in Jesus name and for his sake. Amen. Background very similar from what we were looking at last week. We started off really with a series from David desiring to build God a house in 1 Chronicles 17. And we see that that reflected salvation's blessings. God says, you want to build me a house? Well, you're a man of blood, which we saw in chapter 22. First Chronicles chapter 22 that he was a man of war, but his son would build a house. And in fact, it was Jehovah God that would build the house for David. And we recognize that as far as for salvation. It's not what we do. It's what God has done and what He has done through His only Son. In 1 Chronicles 18, we see that though we are blessed of the Lord, that we should still be strong in Christ. And the warfare of David that goes on, that he didn't rest upon his laurels, but he continued to fight the wars. That though God had told him that his son that would be raised up would have peace surrounding him, that there were still enemies to be conquered. And so David is a warring king, went out and didn't rest on his laurels. And we see that's a reflection of us being strong in Christ. First Chronicles chapter 19, where there was wickedness set against David and he was, the best of his kindnesses to even those who were unbelievers, he was shamed. And we see that as a reflection of the Christian life because we suffer for Christ's sake. that even in the best of our intentions to be a blessing to the world and a blessing to one another, to honor God through that, that we suffer for Christ's sake. In 1 Chronicles 20, the wars, rewards, and repetition, we see the forgiveness in Christ, the battles that still need to be fought because giants were mentioned. The reason why David gathered five smooth stones to begin with when he fought Goliath was that there were four other giants in the land, four other champions of the Philistines, but they were quickly dispatched. But also the thing that we had noted is that in 2 Samuel, whereas David committed adultery and conspiracy and murder against Uriah the Hittite and his wife Bathsheba, it's absent from 1 Chronicles, which shows us the truth of forgiveness. that in Christ, the blood of Christ cleanses us from all unrighteousness and trusting upon His work upon the cross that we are forgiven of sins past, present, and future. And then in 1 Chronicles chapter 21, that though David is forgiven, he still numbers his people arrogantly as if by the numbering of those people, he knows how many soldiers he has from all those tribes as if that number was what brought victory. A kind of a very, very incredible picture of backsliding and it resulted in the deaths of 70,000 men. You want a number of those people to show how strong you are? Well, I'm going to take 70,000 of them strong men from you. And David repented. And it shows in us that the flesh must still be crucified. I'm crucified with Christ, as the scriptures say. Nevertheless, I live. But the life that I live, I now live, I live by the by the faith of Christ who loved me and gave himself for me, as Galatians 2 and verse 20 says. And we see that sacrifice that is made upon the place where Jesus would be crucified and where the temple would be built. when the angel of the Lord's hand was stayed. In 1 Chronicles 22, we see the wonderful counsel of David where he says, although I can't build the house, I've gathered all these materials through the wars that I fought. Here are the materials for the building of the house. And he tells his son, Solomon, shlomo in Hebrew, which means peaceful. that this is your charge, this is what you're to do as far as for building the house. And we get some insights there, but it reminds us that we should have as he charged the elders of Israel to set your mind and your hearts upon Yehovah God, just as in the Christian life that we need to set our hearts and souls, our minds and our hearts, we need to have them set upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And now in chapters 23 to 29, David, this man who had ruled in Hebron for seven years and 33 years in Jerusalem, a man after God's own heart, a man that is now in the last of his days and sees his son Solomon set upon a throne. He gives himself, even in his weakness, right up to the end. He gives himself right up to the end, not just a life full of days as we saw last week, but a life filled with love, a love for God. a love for God's people, and a love for God's prophetic gospel. And today is why I decided as, well, I decided, the Lord really decided, what am I gonna preach from on this, Lord? And in prayer for this, I believe that this is the point where we should mention this as far as a panorama for these verses as the Lord organizes through David, there's an organization of the Levites, the priesthood, the Levites as in chapter 23 last week, and the priesthood in chapter 24 today. The musicians in chapter 25, the gatekeepers and officials in chapter 26, the military itself and its tribal leaders in chapter 27. And so basically in that organization, the Lord shows us David's love, but basically the love that God had poured into him so that he could be loving. Because we saw salvation through David as a type. and we'll draw some encouragement from David's example today. To speak of chapter 24 in particular as the Levites now moving from the Levites at chapter 23 to chapter 24 is mentioned again historically in verse 2 in verse two where it says, but Nadav and Abiyu died before their father and had no children. So Eleazar, Itamar became the priests. And they died before their, did you notice they died before their father? And in one sense it says that they died before their father died because Aaron died later, but also they died before their father. Because there's a misconception of Nadav and Avihu in Leviticus chapter 10, they died also before the Lord. when, because chapter 10, Leviticus chapter 10, I believe verse two, mentions that they died before the Lord. And some say that, well, the reason why that they died in there, and this is the reason why, that when you perform something improperly, the priests have got to have a rope tied around their waist so they can hear the... bells tinkling. For one thing, Nadav and Avihu didn't have those bells. That's only the high priest, and the high priest goes in once a year, as we'll see next week when we're in Leviticus 16. The high priest who wears the flowing garments, he changes out of that when he goes in, and that's only once a year, the day of atonement. They went in, they offered strange fire before the Lord. The fire that they're supposed to burn incense with is the fire that came down from heaven for the first sacrifice when the tabernacle was built. And those coals and embers are supposed to be, that's what those shovels were for, was supposed to take those and use those coals to place in the incense when they were going in. They take it in a pan and then they go and burn incense on the altar before the veil of the temple. And that's supposed to be done twice daily, at nine o'clock in the morning, the third hour of the day, and at three in the afternoon, the ninth hour of the day. And so that's done twice a day, morning and evening. And that's supposed to be their prayers, but they made their own fire. Well, they passed the altar and why didn't they, well, it's too much work. It's easier to go ahead and run our flints together. That's what our flesh does, but they're mentioned again. that they're mentioned here in verse two. But there are some other names, and I'm getting ahead of myself, so I'll wait a little bit. But there's some other names throughout the lineage here that are very important and very prophetic. But what do we see with this, this example of David's love? His days are filled because they're full of days. not full of weeks and full of months or full of years, but full of days, which is wonderful. And we saw that last week. But his love for God was an order unto honor. He organized the Levites. He organized the priesthood. He organizes the tribes of Israel because his temple is going to be built. And he does so to honor God. 1 Corinthians 14, verse 40, Paul speaking in a different context, but the last verse of 1 Corinthians 14 is an eternal truth. It says, but all things should be done decently and in order. Now, the Corinthian church was a bit out of order. They were speaking in tongues, willy-nilly and so forth. It was just people weren't waiting on one another when communion was being taken. And they had these agape feasts and people were going hungry and others were being glutted. And some were even getting drunk in the church there. And he says, no, look, this is what needs to be done. Things need to be done decently and in order. And David's love for God, and now probably, and I'm just putting into this, this isn't directly from scripture, but now David looks back on just what we've covered from chapter 17 on, and he sees this hand of God upon him. And we know that John tells us in 1 John 4, verse 19, that we love him because he first loved us. And so David, looking upon this love of God, He loves God, and the commandment is fulfilled as much as it can be fulfilled by a sinner saved by God's grace. The Shema, the holy place of the Jews in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 6, verse 4, Shema Yisrael, Yehovah Eloheinu, Yehovah Echad. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And in verse six it says, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your modecha, all your everything. And so in doing so, he organizes the priesthood. He organizes the Levites and the priesthood and puts them in order and says, you are going to do it in an orderly way because God loves order. And in doing this, we'll have worship that is not out of order. That there'll be people that are in place to do what they're supposed to do. And David loves God so much that God who brings order out of chaos, even from the beginning in the creation of the world. You know, evening and morning became day one. And evening and morning, the second day and so forth as God created. He took out of darkness, He brought forth light. That's why evening and morning. That's why the Jew counts the evening at 6 p.m. 12 hours later, it's the day. Evening and morning is the day. And because of his love for God, it produces a love for God's people. As we have our complimentary verse today in 1 John 4, verse 10, it says, if anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. But the order is, if we have loved God because He loved us, and now because we love God, then we will love others. And David expresses this by his organization unto holy worship, because he knows that the best for the people of God, for their benefit, is first to worship God in an orderly way, in that which is pleasing to God. And if he could do that so that they could worship more pleasing to God, in better form for God, in a blessed manner before God, then he has blessed them far beyond what he could do as king to bring them supply after supply, or keep them protected from enemies because it's the Lord that was protecting them anyway. Philippians chapter two, verse four in the New Testament, we recognize that as Paul says, let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. James chapter 2 verse 8 tells us the second part of what we saw in Deuteronomy. Remember that that's the great commandment of the law. Jesus said so in Matthew chapter 22. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and all your strength, as it was recorded in Luke by a scribe. This is the great commandment of the law. And the second is like unto it, quoting from Leviticus, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Because if you're not loving your neighbor, how could you say that you're loving God? James says it like this in chapter 2, verse 8. He says, if you really fulfill the royal law, according to the scripture, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. You're doing well. So David, in putting this organization of the priesthood together in courses so that everyone gets to participate in an orderly way and that no one, no family is left out from the sons of Eleazar, there I pronounced it in English, Eleazar and Ithamar, because We know from the New Testament that Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31, so whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. And so when we come together for worship, which is even setting aside the things of eating and drinking and whatever we do in life, we give the most glory to God when we come together to worship Him through the exaltation of Jesus Christ. That's man's ultimate purpose, 1 Corinthians 10, verse 31. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. We were created for God's glory, to be pleased with him. And so since man's ultimate purpose is to worship God, David's aid in worship was the most loving service he could do for God's people, to establish them in a proper, orderly worship of Yehovah God. And He loved them to do that because He knew that when they were worshiping, they were blessed. And when they came forth from worship blessed, that is, I pray that you will be today, that you come forth and you look upon God in the way that He should be looked upon through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that when you go forth from these doors, that you're blessed. That when you eat lunch today, that even that first prayer and the nodding of your head before you eat that meal, you see it in great thanksgiving because of what Christ has done for you to save you from a eternal condemnation that you rightly deserve because of your sins against God. But he has forgiven you in Christ. Finally, we see in David's example, we see a love for God's prophetic gospel. His obedience through faith, Because he didn't just take this upon himself willy-nilly as if, you know, this is a good idea. And since I'm about ready to die, why don't I just organize everybody? You know, put everything in order. That would be, just to take it off of a whim, that would be like me sitting at my desk saying, you know, I got all this stuff for all my fishing gear out here. Why don't I just organize that for the person that comes along for when I'm gone? Just off of a whim. No, this is purposeful. That God placed it in his heart. That his life full of days is a life filled with love. And with that love for God and a love for God's people, now he has a love for God's prophetic gospel. He sees it for what it is and he goes obediently in faith. to provide by the recorders who were recording this in the Chronicles later on that how he put this together. David had a love for God's prophetic word. And even though there are some that would critically look upon Psalm 119 as not being David's, Spurgeon calls it David's and so will I. But in Psalm 119 verse 92, this does sound like David to say, oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. And after, in David reflecting back on his life, on the things that the Lord had brought him through, that so much sounds like what may have been on David's heart. Oh, how I love your law. Maybe he had penned it earlier, or maybe someone else did, but because the Lord who had saved him by his grace, had filled his heart with this love, because God is love, that he saw God's prophetic word as being a wonderful thing. Look at this in 1 Chronicles 24, verses 10 and 11. It says in verse 10, the seventh, hakoz, the eighth course. The eighth course is aviyah, abijah. Does that name sound familiar for you who know your New Testament? Does Luke chapter 1 sound familiar? That Zechariah, the son of the priesthood, was in the course of Aviyah. Aviyah is an interesting name. Aviyah means my father. Av means father. Avi means my father. Yah is the condensed name of Jehovah. Aviyah, my father is Yah. And Zechariah, when the course fell on his time to be able to fulfill his duties for the full week, and remember the angel Gabriel came to him while he was offering incense and then he couldn't hear and couldn't speak when he came out. And he was told before that point, because he didn't believe, he was told by the angel Gabriel that your son would be born to you, and you're going to name him Yohanan, John. And he's going to be the one who precedes the Messiah. And so there's only two places in that course where he could have been operating, which would tell us that either Jesus was born in March or March, April, or he was born in September, October. I choose the September, October, because that's when the Feast of Tabernacles is. But that eighth course, it's recorded in Luke chapter one. The next course after that, the ninth course in verse 11, the ninth course, Well, that's the name in Hebrew. That's Yeshua. You know, that's Jesus's name. That's right there in the scriptures. That's in Old Testament. It's spelled the exact way that Yeshua would be spelled. Yod, shin, ayin, vav. Excuse me, vav, yayin, ayin. It would be spelled exactly the same way because in Matthew chapter, if you recall that in Matthew chapter one, verse 21, that the angel Gabriel came to Joseph who had not been with his wife yet, but she's found pregnant. So the angel Gabriel in Matthew chapter one, verse 21 comes to Joseph in a dream and said, she will bear a son and you shall name his name, Jesus. You shall name his name, Yeshua. for he will save his people from their sins. You know what Yeshua means? Yeshua means salvation. Yeshua is future tense, will save. So Jesus' name, Yeshua, if I said Matthew chapter 121 this way, she will bear a son and you shall call his name, will save, because he will save his people from their sin. And then, Wait a minute, I'm not done. The next part of the verse in verse 11, the 10th course, is Shekinah Yahu. Shekan means to dwell. That's the root word for what some of the mystical Jews of the Old Testament would call the Shekanah, the presence of God, the dwelling of God, the glow of God above the tabernacle in the wilderness by night, or the cloud of God in his presence by day in the wilderness. But Shekin-Yahu, or Shekin-Yahu, Shekin-Yahu means Shekan, dwelling, Yah will dwell. And what does it say in John 1, verse 4? And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. Glory is the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Gospel of John chapter one, verse 14. And so that's fulfilled in Christ, in his ministry. And I could go on from that point, from Yeshua, and go on as the courses are presented, there's the truth of the gospel that's there. And David did pen this Psalm. As this is being organized, and here are these prophetic names, and probably David didn't get it at the time. when he was looking at it. Probably gets it now, he's in the presence of the Lord. But he penned Psalm 138 verse 2 that says, I bow down toward your holy temple. The temple hadn't been built. He'd already commissioned Solomon to do that. He gathered the materials for it. But in Psalm 138 verse 2, he says, I bow down toward your holy temple, as if it's done. and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. And so there, even in his... service to God, his service to God's people, his service, he was used in service to promote the gospel, even in the divisions of these people. And that's encouragement for us today, because here is a man far beyond the technologies that we have today. The many Bibles that I get to carry, not only in my desk and in my bag, keep here in the scriptures, I have them on my phone and on my computer. To look all these things up, but it's encouragement by its simplicity today, because David's life shows me a love for Christ. It shows me and you a love for Christ's people. And finally, a love for Christ's prophetic gospel. A love for Christ. Just as we see reflected in David's but he was the king of Israel and he put in order the priesthood. What could I possibly do? Well, you know, it says here in Colossians 3, verse 23, whatever you do, do it heartily or work heartily as for the Lord and not for men. You know, just the simple things you do in who you are. You know, that's an eternal blessing. If you're saved by God's grace today, if you have trusted in the Lord Jesus, then you're an eternal person. And so therefore, everything that you do is eternal. And we may not see it because we're too close to it, but there are things that you can do that are so simple that you don't really even have to do. Sometimes I don't even think about it, but we could leave the world a better place just as David left it For God's honor, he left it a better place, even though I'm passing on. I could leave it a better place. You know, some of you do this too, because I just have done it ever since the Lord saved me. When I go into a public restroom, and it's, you know, paper towels are here and there, and water's spilled across the counter, I clean it up. I just do. And I know some of you also do that. It's just, I'll leave it better for the next person that comes in. It's not that much trouble. And besides, Lisa's shopping. And a lot of you know that I don't do that very good. Because when she's sick and I have to go into town and I have to shop, she gives me a list and I still have to call her up to find, where is this thing? And I'm standing right in front of it, there it is. Six items he gives me to buy and I still have to call her up for five of them. And the only, and the sixth one I didn't call her up for, I either found it by accident or asked somebody who was standing by, where's this thing? I don't know, it's not like I don't shop with her, I'm with her all the time. But I'm in there, and I clean that up. And we know that there is a new heaven and a new earth coming. It's going to be destroyed, but I don't want to litter on purpose. Many of you grow gardens. And in that growing a garden, don't you do it for the Lord, and you reap the benefit from it. The Lord who loves you, you love Him, and you do it because I don't want weeds in my garden. I'm going to pick it. I'm going to, you know, I love fishing. And so I fish, you know, I don't need 35 fish when I dip net, but I get them all because I can give fish away. And I want to leave something a little better and I can do it just in those little things. And that's honoring God and that's organizing your time. Just those little things. I could go on and on, but you have lives to live and lunch to eat, so I'm gonna keep on moving on. The next point, love for Christ's people. 1 John 4, verse 10. I don't know why, I think I put it on your notes, verse 20, it's supposed to be verse 10. If anyone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. Sorry for the typo. It's supposed to be verse 10. And we do so under edification. There's another passage of scripture which I didn't put on your notes. It says in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 26, when one member is honored, we're all honored, but when one member is honored, we all rejoice. When one member suffers, we all suffer, but when one member is honored, or is, when one member suffers, we all suffer. When one member is honored, we all rejoice with them. We're the body of Christ. And it's just like when I slice this finger open, I cut with my left hand. The dogs did that, I didn't cut myself. I cut with my left hand, but then when I turned the fish over, I cut with my right. And apparently, because of the latent onset diving decompression sickness, I have a little dexterity problem. And apparently, good thing my knuckle was in the way, because it stopped the cut. I just whack. But you know, it wasn't just my finger that hurt. Held it up above my head and I was going, ouch, all over my body. What did I do? And then she's squeamish. I had to make sure there was no blood before she could help me put this on. So. edification, we build up one another. Because if I build you up, as your pastor, but just as a Christian, if I am reading my scriptures and praying, that if I don't benefit you, it's no benefit to me. And especially now as your pastor that I give myself over and I could write a message because I did some study in Bible college, some study anyway. That's debatable because I did my three year study in nine months. So went through it really quick. So maybe it doesn't live us so much. So I could write a message, but what is it that the Lord wants for us? And that's the biggest part of, my meditations when I open up the word. What is going to be the best for us? Not for, you know, Soldat and the Baptist Church. They got a pastor up there. I'm not writing a message for them. It's for us, for me, for you, for all of us together to move and to be edified, to be built up in Christ. And I can tell that there's some times where I don't get something, and I want to write something else, but the Lord ministers to me, well, okay, I'll do this. Because He loves you so much that He'll even use me, ridiculous as that sounds, to bless you. And even if I say it wrong because I stuttered or have the wrong verse, the Holy Spirit in you, because you're saved, will turn around what I've said so that it's right for you. Brother, I was blessed by that. What were you blessed by? And then you say, and then I go, I didn't even say that. But I'm glad you're blessed. And then unto encouragement, because some of you come and you're feeling down. And the only thing that's going to keep you up is Christ, because He is sufficient. Not just for salvation, but in all things. You don't need to add to Christ. And that when He came and He died for your sins, that entrusting in Him, there is encouragement with that. You know, my day could be bad, but it could be worse. I could be going to hell, which I deserve because of the sins I committed against an infinitely holy God. And then that produces love for Christ's prophetic gospel. This is what Christ has done. In order that I may love God and to love others, 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2, Paul nails it. The sum of the gospel is this, for I determine not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That Christ crucified, and even though He didn't say the resurrection, it includes the resurrection because He's risen indeed. He ascended into heaven with the promise of coming again, but the crucifixion, a resurrection without Christ crucified, which paid for our sins, that he suffered the wrath of God for sins that you and I have committed. He paid a debt he did not owe for a debt that we owe and could not possibly pay. And for a love of that prophetic gospel, we see that we are a testimony for Christ by our lives, every salvation. every salvation is a prophetic testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ that he saved you is a blessing and that goes backwards again then I love God's people so much more because I see the truth of that gospel in Christ crucified in you because if he saved you then you must be important enough for me to love. I must love you because if Christ loved you, I would be going against something Christ loves if I didn't love you, if I just kind of got along with you or tolerated you. Man, with a lot of the tolerance that's preached today. Tolerance and climate change. What in the world is that? My Bible says that Your Bible says too, he holds the wind in his fist. He is the Lord Jesus who had calmed the sea in the midst of the storm. And in Mark it's recorded, who is this? That even the winds and the waves obey him. That, I don't have to worry about climate change if there is such a thing, which I don't think there is, because my Bible also says that he's the sovereign God. We get bound up over kind of those things. So we are a testimony of Christ because of the gospel. And then, you know, the last thing is that you're a testimony of Christ. You're not just a testimony for Christ because you've been saved, which is a wonderful thing and a great thing, but you're a testimony of Christ. Do you realize that even your name that was given to you by someone else? Is prophetic in the overall scheme of things. that the very breath in your nostrils today is meaningful to Christ. And when all is said and done in that day when the Lord Jesus returns, He's going to show you the things that you have been a testimony of Christ. You are gospel in yourself. Not just the testimony for Christ, but Christ in saving you. God the Father in saving you through the Spirit by the sacrifice of Christ is bringing in your life testimony after testimony that you're an epistle, as Paul says, you're an epistle written. by the hand of God, if I'll paraphrase it that way, you are his beloved epistle, a letter that presents the gospel eternally that the angels themselves will rejoice over in that day. Let's pray. Our most blessed and gracious Father in God, in Jesus' name and for his sake, we thank you, Lord, for the blessed testimony of Christ and the testimony for Christ that you have made us to be. We ask that we may more and more love you, Heavenly Father, and love your people because we have exalted Christ. because we have loved Christ. May that be the truth of a life full of days, but a life filled with love. In Jesus' name, for His sake we do pray. Amen.