Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to the second book of Samuel,
about reading the 23rd chapter and verse 5. To Samuel chapter
23 and verse 5. 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. To Samuel 23 and verse 5. We're told in the opening verse
of this chapter that these are the last words of David and David
here is looking to really what is the whole foundation and comfort
of his soul as he comes down to the end of his life and it
is in the covenant. is not in his works, is not in
himself, it is in what God has done and the covenant that has
been made with him, that really made with Christ on his behalf. People of God are chosen in him
and their names are in that covenant. And that was David's of loved ones, those that they
have known, those that they have loved here below. And truly when
the life has been a consistent life, a godly life, we're told
with David, although his sin with Bathsheba and of murder
was the one stayed upon him, yet he was a man after God's
own heart. And so the last words When that
is the case, they have quite a savour and quite a weight.
We know, of course, of those like Suki Hulley, those who here
may have read her account, beautiful, sweet account of the grace of
God. And she said, before she came
to her end, that many would be wanting to hear what Suki would
have to say on a deathbed. And she said, I won't hear anything.
God will stop my mouth. I won't say anything. My life
is my witness. My life is my testimony. And that's what it was. I believe
it was the last week of her life. She never uttered anything at
all. And the most important thing
as we live is that our lives bear testimony and that we remember
that there was but one that was blessed as he was in the actual
article of death, the dying thief, one that none might despair,
and one that none might presume. Nevertheless, where there have
been those that have sought the Lord all their life, and they
have been very evident seeking souls, crying out for the Lord. And I know my own dear mother
was one of those. And the Lord blessed her at the
end of her life when she was unconscious and blind. And that
meant a lot as to what was her then. What a contrast between
the times that she was crying out and seeking and very clearly
given testimony she had not got that which she wanted. And when
then she was able to testify that she had got what she wanted,
that is a very precious thing. When the Lord is spoken of as
precious and lovely in a way that had never been spoken of
by a person before. And so last words, they do carry
a lot of weight. They are precious words. Remember the The late deacon's
wife in Australia, in Geelong, his, well actually the deacon
himself, it was his mother, when she passed away, fully conscious,
she raised herself up in the bed and three times moved the
covers while saying, victory, victory, victory, and then lay
down and died. And it has never left me. What a sacred thing that would
be to have, as it were, one foot each side of the grave and realize
that we've obtained the victory. Because many times the people
of God, they fear life more than death because they know their
own wicked heart, they know Satan, they know how weak they are,
they know the world, the pull of the world, and they fear. those things that they will be
left to do, walking, or to be cast away, and to come to the
end and realise that we've obtained the victory through the Lamb
of God. And those are precious times,
we realise it before by faith, where we're able to hang upon
the Word of God, or hang upon the precious promise that is
here, and the words of the everlasting, covenant of God. But there have
been those that have uttered things thinking that they were
the last words and they have sought just to really deceive
men. And I never forgot when I was
eight years of age and my father brought me to see a person at
Melbourne who felt that she was dying. And my father felt he
wanted us boys to hear her testimony. And we went, and this lady, she
took me by the hand and pleaded. She said, never leave the house
of God. Never leave the dear chapel there
at Melbourne. And it seemed that she was truly
converted. But the Lord raised her up again.
And she came back to the chapel, reading novels at the back of
the chapel, defying my father. There was no change. No change. The most solemn thing that the
Lord should see. If she'd have died, she would
have been buried in hope. But the Lord raised her up, and
her ongoing life proved that what she had spoken was not true. And really, we need our lives
to bear witness is vital that we do to give testimony
with the heart man believes and with the mouth confession is
made unto salvation. Perhaps our lives should bear
witness to the reality of it. David's life did and he comes
to the end of it and he testifies here where his hope was Now text
reads, 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. Well, there's three things I
desire to bring before you this evening. speaking of here. The second
is four tokens in this verse that we are in this everlasting
covenant. And then thirdly, in the covenant in spite of two
things. There's two things spoken of
in this text that David is in the covenant in spite of them,
they seem to go against him being in them. Well the first thing
is the everlasting covenant. Now we read together the chapter
nine in this same second book of Samuel and it was the account
of Mephibosheth. David had made a covenant a promise,
an agreement with Jonathan. He'd also given the same promise
to Saul and that was that he would show favour to Jonathan's
son, to Jonathan's seed. What was done here in this chapter in chapter 23, or sorry, in chapter
9, that we read, it flowed forth from that. The opening verse
reads, David saying, is there yet any that is left of the house
of Saul that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? He's remembering
the promise. that had been made. And that
is why he sought out Mephibosheth. And that is why Mephibosheth
could be at the king's table, although he was lame in both
his feet, although there was nothing in him David didn't inquire
about his life, there was nothing his works or what he had done. The only thing was that He was
bound up in that promise that David had made to Jonathan. And in the same way, God has
made promise in his beloved son, as he has chosen a people, chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. They were the fathers. and He gave them to the Son.
Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me. And that covenant, is
that covenant what David is speaking of? Ordered in all things and
sure. He says that this covenant has
been made with Him. And the way that it is made with
all of the election of grace is that their names were found
in the Lamb's Book of Life, enrolled in that book, enrolled with the
Lamb of God, chosen in Him. There are those that may make
provision for children or grandchildren. Before those grandchildren are
even born, they might make a will. and realize that by the time
that will is enacted that they might have more grandchildren
than what they have now. And so they write it in a certain
way that is not actually specifically putting the names or the numbers
but making provision because of the relationship to them and
to their children that they shall have a provision. Now we do not
have the benefit that God does. God knows the names of all of
his people. He has known them from eternity
in the mind of God. He says, I have loved thee with
an everlasting love, and therefore with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. And it is in that way that God
has established a people, a church, a people to be redeemed. How
very clear he is when he speaks in John 10 of his people, and
he says to the scribes and the Pharisees, ye are not of my sheep,
therefore ye hear not my word. He doesn't say that, well, it's
by hearing of the word that they're made his sheep, made not His
sheep, but His sheep, they're already His sheep. Already they
are given Him by the Father. And it is by their hearing that
they are made known that they are His sheep. Paul says, the
election hath obtained it, the rest were blinded. The New Testament
church, when the word of God was preached, We read that as
many as were ordained unto eternal life believed. And again, that
ordaining to eternal life is the covenant, is what the Father
promised the people to the Son, and the conditions of that was
that He laid down His life for them. He had to become of their
seed, the seed of the woman, and to be brought under the law
that he might redeem them that are under the law. There is a
covenant, a covenant of works, a covenant that we were born
in under Adam. And upon sinning, that covenant
is broken, the sentence of death is enacted, and as all have sinned,
So condemnation came upon all men. But this covenant is before
that. It's in the same way as what
Paul writes to the Hebrews when he's speaking about the high
priest after the order of Melchizedek. And he says that Abraham gave
tithes to Melchizedek. Melchizedek, the priest that
met him when he came from the slaughter of the kings. There's
nothing said about his line, his parents, when he was born,
when he died. And Paul draws from that. He had neither beginning nor
end. The power of an endless life.
a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. But he points out in this that
even Levi, which administered the covenant under the law, he
paid tithes in Abraham and therefore that Melchizedek was greater than
Abraham and greater than the law and Levi. And it was before
that. And the beautiful point as well
that is made, if there is a change of priesthood, then there's also
a change of law. And this is why we affirm the
Gospel standards, that a believer is not under the law, they are
under grace. They're not under the Levitical
law, they're under the new priesthood of our Lord, and Saviour Jesus
Christ. It doesn't make us lawless, by
the law is the knowledge of sin, but it releases from condemnation
and makes known what was there before the law, the provision
right when man fell, the seed of the woman, and a provision
that the Scriptures speak of that's even And so this is what is set forth
as an everlasting covenant. God's dear people from eternity,
they come into time as sinners in God's time, in God's place,
God's way. And he calls them by grace. He
brings them to a felt need of sinnership, a need of a saviour. and then brings them to know
and to value the Lord Jesus Christ and to put their whole trust
in Him. But why He works is because of
that covenant. And why He saves is because of
that covenant, the same as it was with Mephibosheth. No cause
in Him, no reason of blessing in Him, but only in that covenant. If you and I are saved, it will
be because we are in that covenant. It will be that the Lord has
known us before we knew him, that he has appointed us unto
salvation. We pray that the kingdom of God
stand assured, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them, that are
His. I think it was at Corinth when
Paul was there that the Lord told him and said, I have much
people in this city. How do you know, Lord? I know
my sheep and have known of mine. He knows where they are. Paul,
he tries to go to Bithynia, into Asia. The Spirit suffered them
not. No, not there. come over into
Macedonia and help us. Why? Because the Lord knows he
has his people, he has Lydia, he has the jailer in the jail.
And so he orders the things that are happening to bring Paul into
that jail. Another one that the Lord had
was Onesimus, Philemon, servant, runaway slave, couldn't bear
to be a slave. kicked, rebelled against it,
ran away. Where did he go? Went to Rome,
and there he's born. And he's not only a slave, he's
a prisoner. And the Lord uses him, and he's
converted, and brought back no longer a servant, but more than
a servant, a brother, beloved. And the Lord's ordaining the
very place and spot and way that his people should be saved and
called and found out. An everlasting covenant, tracing
back beyond time, tracing back to God himself, chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. David says here, 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. He may say this before we pass
on from this first point. If there was not a covenant,
no one would be saved. And we never think that the election,
as it were, shuts out. It is, in that sense, ordaining
to life and ordaining to death. But if there was no covenant,
none would be saved. If it was just on man's choice,
man will never choose the Lord. is dead, dead in trespasses and
sins. The Lord says, I pass by thee
when thou wast in thy sin and bid thee live. It is the Lord first, first in
the covenant and first in quickening as well. I want to look then
secondly at four tokens that we are in the everlasting covenant,
now in this text. The first is this, that we have
personal things, personal things. In this verse we read the word
my and me again and again. 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. All the time it is personal. True religion is a personal thing,
being in the covenant, is a personal thing. It's not a general thing. And it's so vital to insist on
that. There's so much teaching today. And some have even said to me,
who have been in the Church of England, that, well, what's the
problem? Christ has come. He's died. Sin
is put away. We're all going to heaven. Christ has shown us how we live,
we just live our lives to the full, there's no problem. And that's what she said. I no doubt
believed. No need of a personal faith. Not under the law, not under
condemnation, not lost, not ruined. Such a wrong view of Christ. I lay down my life for the sheep. Ye are not of my sheep. How very
clear. There is a particular redemption. And it is a gospel that is to
be proclaimed throughout the world. Why? To bring about a
reconciliation between fallen man and God. To bring men to
repentance. To bring men to a felt need of
the Saviour and to view the Saviour as the only way that they are
to escape the wrath to come. It is when the things of God
become personal that we have a first token. Instead of sitting
in the chapel and hearing for everyone else and thinking for
other people, suddenly it is us. Suddenly it is personal,
as if everyone else is passed aside as just you. And God is
speaking to you, and to yourself. And I've used the illustration
before. It was a very vivid thing for
me. It was in my apprenticeship,
probably 16 years ago, 16, 17. And I was in the workshop, maintenance
workshop, And they chose me to be the representative for the
safety committee, health and safety committee. And we used
to meet regularly with the matron and the chief heads of the department,
actually, including my chief engineer, but I was representing
the workmen. Well, we wanted two things. We
wanted safety boots. We didn't have safety boots,
yet we were working in engineering. We wanted a first aid cabinet. We were always told, if you cut
your finger, go to A&E. We said, we've got to wait four
hours at A&E. We want a first aid. That's what
a first aid cabinet's called. So I pressed for this at this
committee. And I got it. The engineer didn't
want it. And I got it. And I was so smug. I was so pleased. I'd got it
over my engineer. But I forgot he was my engineer. He was over me. And I had to
face him when I came back to the workshop without the matron,
without the other heads of department. And sure enough, he came in that
door, and a long workshop, and I saw him come through, and he
made a beeline to me. And I had my two fitters, two
qualified fitters there, and I almost instinctively hid behind
them. He said, no, it's you I want.
And the sense of being so isolated. I got no one to hide behind.
Not my fitters, not those who stood with me and voted for what
I got. And I had to face him directly. And that is where we need to
be so personally. We must stand before God. We
must give an account. We can't shelter between behind
a parent, a preacher, a pastor, any It is between our soul and
God. And when we come to die, we might
have all that family around us, but they can't die for us. They
can't stand in our place. We're on our own. And so David
here, he's speaking very personally, personally about his house, personally
about the covenant, an everlasting covenant. He's speaking personally
about his salvation, or my salvation, not someone else's. He's speaking
personally about his desires, or my desire. How mindful are
we of these things? What are our desires? Towards
God, to the things of God, what are our desires? You read in
Psalm 37, delight thyself in the Lord,
and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. As only as we
delight in the Lord will have right desires. And here, what
is David's desire? What has that been? All his desire
for his God, for salvation, for that covenant. And it is a personal
thing. How personal is our religion? Come down to the closet. Our
personal prayers, you might say we have family prayers. But do
you have a life between your soul and God? Do I? How healthy is that? So this
is the first token that is very evident here. If we are in that
covenant, then the things of God and salvation, the covenant
itself, will be a very personal thing and will become to be,
begin to be, a personal thing I believe it will carry right
through our lives like David to the end and still be there. The second thing, there are ordered
things in it. He says here that it is ordered
in all things. God is a God of order. He does things in a specific
order. You see that in Abraham's life. You see that in the promises
he gave him and when those brought about. What he tells Abraham
of his seed shall be a stranger in a strange land. They shall
be brought out in the fourth generation and it comes to pass. 215 years later, they go into Egypt. 215 years later, they come out. All is told to Abraham, the Lord
having a plan and a purpose. Think of Joseph, how he came
into Egypt. All the things that happened.
Didn't seem very ordered, did it? Not going through it might
be things in your life now. So that's not very ordered. It's
confusion, can't see. Can't see the reason, the purpose
in it. And look at Jacob. He said, all
these things are against me. And we read concerning Joseph
in Psalm 105. Until his time came, the word
of the Lord tried him. But there came a time, he said
to his brothers, You sent me not hither, but God, to save
your lives by a great deliverance. He could see then, those things
were ordered towards an end. You know, if someone builds a
house, someone builds a development, those of you who would come into
Cranbrook along the Hartley Road, and they're building a great
big new estate, the things that they're doing, the weeks and
weeks that they're spending, No sign of a house yet there. All of the diggers, they're putting
all in the roads, and putting in all the sewers, and the water,
and the electricity. All of that's going in. They
don't build a house and say, oh, we're going to need electricity
for these things. They put that in first. And there's
a distinct order in the way that you do it. Different over here
in a way than Over in Australia, we build the foundation, you
put the frame up, you put the roof on, then you put the tiles
on, and then you start raking it up from the bottom along the
veneer. Here, you build it up right from
the bottom. The last thing you do is put
the roof on, in different countries. But it's still done in an order,
the way that one thing has got to be done before another. And
all of you will know things perhaps you've made or repaired and you've
done something first and then realised that well, you should
have done something before that. You've got to backtrack, undo
it, take it apart so you can put the other bit in its order. God is a God of order in all
that he does and you and I now is recognisable, so that those
like Laban, Bethuel, is able to say when Abraham's messenger
has gone to find Rebecca, the wife of Isaac, that they say,
the thing proceedeth from the Lord, because they could see
the order and the Lord's hand in it. Those things that the
Lord does. You think of David even. What
David would look back on his life. And there he is with the
sheep. And the Lord delivers him out
of the hand to the paw of the bear and the lion. And then we
have Samuel coming and anointing him to be the next king. But then the Lord's ordering
it that Saul, he needs someone to play music for him, and a
servant knows of David. So David is brought before the
king. He gets to learn of all what's
in the court, of the king's court. But David's also got to be brought
before the people of the land. Along comes Goliath. David is
sent by his father to see how his brethren do, and Goliath
comes out, and The Lord gives him deliverance, and suddenly
he's presented before all the people of the land. So this is
the Lord working, in secret anointing him, then bringing him into the
court, then bringing him before the people, and you see the Lord's
hand in it. One of my dear friends up at
Watersham, he said once, Watch providence, for he that will
watch providence will never lack a providence to watch. We often sing, my life's minutest
circumstance is subject to his eye. We should believe that and
know that. And when young people, when you're
seeking either a wife or a husband, or seeking for employment or
a job, instead of what wife will I have, what husband will I have,
what job will I take, to ask the Lord, what hast thou appointed
for me? What hast thou ordained me to
do? And who hast thou already preparing for me? And giving
the Lord the honour and glory that he is a God of order, and
already these things will be done. Quite often I say to young
people, thinking to know what kind of job to do, well what
has the Lord already given you an inclination for? He won't
appoint someone to be an engineer who hates engineering, who can't
put a bolt together. He won't appoint someone to be
a musician who is tone deaf. And so you see how right from
when he brings us into the world, He already has a plan, already
has appointment. And with the choosing of these
people, bring them into the world. Parents, native place and time,
all appointed, where by Him. It is all done in a way of order. And David sees this, and we should
look for it, and see it, and mark it out. He which hath begun
a good work in you, We'll perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. And if we can see the Lord beginning
to work, and we notice these things, you think of Mary, the
mother of our Lord. Things happened, she couldn't
understand them. But she laid them up in her heart,
she pondered them. And it may be for a while you
can't see the orders, like a jigsaw puzzle that's all little pieces
everywhere. But after a while you see it
come together. and you see the Lord's hand and
you see the order of it and what actually is being done. What
I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. So the second token is the order
that God does in the lives of his covenant people. The third
thing is sure things, ordered in all things and sure. The man that had been born blind,
the Jews tried to take from him what the Lord had done for him.
But he says, one thing I know, whereas I was blind, now I see. It was a sure thing. They couldn't
take it from him. And there'll be those things
in our lives that are sure. What I mean is, someone could
go to the apostle Paul and say, Paul, Well, they did really,
to say that to him, that they aren't mad, just to think that
a light comes from heaven, shines from heaven, and you hear a voice
speaking to you, those that are with you, they hear the sound,
but not what is said, and it's just imagined. But Paul would
say, all right, if that was just imagination, why, before that
time, Was I persecuting men and women who called upon the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ? And after, I was calling upon
the Lord Jesus Christ and was joining myself to the disciples. If that was a match, or why?
And those things in Providence make it really sure. I mean,
those things, I mean, Paul was able to say later on, what I
am, I am by the grace of God. I believe me. Well, all the children
of God would say, if the Lord had not have called me by grace,
if he had not opened my eyes, then my life would be different
than what it is now. My choices would have been different. The things that I decided would
have been different. And they make the blessings of
the Lord sure, as it were they established in our lives. inseparably
joined together, meshed in together, the blessing of the Lord and
providence joining together, working together. We know, says
Paul, that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them that are called according to His purpose. The Lord will
not take away those things that He gives His people, those blessings,
and He seals them as sure things. Real things. Those, the whole
really testimony of the Gospel, you think of the witnesses of
the Gospels, the miracles that were wrought in the name of the
Lord, the witness of so many as to the reality of the Scriptures
itself. And to this day and to the end
of the world, in every one that is called by God's grace and
converted, It puts this seal on the reality of God's saving
grace and of the covenant itself. How many sure things have we
got in our life? Maybe it's like the man born
blind. One thing, I know, that he could join in here with David
and say that they were ordered in all things and sure. The last token is that they were
desired things. And all my desire, they were
desired things. You know, we read in Hebrews
of those that testified that they were strangers and pilgrims
in the earth. And they that say such things
declare plainly they seek a country. That token of the desire. If
we have prepared people for a prepared place, then we'll often think
of that place. Paul said of the Thessalonians
that they were called to wait for his son from heaven. Peter
says of that inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled and
reserved in heaven for you. It'd be a strange thing if we
were in that covenant and in the promises of God and to have
an inheritance above but never, never desired it, never longed
for it, never desired the things of God. Really the very first
workings bring about desires. hungerings that were never there
before, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word,
that ye may grow thereby. How many things have we got,
we may say, that the Lord has put a desire in our hearts for
the things of God, for His salvation. David says here, for this is
all my salvation and all my desire. Those things he's spoken of,
these tokens, these personal things, ordered things, sure
things, desired things, this is all my salvation. Because
it bears witness to the covenant and his name in it, that he is
the Lord. This is what he is trusting in,
that God has dealt with him personally, that God has ordered his life
and his calling, and he's made these things sure, and he's given
him to desire these things. What do we look upon as our salvation,
as the true witnesses and true tokens of it, true evidences
of it? It's a question to go home with
and ask. Because David here has things.
He says, I can look at these things and I can read in them
my name as being his sheep. There are many other things,
of course. You think of our Lord in John
10 and the evidence of being a sheep by hearing the word of
the Lord. Many other evidences. But here
is what David, coming down to his end, says is what his word. Well, in the third place, in
the everlasting covenant, in spite of two things. It may be
that there are those of you here this evening that have things
that you bring as objections as to why you're not really in
the covenant. How could you be? one of the
Lord's people when these things are present. And David mentions
two things. The first is this, that his house
be not so with God. He says, although my house be
not so with God. What did he mean? Really, I believe
two things. One, personally. Every one of God's children,
when they come right down to the end of their lives, they're
still a sinner. They still say with Jacob to
Pharaoh, few and evil have my days been. They'll never testify
of a perfect life, sinless life. They'll say, no, my house, this
house, my tabernacle, my body, it's not so with God. I'm not what I would be. And you may say this evening
that that is what has been plaguing you, troubling you. You see,
you feel the sins, the things that seem to just go completely
against you being in the covenant. David could see so, could remember
so, the things that he'd done, things in his life. And then
not only that, There was his outward house, his children,
his family. You think of the trouble that
he had with Absalom, with Amnon. You think of how it was with
Samuel. Samuel had been with Eli. Did Eli's sons serve the Lord? No. They were men of beauty. And Eli was one of the Lord's
dear children. But what a house he had. And
Samuel, it was said, when they asked the king of Samuel, thy
sons follow not the law. What, Samuel? Could not you bring
your sons? And David could say, he looks
at his house, and devil would say, if you were in the covenant,
if you were one of God's children, your house would not be like
this. Your children would not be like this, your grandchildren.
What a mess, perhaps, is in all your lives. But David says, in spite of this,
this covenant held sure. And then there's a second thing.
Although he make it not to grow. Really the text is enclosed in
these two things that seem to go right against this covenant. Although he make it not to grow.
The word is clear. that we are to grow in grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. But
often if it's a growing in grace, it's a growing in realising our
works, really grace and works are two opposite things. If we
grow in grace, we grow viewing more and more our works are so
sinful, are so poor. Again there's this as it were,
an insight into the mind of one of the Lord's dear people coming
down to the end. He doesn't view, as it were,
that he's grown to absolute perfection, but he's still, as it were, on
mercy's ground. He's still looking for these
tokens, these true evidences. and he's still resting on what
the Lord has done. You and I might have it as a
stumbling block that we feel how little progress we've made
in our Christian faith. The years that maybe we've made
profession and how little we know. And it may be a cause of
sorrow to us, grief to us, and the devil again get in and say,
well, surely You are not one of the Lord's children. And David says, although he make
it not to grow. Really, here is a foundation
for one on a death bed or nearing the end. And here are these objections
that try to take away that comfort, as if David would say no. The covenant stands firm and
sure, and these objections and these attacks, they don't undermine
it, they don't take it away. In spite of these things, 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. May the Lord grant us this same
testimony. Amen.