If you have your Bibles, turn
with me to 2 Samuel 12, verses 14-23. The title of my message
tonight is, Wages. Beginning with verse 14, How
be it? Because of this deed thou hast given great occasion to
the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, and the child also that is born
unto thee shall surely die. And Nathan departed unto his
house, and the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife barren
to David, and it was very sick. David therefore besought God
for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night
upon the earth. And the elders of the house arose
and went to him to raise him up from the earth, but he would
not, neither did he eat bread with them. and came to pass on
the seventh day that the child died. And the servants of David
feared to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, Behold,
while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would
not hearken unto our voice. How will he then vex himself
if we tell him the child is dead? But when David saw that his servants
whispered, David perceived that the child was dead. Therefore
David said unto them and his servants, Is the child dead?
And they said, He is dead. Then David arose from the earth,
and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and
came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped. Then he came
to his own house, and when he required, they set bread before
him, and he did eat. Then said his servants unto him,
What thing is this that thou hast done? Thou didst fast and
weep for the child while he was yet alive. When the child was
dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. And he said, While the
child was yet alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, Who can
tell whether God will be gracious to me that the child may live?
But now he's dead. Wherefore should I fast? Can
I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall
not return unto me. Let us pray. Our Father, we come
in the blessed name and in the perfect righteousness of Jesus
Christ the Lord, who is our righteousness. We bow with hearts of thanksgiving
that you have given us your word that we can feast upon and rejoice
in the great things that you have done for your people. You
are worthy of all glory and all praise. And we do bow before
you and worship you for who you are. and with thankful hearts
and praise upon our lips, we praise you for what you've done.
We pray for those of our company and our friends who are sick.
Pray for David Ledford as he's in the hospital that you'd continue
to minister to him and raise him up to a good measure of health.
Thank you that Stephen's doing better. We pray you'd continue
to meet his needs and also his parents as they minister to him. We pray for this lady who's still
yet to be diagnosed, but they think she might have cancer.
We pray you'd be with them. For Larry Hill's mother, for
the others who requested prayer, especially for our dear brother,
Don Fortner, that you might be with those doctors and give them
great skill as they operate on him tomorrow. We pray you'd raise
him up. And Father, we pray for ourselves tonight as we've gathered
here that you might be pleased to open up your word to us, to
give us understanding and appreciation of all the things you've done
for us. We know, Father, that we stand here as your children
because your son finished our salvation on Calvary Street. We know that we did not seek
him, nor were we seeking him when he found us. We're thankful
as the good shepherd. He went out into this wasteland
of the world and found his sheep and brought them home upon his
shoulder. We thank you, Father, that You did not leave us to
ourselves, but You interfered with our lives, stopped us in
our tracks, and revealed Your Son to us. Help us tonight with
thankful hearts to worship You. In Christ's name, Amen. The Word of God said the wages
of sin is death and the gift of God is eternal life in Romans
chapter 6. Before us in this passage of
Scripture we see the wages of sin. The life and times of David are
made richer for us because many of the occurrences in his life
are accompanied by a psalm that he writes about the occurrence
itself that defines his heart at the time he was going through
whatever he was going through. David wrote the fifty-first psalm during the time of great sadness,
this time of great sadness, that was brought about by David's
own sin. That's why in that psalm David
said, I acknowledge my sin. My sin is ever before me against
thee. Thee only have I sinned. The
introduction to that psalm, if you will read it, puts the time
of its writing when David was visited by Nathan. That's the
introduction to the psalm. Now certain phrases suggest that
the psalm was written during the time between when the child
was born and the time the child died. As David seems in the psalm
to be resigned to the fact that God would take the child, and
rightly so. In Psalm 51 verse 4 he said,
I acknowledge it's my sin that caused this, that you might be
clear when you judge. Whatever you do will be right.
It's my fault. But I acknowledge it's my fault.
So whatever you do will be right. You're not to blame for any of
this, is what he is saying to God in the fourth verse of Psalm
51. Now what we know of the Psalm
is that David had true remorse and true repentance for the horrible
deeds he had done and that he was the cause of the enemies
of God blaspheming against God. And there's a great deal for
us in this account here that I've read tonight in 2 Samuel.
Now the visitation of God against the transgression of David is
that the child born of the adultery of David and Bathsheba will die. That's the last phrase of verse
14. He says, also that is born unto
thee shall surely die. The baby that Bathsheba was carrying
would die shortly after its birth. Now this passage takes place
and covers, I believe, the seven days that the child lived. And David's reaction to the judgment
of God while the child lived until the child dies. There's
an interesting thing going on here. The servants see it and
they wonder about it. We who know the grace of God
understand it. But those under the old covenant,
which was a conditional covenant, had difficulty in understanding
what David did. While the child was living, he
fasted and prayed. And when the child died, he seemed
okay. And they had a difficulty with
that. In verse 15 it begins with the word and at the beginning
and it suggests an immediacy and a continuation of the last
phrase of verse 14. It says this, And Nathan departed
unto his house. You'll notice Nathan's appearance
here is very quick. He says what he's going to say.
He gets the job done. And then he leaves the area. That's what Nathan did. As soon
as he told David of the child's destiny, this child is surely
going to die, he departed from the presence of the king. There
was no counsel given to David about his grief that he was going
to bear. No prayer offered up for David
concerning what he was about to go through. There was no sermon
on repentance and no effort to make David take the place of
the penitent. Neither did Nathan wait to see
some sort of evidence that David's words, in David's words, that
acknowledged his sin were true and heartfelt. He had told David
of his sin. Had heard and accepted David's
acknowledgement. Had declared the gospel in that
God had forgiven David and that he would not die, though his
sin was legally a capital offense. He had told David of the consequence
of his sin, the child will surely die. And then he simply got up
and went home. That's what Nathan did. This
is a real picture of what the preacher of the gospel does.
It's a real picture. It is not his job nor his calling
to look for or to wait for or to bring about any result of
what he does. It is His to declare the truth
and walk away, leaving the rest to God. I believe in the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the
Gentile. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. For it is written, the just shall live by faith. I have
confidence in the message. Every true believer does. That's
why in grace churches and churches where the sovereign grace of
God is preached, you'll not find church altars. You'll not find
invitation systems. You'll not find the preacher
or anybody else pressuring or pushing people or trying to get
them to do something. Why don't they do that? They
don't because they know the gospel works. The gospel works. It always does work. The preacher
has neither part nor parcel with the outcome of his message, and
if he has any sense at all, he wants none of it. His is to declare
the gospel, and that alone. So Nathan, having fulfilled his
calling, departs, leaving David with God, which is the best place
to be. To those who know the gospel,
and trust that the gospel will do its business, and are content
to declare it, and not insert themselves in what might come
as a result of preaching it, in those people you'll find happy
souls. Happy souls. Now the last phrase of verse
15 is the beginning of a fourfold condemnation that David brought
upon himself by his own words when he was told the story of
the man who stole the singular lamb when he had plenty of lambs
in reference to Bathsheba and Uriah. David said back in verse
6 of the first part of the chapter, he says, He shall restore the
lamb fourfold because he did this thing and because he had
no pity. This is the first mark in that
fourfold thing. You see, with our own words we
condemn ourselves. With our own words. Look over
at Job just for a moment. Job chapter 9. In Job chapter 9, Job answered and said, I know
it is of a truth, but how should a man be just with God? If he
will contend with God, he can answer Him not one in a thousand. If I would seek to justify myself
on one thing, God could show me a thousand things wherein
I am not justified. Then over in verse 20 of the
same chapter it says, If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall
condemn me. If I say I am perfect, it shall
also prove me perverse. That's what David did. He said,
Why the fellow that did that, I ought to kill him. He deserves
to be dead and he has to pay back fourfold. This is the first
thing. This is the first thing that
David's condemning words brought upon himself. This child is going
to die. This child is going to die. The
second thing is his daughter, Tamar, will be raped by his son. The third thing will be that
Absalom will murder all the king's son. And the fourth thing is
that Absalom himself will die. All those things. Those four
things will come to pass, because David said, here's what the punishment
should be, that he pay fourfold. And Nathan said, you're the man.
You're the man. And it's going to come to pass.
Now David's actions here are indicative of both repentance
and supplication. When the baby is indeed stricken
by God and begins to the process of dying, David goes off by himself
and he lays flat down on the ground. He begins to fast and
he weeps and mourns and groans for the child. Now the cause
of the tragedy, that the child would die, is David's sin. It's David's sin. What David
did was worthy of death. This child, as far as action
goes, has done nothing worthy of death. The fact that he's
the son of Adam makes him worthy of death, but he's done nothing
worthy of death. But David here exhibits repentance
and supplication. So in seeking the Lord on behalf
of the child, he is admitting that he is the cause and that
the child has done nothing worthy of death. He's seeking the Lord
to help the child. He's already been forgiven. He
knows that. And he knows that because of the covenant relationship
that God has made on his behalf. The child, however, is a product
of debauchery, the debauchery of the flesh. And his death is
both reasonable as a son of Adam, and symbolically, his death is
the result of all endeavors of the flesh. Sin always brings
about death. Sin always does. And at the end
of seven days, the child dies. That number is significant. We'll
look at it in a moment. David's servants, having watched
their master posture, during this child's sickness, he was
fasting, and he was praying, and he wouldn't eat, and he lay
down on the ground. He was groaning in his spirit. And they were
afraid to tell him when the child died, because he was in such,
seemingly in such sorrow and anguish of heart. And he was
truly mourning this child. And while they were whispering
about it, not to tell him, David perceived that the child had
died, and when he asked them, they told him the truth. Then,
what David did amazed his servants. They were amazed. Instead of
mourning the death of the child, he cleaned up, anointed himself,
and went to the house of the Lord and worshipped. And we know
that worship for the child of God is praise and thanksgiving
because of a blood sacrifice. There is no worship of God apart
from a blood sacrifice. It's an impossibility. So David
went in and worshipped God, praised and thanked Him through the blood
of the Lamb. And when the servants brought
him food, He ate. Everything seemed okay. And they
were astonished at what He had done. That's what they said down
in verse 21. His servant said unto Him, What thing is it that
Thou hast done? This is so wrong. They didn't
say, We wonder why you did that. They said, What in the world
have you done? In their mind, this was so outlandish that a
man would mourn for a child and pray for a child while he was
living, but didn't seem to not be bothered by the whole thing
after he died. It didn't seem right to them.
And so they asked Him that, What in the world hast thou done? Thou didst fast and weep for
the child while it was alive, and when the child was dead,
thou didst rise and eat bread. That flies in the face of what
normal, natural people think about dying and about living. It seemed unreasonable to them.
Now, David's answer teaches us several things. That's what I
want us to look at for the rest of this evening. David answered
and said this, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, Who can tell whether
God will be gracious to me that the child may live? But now he
is dead. Wherefore should I fast? Can
I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall
not return unto me. Several things. First of all,
David's actions teach us that while there is life, there is
hope. Christ has not come back. He's
on His way, He's coming, but He's not back yet. This period
of time, from the time of His coming until the time of His
return, His return has been called space for repentance. And so
we never give up on anybody, even if they act in a manner
and do things in a manner, they appear totally condemned and
without hope. This child was sick unto death. David prayed
for him. He had been condemned by God.
God said, this child is going to die. And yet David prayed. Praying for the dead is useless,
but praying for the living is not. Don't give up on your kids. Don't stop praying for them.
Keep calling their name out to God. It's right for you to do
so. Praying for the dead is useless,
because their spirits have returned to Him who made them, and as
they go to that estate, they shall forever remain. Revelation
22-1 says, Let him that is righteous be righteous still, and let him
that is wicked be wicked still. That's how it's going to work.
Once you're dead, that's how it is. That's how it is. But
David teaches us. to pray while there's hope. To
pray. Secondly, David's actions reveal
that praying to the Lord on behalf of one whom the Lord has condemned
is done with understanding that God is God. And that He is slow to anger
and plenteous in mercy and He knows our frame and He remembers
that we are dust. We can't pigeonhole God. It's
just that simple. God didn't say when this child
would die. But that he would die. He will surely die. That was all that was said. I've
looked up all the tenses of the language there, and there's no
indication of when. So David prayed, thinking, well,
maybe the Lord will be gracious to him for a while. Maybe I'll
get to raise him up and teach him how to fish and how to shoot
a bow. He didn't know. But he had this thing. He didn't
know when God was going to do it. Only that God was going to
do it. That's all he knew. No human
can fully be sure of what God will do. Don't try to pigeonhole
him. Don't try to put him in a shoebox. He'll bust out on
you. God's going to do as He pleases.
Even our Lord, you think about this, in His humanity, prayed
that if it were possible to remove the cup from Him, that the Lord
would do it. But then, submitting to the Lord's
will, He said, Thy will be done. That's how we pray. When our
brothers and sisters are ill, and when they have cancer, and
when they're sick, I pray that they'll be healed. That's what
I want. Might as well just tell the truth
about it. I don't want my friends to die. I'd like to die before
all of them do, so I wouldn't have to bury any more of them.
I'll be honest with you. It's not a fun thing to bury your
friends. I don't know what the Lord's
going to do. I have no idea. But I know also that as praying
that they will be healed, it must be within the Lord's will.
Thy will be done. Thy will be done. David prayed
for this child because he knew if God was so inclined, He could
raise this child up from the sickbed. Under the Old Covenant, God often
Repented. That language is scriptural language.
David even said that. Maybe he'll repent and be gracious.
God often repented. Now we think repentance is change. And the New Testament word, metanoia,
is change of mind. Change of mind. The Old Testament
word for repentance doesn't have anything to do with the mind.
It has to do with direction. The Old Testament word for repentance
is turn. The New Testament word for repentance
is metanoia, a change of mind. Under a conditional covenant,
to turn was to receive the blessings because you've obeyed the command.
Under the New Testament repentance, the change of mind is about what
recommends you to God. It's certainly not turning from
this and going to that. Changing your mind is what you
believe recommends you to God now the old covenant said if
I turn I recommend myself to God It just says that simple
because it was a conditional covenant God said don't do that
if you didn't do that you'd get a blessing Well if he was going
one God way and God says turn go the other way and you turn
it went the other way you'd get a blessing that's a conditional covenant
and you could actually say I turn and God bless me and But New
Testament repentance is a change of mind about what recommends
you to God. And the change of mind is this, I can't do anything,
or stop anything, or start anything, or turn any way, or turn back
from anything that will change. What makes me acceptable to God?
What makes me acceptable to God is Jesus Christ. That's it in
a nutshell. You can stop doing a lot of stuff.
You can be a dead drunk and stop drinking. Not going to make any
difference. Make a difference in your life,
hopefully. But it's not going to recommend
you to God. It's not going to recommend you
to God. What recommends us to God is Christ. And that's what
the New Testament repentance is. But under that Old Covenant,
under that Old Covenant, which David was under, repentance brought
about what had to do with turning. And when he talked about God
repenting, that's what he was talking about. God may repent. He may not kill this child right
now, may kill him later. He may turn from the course he's
taking right now. Remember the Lord said, it repented
me that I created man. What does it mean? It means His
graciousness toward man has turned to anger toward men. It's a change in direction. God's
mind can't change because He's of one mind. It clearly says
that in Scripture. So when repentance when attributed
to God under the old covenant does not mean godly sorrow or
the change of mind, but rather a difference in the course than
what was expected. David's prayer His prayers were
to this end, but he fully understood that God would do what God would
do. Knowing God is sovereign is reason enough, I think, to
beseech Him to do other than what is reasonably expected of
Him. Because He's sovereign. Lord,
You know what's best. Here's what I want. You do what
you're going to do. He's going to anyway, might as
well pray that. That language is in scripture. Turn with me
to the prophet Joel. The prophet Joel. It's after
Hosea, right after Hosea and right before Amos. You'll find
the prophet Joel stuck in there right in the middle. Prophet
Joel. Look at chapter 2. Verse 13. And rend your heart and not your
garments, and turn unto the Lord your God, for He is gracious
and merciful, slow to anger, and great in kindness, and repenteth
Him of evil. Who knoweth if He will return
and repent, and leave a blessing behind Him, even a meat offering
and a drink offering unto the Lord your God? Who knows? Well,
we don't. I have seen many times when I
thought The Lord was done with people. That shows you how stupid
I am. And saw him turn to Christ. Saw him brought to Christ. I've
seen many times when I didn't want the Lord to be gracious
to people. Isn't that sad? But it's true. I just kind of
wished He'd smite them. I have, you know, might as well
just be honest with you. But He didn't. He did what He
was going to do. Sometimes the Lord acts in a
way that is not expected of Him. And that's how David is approaching
this thing. Lord, let this baby live. Please, don't lay His sin
at my charge. I'm the one that's at fault.
If you read Psalm 51, you'll understand what this is talking
about. Look over at Jonah. Just a few books over. Amos, and then Obadiah, and then Jonah.
Jonah was sent to Nineveh to preach to these folks. And he didn't want to go because
he was afraid God would give him repentance. And so that's
what he said in Jonah chapter 3 and verses 9 and 10. He says,
Who can tell if God will turn and repent? Ninevites ought to
be killed. They're a rotten bunch of people
who hate God. What if I go and preach to them
and they actually repent? What if God repents and don't
kills them? Don't kill them and turn away His fierce anger that
they perish not? And God saw their works that
they had turned from their evil way and God repented of the evil
that He had said He would do unto them and He did it not.
A turn of direction. Now all we know this is all according
to Providence plan but with men's eyes this is how we see things.
And God has put it in His book because He knows that's how we
say things. He understands that principle. Remember that the
old covenant, the old covenant was conditional. And the blessing
or the lack thereof was conditioned upon the obedience of the people
with whom the covenant was made. It was a conditional covenant.
The covenant we're under is not conditional. It's settled. It's done. It's enacted. It's been ratified. There are
no conditions. If there were conditions and
there was one, there must be death for sin. Our Lord met that
condition with God, not with us. Let me show you. I think probably the best verse
that sets forth the conditional nature of the old covenant in
2nd Chronicles chapter 7. This is a very familiar passage
of scripture used often by revivalist preachers to get people to straighten
up and fly right and get all their ducks in a row. But it
is a covenant promise that is conditional. 2nd Chronicles chapter
7 and verse 14. If my people, the word if, it's
not an argumentative if like the word since is in the New
Testament, the word is not chi here, it's a Hebrew word. If
my people, the ones that are called by my name, which are
called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek
my face and turn from their wicked ways. Then, if, then. Then will I hear from heaven
and will forgive their sins and will heal their land. That's
a conditional promise. If they don't do that, He's not
going to forgive them. He's not going to heal their
land. He's not going to forgive their sins. Simple as that. That's a condition. Thank the
Lord. We are not in any way, shape
or form under that covenant. Would you like to base your forgiveness,
or lack thereof, on your character, your integrity, or whether or
not you obey God? Would you? There was nobody saved
under that covenant. There was nobody saved through
that covenant. There was never a sin forgiven.
Nor was there a sin put away under that covenant. Never! Because
a person who could be obedient one day and blessed could be
disobedient the next day and cursed. I am in favor with God because
Jesus Christ fully fulfilled that old covenant in every jot
and tittle. Gave His life in my room and
stayed. And that's the only reason I
stand accepted before God. The only reason! You say, are
you obedient? I try to be. I don't do a very
good job. Are you disobedient? More than I want to talk about.
Do you believe all the time? I believe sometimes. Most of
the time, I don't believe. That's just the fact of it. I'm
so full of unbelief, it's embarrassing to even talk about it. Aren't you glad you're not under
that old covenant? I am. I'm so glad for that. But David
was under that old covenant. And under that old covenant,
he knew. that God often repented of Himself. He turned Himself from one direction.
Often because His people prayed to Him. Moses prayed unto God
and turned away his wrath. Several instances of that among
the people of God. That's the second thing. The
third thing is this. Once the sentence of justice has been
executed, then the law is satisfied and there is nothing left to
do but rejoice. What happened when that baby
died? Justice was satisfied. It was. What can the law do to
that baby? Nothing. What else can happen
to that baby? Nothing. Whatever it is, it is. Justice has been done. And that's
a cause of rejoice. Barnard used to say, we will
stand in glory as children of God and rejoice when God casts
our best friends and relatives into hell. Why? Because the child of God rejoices
in justice satisfied. justice satisfied. To some degree
it is what we as believers do when we rehearse the gospel over
and over again. And remember that because Christ
has borne the sentence of death, that justice is satisfied and
will not be executed upon us, though it is clearly deserved
for us. We rejoice. That's why when we go into baptism,
we're rehearsing His death. We died in Him. When we take
the Lord's table, we're showing forth His death. It's all about
what He did and how He died because that satisfies justice. The entirety, the entirety of
true Christianity rests on the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The entirety of it. Everything
flows from that glorious truth. It is the answer to the singular
and profound question, how can a man be just with God? And that's
the question of questions. If you want a question to think
about, think about that one. Ponder that to the day you die
because that's the singular most important question you'll have
ever asked in your life. How can a man that's born of
a woman, how can a man that's a maggot of the earth, how can
a man that is a worm of the dust, How can a man that's sinful from
the top of his head to the bottom of his feet? How can a man whose
heart is deceitful and desperately wicked and nobody can know it
but God? How can a vile, wicked man be
just with God? That's the issue. It will always
be the issue. Everything else pales by comparison. Men may take delight in debate
over this or that aspect of Christianity, but true rejoicing, true rejoicing
comes when the knowledge of justice satisfied comes to the fore.
That's when we can rejoice. When we can say, justice is satisfied. There is nothing legal that can
ever touch me. Justice has been satisfied. Why
did David rejoice? Nothing else can happen to this
child. Justice is satisfied. And when justice is done, you
know what the children of God do? They don't rejoice because
they can speak in tongues or jump up and down or do some silly
thing. That's just religion, false religion. They rejoice because they can
say, Christ satisfied the law. In His death, He satisfied God's
justice. God has propitiated and I'm saved. I can rejoice now. I don't have
anything looming ahead of me that disturbs me. I don't have
a judgment out there to face. That judgment has already been
taken care of. I don't worry about the future. Justice has
been satisfied. If I die tomorrow, Justice has
been satisfied. That's my hope. That's why I
rejoice. That's why I love to preach the gospel. I love to
preach the gospel because I can tell somebody that something's
been done. Not something they can do or shouldn't do. I can
tell them something's done. Fourth thing is this, David's
words in verse 23 are a simple declaration that he will, like
the child, die one day. I know people make a great deal
of this. They use this verse in a lot of ways. But now he
is dead, wherefore should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I
shall go to him, but he shall not return unto me. What is that? It's a simple declaration of
this. The baby died and I'm going to die too. I'm going to die
too. Make more of that and you're
probably going to get into trouble with Scripture. You really are. However, it does
not discount the eternal aspect of the statement. You see, death
is not the end of things. In reality, it's the beginning
of things. Our lifespan is a blip on the radar. It's nothing. It's faster than a weaver's shuttle.
It's faster than a post. It's a vapor. It's like blowing
smoke into the air and it disappears. That's our life. You know, we
think we might have lived a long time. We haven't lived any time.
Compared to eternity, this is nothing. Compared to what the
Old Testament saints lived, this, what we live, is nothing. There's
nothing. We're all going to be dead pretty
soon. You can count on that. But that's not the end of it.
That's the beginning of eternity somewhere. That's the beginning
of a never-ending thing somewhere. And David's statement may have
something to do with that. When a person dies, his body
returns to the earth, but his spirit returns to his Maker,
the wise man. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes In chapter 12 you want to turn
there Which is really the summation
I think Solomon is making of his The fact that he's getting
old Getting old and Ain't what he used to be. You ever feel
that way? I just ain't what I used to be. I used to be a spring
chicken, now I'm a plucked yard bird. That's all there is to
it. So his advice to young people
is to remember the Creator in the days of their youth. Because
there's coming a time when you may have many senior moments,
you may not remember anything. He says, Remember now, thy Creator,
the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, that
is, the days of age, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt
say, I have no more pleasure in them. Things just ain't as
fun as they used to be. While the sun or the light of
the moon or the stars be not darkened, your vision be not
dimmed, nor the clouds return after the rain, in the day when
the keepers of the house shall tremble, that's your knees, And they do. I got off working
on that building yesterday. I'd been on that ladder on tiptoes
up here, like just putting little screws in, trying to look over
and see a little hole. All that stuff. You know, I got
back in last night, and after I mowed the yard, I come back
in, I sit down, and I got up and started to walk in the kitchen,
get a cup of coffee, and the left hamstring just went. And
so I'm sitting there stretching that thing. And David says, what's
wrong? I said, I've got a poor hamstring
about to lock up. And I went and got the ice pack
and put on it. And she went online and found
out that ice is the best thing for it rather than heat. So I put
ice on it. While I was laying there with
the ice on my left leg, the right leg started to tremble. I tell you, the keepers of the
house should tremble. And the strong men shall bow
themselves. That's the back. And the grinders
cease because there are so few. That's your teeth. And those
that look out the windows be darkened. Your vision starts
to go. It changes. And the doors are shut in the
street. Opportunities go away. And the sound of the grinding
is low. And he shall rise up at the voice of a bird. A little
thing wake you up right in the middle of the night. Just the
least little thing. Woke up the other night, you and I woke up.
Again, I'd been working on the building, screwing screws in,
all day long. I woke up, there's no kidding,
I woke myself up. My fingers were against my face and I was
doing this. Least little thing wake you up.
Hear a chirp, a burp, a knock, a cracked old house will change
when it gets cooled, cracked. What's that? That's what it said. This is him getting old. said that the dollars of music
shall be brought low. And when they shall be afraid, as you're
hearing, and when they shall be afraid of that which is high,
you know, we get up on them heights, we think, I'm not as sure of
my, I remember one time I was painting a bunch of condos over
in Haywood County. This is no kidding, by hand with
a brush, because they wanted them brush painted. And I contracted
to do a job for a fellow, I got a couple thousand bucks for the
job, I think it was, At one point, I was standing on the top rung
of a 40-foot extension ladder, holding on to a gable on a deck
that dropped over a cliff for 500 feet. And I was just painting
like I didn't think about a thing. Think I'd do that today? I'd
get on a six-foot step ladder and I'm like, why? Why? You're afraid of that, which
is high. Fears shall be in the way. The
almond tree shall flourish. That's your gray hair. Unless
you've got Ms. Clairol, that's your gray hair.
The grasshopper shall be a burden. The least little thing just wears
you out. And desire shall fail, because
man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets.
And ever the silver cord be loosed, the golden bowl be broken, that's
the heart and the brain, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain,
the wheel broken at the cistern. Then shall the dust return to
the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God
who gave it. Whether David was speaking of
the grave when he talked about this child, or whether he was
speaking at the presence of God, both would be true. When Solomon
wrote these words, it was a consideration of himself and more than likely
he was speaking as a believer whose hope was in God. Though
application could be made to every man in the sense that all
souls belong to God by right of creation and some by right
of new creation. But since this child was born
into the family of Israel, remember the covenant David is under.
David may have been referring to everlasting life when he spoke
about going to the child. The child couldn't come to him.
He may have been speaking about everlasting life in the presence
of God because his child was an Israelite. But you remember
I said seven days was important? You know why? Physically, the child died before
he could bear the mark of the child of Abraham. having died
the seventh day and circumcision being accomplished on the eighth
day, the child died in the ranks of the uncircumcised. It just
did. I said all these things to show
you that men can come up with a whole lot of things about this.
All these things make for much conjecture. And I think it's
best just to take David's remark as the words of a man who understood
and was thankful and full of praise for the fact that God
does as He pleases. Some have used this verse to
support the doctrine that children who die in infancy are the elect
of God and are ushered, accepted into the presence of God. I don't
believe that this verse can be used to support that. I just
don't. If men want to use it that way,
I'm not going to correct them because I don't know for sure. Let me say this, that though
I don't have and I don't use this verse as scriptural proof,
I do believe that those who die in infancy and those whose minds
are providentially darkened are the elect and when they die they
are welcomed into God's presence. I believe that. I say prove it.
I can't prove anything I believe. I can say, look at the Bible,
but on that I can't really say, look at the Bible. It's just
what I believe. It's not doctrine, not theology. It's old Tim James. That's the way I want it. And
so that's the way I believe it. The way I believe it. I do not state this as theology
or doctrine. I believe it simply what I believe.
But whatever the meaning of these words, David said them as an
explanation. of why he worshiped God when
the child died. That's what he said. They said,
why did you do that? Why did you go out there and
worship? Why did you do that? He said, that's why I did it. So
these words are an explanation of that. Of this we can be sure
true worship is based on satisfied justice by the death of Jesus
Christ. It is in that death that we truly
worship God. And I think that is also taught
in this passage of Scripture. Father, bless us to understand.
We pray in Christ's name.