Once again, it's an honor and
a blessed privilege to be allowed this opportunity to fill in for
Brother David. He probably preached for the
saints in Danville this morning. and is preaching tonight at Lexington
for the saints, or Todd Nyberg is the pastor. So pray that the
Lord will bring him safely home and give him good utterance also
tonight as he preaches the gospel of God's sovereign amazing grace. I have, my wife and I have several
great-grandchildren now. Our oldest granddaughter has
two, two sons, two grandchildren, not two great, but two sons.
And one is around seven. I'm not sure if he's seven yet,
but the other one is 10 months old. And I was talking with my
son the other day and he was over there visiting with them.
And he said, our youngest, grandson, great-grandson, and
his youngest grandson. He's got a mouthful of teeth
now, and he was trying to bite his older brother. Well, that's
just typical of our fallen nature. We're strings from our mother's
womb going astray and speaking lies, and that old nature shows
up right away. It's interesting. It's sad, but it's true. that
we don't have to teach our children to lie. We have to teach them
not to lie. And all through this life, that
old nature tries to dominate. When the Lord, as Brother Larry
brought out in Sunday school this morning, When the Lord sends
His Spirit into our heart and enlightens our minds and performs
the miracle of the new birth, when He passes by us and says,
live, then we have a new nature. He makes us partakers of His
divine nature. And that old nature is still
with us and it tries to dominate, tries to get control. when we sin, I mean if we sin,
it's when we sin. That's what we are. And I want
to ask you to turn to 1 Samuel 13 as we look into this subject
of a man after God's own heart. David was a man after God's own
heart. He knew a little bit about that
old nature. But God had given him faith, and we know
that God did because we read about David being a man of faith
in Hebrews 11. Now, Brother David in his message
last Sunday, shared this responsibility of every preacher sent from God,
we must get our hearers lost before they will see their need
of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. And that's so true.
We must keep before those that come into the assembly to hear
the message that the Lord has laid on our heart, we must remind
ourselves as well, and those who are listening to us, that
we died in Adam. We fell in Adam. And there's not one good thing
that God sees in any of us. Not one good thing. We see good
in others, we see good in our children, we see good in our
parents and grandparents and friends and associates, but that
good that we see is a good that they are performing before us,
not before God, unless the Spirit of God dwells in them. And so
we're not bad-mouthing your grandparents or your children, or your spouse,
we're just telling the truth. In us, that is in our flesh,
dwelleth no good thing. And until we see that, until
God is pleased to reveal that to us, we will not see our need
of Christ to be our Savior. We will not. We cannot. We're
blind to that. Now, our Lord taught this. He said, those who are well do
not need a physician. And that's so true. We don't
go to the doctor. I don't even like to go to the
doctor when I'm sick. But we don't go to the doctor if we're
feeling good. Now, our Lord said this, and boy, do we need to lay this
to heart. Without me, He can do nothing. Nothing. Now, religious folks have a desire to worship. Matter of
fact, that desire is probably in everybody. We have some kind
of an idol that we worship. But even if they're religious,
they're still lost if they don't have Christ. Reminds me of people
who get involved in raising animals for the state fair, and that's
a good thing. Our youngest son and his wife
taught our two granddaughters this very truth that you put
a little effort into something and you'll reap. So they taught them
to take care of a couple of pigs. Raise them up. Do good to them. Let them know that you're the
master. Feed them good food and get them
prepared for the fair. But you know, you can do that. You can dress up a pig. You can
take big old toothbrush and Colgate toothpaste and brush its teeth
and take it to the fair and win a blue ribbon, but it's still
a pig. You can't change it. And consider
this scripture, you don't have to turn there, it's in Jeremiah
13, 23, and God is speaking through him with these questions, can
the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots? Then
may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil. And that's
from the Word of God. And we read in the third chapter
of Romans, there's none good, there's none that doeth good,
there's none that seeketh after God. They've all gone astray.
That's speaking to us, all of us. All have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. And all false religionists, all
false preachers and those who follow them, They all hate God. They all hate Jesus Christ, who
is God. Their feet stink and they don't
love Jesus. Well, how do I know that's true?
Well, the Bible tells us that all men are liars. And the Word
of God also tells us that we hate God. We're enmity against
God. Well, pastor, how do you know
Their feet stink. Well, from the top of our head
to the bottom of our feet, there's no soundness in any of us. That's
what the Word of God teaches. And we're full of putrefying
sores. Sores that just ooze pus out
constantly. And everything about the natural
man is a stench in the nostrils of God Almighty. So their feet stink. My feet
stink. But those who have Christ dwelling
in them, those who have the honor of preaching the gospel or witnessing
for Christ, the Word of God tells us our feet are beautiful. But that old nature is still
there. And because of that Adamic nature,
All of us need Jesus Christ and His righteousness. We need the
perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We need to be washed in the pure,
precious blood of Jesus Christ. The death of Jesus Christ reconciled
us to God, and we need to know that. Jesus Christ was delivered
for our offenses, which I quoted earlier, was raised again for
our justification. Jesus Christ was the one who
rose from the dead after he paid the redemption price in full
for our sins and entered into glory and sat down on the right
hand of the Father on high. Now that doesn't mean that he's
not on his throne of glory. He is. That means Jesus Christ
is God's strong right arm. He is the power of God. And folks,
listen. We were raised with Him, and
we were made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Now,
David knew that. He knew that God had delivered
him, and that's what we want to talk about. When God puts
His Spirit in us, and I preached a message not long ago about
the heart. The heart is where we think.
Our Lord Jesus taught this. He said that, I can't, oh, my
mind is slipping. He said that out of the heart, man speaketh
lies. That's where the evil is. He plots different things to
do that's evil. Out of the abundance of the heart
the mouth speaketh. And when God sends his spirit
into our heart, we have the mind of Christ. And we start talking
about things that are pure, just, lovely, of good report, and if
there be any virtue or any praise, we think on these
things. Now, why is that? Why do we do
that? Well, the Word of God tells us.
See that glory? Let him glory in the Lord. And
so, Jesus Christ is the object of all worship and all praise,
and the new heart, or that Spirit that dwells in us, we want to
give Him all the glory. And so, we praise Him and thank
Him for what He has done. and who He is. David had some
knowledge about God's sovereignty over all flesh. But he had to
have that new heart. He knew he was a sinner, but
he was a man after God's own heart. And we read that in the
Scriptures. We read that David was a man
after God's own heart, and so the Lord put His Spirit in him.
We read that in Acts chapter 13, and we read it here in 2
Samuel 13, in verse... Well, I know it's here somewhere. I am so sorry, you'll please
forgive me. I get ahead of my notes. 1 Samuel 13 verse 14. We read this. That is not it. Oh, I'm in 2 Samuel. I'm so sorry.
1 Samuel 13 and verse 14. The Word of God tells us this,
that David was a man after God's own heart. Let me read this.
And Samuel said to Saul, Thou hast done foolishly, thou hast
not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded
thee. For now would the Lord have established
thy kingdom upon Israel forever. Now verse 14. But now thy kingdom
shall not continue. The Lord hath sought him a man
after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be
captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which
the Lord commanded thee." So David was a man after God's own
heart. And we know that when God sends
the Spirit of His Son into our heart, that's the miracle of
the new birth. And I need to make this statement
because I know it's true. Every man and every woman that
was chosen by God before this world began, redeemed by Jesus
Christ when He suffered there on the cross, and quickened by
God the Holy Spirit, every person that has Christ dwelling in them
is a man or a woman after God's own heart. Now, I don't know
about you, but that blesses me. And I want to share this truth
with you, and I hope it excites you, that this God that we serve,
who is sovereign over everything, has given us a heart that He
is pleased with. Now, He's not talking about the
heart that we come into this world with. about David who came
in with a sinful heart. He's not talking about that heart.
He's talking about Christ. Christ is God's heart. Jesus
Christ, our Lord, is God's heart. And we have God's heart dwelling
in us, Jesus Christ. And those who have Christ dwelling
in them follow after Christ. We love Him. We want to serve
Him. We want to praise Him. Now let me take you over to 2
Samuel 16, if you'll turn there. And David had some knowledge
about God's sovereignty. He knew a little bit about God's
sovereignty. He, David, like all of God's
enlightened saints, had two natures. manifested both. He sinned against God, yes, we
all do, but his desire was to praise God and give Him all the
glory for His absolute sovereign grace. Now, David had to flee from his son Absalom. And when he did, there was a
man that followed David, cursing him. And here in 2 Samuel chapter
16, I want to start reading at verse 5. When King David came
to Baharam, Behold, thence came out a man of the family of the
house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gerah. He came forth and cursed still
as he came, and he cast stones at David and at all the servants
of King David, and all the people and all the mighty men were on
his right hand and on his left, and thus said, Shemai, when he
cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial. The Lord hath returned upon thee
all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast
reigned. And the Lord hath delivered the
kingdom into the hand of Absalom thy son, and behold thou art
taken in thy mischief, because thou art a bloody man. Then said
of Asher, the son of Zeriah, unto the king. Why should this
dead dog curse my lord the king? Let me go over, I pray thee,
and take off his head. Well, he was a follower of David. He didn't like that at all. And
the king said, now these are the words of David, and he knew
a little bit about God's sovereignty. He said, what have I to do with
you, ye sons of Zeriah? turn your eye on. So let him
curse. Now listen to this. Because the
Lord hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore
hast thou done so? He said, David said, The Lord
hath sent him to curse me. He knew, David knew, that the
Lord control every heart. And that's the sovereignty of
the Lord we serve. And this reminds me, and it should
remind us also, of Job. Job said basically the same thing.
His sons and daughters were having a feast and a party in a house
and Satan came before The Lord accused Job, and we know the
story. Our Lord said to him, have you
considered my servant Job? Well, Satan didn't like that
at all. And he said, yeah, you take away
all those things that you've given him, he'll curse you. So
the Lord gave Satan permission. Now what I'm saying is this,
the devil is God's devil and he can't do anything but what
God allows him to do. And he had to get permission
from God before these things happened to Job. The house fell,
his sons and daughters died, all of his livestock, he was
a very rich, wealthy man, all of his servants, they were all
taken away from him. But Job said, the Lord giveth,
and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
And we could go on and on. But I'm just saying that Job
had the same understanding, and David had the same understanding,
that God gives all of his enlightened saints. Our Lord Jesus, our great
triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit reigns over this
whole universe and everything in it. And I thought about this
the other day. It's easier for God to move a
whole nation of people than it is for us to push a marble across
the hardwood floor. That's the power of our God.
And David had that understanding. He was a man after God's own
heart. And I'm so thankful that God
has given us that understanding. If you turn back to chapter 12 of 2 Samuel, just
a couple chapters back. And I want to continue on this
subject of a man after God's own heart. David yielded to the
flesh and committed adultery with Bathsheba. And then he plotted the death
of Uriah, her husband. And he, David, just continued
like nothing was wrong. I heard someone say this years
ago, and I can't remember who it was, but a very well-known,
prominent preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I don't know
if it's Henry Mahan, Don Fortner, or Maurice Montgomery, I can't
remember. But I remember when he made this
statement that I'm about to share with you, that I sat up on the
edge of my pew and was just in awe. Just in awe. I knew it was true. Because the
Word of God tells us, and Larry brought that out in his Sunday
school lesson, God loves us with an everlasting love, therefore
with loving kindness he draws us unto himself. And the preacher
said this, he said, God loved David just as much when he was
committing adultery in the arms of Bathsheba, as he did when
David was running down to face Goliath. Now, think about that. God's love is not determined
on what we do or what we do not do. God's love is an attribute
of God. He is love. What David did was not pleasing
to God, We can please God or we can not
please Him. But that didn't change God's
love for David. That love will constantly be
in our hearts because Christ is God's love and Christ dwells
in us. So here in 2 Samuel 12, We read this. Oh, I am so sorry. Well, let me just quote what
I was going to read. God sent His prophet to David. and told David that he had sinned
against God. And this is another proof of
God's love for his people. There were many committing adultery
in those days, but God sent David, I mean, Nathan, Nathan to David,
sent his prophet to David and told David he is the one who
sinned against God. And David repented and confessed
his sin. God not only sent the prophet
to him, God granted David repentance and God forgave David. And Nathan
said, you shall not surely die. Well, our Lord taught this very
truth. He said, there were many widows
in the day of Elijah. but God sent his prophet only
to one. And he said, there were many
lepers in the days of Elisha, but God sent his prophet to only
one. And that infuriated the people
who were hearing him and they took him out of the synagogue
and would have cast him over a hill and killed him, but it
wasn't his time and he evaded him. Folks, we sin against God. But God has sent us a preacher,
Brother David Edmondson. And he keeps this very truth
before us every time he preaches. That we're sinners and we need
to be reminded of God's grace and His mercy in our lives. granting us forgiveness of sins
because of Christ. We have been forgiven for Christ's
sake. For Christ's sake. And we should be supportive of our pastor. highly esteem him. I know this,
God's preachers do not have to coerce God's people to come to
church. I know we can't be here every
time, every time the doors are open for public worship, we sometimes
get sick, sometimes we're on a trip, but our hearts are still
here. And we don't have to coerce God's
people to give, to give of our time, our prayers,
our talents, our monies. It's God who works in us both
to will and to do of His good pleasure. God will, by His Spirit, move
us to do that which will give Him all the glory, And we should
delight in the fact that He has done that. There's a reason why
we're to do all things without murmuring. There's a reason. I'll tell you what that reason
is. He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now, I was
going to bring some more out, but I can't even find my scriptures.
Let me take you over to the book of Romans, if you would turn
there with me, please, to the eighth chapter. Romans chapter
8. And I want to bring this as a
closing passage so that we can be reminded of a wonderful blessed
truth. God will never leave us nor forsake
us. Now, David was a man after God's
own heart, but he still feared death. He shouldn't have, but
he did, and after he had been delivered from the hand of Saul
time and time and time again, David still cried out with fear
that Saul might kill him. And fear grips our hearts when
we take our eye off of Christ and start looking at self. We
should not do that, but we're human and we have that old nature
to contend with. But David never lost sight of
God and His eternal covenant of grace. Brother Larry quoted
this in his lesson, but let me quote it again. Some of David's
last words were, 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." Now, David had children who were
not in that eternal covenant, and he grieved over them. But
he knew, David knew, that God had established this everlasting
covenant with him. And God's children today, who
have the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them, know that very same
truth. God's children by virtue of an
eternal covenant of grace. Our Heavenly Father, our Lord
Jesus, and God the Holy Spirit met way back in old eternity. The Father promised the Lord
Jesus a son, I mean children, sons and daughters, conditional
upon what he would do when he sent him to this earth. And he
did everything that the Father sent him to do. And there was
a voice that came from heaven, speaking of Jesus Christ saying,
this is my beloved son, hear ye him. Now we must hear the
gospel. We must. But it's not the voice
of the preacher that reveals God and his wonderful grace. through the finished work of
Jesus Christ. This is the Holy Spirit. Our Heavenly Father is
the one who reveals this to us and our Lord Jesus taught that
while he was here on this earth. He told his disciples when Peter,
being a spokesman, said, Thou art to Christ the Son of the
living God. He said, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed that unto thee, but my Father,
which is in heaven. So this understanding of God's
eternal covenant and of his grace and his mercy through the perfect
redeeming work of Christ Jesus has to be revealed. We must hear
the voice of Jesus Christ. Now, false religionists and I'm
not a bit bashful about speaking out against them. They serve
another Jesus, another spirit, they have another gospel, and
it robs God of His glory. Did you hear that? It robs God
of His glory. When David went down, sent from
his father, to see how his brethren were doing, they were facing
the Philistines ready to go to battle, his older brother rebuked
him. And David said, is there not
a cause? Well, let me ask you, God's glory
is at stake, is there not a cause? Our testimony must be Jesus Christ,
who He is, what He has done, where He is now, and what He's
doing right now. That's our testimony. Have you
ever considered these words of Holy Scripture? The Word of God
says to us, let your light so shine before men that they may
see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. What is our light? Jesus Christ
is our light. David wrote these words, the
Lord shall light my candle. I think that's how it's worded.
And God has lit my candle, your candle, if Christ dwells in you.
Jesus Christ is our light. And we must tell folks that.
Well, what are our good works? The works of Jesus Christ are
our good works. We're not teaching that God's
children should live licentiously. No, we tell God's children, hate
sin, run from sin. Don't be involved with those
things that dishonors God. Serve the Lord with all your
heart. and tell others that He's the One who redeemed you, He's
your true and living God, that He by Himself purged our sins,
that He was delivered for our offenses. You know, this just
boggles my mind when I think about this, that every sin that
I committed, that I'm committing, or that I will commit, was nailed
to the cross. Our Lord bore all of my sins
in His own body on the tree. Absolutely nothing can be laid
to the charge of God's elect. You all believe that? I believe
that. God help my non-believers. And
I want to get excited about that. The two on the road to Emmaus
heard the Lord speaking and expounding unto them in all the Scriptures
concerning Himself, and their hearts burned within them as
He opened unto them the Scriptures. That's my prayer. That's my desire.
That when I hear these truths, and I hear them every time we
meet here, then my heart burns within me, and I want that to
be known to the folks that I associate with. Jesus Christ reveals His
Word to me. And false preachers hate God,
hate Jesus Christ, hate His Gospel. They're trying to dethrone God.
They're trying to take Him off of His throne. They will not
worship a sovereign God. And the cause is this. We need
to be set for the defense of the gospel. And false preachers
are also teaching that Jesus Christ died for everybody, and
some for whom Christ died is going to go to eternal torment.
That's a lie right out of the pit. Our Lord Jesus said, other sheep I have which are
not of this fold, them I also must bring. None will be lost. There will not be an empty seat
in heaven. All for whom Christ died will
be there with Him, worshiping Him in spirit and in truth for
all eternity. And here in Romans chapter 8,
the Apostle Paul, writing under divine inspiration, said this, Starting verse 33. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or tribulation, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long,
we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter, Nay, 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 our Lord. Now,
I'm telling you the truth. None for whom Christ died will
be turned into eternal torment. Now, we have the words from Christ
Himself that teaches us that if the world hated Him, they
will hate us. and we read in the scriptures
through much tribulation, shall we enter into the kingdom of
God. We're going to be persecuted, we're going to be hated, our
loved ones are going to turn away from us, we're going to
have difficulties and trials, but in all these things we are
more than conquerors through Christ who loved us. Now David
was an old man when he died, but not as old as I am right
now. He was 70 years old, but he lay shivering and could
not get warm. But he was still a man after
God's own heart. We must never lose sight of who controls everything. And
we might suffer. When we get old, we might go
through some kind of a painful disease. We might, in our walk
in this life, stumble and fall and even break a bone. But those are not accidents.
With God, there are no accidents. He has purposed everything for
our good and for His glory. And all of these things, God
has determined that we would go through them. All things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to His purpose. All things. And help us to lay
this to heart. no matter what happens. I'm not
worried about the war that seems to be developing over between
Russia and Ukraine. I'm not worried about that. I
know God's got a purpose for that. I don't know what's going
to develop yet, but that's why I watch the news to see what
God's doing. I'm telling you, He's in control. And God help
us to look to Jesus Christ as our sovereign Lord. There are
people today, false religionists, who are being taught by false
preachers that it's okay not to have Jesus as your Lord. Just
make sure He's your Savior and you can have Him as Lord later
on down the line. That's a lie. They go together. You can't separate them. And
the first thing that we read about this salvation in the Holy
Scriptures in this verse is that if we confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord, and that God has raised Him from the dead, we shall be
saved. His Lord comes first and raised from the dead for us is
connected to that. You can't separate them. Jesus
Christ is Lord of all. Oh God, help us to see that He
has purposed whatever it is that we're allowed to go through.
My time is up, I'm sorry. But anyway, may the Lord be pleased
to remind us that we're children after God's own heart, that He
by Himself chose us to be in Him for all eternity.