David's Scandal, God's Promise | Broken Branches

Hello and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity

Sermons. This week we are continuing our sermon

series, Broken Branches, where we're looking

at Jesus's family tree. And today we come to

one of the most famous members of Jesus's family

tree, King David. And God made a big promise

to David. He promised that he would become more

famous than any man ever known. That his kingdom

and his throne would last forever. That God's

love would never leave him. And let's see if

God's promises really hold true. When David's

life falls apart, is God still there? That's

what Rob's going to unpack for us in today's

sermon. Our reading today is from the book of

2 Samuel 7, verses 8 -16. Now then, tell my servant

2 Samuel 7:8–16

David, this is what the Lord Almighty says. I

took you from the pasture, from tending the flock,

and appointed you ruler over my people Israel.

I have been with you wherever you have gone,

and I have cut off all your enemies from before

you. Now I will make your name great, like the

names of the greatest men on earth, and I will

provide a place for my people Israel, and will

plant them so that they can have a home of their

own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people

will not oppress them anymore, as they did at

the beginning. and have done ever since the time

I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I

will also give you rest from all your enemies.

The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself

will establish a house for you. When your days

are over and you rest with your ancestors, I

will raise up your offspring to succeed you,

your own flesh and blood, and I will establish

his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house

for my name and I will establish the throne of

his kingdom forever. I will be his father and

he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will

punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings

inflicted by human hands. But my love will never

be taken away from him as I took it away from

Saul, whom I removed before you. Your house and

your kingdom will endure forever before me. Your

throne will be established forever. This is the

word of the Lord. My Uncle John is the one in

our family who has the most interest in genealogies

and family trees and stuff like that. He's the

one with the subscription to Ancestry .com and

maybe sends away for the DNA kits and, you know,

likes to stay up at night scrolling through a

bunch of names that he's never heard before.

But actually this past week, my Uncle John sent

me a copy of my own family tree, my mother's

side of the family tree. really, really interested

in it. I was kind of combing through it. Whoops,

it goes this way. It printed out kind of funny,

so I had to tape it all together. When I first

got it, I was like, ooh, maybe there's someone

really famous and exciting in my family tree.

And I, you know, maybe, wouldn't it be great

if, let's say you had like a great aunt who...

had an affair with Colonel Sanders, and now you're

like the heir to the KFC fortune or something

like that. But no such luck there. There's nobody

on this particular family tree of mine that's

going to give me any money anytime soon. But

one thing I did discover is that I come from

a long line of farmers and shepherds. Now, case

in point. A year or so ago, my mother bequeathed

to me this very old shepherd's crook. So the

story is, is that my great -great -grandfather

was a guy named Enoch. And he was born in 1855,

and he lived in Lincolnshire in England, right

on the north coast in a town called Northcoats.

And it was there that he grazed his... flocks

along the shores of the North Sea there. Now,

my grandfather, who himself lived to be 100 years

old, my grandfather on one of his trips to England

picked up this shepherd's crook and brought it

back to Canada. And then he passed it on to my

mother. And then more recently, my mother has

passed it on to me. And so it's very, very special.

I actually keep it in my office. If you've ever

been in my office, it's hanging up there on the

wall. And it's hanging there as a bit of a reminder

of a couple of things. One that, you know, I

come from a long line of farmers and shepherds.

And that's kind of my own family tree. But it

also reminds me that as a priest and as a pastor,

in a way, I am still a shepherd trying to Take,

you know, keep you guys under control. So don't

mess with me, guys. I'm not afraid to use this

thing if I have to. Now, listen, for the past

four weeks, we've been talking about one particular

family tree, not mine, not yours. We've been

talking about the family tree of Jesus. And the

reason we've been talking about that is because

when Matthew sat down to write the Christmas

story, he didn't start by writing about angels

and he didn't start by writing about mangers.

He didn't even start by writing about shepherds,

my people. No, what he started with, he started

with a long list of names with a family tree.

a genealogy. And as you read through that genealogy,

one of the things that is going to strike you,

one of the things that we have been learning

is that he didn't focus just on the superstars.

In fact, he seems to slow down and pay more attention

to some of the broken branches in that family

tree. People who were part of scandals, people

who had shameful lives and did horrible things

or who failed in many ways. Now, the question

we have to ask ourselves is, why did Matthew

do this? Why write a family tree this way? And

the answer is, is that Matthew is about to tell

the story of Jesus, right? He's writing his gospel.

And in the story of Jesus, he's about to tell

people that God in Jesus has created this way

for us to approach God that doesn't depend on

anything that we have done. any achievement on

our part or any of the good things we've done,

but depends entirely on what God has done for

us in Jesus Christ, right? It's all what God

has done for us. And that is such a hard concept

for us to get through our thick skulls, whether

it was in the first century or in the 21st century,

that Matthew says, you know what, I'm going to

begin my gospel by painting this picture of all

of Jesus's relatives who messed up and had to

rely on the grace and on the mercy and on the

forgiveness of God, just like you and I need

to. Now, as Megan said, today we're going to

come to the most famous name on that genealogical

list. In some ways, it's the name that's most

closely associated with Jesus, and that is King

David. But true to Matthew's form and like he's

done before, it's really interesting to see what

he focuses on in David's life. Instead of highlighting

some of David's greatest hits and all the wonderful

accomplishments of David, he chooses instead

to center out what is perhaps the most embarrassing

moment of David's life. That time in his life

that I'm sure if he could go back, he would erase

and rather he'd just forget it all together.

Let's just kind of do a little trip down memory

lane. How does Matthew start the Christmas story?

This is how he starts it. This is the genealogy

of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David. Boom.

The very first name mentioned besides Jesus is

David. Now, of course, Jesus is not the son of

David. He's more like the great, great, great,

great, great, great, great, great, great, great

grandson of David. But the point is, is that

he's the man who is most closely associated with

Jesus in the genealogy. Matthew continues. This

is the genealogy of Jesus Messiah, son of David,

son of Abraham. Abraham was the father of Isaac.

Isaac, the father of Jacob. Jacob, the father

of Judah and his brothers. Now, you remember

a few weeks ago, we talked about Judah, didn't

we, right? Anyways, he carries on. Judah was

the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was

Tamar. We talked about her a few weeks ago. And

Perez was the father of Hezron. Hezron, the father

of Ram. Ram, the father of Amminadab. We keep

on going. Amminadab, the father of Nashon. Nashon,

the father... of salmon salmon the father of

boaz whose mother was rahab we talked about rahab

last week if you were here last week boaz was

the father of obed whose mother was ruth we never

got around to talking about ruth but she's got

a great story if we had more time we definitely

would talk about her we keep going obed was the

father of jesse and jesse was the father of king

david David was the father of Solomon. And now

what normally would happen here in the genealogies,

David was the father of Solomon, who was the

father of so -and -so, who was the father of

so -and -so, and keep on going. But no, this

is where Matthew does his thing again. He pauses

and says, no, David was the father of Solomon,

whose mother had been Uriah's wife. Now... I

want to raise my hand at this point and say,

Matthew, can I ask you a question? Sure, what's

the question? Of all the descriptions that you

could use to talk about who David was, why do

you have to choose that one? Why not David the

builder? Why not David the warrior? Why not David

the shepherd? Why not, you know, David the poet?

David the psalmist? David the musician? Why David?

The father of Solomon, whose mother had been

Uriah's wife. Why surface all that junk? Why

do you got to go into that dysfunctional story?

Why focus on the biggest failure of this guy's

life? Because, Matthew would say, that's the

point of the story that I'm about to tell. That's

the point of Jesus, the point of the gospel.

That's the point of Christmas. So today, what

we're going to do is we're going to look at the

life of David real fast in four parts. I've given

you some sermon notes so you can follow along,

try to get the most out of it. We're going to

look at it in four parts. A promise made, a promise

tested, a promise kept, and a new promise. So

let's begin at, well, the beginning. A very good

place to start, as Julie Andrews once told us.

David's story begins with a promise. begins actually

about a thousand years before Jesus, when there

was this prophet in Israel by the name of Samuel.

And one day, God says to Samuel the prophet,

Samuel, I want you to anoint a brand new king

in Israel. I've had it with the current king,

Saul. I'm so done with him, and I want to create

a new king. And so God sends Samuel to this small

and unimpressive town by the name of Bethlehem.

Now, isn't that interesting that the very first

time Bethlehem shows up in the Bible has nothing

to do with Jesus. It has everything to do with

David. Anyways, Samuel, he arrives in Bethlehem

and he meets this man named Jesse. And Jesse

has eight sons. And he says, Jesse, I'm here

to anoint one of your sons, the next king of

Israel. Jesse's like, fantastic, let me get them

for you. And he brings in the sons. And then

one by one, the sons are brought in front of

Samuel. And Samuel looks at them and he listens

to God's voice, the nudging of the spirit. And

every time God says, no, not this one. No, not

this one. You know, he brings out the smart.

one no not this one he brings out the older one

no not this one he brings out the you know the

most athletic one no not this one no not this

one no not this one well he goes through all

the sons and he's like you know jesse this is

a bit of an awkward question but you don't you

don't have another son somewhere do you and and

jesse's like well actually yes i do but he's

out in the fields tending the sheep he's a shepherd

he's the youngest one he's the forgotten one

and he's And Samuel's like, it's okay, I'll wait.

And so, you know, Samuel sits down and they're

like, okay. So they go out to the fields. They

bring David in. And I can imagine that when he

walks in, he's dirty, he's smelly, he's sunburned.

He's like wiping his nose on his sleeve. He's

just a kid, right? And God nudges Samuel and

he's like, this is the one. This is the next

king of Israel. And Samuel's like, oh, okay,

God, whatever. This is your deal. Whatever you

say goes. And so Samuel takes oil and he anoints

David right then and there. And then he says

to David, David, I have something very, very

important to say to you. Listen to me. You are

going to be the next king of Israel. To which

David probably was like. okay, can I go back

outside now? Because, you know, my friends are

kind of out there and, you know, he, you know,

blows his nose and he runs out of the house again,

right? Because he's a kid, he's eight, he's 10,

he's 12 years old. What does he know about any

of this stuff? But a promise has been made, right?

And this story teaches us something, two things

actually right off the bat. The first is that

God does not judge people based on their appearance,

right? God saw a king. Where other people only

saw a shepherd. God didn't choose the tallest

one. He didn't choose the oldest one. He didn't

choose the strongest one. He didn't choose necessarily

the smartest one. But God saw something where

other people don't see. And the second thing

this reminds us is that God's promises always

begin with grace. At this point in his life,

David had done exactly nothing to earn God's

favor. There was no achievement he could point

to. There was nothing. about David's life at

this point that would say, oh yeah, he deserves

to be the next king. No. God's promises always,

always, always begin with grace, not our performance,

not our achievement. That is a key concept throughout

the whole Bible, by the way. Now. Let's fast

forward a few years later or many years later.

David is actually now king. And what is going

to happen is a new prophet named Nathan is going

to come to David to kind of renew and affirm

that. promise that was made and so Nathan says

this is what God wants to tell you David he says

God says I took you from the pasture and I appointed

you ruler over my people Israel and now I will

make your name great like the names of the greatest

men on earth now what a promise that is to have

a name that everybody on earth has kind of heard

of and actually it's not too far from the truth

Is it? Because I must do a quick poll with everyone

here. How many of you, before you came to church

today, had already heard of King David? Just

a quick show of hands. Right? See, so it's true.

Kind of in every country, in every language,

in every culture, everyone seems to know who

King David was. And then the promise goes a little

further. God promises David a lasting house.

Now, what is this lasting house? It means that

basically the descendants after David, God is

going to continue to extend the promise to them.

And at first, it'll be David's first son, Solomon.

But then, you know, from generation to generation,

God will continue to establish David's throne.

Forever. And then I think comes perhaps the most

beautiful and important line in all of this.

God says, when it comes to you, David, and when

it comes to all of your descendants, my love

will never be taken away from you or them. Now

that is an amazing promise. What a promise. That

is not your everyday contract. That is something

we call a covenant. A contract would sound more

like is, David, if you stay faithful, if you

stay godly, if you do all the right things, if

you obey me, then I'll love you forever. But

no, God is saying, David, even if you screw up,

even if you mess up, even if you fall and fail,

I will still be faithful. So at this point in

the story, everything looks amazing. Everything's

beautiful. Everything looks hopeful. A promise

has been made. And what a promise it is. But

now, before too long, that promise is going to

get tested. It's not long after God makes this

breathtaking promise to David that we read. in

one of the darkest chapters of the Bible, frankly.

It kind of happened like this. It was a time

when David's soldiers, and a lot of soldiers,

went away to fight battles. But for some reason,

David had stayed behind in the palace. And as

he was hanging around the palace, kind of home

alone, like Macaulay Culkin, home alone, no one's

around. He's staring out the window one night,

and he sees this lovely woman who's bathing out

there. And he's like, goinks. Who is this? Hello,

hello. And so he calls his servant and says,

who is that woman? The servant's like, David,

don't get any ideas. That is Bathsheba, and she

is Uriah's wife. Hey, David, pay attention. David,

David, you know who Uriah is, right? Uriah, one

of your most loyal soldiers, that Uriah. And

David's like, you know, she seems like a nice

lady. I would like to talk to her. And they do

a whole lot more than talk. And a few weeks later,

Bathsheba sends a message to David. Guess what?

I am pregnant with your child. And now David's

got a real mess on his hands. What does he do?

He does what most people in power do when they're

cornered. He starts to manipulate things and

he starts to try to cover his tracks. And so

what he does is he calls Uriah back from the

battlefield, right? David says, oh, you're right.

You've been working so hard out there on the

battlefield. You deserve a rest. Why don't you

go and spend a little time with your wife, if

you know what I mean? Nudge, nudge, wink, wink,

right? Say no more, say no more. Go on down there

and spend a night. But Uriah's like, no way,

I can't do that. My fellow soldiers are out there

on the battlefield living and fighting and dying.

I can't go enjoy the pleasure of my wife with

all that going on. So then David tries again

the next night, only this time he tries to get

Uriah drunk first. Hey, Uriah, why don't you

go down? But no, he still won't do it. He's still

too noble. He is still too honorable. And it's

interesting because at this point, the stories,

you might be starting to think, oh, wouldn't

it be, maybe Uriah would make a better king than

David at this point. But no, God had made this

promise to David. But then David does something

absolutely unthinkable. He writes a letter to

his general out on the battlefield, Joab. And

he says, Joab, here's what I want you to do.

I want you to put Uriah right at the front lines

of the fighting. And then all of a sudden, when

the fighting is at its worst, I want you to withdraw

all the other men and leave him there alone and

surrounded. And then he... He licks the envelope.

He says, oh, hey, as you make your way back to

the battlefield, Uriah, would you mind hand delivering

this to Joab? And so he basically hand delivers

his own execution order to Joab. And the next

day, Uriah is killed in battle. Isn't it interesting

how one sin leads to another, which leads to

another, leads to a lie, which leads to murder

in this case. And isn't it true that sin rarely

stays private? It rarely stays small. It's always

growing. It's always multiplying. And that's

what happened here. And so what happens? Bathsheba

mourns the death of her husband. And then David

marries her. And from the outside, it looks like

it's all been covered up. It looks like no one

knows what just happened. But God knows. God

knows. God always knows. And we read that the

thing David had done was evil in the sight of

the Lord. And now God has got to make a decision.

Do I retract my promise that I made to David?

Or is a promise a promise? Now listen, right?

I know I said, I know I said it was an unconditional

promise, but who could have seen this? And I

mean, now that I see what this guy's really about,

and I mean, I have to do something about this.

I can't just let this slide, can I, right? Maybe

I should back out of my promise. The real thing

here we have to wrestle with is when it comes

to God, is a promise really a promise? Because

I don't know about you, but I know human beings

aren't so good at this. We might make a promise

and we might say this is a forever promise, but

then something happens and we're like, well,

yeah, I mean, I know I promised, but I didn't

plan all that happening. So no, I retract my

promise. Or maybe you actually have had someone

promise something to you and then they went back

on what they promised and you're still hurting

from that. So, is a promise really a promise?

Now, to David's credit, you know what he does

as soon as he realizes his sin has been exposed?

He falls face down at the altar in the temple

in front of God and he cries out and he repents

and he begs God for forgiveness. And if you read

Psalm 51, it is a wonderful telling of David's

heart -wrenching prayer for forgiveness. But

still, what's God going to do? What is God going

to do with a guy who has messed up so badly?

Well, David finds out, we find out, and this

is one of the greatest lessons of the whole Bible,

is that God always keeps his promise. Now, God

forgives David, but that does not mean there

was not a whole lot of pain. that followed David.

Oh, there was incredible consequences for his

sin. Because of his sin, David's life begins

to unravel. His family falls apart. His sons

start fighting each other. One son kills another

son. That general, Joab, he in turn goes and

kills David's favorite son. And then, you know,

the kingdom fractures. David is forced to flee

Jerusalem. What if David's son Absalom does something

absolutely horrid and disgusting with David's

wives right on the top of the palace? And as

if all of that weren't enough, remember that

child that Bathsheba and David had, that child

also dies. So yes, God's... Discipline was severe.

The consequences were horrible and the follow

was real, but God's commitment was unshaken.

Astonishingly, through all that chaos, through

all that bloodshed, through all that backstabbing

and heartbreak, God never withdrew his promise.

The pain was real, but the promise was eternal.

And you might say, well, I honestly don't understand

how God could do that. How could a promise last

through all of that? And the answer is that the

promise actually never rested on David's side.

It was always up to God. It rested on God. Our

promises from our side often fail, but God's

promises stand forever. And that is why, now

we're getting to Christmas, that is why Nearly

a thousand years later, after all that failure

and after all that embarrassment, a man in David's

line named Joseph travels with his pregnant wife

named Mary to that same small town where it all

started, Bethlehem. And there she gives birth

to David's distant... the great, great, great,

great, great, great, great grandson of that flawed

king. And they name him Jesus because God keeps

his promises. And if you're Matthew and you're

a former tax collector and you have broken more

than a few promises yourself and you know what

forgiveness is all about, then there is no way

you are skipping this part of the story. David's

failure. isn't just part of the story. It's the

point of the story. When God makes a promise,

he keeps it. And even our biggest failures will

not cause God to go back on his word. That's

why Matthew wrote, when he wrote, he probably

had a smile on his face when he said, and then

David is the father of Solomon, ah yes, whose

mother had been. Uriah's wife. I've got to underline

that and make sure I include that because that's

what the story is about. And here's what Matthew

knew. Matthew knew that that promise that God

made to David was being renewed. And in Jesus,

God makes a new promise. Now, not just to one

king, not just to one family line, not just to

one nation, but now to the whole world. It's

a brand new promise. It's a brand new promise

God has made. It's a brand new covenant between

God and all humanity. But again, it is not based

on our faithfulness. It is not secured by our

obedience. It is grounded entirely on Jesus's

sacrifice. This is the promise. This is the promise

that began in the manger, but it's most fully

revealed on the cross and on the empty tomb.

And just as God kept his promise to David, despite

his sin, God would keep this promise to you and

me and the whole world through David's even greater

son, Jesus Christ. And that is why when Jesus

was born, The angel says, I bring you good news

that will be for all the people. All the people,

not just the good ones, not just the smart ones,

not just the tall ones, not just the oldest ones,

not just the strongest ones. All the people,

right? And that includes the ones who think they're

better than they are. And that also includes

the ones who think they don't stand a chance.

And then isn't it beautiful how the angel says,

In the town of, say it with me, today in the

town of David, a Savior has been born. I actually

hope that for the rest of your life, when you

read those words, they just land a little differently

for you. The town of David, not David the hero,

David the sinner, David the man who needed grace.

Today in the town of David, a Savior has been

born to you, and he's the Messiah, the Lord.

David's story tells us that God doesn't bypass

broken branches. He works through them. And so

many of us, whether you're sitting here and you're

confident, or whether you're feeling ashamed,

whether you're strong, or whether you're struggling,

even if you're a faithful churchgoer, We often,

we relate to God as if we're negotiating. We're

like, God, listen, I'll do better. God, let me

do this, God. God, I promise this time it'll

be better. God, surely what I've just done is

worth something to you. But as long as we approach

God that way, we will never have peace. Because

peace doesn't come from trying harder. Peace

comes from the promise. God's promise that is

greater than your failures. That is greater than

your guilt. That is greater than your last mistake.

That is greater than your next mistake. So this

Christmas, you can have peace with God, not because

your sins don't matter, but because your sins

have been dealt with in Jesus Christ. So Jesus,

you see, he was descended from a shepherd, but

Jesus was actually also called the good shepherd.

who lays down his life for his sheep. In fact,

Jesus was called the Lamb of God who took away

the sin of the world. So the invitation to you

is simple. This Christmas, don't come to God

with all your promises. God, I promise you this.

God, I promise you that. Instead, come to God

and trust his promise. Because the same God who

kept his promise to David will keep his promise

to you and me. Thanks be to God. Amen. Thanks

for tuning in to this week's episode of Trinity

Sermons. This sermon was recorded at Trinity

Church Streetsville on December 21st, 2025.