Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I want to invite you to turn
with me this morning to the book of 2 Samuel chapter 23. We're going to be looking at
the first five verses of this chapter. And I believe these
five verses of scripture are very deep, very deep and meaningful
and very wise. They grab my attention. Every time I read these five
verses, they grab my attention and they make me want to ponder
life and death and eternity. in what really matters. These are sobering verses. And they cause my heart to break,
truly break, for those who are wasting the short space of time
that God has given them on this earth. Men and women, generally
speaking, are wasting it. And they're wasting it by not
bowing the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. Compared to eternity, our time
on this earth is not even a blink of the eyes. That's too long. A vapor of smoke is too long
to compare to eternity. And men and women are just not
using their time wisely. And this life is going to be
over. And their soul is going to be ushered into this never-ending
eternity. And it's either unto eternal
glory in life or it's unto eternal damnation. in spiritual death. One thing is the deciding factor
and I need to know what that one thing is. Time is flying. It's just flying
by. I can already look back on my
life and see chapter after chapter that's over. Eternity is coming quickly. It's coming very quickly and
I need a hope going into it. Do you? Do you need a hope going into
eternity? Do you need a hope to leave this
world with? Verse one right here in second
Samuel 23 says, now these be the last words of David. This is the end of David's life
on this earth. After all of his ups, after all
of his downs, after all of his triumphs, all of his falls, These
be the last words of David. David died at a full age. He died an old man. Back in 2 Samuel chapter 5, we
see that. It says in verse 4, David was
30 years old when he began to reign and he reigned 40 years. In Hebron, he reigned over Judah
seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem, he reigned
30 and three years over all Israel and Judah. So he was 70 roughly,
three score and 10. And throughout his life, clearly
the Lord's hand was on him. God gave him great strength,
great courage. If you look back at 1 Samuel
chapter 17, we'll see this great strength and courage. It says
in 1 Samuel 17 verse 1, now the Philistines gathered together
their armies to battle and were gathered together at Shoko, which
belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shoko and Ezekiah and
Ephesdamim. And Saul and the men of Israel
were gathered together and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set
the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines
stood on a mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on a mountain
on the other side, and there was a valley between them. And
there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines
named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had a helmet of brass
upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the
weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had
greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between
his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was
like a weaver's beam, and his spearhead weighed six hundred
shekels of iron. And one bearing a shield went
before him, and he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel,
and said unto them, Why are you come out to set your battle in
array? Am not I a Philistine, and you
servants of Saul? Choose you a man for you, and
let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me,
and to kill me, then will we be your servants. But if I prevail
against him and kill him, then shall you be our servants and
serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy
the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight
together. When Saul and all Israel heard
those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly
afraid. This man was huge, nine and a
half feet tall, huge. Saul was afraid, all of Israel
was afraid. Now look at verse 32. And David
said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant
will go and fight with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, thou
art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him
for thou art but a youth and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, Thy
servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear,
and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him, and
smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he arose
against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew
him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear, and this uncircumcised
Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the
armies of the living God. And David said, Moreover the
Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of
the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of
this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go,
and the Lord be with thee. And we know how that story ends,
don't we? David put a stone in a sling and God caused that stone
to hit Goliath right between the eyes and it killed him. And David went and took Goliath's
own sword and cut his head off with it. David was a man who
was truly blessed and anointed by God. In 1 Samuel 13, it says,
Samuel the prophet 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, 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. Who is that? Who had the Lord
chosen to be his king? The answer is David. He chose
David. God ordained everything that
surrounded David's life. He prospered him. He anointed
him. And he loved him. He said, he's
a man after my own heart. But David sinned against God. In spite of all God's goodness
to him, David spit in God's face and he sinned against him. And I'm gonna tell you something
in absolute honesty this morning. So have I. And I'm gonna tell you something
else in absolute honesty this morning. So have you. Yes, me and you. David's sins are recorded in
this holy word and they're terrible. They're terrible, but they're
not much different from ours. This word of God says, the Lord
seeth not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance,
but the Lord looks on the heart. The Lord is looking on this heart,
my heart, your heart. And every single one of us has
lied, cheated, murdered in the heart. Our Lord said if you've
done it in the heart, you've done it in the open. It's as good as doing it in the
open. The Lord looks on the heart. Every single one of us has sinned
against the living God. and that sin has ruined our life. No matter what good could be
said about David, and no matter what good could be said about
you and me, when you get right down to it, every single one
of us, we're all in the same boat. Every sinner born into this world
is in the same boat. When Adam got in that boat, we
all got in that boat. We're all children of Adam. There's a man in the scripture
named Naaman. And Naaman, this perfectly describes
David, and if anything good can be said about us, it perfectly
describes us. It says, Naaman, captain of the
host of the king of Syria was a great man with his master. I've known some men on this earth
that I consider to be great men, great men. And that's what was
said about Naaman. He was a great man with his master
and honorable because by him, the Lord had given deliverance
unto Syria. He was also a mighty man in valor. But it says, he was a leper. He was all those wonderful things,
but he was a leper. None of those wonderful things
could change the fact that he was a rotting, dying man, and
that's every man and woman in this life. Sin has completely
ruined this life. The rest of David's days, they
were totally surrounded by death and by trouble and by fear. His
friends turned on him. His generals turned on him. His
own children turned on him. His son Absalom died trying to
kill his father, his own father, so he could take the kingdom
away from him. Sin ruined it all. And that's the case for
every soul in this life. And I'll tell you this, had David
left this life trusting in his strength, then he would have entered eternity
with no hope. Men do that every day. They leave this world trusting
in their own strength, and they leave this world with no hope.
David was lying there dying. He couldn't even get out of the
bed. His strength was gone. Had David left this life trusting
in his courage, he would have entered eternity with no hope. David ended up hiding in caves,
he let spit run down his beard, he acted like a crazy man. David couldn't put any hope in
his own courage. If David would have left this
life trusting in his accomplishments, David made it all the way to
being king. And men accomplish great things
in this life. But David's kingdom was stripped
away from him, and so will everything else be stripped from every man.
Job said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall
I return. All the gold, all the silver,
all the power, David had no hope in that. He couldn't take one
ounce of that with him. But none of those things were
David's hope. None of those things. David had
one hope. And it's the only hope that will
carry a sinner safely into eternity. Now back in 2 Samuel 23, verse
one says, 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 spake by me and his word was in my tongue.
The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake to me He that
ruleth over men must be just ruling in the fear of God. And
he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun riseth,
even a morning without clouds, as the tender grass springing
out of the earth by clear shining after rain." Now, who's all that
talking about? Who truly is the root of Jesse? the man who was raised up on
high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist
of Israel. Who is the God of Israel? The Rock, the one that rules
over men justly. Who is the light of the morning,
the tender plant, the root out of dry ground? That's the Lord
Jesus Christ, David's Savior. And David said in verse five,
although my house be not, so with God. And David's house was
a mess. His family was a mess. But we can say the same thing
about this house, this body, my body, your body, the house
that my soul dwells in, the house that I polluted, the house that
death and sin ruined, David said in verse 5, although my house
be not so with God. Although it's not worthy to stand
in the presence of God. People talk about being right
with God. They say, well, he's about to
die, but it's okay. He made his peace and he's right
with God. This scripture says no flesh
in this life is right with God. No flesh is worthy to stand in
his presence. No flesh is going to stand in
his presence. He told Job, he told David, he
told Isaiah, all flesh is grass. and the grass is going to get
cut down. But David said, I found one hope. There is one hope. He said, although my house be
not so with God yet. He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. A forever lasting promise. A promise. What is that promise? Well, this is the best way I
know to illustrate it to us this morning. God's eternal promise
is from both God, the father and God, the son. And God used
David in what we have recorded about him. God used David to
represent both of them. He used David to illustrate both
God the Father and God the Son in their covenant. David's own son Absalom hated
him. He sinned against him. He stole
the hearts of the people and he cried, crucify him. I want
him dead. I will not have that man reign
over me. And that's what the heart of
man has cried against his Lord. Crucify him. But Absalom, in all of his sinful
rage, he died pursuing David. He was killed while he was chasing
after David. And one of David's servants came
and told David the news. In 2 Samuel chapter 18, it says that Cushiah came. And Cushiah said, Tidings my
Lord the King, for the Lord hath avenged thee this day of all
them that rose up against thee. Speaking to David. And the king
said unto Cushi, is the young man Absalom safe? Now Absalom's
been trying to kill him. And David said, is he safe? And
Cushi answered, the enemies of my Lord the king and all that
rise against thee to do thee hurt, be as that young man is. They're all dead. Absalom's dead. Verse 33, And the king was much
moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, thus he said,
O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom, would God I had
died for thee, Oh Absalom, my son, my son, the promise of God the son to
his own is I have died for thee. You sinned against me. That's all that can be said about
us. We sinned against him and our Lord knows that. He knows
we hated him without a cause in our fleshly nature. And we
deserved nothing but the death of a rebel. But Christ said,
I took your place. Oh, my son, my son, I died for
you. I died for you. That's the promise
of God's son. After Absalom's death, David
returned to Jerusalem as king again. But while David was running
for his life, there was a man named Shimei and he cursed David. He threw rocks at him, he threw
dirt on him. And right here in 2 Samuel chapter 19, verse 18
says, there went over a ferry boat to carry over the king's
household and to do what he thought good and Shimei, The son of Gerah
fell down before the king as he was come over Jordan. Now
here David's coming back as king and Shimei scared. He sinned
against David and he's scared. And he said unto the King, let
not my Lord impute iniquity unto me, neither do thou remember
that which thy servant did perversely the day that my Lord the King
went out of Jerusalem, that the King should take it to his heart.
For thy servant doth know that I've sinned, therefore behold,
I am come the first this day of all the house of Joseph to
go down to meet my Lord the King. That sounds like the same thing
David cried in Psalm 51, doesn't it? Have mercy upon me. Have mercy upon me. I acknowledge
my transgressions. I know I sinned against you. Verse 21 says, But Abishah the
son of Zeriah answered and said, Shall not Simeon be put to death
for this, because he cursed the Lord's anointed? And David said,
What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zariah, that you should
this day be adversaries unto me? Shall there any man be put
to death this day in Israel? For do not I know that I am this
day king over Israel? Therefore the king said unto
Shimei, thou shalt not die. And the king swear unto him. He swear to him. David made the
same promise that God the father made. He said, my son died. No other soul in my kingdom is
gonna die. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. And the king swore to him. He
swore to him. That is the only hope. that a sinner can have of entering
safely into eternity. We cannot leave this earth on
the hope of anything we've done, anything we've said, anything
we've accomplished. We can only leave this world
on the hope of the promise of God in the death of His Son. That's it. And back in chapter
23, 2 Samuel 23, David said in verse five, although my house
be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Everlasting. Everlasting. Ordered in all things and sure. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.
For this is all my salvation and all my desire, although He
make it not to grow." He's saying, even though I can't physically
see it yet, my hope is absolutely ordered and sure. It's in the
blood of my Savior. He is all my salvation and He
is all my desire. That right there will take us
all the way into eternity. That right there, that hope right
there in the promise, in the covenant of the blood of Jesus
Christ, that'll take a sinner all the way into eternity. Until
next Sunday morning, may the Lord bless His word to our hearts.
You have been listening to a message by Gabe Stoniker, Pastor of Kingsport
Sovereign Grace Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like
a copy of this message or to hear other messages of Sovereign
Grace, you can write to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin
Street, Kingsport, Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website
at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.