Let us turn again to God's Word
and directing you this morning to those words that we find at
the beginning of 2 Samuel 23, the opening verse of 2 Samuel
23. Now these be the last words of
David. David the son of Jesse said,
and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the
God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel now these be the last
words of David David the son of Jesse said and the man who
was raised up on high the anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet
Psalmist of Israel the last words it says but these I believe are
not really the final words the very last words that David ever
spoke but rather here we have his last will and his testament
we have his ultimate wish and it concerns his house of
course as we see from verse 5 although my house be not so with God although
we make it not to grow we have on a previous occasion considered
that particular part of the chapter where he speaks of his trust
in the everlasting covenant that is ordered in all things and
sure which he says is all his salvation and all his desire. But we're considering this morning
what he is saying here in the first verse of this particular
chapter the last will, the last testament of King David. Now, we have to remember that
David is clearly a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have a
remarkable verse in the prophecy of Hosea, there in Hosea 3.5,
concerning the gospel day, the latter days. We read these words,
afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the
Lord their God, and David their king, and shall feel the Lord
and his goodness in the latter days. In the latter days, then,
the house of Israel are seeking the Lord their God, and David
their king. Who is this David? Well, it is,
of course, none other than David's greatest son. the Lord Jesus
Christ. Is he not that one who is also
spoken of in the language of Ezekiel 34 which we've referred
to on previous occasions where God as He rebukes the shepherds
in Israel, those who were to occupy the pastoral office, the
the kings and the prophets and the priests and how miserably
time and again they have failed the people. And then God gives
that great promise after all those rebukes and those reproofs
addressed to the shepherds. He says in verse 23 of that chapter,
I will set up one shepherd over them and he shall feed them,
even my servant David. He shall feed them and he shall
be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their
God, and My servant David, a prince among them, I, the Lord, have
spoken it." Who is the David that is spoken of there by Ezekiel? It's the same as that one that
Hosea refers to. It is Him who is the Good Shepherd,
who declares, I am the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. And of course, when we come to
the very last book of scripture. In fact, in the last chapter
of the book of the Revelation, again, we see clearly that Christ
is David. Christ is the true son of David,
the real seed of David. Revelation 22, 16, I am the root,
he says, and the offspring of David. And so here, Now these
be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said,
and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the
God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel. Isn't Christ himself
to be discerned in these last words? Doesn't David speak of
him? Who is the one who is truly the
anointed? of the God of Jacob. I like the way it's brought out
more specifically in Luther's rendering of this particular
verse. He renders it somewhat like this, now these be the last
words of David. David the son of Jesse said,
the man that was confirmed concerning the Messiah or the Christ, of
the God of Jacob, sweet in the Psalms of Israel. David is at Manasseh that was
confirmed concerning the Messiah, the God of Jacob. And so, this morning, as we consider
these opening words of this particular chapter. I want just to deal
with two points really. I want to say something with
regards to the faith of David, David's faith as we see it here,
and in the second place to look at the object of that faith.
Because with regards to that faith that he's saving, that
faith that he's justifying, the vital thing always is the object,
the one with whom faith has to do, the one in whom true faith
always centers. But first of all, to say something
with regards to the faith of David. Isn't David the one who
is being spoken of here as that man of faith? He has that faith that comes
by the operation of God. He has that faith that is the
gift of God. The man who was raised up on
high, it says. Now, it's an interesting statement
that we have here, and it's not easy really to understand or
to interpret. The man who is raised up on high. This is how David is describing
himself. But the word that is rendered,
raised up on high, is one that is so pregnant in meaning. The particular
Hebrew word that we have here, the basic meaning is to rise,
to raise up. But it goes on really to have
the idea of being established, being made to stand good, being
valid. And that's why in that rendering
of Luther that I just referred to, we have the word confirmed. the man who is confirmed. And
that's an indication, really, of the strength of the faith
of David concerning the anointed, concerning the Messiah. When
we think of faith, of course, in Scripture, it's very difficult
to define it because we have We don't really have definitions
of faith. What the Bible constantly does
is to set before us the object of faith. And as I said just
now, that is really the all-important thing. Where does faith center? And of course, the object is
none other than Him who is the author of faith. Because the
author of faith is also the finisher of faith. The words of Hebrews
chapter 12. Looking on to Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. The vital thing is that one in
whom faith centers. So I do want to come to that
matter, but thinking of definitions of faith. As I say here, the
man raised up on high, this is a man who is so favored because
he is confirmed, he is established in his faith. Now I say that
we have very little in scripture that gives us a definition but
we do have a verse Hebrews 11 verse 1 remember that chapter
that says much with regards to those men and women of faith
in the Old Testament and there in the opening verse of Hebrews
11 we are told faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
of things not seen. Faith is the substance. The margin says faith is the
confidence of things hoped for. And really that's what we have
here with regards to David. David is the man you see confirmed. Confirmed with regards to God's
Messiah. He has confidence. It's the confidence
of David's faith. Now, when we think of faith,
of course, we have to recognize that faith has to do with what
God has said. Faith has to do with the Word
of God, His promise. And our God's Word is that sure
Word. Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 8,
we're told the word of our God shall stand forever. And it's interesting because
that word, or those words, stand forever, are from the same root
as what we have here in the text, raised upon high. God's word
is that that stands firm. God's Word is that that is stable. God's Word is that that does
not shake. And faith has to do with the
Word of God. And what is this Word of God?
Well, it's not just what God has spoken, it's what God has
also confirmed. When He gave promise to Abram,
because he could swear by no greater, he swore by himself. He has confirmed it by an oath. and it is that word that has
also been sealed in the precious blood of Christ. The testator,
the mediator has come and died, and the testament now is in force. This is that word of God then.
God has given his word, and God is not a man that he should lie,
nor the son of man that he should repent. There is a firmness with
regards to the Word of God. He has sealed it in the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when we think of those
words that I just referred to in Isaiah 40, the Word of our
God shall stand forever, what is this Word? Ultimately, it's
the Gospel. It's that Gospel that centers
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is the Rock. He is the Rock. His work is perfect,
says Moses there in his song in Deuteronomy 32. And doesn't
David say the same? Here in verse 3, the God of Israel
said, The Rock of Israel spake to me. All the Lord Jesus Christ
is very much here and how that Word of God is a sure and a certain
words and how that words is so contrasted with all the weakness
and the feebleness of men who rage so often at the Word of
God and reject the Word of God. Remember the language that we
have there in Isaiah 4 And, of course, it's speaking
principally of the ministry of John the Baptist who comes as
the forerunner of Christ. Comfort ye, my people, saith
your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity
is pardoned. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. And then we have this,
the voice of Him that crieth in the wilderness. Prepare ye
the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our
God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall
be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the
rough places plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together. for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken." Here is John the Baptist, his ministry as the harbinger
of Christ and the coming of the gospel. And how that gospel is
the revelation of the glory of the Lord, he says. And all flesh
shall see it. Verse 6, the voice said, Cry.
And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass. And all the
goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field, the grass
withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass. The grass withereth, the flower
fadeth, but the Word of our God shall stand forever. All the
people is grass. All what is man, such a feeble,
frail creature, who rages in vain against the Word of God.
And they do it, we know that. Constantly they do it. They pour
scorn on God's Word. But the Word of our God shall
stand forever. This is that sure and that certain
Word that faith has to do with. That David's faith has to do
with. It is that word that concerns
the coming of Him who is the Word incarnate. And remember
the Scriptures and the Lord bear one tremendous name. The written
and incarnate Word in all things are the sign. All that sure Word
of God then that we have in the Gospel. But I said I wanted us
to consider something of David's faith. And what do we see here? Well, we see something of the
assurance of that faith. When this Word of God is truly
apprehended by faith, what is the consequence in that person
who has such a faith? Well, the heart becomes like
the Word of God, certain, firm, secure. This is something of
the faith of David. And what was David's faith confirmed
in, it's confirmed in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the man
who was raised up on high, as it's rendered here in our authorised
version. Raised up on high, it's that
word that I said is so rich and pregnant in meaning. Luther renders
it confirmed. But here we have it, he's raised
up on high. And is it not the same sort of
faith that we see in the Apostle? Because the faith of David and
the faith of all those in the Old Testament, the faith of all
the prophets is the same as the faith of Paul in the New Testament
and all of the New Testament Apostles. And we know the language
that Paul employs there when he writes in his epistle to the
Romans. Particularly I think of the language
that we find in that great 8th chapter. How all things must
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
the called according to his purpose. you know the passages there that's
golden chain those whom we foreknow are the ones who we ultimately
will glorify but I'm thinking of the the closing verses really
of that chapter what does the Apostle say? verse 37 in all these things
we are more than conquerors through him that loved us for I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus." What a persuasion
is this! Isn't Paul also that man who
is clearly set on height? What a faith this man has, you
see! He is confirmed in the truth of the Word of God. Again, when
he writes to Timothy he says, I know whom I have believed and
am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed
unto him against that guy. Oh, he knew who he had believed
and so he has that firm persuasion in his mind This is the faith,
I say, of those that we read of here in Scripture, be it in
the Old Testament, the men, the women of faith, be it in the
New Testament. The apostles and those early
Christian believers. And how Peter exhorts that this
is what we should ever desire. The full assurance of faith. Does he not give that exhortation? as he writes there in his second
epistle in the first chapter. Brethren, he says, give diligence
to make your calling and election sure. He is speaking of the sureness
or the assurance of their faith. They should be diligent. This
should be a matter of some concern for them. They are not to be
those who are satisfied with a faith that is full of doubts
and fears. All the Roman Catholic churches
will keep the people in that place where they are never sure.
They have no assurance, no assurance in that church. They want to
keep the people in bondage to the priesthood. No, the Apostle
says that the Christian believer is to be one who gives diligence
to make his calling and his election sure. Again we have that very expression,
the full assurance of faith in Hebrews 12, 22. Now I don't decry
little faith, not for a moment. Thank God if we have a little
of what is the real and genuine faith of God's elect. But let
us not be satisfied with little faith. Can we not come with that man
in the gospel who says to the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord I believe,
help thou mine unbelief. Is that us? We do believe. But
we grieve over our unbelief and we want to be delivered from
unbelief because we see what unbelief is. Unbelief is sin. Unbelief is the chief of all
sins. Unbelief is that that we witness in the fall of our first
parents. Why did Eve listen to the serpent
and partake of the forbidden fruit? It was unbelief, the act
of disobedience. We're to recognize unbelief for
what it is. And we want the Lord to deliver
us from that unbelief. Now, again, I want to be clear
because we have to recognize that there is a difference between
these two things that I sort of say something of just now
there is the the certainty of the promise of God because that promise which we
have in the Word of God as I said has been confirmed by the oath
of God and the covenant is sealed in the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ the promise in that sense is the eternal, the immutable
decree of God that is revealed to us in scripture concerning
salvation, and it stands. It's fixed, it's firm, it's immovable. This is a great privilege that
we have, that we have the Word of God. And when we come together
to worship we have God's Word unfolded before us and we're
to recognize what the Word of God is. Does he not say, or the
psalmist says concerning that word, thou hast magnified thy
word above all thy name. Oh, if God's words should ever
fail, and that's an impossibility, because if God's word should
fail, God has failed. And if God fails, God is not
God anymore. We have to recognize in the sureness,
the certainty, the dependability of the Word of God and we want
to fight that is rooted in that Word but our fight is not always
firm we're attacked, we're assaulted
there's a devil and he comes and he tempts us and he entraps
our faith and we stumble and we fall and so our faith falters
and sometimes we feel to fail now I believe that that's really
what is being brought out in that hymn that we were just singing
235 the first two verses of course speak of all that we are our
stumblings but then the last verse reminds us what true faith
is all about And true faith's the life of God, to quote another
of hard sins, true faith's the life of God. Deep in the heart
it lies, it lives, it labours. Under load though damped, it
never dies. Oh, that's the wonder of faith,
because faith has to do ultimately with God, and the Word of God,
and the Christ of God, who is that Word of God incarnate. And so, having sought to say
something with regards to David, there were times when David,
in the midst of all his trials, all his troubles,
was fearful. He thought one day he was going
to perish at the hand of Saul. But that could never be, he was
the anointed of the Lord. He must become the king. But
how David here, as he comes to the end, speaks of the sureness
and the certainty of that blessed hope, that real faith that centers
in the one who was to come, the anointed of the Lord. These be
the last words of David, David the son of Jesse said, and the
man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob,
and the sweet psalmist of Israel." Let me secondly say something
with regards more particular to the object, the object. of that faith, and the importance
of the object, the anointed of the God of Jacob. And again I remind you, because
I do like it, I like the way it's rendered by the Protestant
Reformer, by Luther, that David was confirmed, he says, his faith
was confirmed concerning the Messiah, of the gods of Jacob. Now, what we have of course when
we come to his last words here is very much rooted in what he
has said previously in that prayer that we have in the seventh chapter
where the Prophet comes and speaks
to him and reveals to him the mind of God. David is not to
be the one who's going to build the temple of the Lord. that
great privilege will come to his son Solomon. But really what Nathan speaks
of is a greater than Solomon. At the end of that revelation
that he gives to David, there in chapter 7 and verse 12, when
thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers,
I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out
of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a
house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom
forever." That is not to be understood in terms simply of Solomon. That
is the Lord Jesus Christ and His kingdom, that kingdom that
is not of this world, that kingdom that is forever. that kingdom
that is an everlasting kingdom. And there, of course, the Prophet
speaks of David's seed. I will set up thy seed after
thee. And who is the seed? Well, again,
and I've said it many a time, We find the answer in the New
Testament. We always have to come to the New Testament to
really understand the Old Testament. We have to read the Old Testament
in the light of the New Testament. We have to read our Bibles in
that sense back to front. We read from the New Testament
back into the Old Testament. And it is evident just whom David
Seed was. When Paul is defining the Gospel
there at the beginning of Romans chapter 3, what does he say?
That Gospel concerns God's Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, which
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. He was
made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to
be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of Holiness
by the resurrection from the dead. He is David's seed, he
is David's son, but he is also that one who is marked out as
the son of God by the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection
from the dead. Oh there! Paul makes it plain
who Jesus of Nazareth is. He is the son of God. He is the
son of man. The two natures. He is that one
who is truly God. And yet he is never, or he always
is truly God. But then in the fullness of the
time he becomes a real man. the two natures in the one person
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, I refer to Luther and the way
in which Luther renders what we have there at the end of verse
19 in that prayer of David. as he begins to respond before
God to what the Prophet has brought to him. In chapter 7 verse 18 following
he says, Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that thou
hast brought me hither to? And this was yet a small thing
in thy sight, O Lord God, but thou hast spoken also of thy
servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner
of man, O Lord God?" Now, that last sentence here in verse 19,
again, it's not an easy portion to translate at all. In fact,
you might see an alternative reading in the margin, but this
is how Luther renders it. Completely different to what
we have in the Authorized Version. He renders it like this, Thou
hast looked upon me as in the form of a man who on high is
the Lord God. Thou hast looked upon me in the
form of a man. who on high is the Lord God. And Luther says that there David
is recognizing that that one who would come as his seed is
none other than the eternal Son of God. He looks upon him, as
it were, in the form of a man, but he is in fact on high the
Lord God. He sees the two natures there
in the Lord Jesus Christ who is, of course, the great God-man. And here, in our text this morning,
David does speak of himself as the sweet psalmist of Israel.
These last words of David, they are the last words, this is the
last testament of the sweet psalmist of Israel. Now we don't have
time to consider all that David has to say in the Psalms, but
aren't David's Psalms full of the Lord Jesus Christ? Time and time again, we have
those Messianic Psalms, those Psalms that clearly are prophetic. Psalm 22, for example. But I think in particular of
the words that we have in Psalm 110. Because there, in that Psalm,
David clearly sees that the Christ that one who will
come as his seed is none other than the Lord God himself the
Lord said unto my Lord sit thou at my right hand till I make
thine enemies thy footstool there are clearly two there there is
the one who speaks and the one who is spoken to. The Lord said
to my Lord. There's two Lords. There's the
Father and there's the Son, but there's also the Holy Ghost,
because who is the one who is speaking? It's David's psalm,
but David tells us here in verse 2, the Spirit of the Lord spake
by me. There are the three persons,
Father, Son and Holy Ghost, in what David is saying in Psalm
110 and you remember how the Lord Jesus Christ himself raises
this when he speaks to silence the Pharisees at the end of Matthew
chapter 22 there at verse 41 while the Pharisees
were gathered together Jesus asked them saying, What think
ye of Christ, whose Son is he? They say unto him, The Son of
David. He saith unto them, O then doth
David in spirit call him Lord. O doth David in spirit, as the
Holy Ghost, call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Set
thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man
was able to ask him a word, neither does any man from that day forth
ask him any more questions." Well, here is the great object
of David's faith. David's faith centers clearly
in this One who was to come, the Anointed, the Messiah. This is why his faith is so strong
and so confirming and so establishing. because of that one who is the
blessed object of his faith. Again, another of the Messianic
Psalms, Psalm 89. Now, maybe this is a Psalm of
David. I know it says in the title,
it's a Maskel of Ethan the Ezraite. But the margin tells us it's
a Psalm for Ethan. not of Ethan but for Ethan the
Ezraite to give instruction and it's clearly a psalm that's messianic and David is mentioned verse 19 then spakest then thou
spakest in vision to thy holy one and saidst I have laid help
upon one that is mighty I have exalted one chosen out of the
people I have found David my servant with my holy oil have
I anointed him with whom my hand shall be established and mine
arm shall strengthen him and then later verse 34 my covenant will I not
break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips once have
I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David, his seed
shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me,
it shall be established forever as the moon, and as a faithful
witness in heaven." Selah. Oh, the Selah is significant,
isn't it? It indicates a pause, We're to stop, we're to consider,
we're to think upon those things that are being declared by the
Psalmists. This is God's Word and this is
where David's faith rests. In that Word of God, that faithful
promise of the Gospel, that eternal covenant that has been sealed
in the precious blood of Christ, although my house be not so with
God. Yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, and sure, for this is all my
salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to grow."
What is it? It's an everlasting covenant.
It's God's covenant. And God is that One who is from
everlasting to everlasting. remember the language of Moses
in Psalm 19 where he speaks of the eternal God he says before
the mountains were brought forth or ever thou would form the earth
and the world from everlasting to everlasting thou art God and
what is the covenant? it's God's covenant as I said
it's that covenant that has been made by the persons in the garden
that council of peace that shall be between them both between
the father and the son and the father in that covenant has given
a people to the son that he might redeem that people and in that
covenant the son has so willingly become the servant of God and
so in the fullness of the time God sends forth his son made
of a woman made under the law to redeem them that were under
the law Oh, it's everlasting, this covenant. It's the eternal
covenant of grace and it's ordered. It's ordered. That's what David
says here concerning it. Ordered in all things, he says. Every detail. In the decree of
God. Even the dying of the Lord Jesus
and how Peter declares that. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have crucified and slain."
All the Jews, they were culpable, they were sinners. They killed
the Lord of Glory. But it was God's purpose. Everything's
in that covenant. Everything. That's an amazing
truth, isn't it? That all things work together
for good to them that love God I don't know if you're aware
of that little book of Ralph Erskine's Gospel Sonnets it's
a tremendous little book really so much of the gospel sets in
verse and he says there this sin for my good doth work and
win yet it is not good that I should sin or we see it of course in
the experience of Job and God is not the author of sin and
we're not to excuse ourselves in sinning but I believe that
Erskine is right sin for my good will work and win yes! it is
not good that I should sin this is our comfort that all things
do work together for good in the goodness of God in the covenant
of his grace It's everlasting, it's ordered, it's sure. An everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. What does God say? I will make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I have given
him for a witness to the people, a leader and a commander to the
people. Who is that one? that Isaiah
is speaking of. He was a witness, a leader, a
commander. Is it not the Lord Jesus Christ?
Oh, it's sure, it's the sure mercies of David in Christ, why,
all God's promises, all the promises of God in Him are yea and in
Him are men. This is where our faith has to
settle and rest. If we would only know something
of what David himself was so blessed and so favoured with. He was confirmed concerning the
Messiah. Oh, he had assured a certain
faith and it centred in him that was to come, even his own seed.
Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse
said, and the man who was raised up on high The anointed of the
God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel said, the Spirit of the Lord spoke by me and His
Word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the Rock
of Israel spoke to me. Oh, that the Lord would come
and speak and address each of us in and through Him who is
the Rock, even the Mediator of the Covenant, our Lord Jesus
Christ. May the Lord be pleased to bless
His Word to us.