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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.