Romans chapter 8, the Lord tells
us that they that are of the flesh cannot
please God. And then the Lord begins to tell
us about our need for the Holy Spirit to enlighten the eyes of our understanding,
to give faith, to reveal Christ, He that had not the Spirit of
God is none of his. And these things cannot be known
in the power of our flesh or by our intellect. They can only
be revealed by the Spirit of God. It's what the Lord was saying
to Nicodemus. Nicodemus, accept, you be born
of the Spirit. You cannot see the kingdom of
God. And for the believer, as we just
sang, that's not just talking about our new birth. That's talking about our daily
walk. We don't walk by sight. We walk by faith. And we walk
by the spirit of God. And we are constantly crying,
Lord, give me your spirit. I can't. I can't know these things
apart from your spirit. I can learn some things. I can
understand intellectually some things. Lord, if my heart's gonna
be changed, you're gonna have to do that. And then in Romans
chapter eight, the Lord goes on to say, it is the spirit that
confirms to our spirit that we are the children of God causing
us to cry Abba, Father, and causing us to rely upon Christ alone. That's the work of the Spirit
of God. Oh, how we need His Spirit, especially now when we gather
together for worship, how dependent we are that God sent His Spirit. He promised that He would, so
the hope that we have is that He's faithful to His promises. And just as we are dependent
upon the Spirit of God now, so our daily walk of faith is dependent
upon the Holy Spirit. I want to ask you, if you will,
to turn in your Bibles to 2 Samuel, chapter 23. 2 Samuel, chapter
23. If you were here the first hour,
this I suppose is sort of a continuation of what we were looking at the
first hour from John chapter six with Peter's confession and
the Lord confirming as a result of that confession that Peter
was one that God had chosen. I've titled this message, A Good
Confession. Second Samuel chapter 23 begins
with these be David's last words. Now there's two more chapters
in 2 Samuel, and then actually the first part of 1 Kings, where
David's life continues and he says other things. Were these last words, and oftentimes
in the Bible, things are not in chronological order. So whether
or not these were David's last words that he spoke on his deathbed,
or whether or not they were the last words that he spoke as a
prophet inspired of the spirit of God to give us the word of
God, we can't say for certain. I like thinking about them as
his last words. Last words reveal much about
a person, what they consider to be most precious and most
important in life, they will often utter when they know that
life is slipping from them and they have one last opportunity
to speak. David in his last words, you
see that in chapter 23 verse 1, now these be the last words
of David. He's going to make a confession
of faith and it's a good confession and oh how I hope that this will
be my confession on my deathbed. If I have any hope of it being
my confession then it must be my confession now. It must be my confession now. We can never hope to have a different
confession in death than we have in life. Lord, make this to be
my confession now. Cause these to be my last words. The Lord tells us in Romans chapter
10, with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. It is only
by the Spirit of God that the heart can be made to believe
on Christ for all our righteousness. And then he goes on to say, and
with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. And so the mouth confesses what
the heart believes. This good confession means nothing
unless it comes from the heart, a new heart, a believing heart. The Lord tells us in Hebrews
chapter 10 that we are to hold fast to the confession or the
profession of our faith. For he is faithful that promised. The profession of our faith is
that He's faithful. The profession of our faith is
that Christ is all and He is in all. The confession of our
faith is it is finished. The confession of our faith is
salvation is of the Lord. The confession of our faith is
that we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the
righteous one. He is the confession of our faith. David, how often we've seen him
as a type of Christ. And as we read these words, particularly
when we get to verse five, we see that this isn't just David's
confession. It's not just my confession or
your confession. It is the confession of none
other than the Lord Jesus himself. When David says in verse five,
although my house be not so with God, that's our confession, but
it's also the confession of Christ. What is the house of the Lord
Jesus Christ? It's the church. And what a mess
we are. And yet, yet he, the father,
has made with me, the son, an everlasting covenant. That's
our confession, that's his confession. Let's begin with verse one, and
we'll see how this good confession, we make the same confession that
the Lord Jesus makes. We speak the same word. When we read the word confess
in the Bible, 1 John 1 verse 9, I'm thinking of in particular
right now, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive us of our sins and forgive us of all of our unrighteousness. Now, does that mean that we have
to make a sin list and somehow we have to remember all of our
sins and confess them with a spirit of contrition and sorrow in order
for God to be able to forgive me? Well, if that be the case,
I have no hope of being forgiven. I don't know all my sins and
I've never felt as sorry for my sins as I ought to feel. The
word confess, We've looked at this before, and I hesitate to
go into the original language. I never want to give anybody
the impression that you have to know Greek and Hebrew to understand
the Bible. I don't know it, but I can look
words up. And the word here is a conjunction
of two words that you know. The first word is homo, homo,
which means same. The second word is logos, which
means word. The Lord Jesus is the living
logos, the word that became flesh. And so the word for confess is
homologous, or the same word. Now that's important when it
comes to making a confession. Because when we make a good confession,
We are saying the same thing that God says. We're not somehow able to recount
all of our sins and experience the sorrow and shame for sin
that we ought to experience. Only the Lord Jesus did that.
But we are agreeing with God. We're taking sides with God against
ourselves, if you will. We are speaking the same word
about ourselves as being sinners. as the Lord said. And whatever
God says, we say. We just speak back to God the
same word that he's spoken to us. Whatever it is, in every
area, that's what it is to confess. So when we read these words that
David is speaking, David is speaking them prophetically about the
Lord Jesus who is making his confession. Paul speaks of making
a good confession as Christ made before Pilate. Christ made a
good confession before Pilate. What was the confession that
the Lord Jesus made before Pilate? Pilate asked him, truth? The
Lord in response or prior to that said, I am the truth and
they that are of the truth, they hear my voice and they follow
me. That's our confession. The Lord
Jesus is the truth. And all we know to do is to seek
to hear his voice, to ask him to speak to our hearts. that we might be able to follow
him. These be the last words of David.
David, the son of Jesse. You remember the story of Ruth
and Naomi? Naomi's husband, Elimelech, took
his family to Moab He left Bethlehem, which means
the house of bread, and he took his family to a pagan nation
where there was no bread, there was no word from God, there was
no salvation. And Limelech and his sons died.
And Naomi comes back and she brings Ruth with her, her daughter-in-law. And they're destitute, destitute. They're back in Bethlehem. but
they have nothing. And Boaz, Boaz the kinsman redeemer,
restores to Naomi and consequently to Ruth all that Elimelech had
lost when he left Bethlehem. And here we have a picture. of
the Lord Jesus Christ, who has restored to us all that was lost
by our father Adam in the garden. We lost our life. We died when
we sinned in the garden. And our kinsman redeemer, our
Boaz, the Lord Jesus Christ, restored what had been lost. and so much more, so much more. Boaz not only gives to Naomi
and to Ruth the property that had been lost by her husband,
but he himself is a very wealthy man. And now all of his wealth
and all of his means, in addition to Elimelech's land and property,
goes back. And Ruth and Boaz have a child. And that child is Jesse. Jesse, the father of King David,
which makes Ruth the Moabitess, the grandmother of King David,
and puts her into the very lineage of Christ. Here's our hope that
the Lord would take a pagan Moabitess like us, and that he would put
us into the lineage of Christ by redeeming us by our kinsmen
redeemer and restoring to us all that was lost. And I wanted
you to hear that story because Jesse's name translated means,
I possess. The story doesn't just end with
the birth of Jesse, The story of redemption continues from
Boaz and Ruth through Jesse to David. Jesse's name translated
means I possess. In this confession that David
is making, he is referring to himself as the possession of
his father. I am possessed by my father,
he owns me. And the Lord Jesus, how oftentimes
made that confession. And the father himself made that
confession audibly from heaven, when he said, this is my beloved
son, in whom I'm well pleased, hear ye him. And the words that
our Lord spoke were words that he received from his father.
The Lord Jesus was none other than the possession of his heavenly
father. And the scripture says that those
who are found in Christ are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works, which he hath ordained that they should
walk in them. You are not your own. You've
been bought with a price. Here's our confession. My confession
is I don't belong to myself. A good confession is the same
word that Christ spoke about his relationship with his father.
A good confession begins with who our father is. and to whom
we belong. We're not our own. We are his
possession. We are the sheep of his pasture. Isaiah put it like this, fear
not, For I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by my name,
and thou art mine. Thou art mine. If I'm to make
a good confession, I must acknowledge that everything about my life
belongs to him. I am not my own. He owns me. He's my Lord. He's my master. It's not my opinion or my will. I must be brought to this place,
a bowing before him and acknowledge in him for who he is and for
who I am in his possession, David. the son of Jesse, Christ, the
son of God, believer, the child of God. Look with me some more at verse
one. David, the son of Jesse said,
the man who was raised up on high, Now we know that when the Lord
Jesus ascended back into glory from the Mount of Olives, that
he was received of his father and that the father said to him,
sit thou here at my right hand until I make all thine enemies
thy footstool. His works went before him and
recommended him to God and God gladly received him and he took
back his rightful place in glory. He was seated on high. He didn't go alone. The word
of God never returns to him void. It always accomplishes the purpose
for which it was sent. What was the purpose for which
the Lord Jesus was sent? The salvation of his people.
And so when the Lord Jesus sat down, The scripture says that
God, that all that God chose and all that Christ redeemed
were seated with him in Christ in heavenly places. So that there's
my hope and there's my confession. My confession is that I belong
to God. and that I am in my Redeemer,
the one who bought me, the one who saved me, and that the hope
of my salvation is, and that my boldness in the day of judgment
is, that as He is, so are we in this world, and that my sinless
perfection and my righteousness before God is due to the fact
that I am in Him. When the Lord Jesus said, I am
the way, he wasn't just saying to us, follow me and I'll show
you the way. He was saying to us that I'm
the only way into heaven. I'm the only one that's gonna
be let in. Only one. There's only one way,
no other way. There's no other door. You must be found in him. We're not gonna come in apart
from him. We come in to glory in Christ. In Christ. I am the way. Oh, that I might be found in
him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that righteousness which is by the
faith and the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The man, look, David's given
a good confession. Is this your confession? Is this
my confession? I'm the son of Jesse. What does
Jesse mean? I possess. I'm not my own. All that I have belongs to him.
That's why believers are generous. Believers have an open hand. It's not ours. What do you have that you've
not received? And if you've received it, why
do you boast in it as if you didn't receive it? It's God's,
it all belongs to Him. The man, the God-man who was
raised up on high, the only hope that I have, of being raised
up on high. You know, the exalted positions
of the great men of this world are very short-lived, first of
all. They're very short-lived. They're
just a vapor. Men in this world who achieve
great rank and great possession, they don't stay there long. They
die. and the position that they possess
cannot be compared to being a child of the King, sitting upon the
throne of God, being found in Christ, who is the King of all
kings and Lord of all lords. Those men are nothing. They're
paupers in his sight. He's the man that was raised
up on high. That's why the scripture refers
to the people of God as kings and priests. Kings and priests. Oh, to be a king in the kingdom
of God. Let the people of this world,
let them boast all they want and what they have. What I've
got in Christ. He gets all the glory and all
the boasting goes to him. But oh, what you have in this
world, poor unbeliever, cannot be compared to the possessions
that I have in glory. That's my confession. My confession
is that it profits a man nothing if he gains the whole world and
loses his own soul. My confession is that I'm the
son of Jesse, that I'm seated on high, and that the riches
of glory. Well, here's what the scripture
says. The sufferings of this world cannot be compared. Cannot
be compared to the glory that shall be revealed in you. The
man that is upon high. That's why we always have our
affections set on things above. Where Christ is seated at the
right hand of God. Child of God, you're always thinking
about it, aren't you? I know you are. You can't help
it. It's the Spirit of God. I don't care how old you are.
You can't go a day without thinking about it. You're eternal home. You're looking and longing for
that day when you're going to be delivered from this world. It's the unbeliever that puts
down roots in this world and makes this world their home.
This world's not your home. You enjoy the things that God's
given you. You try to be generous with what you have and responsible
with what you have, but this is not your home. This is your
confession. Your confession is that I'm a
stranger. I'm a pilgrim. I'm just passing through. That's
my confession. That was David's confession.
And that's every believer's confession. a man who was raised up on high. In the book of Hebrews, we read
about Abraham looking for a city whose builder and maker was God. He was looking for a country
that was not of this world. Always looking, always waiting,
always anticipating. Now, I know the older we get,
the more the realization of that is true to the heart. But if
God has made you a child of God, this is something that you, this
is your hope. This is your hope. Christ in
you right now is your hope of glory. But your hope of glory
is going to be that though you look through a veil, you look
through a glass darkly now, then face to face, face to face. That's why the Lord Jesus said,
you believe in God, believe also in me. Don't be afraid. I go and prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself that where I am there you may be also.
Child of God, we live our lives. We live like we're dying. Isn't
there a song that goes along like those lines? We live like
we're dying. What a way to live. What a way
to live. That's the only way to live.
The only way to live. He has prepared a place for us.
And he said, if I prepared a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself so that where I am, there you may be
also. And that's when Thomas said,
Lord, we don't know the way, we don't know where you're going.
And the Lord said, I am the way. I am the truth and I am the life. David, the son of Jesse said,
and the man who was raised up on high, this is my confession,
the anointed of the God of Jacob. Now, surely this is a reference
to Christ. David's speaking prophetically
of the Lord Jesus, who is the anointed one. What is anointed?
That's the Christ, the Messiah. In the Old Testament, the priest,
the prophets, and the kings. were anointed by God to accomplish
the task that they were given in Old Testament Israel. And no man in the Old Testament
could possess all three positions. You could be king and prophet
like was David, but he couldn't be priest, he had to have a priest. You could be a priest, but you
couldn't be king. See, these positions, these offices
were always divided in the Old Testament until the Lord Jesus
came. Until the Lord Jesus came. He
is the prophet. He is the word of God. He is
the manna from heaven. What is a prophet? A prophet
is one who comes and brings us a message from God. And that
is who the Lord Jesus Christ is. And he himself is the message. He's the message and he's the
messenger. He's the anointed of God. He's
the prophet of God. He is the word that was made
flesh who dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory as the
glory of the only begotten of the father. He's the prophet
of God. and all those prophets who prophesied
in part. God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake unto our fathers by the prophets,
hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, the anointed
one. This is our confession. that
the only way to understand the Old Testament prophets is to
see them in light of the prophet, the anointed one, the son of
God. And everything that they prophesied has to be interpreted
in light of who he is and what he did. He's the priest. That Old Testament
priest, Aaron, I mentioned this in the first hour, he was anointed
with oil. And the oil, the Bible says,
went down his beard and down his robe and dripped off onto
the ground. And the Lord Jesus, as our priest,
just as Aaron wore that breastplate, and what was on the breastplate
of the high priest? It was the 12 stones, and in
those 12 stones were inscribed the 12 names of the 12 tribes
of Israel. And Aaron went before God and
he made sacrifices and offerings on behalf of the people of God.
And they were accepted by God through the ministry of the priest. And here we have the Lord Jesus
Christ, the anointed one who went before God and made
himself an offering Not to man to be accepted or rejected by
us. That's a lie from the pit of
hell. Oh, once you accept Jesus, he wants to come into your heart. He came and he died for you that
you might be saved if you'll just do your part. He'll be able
to do his part. That's not the anointed one.
That's not the Christ. That's not the son of God. That's a little Jesus who can't,
that Jesus can't save anybody and never has saved anybody. We're talking about the high
priest who went to Calvary's cross and made himself an offering
to his father, an offering for sin, an offering that satisfied
everything that God required for divine justice. a perfect
lamb, a lamb that was without spot, that God accepted. Here he is. Here's our confession. I have no way to make an offering
to God that would atone for my sins. I've got to have Christ. I've got to have the son of David.
He's the only one that can speak to me the word of God, and he's
the only one that can take my sins and put them away. He's
the only one that can offer to God an offering that will be
satisfied in the sight of God. This is my confession. My confession is that I am a
possession of God almighty. Jesse is my father. My confession
is that I have a man who's been lifted up on high and in him,
is my hope of being lifted up on high. My confession is that
the anointed one, as the prophet of God, and as the priest of
God, and as the king of God, oh, he has a kingdom. It's not
like the kingdoms of this world. lived long enough to see kings
and presidents and rulers and nations go up and down, up and
down, and God appoints them in His time to accomplish His purpose. And if things go as they've always
gone, and the Lord tarries, this great nation that we're thankful
for, that we appreciate the freedom and prosperity of, will one day
no longer be what it is today. It's a puppet. It's all in God's
hand. That statue of Nebuchadnezzar
Remember it had a head of gold, it had arms of silver, and a
belly of brass, and legs of steel, and feet that were made of iron
and clay, and those were the kingdoms of the world. And then
there was a rock that was carved out of a mountain without the
hand of a man. And where we are today is in
the feet of that statue. All the nations of the world
today are represented in the feet of that statue, the mingling
of clay and iron. Some nations strong, some not
so strong, some weak, some good, some evil. They're the nations
of the world. But what is that rock that was
carved out of that mountain without a hand, without a man's hand?
It was carved by the hand of God. That rock comes and it crushes
that statue. and all the kingdoms of the world
are turned to powder, and then that rock becomes the greatest
mountain that there's ever been. That rock was Christ, and that
mountain is his kingdom. And that's the kingdom that I
want to be a part of. Thankful to be an American? Yes.
Thankful to enjoy the freedoms and prosperity that we have?
Yes. But this world is not my kingdom. The Lord Jesus said, if my kingdom
were of this world, my disciples would fight. Why is it that you
see that professing Christians become so engaged in politics
and so aggressive in thinking that they're going to Christianize
the world and they're going to turn this world into a into the
kingdom of God. It's not so, this world will
never be the kingdom of God. The prince of the power of the
air, Satan himself is over the kingdoms of this world. No, what
is my confession? What is my confession? Oh, I'm
waiting for that kingdom. When my king comes and smashes
that figure and establishes his kingdom on high, an everlasting
kingdom, a kingdom that will never fall, a kingdom that can
never be changed. Turn to me to Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar thought he was
somebody. He thought that the kingdom that
he reigned over which was part of that figure that I just mentioned.
That was the kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar. He thought he had made that kingdom.
He didn't know God had done it. And the Lord humbled Nebuchadnezzar
and put him in his place. And I want us to begin reading
in verse 34. And at the end of days, after Nebuchadnezzar was
properly, by God, put in his place, he was caused to see that
His kingdom wasn't his. Your bank account's not yours.
Your house is not yours. Your little bailiwick is not
yours. Your family and your children
are not yours. Oh, how quickly we can become
proud of what we have. We're just like Nebuchadnezzar.
Oh, look what I built. What's the Lord do? puts us in
our place, and he causes us to confess with David. It's his kingdom. It's his kingdom. Although my house be not so with
God, look what I've done to my kingdom. Look at the mess I've
made of my kingdom. He has made with me an everlasting
covenant And that covenant is ordered in all things. And that
covenant is sure. And this is all my salvation. This is my confession. This was
David's last words. This was his confession. These
were his dying words. This is every believer's confession. I'm not saying we don't get caught
up in the things of this world, but child of God, when you hear
these truths right now from God's word, from God's word, I know
what you're thinking. I know what you're saying. Amen,
Lord. Forgive me. Forgive me for ever
thinking that what I have is mine and that what I have I accomplished. Lord, I'm so proud and so self-righteous. Lord, thank you for reminding
me again of whose kingdom I'm really a part of. That's what
you're thinking, aren't you, child of God? He lifted up his eyes to heaven,
and his understanding returned unto him. Oh, Lord, return to
me my understanding. And I blessed the Most High. I gave to him all the praise
and all the glory. This is my confession. I made
a bad confession before. My confession was that I had
done something. Now my confession is that he's
done it all. And I praised and I honored him
that liveth forever. Whose dominion is an everlasting
dominion and his kingdom is from generation to generation. You
go to Iran today and look at Nebuchadnezzar's kingdom and
see what it's become. Yep. A war zone. A target. of bombs and being
stripped of its power. But the kingdom that we're a
member of, it's an everlasting kingdom. It can't be weakened. It can't be changed. It can't
be taken away. What kingdom do you want to be
a part of? His kingdom is from generation
to generation. It never ends. It doesn't change. And all the inhabitants of the
earth, all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as no thing. No thing. That's what we are,
no things. and he doeth according to his
will with the armies of heaven and all the inhabitants of the
earth, and no man can say unto him, no man can stay his hand
or say unto him, what doest thou? Oh, that's the kingdom. If my kingdom were of this world,
my followers would fight. My kingdom's not of this earth. They that are of the truth, they
hear my voice and they follow me. Pilate was so afraid that
the Lord Jesus had come to take away his power. What did Pilate
say to the Lord in that conversation? When the Lord refused to speak
to Pilate, refused to respond to his threats, Pilate said,
don't you know that I have the power? to crucify you or to set
you free? Don't you understand who you're
talking to? Can you believe it? And the Lord
Jesus very calmly looked at him and said, you have no power at
all except for that which is given to you from heaven. Pilate, you are a puppet in my
hand. I am using you to accomplish
my purpose of saving my people, that I might be set up on high
and become their prophet and their priest and their king,
the anointed one of God. and they're gonna hear my voice
and they're gonna come to me and I'm gonna possess them. And
they're gonna be glad to be possessed by me because when I possess
them, when I possess them, this is what's gonna happen. When
I possess them, they're gonna come to this realization up until
now I was possessed of the devil. I was held in darkness and in
bondage by him." All men are possessed by one
or the other. God's people are so thankful
to be delivered from the kingdom of darkness and translated into
the marvelous eternal kingdom of his light. You're not your own. You're possessed
by someone. Now these be the last words of
David. David, the son of Jesse, the man who was raised up on
high, the anointed of the God of Jacob. We have an anointing. It's the Holy Spirit. given to
us in part, nevertheless given to us in deed. If we have not the Spirit of
God, we're none of His. How do I know if I have the Spirit
of God? Because He has made me to make this my confession. Christ
is my confession. He's the man that's been lifted
up on high. He's all my righteousness before God. His word is the only,
to whom shall we go? Lord, thou alone has the words
of eternal life. The Spirit of God gives me great
hope and comfort. He's called the comforter. He's
called the comforter. And when we talk about the Holy
Spirit, we're not talking about, some spirit-filled life that
the Pentecostals talk about, you know, just acting foolishly,
emotionally, and blaming the Holy Spirit for it. We're talking
about a work of grace in the heart that gives us rest and
hope and comfort, reveals to us truth, and shows us Christ,
and enables us to make Him our confession. He comforts us. He teaches us. Most importantly, he leads us
to Christ. Let me close with this in light
of what I just said. Don't look for hope. Don't look
for peace. Don't look for comfort. Don't
look for joy. Don't look for those things.
They can be counterfeited and substituted very easily. Look
for Christ and all those things will come with him. Look for Christ, the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You look for You look for comfort,
you're gonna be hoping that some of your circumstances change.
You look for peace, you're gonna be looking for a better mental
way of thinking. You look for this and that, you're
gonna go down a different road looking for those things. Just
look for Christ, come to Christ, and all those things that you
want and all those things that you need will come with him. He is our confession. Our Heavenly Father, make these
our dying words, and make these our words now as dying men. For truly, Lord, we can say with
the Apostle Paul, I die daily. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Adam. 224. Let's stand together. 224.