A Life of Thanksgiving to God

This passage deals with the praise and the last words David offered to God at the end of his life. David introduces himself as an instrument through which the Spirit of God speaks and as God's anointed, confessing that all his authority and achievements were the work of the Holy Spirit, not of human ability. At the close of his life he realizes how futile worldly glory and personal desire had been, and he sings a song of thanksgiving, acknowledging God alone as his rock.

Through the event in which David would not drink the well water that three mighty men had brought at the risk of their lives, but poured it out to God, the sermon points out how serious sin is and how important repentance is. David immediately realized that his careless words had become a sin that endangered his men's lives, and by repenting he showed how great a responsibility a leader's words and actions carry. It also emphasizes that the wicked, like thorns, cannot escape judgment, and that believers must hope for God's righteous rule and live honest and holy lives.

The sermon asks how believers will introduce themselves at their final moment, and whether their words and actions now are causing pain to the people around them. It poses the question of living, like David, as those who deeply repent of their sin and faithfully convey God's will.