number 186, The Church's One
Foundation. Let's all stand together. The church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ, her Lord. She is his new creation. by water and the word. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought
her, and for her life he died. Elect from every nation, yet
one for all the earth. Her charter of salvation, one
Lord, one faith, one birth. One holy name she blesses, partakes
one holy food. and to one hope she presses with
every grace endued. Mid toil and tribulation and
tumult of her war, she waits the consummation of peace forevermore. With a vision glorious, her longing
eyes are blessed, And the great church victorious shall be the
church at rest. ? Yet she on earth hath union
? ? With God the three in one ? ? And mystic sweet communion
? ? With those whose rest is won ? ? O happy ones and holy
? ? Lord give us grace that we ? Like with him the meek and
lowly, on high may dwell with thee. Please be seated. Once again, that hymn is just
so appropriate to everything that the Lord's put on my heart
and I believe on Adam's heart for tonight. Psalm 84 would you
turn with me there in your Bible Psalm 84? The Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he being the chief cornerstone,
the foundation. Psalm 84 verse one. How amiable
are thy tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts? My soul longeth, yea,
even fainteth for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my
flesh crieth out for the living God. The Lord give us that spirit
tonight. We've come into his presence
and into his courts. Give us a hunger and a thirst
for righteousness. Yea, the sparrow hath found a
house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay
her young, even thine altars. O Lord of hosts, my King and
my God, blessed are they that dwell in thy house. They will be still praising thee. they will be still, praising
thee. May God be pleased to give us
rest. Blessed is the man whose strength
is in thee, whose heart are the ways of them. That the strength of our heart
would be Christ. Who passeth through the valley
of Baca, Make it a well. Baca is, it translated means
a place where there is a well. And so may the Lord cause the
well spring of the water of life to flow in this place tonight. And the rain, we've seen plenty
of that lately, haven't we? The rain fills the pools. They go from strength to strength. continuing to look to Christ,
every one of them in Zion appearing before God. Oh, Lord God of hosts,
hear my prayer. Give ear, oh God of Jacob. Selah. Somebody was asking me about
that word recently and most of the songs were actually sung
as hymns. And that word Selah, as I understand
it, was a poetic rest. It was a rest in the musical
score, which said, pause right here a minute and think about
this. This is, just meditate, meditate on this. Behold, oh God, our shield, and
look upon the face of thine anointed. There's our prayer. Father, look
to Christ for me. For a day in thy courts is better
than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper
in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God is a sun and
a shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold
from them that walk uprightly. To walk uprightly is to walk
after Christ, to look to him for all our righteousness. And
the Lord says, no good thing will I withhold from you. Oh,
Lord of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. Lord gives us grace to trust
in him. It'll be because he's blessed us and. All blessings come through trusting. In Christ. Adam, we all love you and. I've
been praying for you brother Adams going to bring a message
tonight for his very first time. I know you all. I told him today
I said I'm your number one cheerleader. And it's a hard thing to get
up here and speak for God, but we look forward to the message
Lord's put on your heart, brother. So after we sing the next hymn,
you come up, okay? All right, let's pray. Our merciful
heavenly father, thank you for once again, bringing us into
thine house. Lord, we are blessed. In. Hope of knowing that. Where two or three of us are
gathered together in thy name. There you are in the midst of
us. We are blessed with the hope of knowing that. That you're
pleased to not withhold any good thing from my children. Lord,
we're here as doorkeepers in my house. And how we hope that. that you would visit with us
tonight and that you would speak to our hearts. Pray for Adam,
ask Lord that you'd give him clarity of thought and expression. And most importantly, Lord, that
you would anoint the words that he speaks audibly and make them
spiritually effectual to our hearts. Christ to be lifted up
and you'd be glorified. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Number 11 in this spiral handbook,
number 11. Let's all stand together again. With broken heart and contrite
sigh, a trembling sinner, Lord, I cry. Thy pardoning grace is
rich and free. O God, be merciful to me. ? I smite upon my troubled breast
? ? With deep and conscious guilt oppressed ? ? Christ and his
cross my only plea ? ? O God be merciful to me ? ? No works nor deeds that I have
done ? ? Can for a single sin atone ? ? To Christ the Lord
alone I flee ? ? O God be merciful to me ? ? And when redeemed from sin and
hell ? ? With all the ransom throng I dwell ? ? My raptured
song shall ever be ? ? God has been merciful to me ? Please
be seated. Good evening. Please turn with
me to 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7. And as you're on your way there,
I love that first hymn that Tom prepared for us. I love where
it says. And the great church victorious
shall be the church at rest. Second, Samuel Chapter 7. Has always been a blessing to
me since I first heard a gospel message preached out of this
chapter several years ago and it Was one of the greatest messages
I ever heard, and I'm thankful for that. And I pray the Lord
would bless this message tonight. And that you would open up our
ears to hear. In our hearts to believe. And
that his word would come come alive tonight. If you can, please
go to verse 18. Then. Went King David in. And sad before the Lord. And he said. Who am I? Oh Lord God. And what is my house? That thou has brought me hitherto. That verse. Is one verse I'd
like to. Go into more depth right now
before we cover the chapter Lord willing. And I love how the Lord says
and shows that David's sitting before the Lord. He's sitting
before the Lord. And that's something I pray that
the Lord would give us ability to do right now, to be able to
sit before the Lord and focus solely on him, separating yourself
from the distractions of this world, of your day-to-day activities,
life. It can be daunting and the fog
of everything and the noise of everything going on around us
can be daunting, but to sit before the Lord. It's a blessing. Keep your place there and let's
go to Psalm one and I want to show a contrast here that's very
important. And it's a warning that God gives
to his people. Psalm 1, so keep your place there
in 2 Samuel 7, which is where we'll be focused on this evening.
Go to Psalm 1. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. Do you see that progression? There in verse one, you see a
progression. And now sitting before the Lord,
now contrast that with sitting before the Lord. Sitting before
the Lord is quite the opposite of what was taking place here.
Now walking, not in the counsel of the ungodly, is usually the
first step to going in the other direction, to getting wrapped
up in the worldly religion, to getting wrapped up in your works,
You start to walk in the way of the ungodly. In the counsel
of the ungodly, that means someone's talking to you, okay? Second
progression, second step in the progression is you stop and stand
and listen. So someone's telling you something,
you're walking along in the way of, In your life, someone intercepts
you as you're walking along in your life, and someone starts
to talk to you about works, about salvation outside of the Son
of Jesus Christ. And you get to this place where
you stop and stand. All right. Wait, I'm going to
listen to you. What do you have to say? And
then the progression goes to Norsetteth in the seat of the
scornful. And that's my biggest fear for myself is to walk, stand, and sit in a false gospel, right? You
sit means you're there. You're there where works are
being preached, and you're sitting, and you're wrapped up in it.
So contrast that, all right, that's a warning God tells us,
don't go there and be wary of that, be cautious of that. So
let's go back to our text in 2 Samuel 7. And I pray the Lord
would give us His ability to sit before Him. And I love verse
18, the third clause there, and He said, who am I, O Lord God,
who am I? to set before you, right? This
is something that we all truly say, who am I to set before you,
Lord? And what is my house that thou
has brought me hither to? So we've all been brought, right?
And it's a house. A house is something that protects
you, right? Gives you shelter. And I love how in John 14, Verses
two and three, the Lord Jesus Christ says, in my father's house
are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to 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's where I am, there ye may
be also. And David's saying, Who am I,
O Lord God, and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto?
And he brings you. He brings you. John 6, 44 says,
No man can come to me except the Lord the Father. Draw him.
Right. You all didn't come here on your own volition. He's the
cause of you coming here and he appointed this time for y'all
to be here and And for anyone listening online through the
internet, it's the same You know what? It's it's not the same
as being here, but but the lord appointed this time for you to
listen in right now He brings this right and then
I love in John 6 45 right after he says no man cometh to me except
the Lord draw and he says It is written in the prophets and
they shall all be taught of God every man therefore that hath
heard and Hath learned of the father cometh unto me. So he's
got to give you ears to hear and He's got to teach you I'm
not gonna teach you the Lord Spirits got to teach you There's
nothing in my own flesh that I can't articulate much of anything
that's true unless the Lord blesses it, all right? Let's go back
to our text, and we're actually gonna go to the beginning of
the chapter now. I wanted to point out verse 18 for you all
because of its significance. It's really the middle of this
chapter. I wanted to draw that out for you all and again, pray
the Lord bless this and. And give us the ability to really
enter into this chapter verse one. And it came to pass when
the king sat in his house and the Lord had given him rest round
about from all his enemies. And again, he gives you rest. Rest is the same word as faith,
and he gave him rest from all of his enemies. Who are the enemies
of Adam Clark? It's my sin. It's my sin. Sin separates us from God. Our
enemies are our sin. The Lord will give you rest from
that, right? He gives you rest from it if
you're one of his people. Moving down to verse two. That
the king said unto Nathan the prophet, see now I dwell in a
house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells within curtains. He's
basically saying, look, I'm doing in a nice house, I want to build
the Lord something. And it's amazing here, you know, David
means man after God's own heart, all right? This is a man after
God's own heart, and that's the title of this message. And it's
amazing to me, and we do it constantly, don't we? Even after the Lord
reveals himself to you, gives you rest after roundabout from
your enemies, you still have a tendency to wanna work. I know
I do. It's my old man, it's our old
man, our carnal mind, right? We have a tendency to want to
continue to do something for God. Look at me, God, I wanna
build you a house, Lord. Go to Isaiah 66 real quick. In response to that, we'll get
to the Lord's response here in a minute, but keep this in mind,
Isaiah 66, verses one and two. Thus saith the Lord, the heaven
is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house
that ye build unto me? And where is the place of my
rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those
things have been, saith the Lord. But to this man will I look,
to this man will I look, even to him that is poor, and of a
contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." That's where the
Lord dwells, in the heart of a sinner, right? Someone who's
poor in spirit. Contrast spirit who trembleth
at his word. We have fear over his word because
It's a matter of life and death and you know being here right
now before you I mean, I pray the Lord Causes me to speak clearly
and plainly of his word Right and the same thing for all God
all the gospel preachers, you know, the last thing you want
is to preach something false Let's go back to our text verse 3, and Nathan said to the
king, go do all that is in thine heart for the Lord is with thee. Now I want to say something right
now. If the Lord is with you, if the
Lord is with thee, what more can you ask for, right? If the
Lord is with you, I think of when in Matthew 28,
when the Lord Jesus Christ speaks at the very end of that chapter,
that's very in the last two verses of the book of Matthew. He says,
I will be with you until the end of the world. Right. He's
with you to the end of the world. If you're one of God's people.
Not only to the end of the world, but in eternity, right, right
now, which is amazing to think that we're actually there right
now outside the time. But to think that even then he's
with us and there in heaven for all eternity, we're going to
be looking back to the cross and his grace and continue to
be reveling in it. We'll continue to say, thank
you, Lord, and worship him. Right. We're always going to
be worshiping him. This gospel message is way beyond
me. So let's go back to our text in verse four, and we'll read
the next few verses. And it came to pass that night,
now, because Nathan jumped the gun here, he said, yeah, go ahead
and build him a house. How many times have we given bad counsel
to our friends and even brothers and sisters in Christ? Nathan
gave the wrong counsel, so the Lord intervenes, and that's what
happens, right? And in verse four, and it came to pass that
night that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan saying, go and
tell my servant David, thus saith the Lord, shalt thou build me
in house for me to dwell in? Remember Isaiah 66, we just read.
Verse six, whereas I have not dwelt in any house since that
time that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even
to this day have, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle.
and all the places wherein I have walked with all the children
of Israel, spake I a word with any of the tribes of Israel,
whom I commanded to feed my people Israel, saying, why build ye
not me a house of cedar?" The Lord's basically, I mean, he's
kind of joking with him. He's like, are you kidding me?
You can't build me a house. David can't build me a house.
Verse eight. Now therefore, so shalt thou
say unto my servant David, thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took
thee from the sheep goat. from following the sheep to be
ruler over my people, over Israel. And I was with thee, whithersoever
thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies, your sin,
out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto
the name of the great men that are in the earth." To have a
great name, for the Lord to give you a great name. I think about
when Jacob wrestled with the Lord and the four Jabbok. So if we're not gonna go there
right now, but in Genesis, I believe 32, Jacob's fleeing from Esau, all
right? Jacob's fleeing from Esau and
Esau's got 400 men with him. Jacob's basically stole his inheritance. He didn't basically, he did,
he tricked him out of his inheritance. And he's on the run. Jacob's
on the run. And so he divides his people
up. And he says, look, I'm going
to have some of y'all go to the left. I'm going to have some
of y'all go to the right. I think Esau's here to kill me. And so
Esau's a picture of the law. He was a cunning hunter. He's
a picture of the world. He's a picture of the law. And he's
a picture of works, that works-based religion. And so he flees. And then he
crosses over the ford called Jabbok. And he sleeps there that
night, or he lays down to rest, and the Lord intervenes. And
you know what? Let's go to that verse right
there. There's a couple of verses right
there in Genesis 32. Genesis 32. Verse 21. This is all about the Lord giving
you a name, right? Verse 21 so went the present
over before him and himself lodged that night in the company and
he rose up that night. This is Jacob and took his two
wives and his two women servants and his 11 sons and passed over
the four jabbing. And he took them and sent them
over the brook and sent over that he had and Jacob was left
alone. And that's what the Lord will
do right to you. He'll leave you alone, right? He'll speak
right to you, not to anyone else. We're sitting before the Lord,
all right? We're sitting before the Lord right now. And Jacob
was left alone and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking
of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed
not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh and the hollow
of Jacob's thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him. And
he said, let me go for the day breaketh. And he said, I will
not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him,
what is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said,
thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. For as a prince
has thou power with God and with men and has prevailed. And Jacob
asked him and said, tell me, I pray thee thy name. And he
said, wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he
blessed him there. Lord, we're asking for your name,
right? We're asking for your name. Rename
us. Give us a new name. My name and
your name, the children of God, our name's Jehovah Sidkenu, Sidkenu,
right? The Lord our righteousness. When
God the Father looks at us and he gives us a new name, it's
the Lord our righteousness. He doesn't see us. He doesn't
see Adam. He doesn't see Greg. He sees Jehovah Sidkenu, the
Lord our righteousness. And the name Israel, you know,
it means elect, chosen people, right? God's chosen people. And
I love in Romans chapter 2, verses 28 and 29, it talks about God's
chosen people, God's elect. And it says, you know, the Jew
is not one outwardly. The Jew is one inwardly. It's
not about the circumcision or the uncircumcision. It's not
about outward appearance. It's not about national Israel.
A Jew, a true Jew, is one of the spirit, one of the heart. So let's go back to our text
in verse 10. Moreover, I will appoint a place
for my people, Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell
in a place of their own and move no more. Neither shall the children
of wickedness afflict them anymore as before time. And as since
the time that I commanded judges to be over my people, Israel,
and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies, also
the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee in house. This
is a much different house. This is the real house that the
Lord's going to make. And he's telling Nathan this
to tell David. And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt
sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which
shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. Okay. Now, if you think this
is about Solomon, you're mistaken. Now, what's going on with Solomon's
kingdom right now? There is no Solomon's kingdom.
It didn't last forever. It lasted 40 years. Now, Solomon
was considered the wisest man to ever live. And after he prayed
to the Lord, the Lord named him the wisest man, wisest of all
kings. Solomon was also loved by God,
and he, by all accounts, was a believer. But at the same time,
the wisest man to ever walk this earth was altogether vanity,
right? He's altogether vanity. You go
to Song of Solomon's Ecclesiastes, Solomon wrote those books, and
he'll tell you, I'm all vanity, everything I've ever done's all
vanity, the world's vanity. And remember, this is not speaking
about Solomon, because Solomon worshipped the gods of his wives,
and he had plenty of them, and he worshipped the gods of his
wives. And the Lord rebuked him and chastised him. He basically
stripped his earthly kingdom from him, his legacy at least,
his earthly legacy. But if you read 2 Samuel 12,
verses 24 through 25, you'll see that it reads, God
loves Solomon, and he named him Jedediah, which means beloved
of the Lord. And in 1 Kings 3, chapter three,
verses three through 15, we're not gonna go into it in great
detail, but essentially it says that Solomon also loved the Lord.
So if God loves you, or if he loves anybody, they're gonna
be saved. Bottom line, if God loves him. Now, he doesn't love
everybody though. He doesn't love everybody. The scripture's
clear on that. We'll talk about that here in one second. But
let's go back to our text, 2 Samuel 7. Let's move up to verse 13. He shall build a house for my
name. This is the Lord speaking. He
shall build a house for my name. And he's talking about a seed,
talking about a son, Jesus Christ. All right. He shall build a house
for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
I will be his father and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity,
I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of
the children of men. This is obviously a direct reference
to the King of Kings, right? The Lord of Lords. The kingdom
of Jesus Christ. And can you see the cross right
there? If he commit iniquity, I will
chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children
of men. When the Lord went to the cross,
he was made sin. He was perfect in and of himself.
His person was perfect. God sent himself in the form
of his son to save the people, to establish this kingdom, to
establish and save Israel. And he went to the cross, and
he bore our sins. He bore our iniquities. And the
Lord says, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with
the stripes of the children of men. He chastened the Lord Jesus
Christ. But look in verse 15. But my
mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul,
whom I put away before thee. Now, his mercy didn't leave the
Lord. He resurrected the Lord. He was pleased with the Lord.
Those sins were not the Lord's sins, they were our sins. Now,
he was made sin, and it was evidenced by him hanging on the cross,
because anyone who hangs on the cross on that tree is cursed.
Deuteronomy 21. But when he died, the Lord was
satisfied, and that evidence is shown in his resurrection.
He will not withhold his mercy from him. It departed from Saul,
though. It departed from Saul. And that's a great fear of mine
that the Lord's mercy would depart from me. And his grace and mercy
are the only thing holding me together. If he leaves us to
ourselves, I mean, imagine, if he leaves us to ourselves, we'll
be no different than Saul. Be no different than Lucifer.
We'll be no different than Lucifer. Go to Isaiah chapter 12, or 14,
14. And keep your place, please, again. Isaiah 14. The Lord leaves us to ourselves.
This is what's going to happen. Chapter 14, verse 12. How art thou fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the
ground which didst weaken the nations? For thou hast said in
thine heart, I will ascend into heaven. I will exalt my throne
above the stars of God. I will sit also upon the mount
of the congregation in the sides of the north. I will ascend above
the heights of the cloud. I will be like the Most High.
That's what our old man and everyone outside the Lord Jesus Christ
does. We put ourselves on the throne of God. We think we're
like God. And what's God's response to
that? If you're left to yourself, what's God's response to that?
Verse 15 says it alone. Yet thou shalt be brought down
to hell, to the sides of the pit. If you're left to yourself,
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ, you're no different than Satan.
You're no different. Now, I'm fearful of Satan. I'm
scared of Satan. But I know in my old man, I'm
deserving of hell. In the ideas that I used to have,
and I used to cling to, and daily I will gravitate to, in my old
man and my flesh, deserving of hell. Saul, we look at Saul, what did
Saul do? What's so bad about what Saul
did? Well, he made a sacrifice to
God. He rushed and made a sacrifice
to God out of fear, made a sacrifice on his own without waiting for
the prophet Samuel. So he goes and makes his sacrifice,
and he stands on his own. He tries to stand on his own.
Say, Lord, look at me, I can do this. Here's my sacrifice,
right? And how many times in our own
lives, I'm not even talking about religion, that's an easy one,
but in our own lives do we try to make some type of sacrifice?
It's very broad. You know, let's be honest, we
try to make sacrifices in different ways. Maybe, you know, it's. I mean, I you and I could spend
all day going down the list of the different ways we try to
sacrifice and do it on our own without the Lord Jesus Christ,
and all we're doing is robbing him of his glory and we need
a sin covering for that. The Lord established his kingdom
for his people. And he did so through his grace. But my mercy shall not depart
from him as I took it from Saul whom I put away before thee.
Now God doesn't love everybody. God doesn't love everybody. Contrary
to our inherent fleshly thoughts
and just the way the world is, the way things are visually. the way our society is, the way
religion is, the things I was taught growing up before I even
knew this gospel even existed. It's constantly, we're constantly
making our, you know, doing our own sacrifices, making our own
sacrifices. We constantly would think that
God has a global offer of salvation, that if you accept it by your
own will, then you're saved by your act of consciousness and
choice. And that very concept isn't mentioned
once in the Bible. The concept of free will is not
mentioned once. Grace, on the other hand, is
mentioned several times. All right. So in looking at a few examples
about how God doesn't love everybody, I think one of the clearest ones
is Jacob and Esau, right? And outside of the story in Genesis,
there are two other areas in the scripture where it references
God's love towards Jacob and hatred towards Esau. One of these
places is in Malachi chapter one, verses two and three, and
I'll just read it. I have loved you, saith the Lord,
yet ye say, wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's
brother? Wasn't Esau Jacob's family member?
Basically trying to say, if you're part of a family, shouldn't everyone
in the family be saved? That's one of the arguments. And I pray that mine is, by the
Lord's grace, but not by the fact of my own physical blood. Sayeth the Lord, yet I love Jacob,
and I hated Esau, and laid Esau's mountains and his heritage waste
for the dragons of the wilderness. And in Romans chapter nine, verses
13 through 14, the Lord writes, as it is written, Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid, God forbid. Is it
not fair? That's the common response that
I hear constantly. Well, that's not fair. That's
not fair. Again, putting yourself on the
pedestal of God, acting like you're the judge on equity, what's
right and what's wrong, putting yourself on the throne of God
and robbing the Lord of his sovereignty as the king of kings, he can
do whatsoever he wills. And if he sends me to hell, he's
still good and just. I pray that he doesn't. I pray
that he saves me by his son, Jesus Christ, and by himself,
not by anything I do or anything, any of my works or my thoughts.
It's all got to be his saving, his work, Jesus Christ's work. Then you look at Cain, Abel and
Cain. You have Cain and Abel, right?
Cain sacrifices with his own hands, a fruit of the earth.
He sacrificed with the fruit of his, it's a similar sacrifice
as what Saul did. Like the life of Esau, you know,
again, Esau, he fed everybody, everyone really, he's a real
popular guy. You know, you look at Cain, he was a farmer, right?
And he's working with his hands, and he tries to sacrifice him
to the Lord, and he and Abel were making a sacrifice for a
reason, right? They needed a covering. He and
Abel needed a covering. And so don't think Abel was innocent
at all, because he needed a covering. He needed a sacrifice as well
to the Lord. So Cain gives a sacrifice with
his own works. What does Abel do? What does
Abel do? The more excellent sacrifice, right? He points to the lamb. He says, God Almighty, look at
the lamb, the spotless lamb, which is clearly a picture of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, that's my sacrifice,
Lord. And it was excellent to the Lord.
It was an excellent sacrifice, and he was pleased. So what's the difference here?
We've ran through some names. We have David, obviously, man
after God's own heart. Solomon, secondarily referenced
Saul. We have Cain and Abel, Esau,
Jacob. So what's the difference between
Cain, Esau, and then contrast them with those individuals identified
as believers? Abel, David, Solomon, Jacob.
Because in their behavior, they weren't any different. If you
think about sin as behavior, then you don't know what sin
is. Behavior is very subjective, right? It's very subjective.
Subjective meaning my opinion may be different than yours on
what's right and what's wrong behavior-wise. And we aren't
any different than all those guys I just mentioned in our
behavior, right? Our behavior is, I mean, you
look at the life of David, and he's a murderer. one man to basically take his
woman from him, right? You look at Solomon, again, worship
the gods of his wives. Blasphemy, you know, before the
Lord. You look at Abel, again, he needed to make a sacrifice,
right? Look at Jacob, Jacob was a deceiver. So what's the difference
between these guys and then those who are identified as believers?
Grace. Grace. That's it. God loved him
just like he loves Solomon. Grace. By grace are you saved. Don't mix it with works. We see
that over and over and over again in the scripture. Ephesians 2.8 reads, for by grace
are you saved through faith that rest, right? The rest. You're
not relying on your works anymore. You're resting. That's what faith
is. You're resting in the Lord. And that not of yourselves in
your faith, your rest isn't of yourselves. It's the gift of
God. It's a gift. It's grace. It's
all grace. So if you think that, again,
well, I have faith, and I hear that from people, right? I hear
that from close loved ones of mine. Well, I have faith in and
of myself, because I've always believed this, you know. It's
a gift of God, and you probably don't have faith in the right
thing. You're probably just worshiping yourself in one way, shape, or
form, when you really get down and peel the onion all the way
down to its core. But Abel offered the lamb, and
he said, God, look at the spotless lamb, looked at the spotless
lamb. In Hebrews 11, 4 reads, by faith, Abel offered unto God
a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, which he obtained witness
that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts. And by it, he being
dead, yet speaketh, yet speaketh. David, Solomon, Jacob, Mabel,
they were loved by God. And they all pointed to the same
sacrifice. They all pointed to the same
sacrifice. Don't point to any other sacrifice but the one on
the cross, on Calvary's cross, that when the Lord said it is
finished, it was actually finished. Don't go outside of that. You've
got to stay in Christ. Cain, Saul, and Esau stood on
their own works. They stood on their own. and the Lord chooses his people.
Matthew 25 verses 32 through 33 reads, and before him shall
be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from
another as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats. And
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on
the left. Election is real. The amount of times elections
mentioned or elected or elect as a people is, again, it's significant. It's, I want to say like 17 times. Free will is not mentioned once
in the Bible, okay? Grace is mentioned even more
than all, I mean, it's an astronomical amount. And then works is distinctively
separated from grace throughout the scripture. The Old Testament
all speaks about Jesus Christ and all the volume of the books
is written of him in the Old Testament and the New. They just
say very clearly in the New, that was all written about me.
Let's go back to our text. 2 Samuel 7, verse 16. and thine house and thy kingdom
shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne shall
be established forever." According to all these words and according
to all this vision, so Nathan's telling David this, so did Nathan
speak unto David. Then went King David in and sat
before the Lord. And he said, who am I, O Lord
God, and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto? And we read on, verse 19. And this was yet a small thing
in thy sight. This is David's response. When
the Lord reveals himself to you, if he's pleased to do so, This
is your response. You're the man after God's own
heart, too. If he loves you, you're a man after God's own
heart, too. And this is our response. And thine house, excuse me, and
this was yet a small thing in thy side, O Lord God, but thou hast spoken also of
thy servant's house for a great while to come. Speaking of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And is this the manner of man,
O Lord God? Is this the manner of man? Is
this the truth? Salvation's by grace, not of
works. Everything I've ever been told all my life's false. Is this the manner of man, O
Lord God? And what can David say more unto thee? What can
David say more unto thee? I don't wanna say anything more.
I'm not gonna even put my hand to it. Don't put your hand to
the ark, right? Don't put your hand to the sacrifice,
no more. For thou, Lord God, knowest thy
servant. He knows you. And he knows Jesus
Christ, more importantly. He knows Jesus Christ and his
perfection. For thy word's sake and according to thine own heart,
hast thou done all these great things to make thy servant know
them. Lord, make us know them. If you're pleased to do it, Lord,
we're calling to you, Lord, make us know them. Wherefore thou
art great, O Lord God, for there is none like thee. And that's
what we say, there's none like you, Lord. We hear about all
these gods in the world, in religion, there's none like you. Neither
is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have
heard with our ears." We've heard with our ears. Lord, open our
ears to hear. And what one nation in the earth
is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem
for a people to himself and to make him a name. He redeemed
them. He redeemed them. He bought them. He bought Israel.
Jesus Christ bought Israel. God Almighty sent himself to
earth for a period of time, in time, to buy Israel. He redeemed
them, because we're sinners. We're imperfect. We can't meet
God's holy law, his reverent law. We love God's law. We're thankful for God's law.
And we know it's a picture of his holiness. But we were not
trying to keep it in and of ourselves, because we fell miserably at
that. And we're not going to rely on that for eternal salvation. whom God went to redeem for a
people to himself and to make him a name, and to do for you
great things and terrible for thy land before thy people, which
thou redeems to thee from Egypt, Egypt being quota land, land
of quotas, right? Land of quotas, land of works,
from the nations and their gods. For thou has confirmed to thyself
thy people Israel to be a people unto thee forever, and thou,
Lord, art become their God. And now, O Lord God, the word
that thou has spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his
house, establish it forever and do as thou has said. That's faith. That's something
to believe in. When we look to God's promises,
I can rest in God's promises, do as thou has said. And that's
what we plead, right? Do as Alice said. You say throughout
all the Old Testament and the New that salvation's by grace,
and that's only in one sacrifice that took place on the cross
over 2,000 years ago, and that's it. That's what we're relying
on, Lord. Do as Alice said. I love in Titus
chapter one, and you know, we're saying do as Alice said for everything,
Lord. all of our salvation, for all
of our hope, right now, and in that day, and in our judgment
day, and for all eternity after that. And I know time and space
and eternity, I can't even enter into that. But what I do know
is what's written here in the scripture, and that's what we're
referencing. Titus chapter 1 verse 2, and I'll read, and hope of
eternal life, which God that cannot lie promised before the
world began. He made this promise to his people
before the world began. Matthew 1 21 and he shall bring
forth a son. This is another one of his promises
and he did it and thou shalt call his name Jesus For he shall
save his people from their sins first Timothy 1 15 Reads in part
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners Lord I'm a sinner
do as thou said Save me and that's my plea. I I'm a sinner, Lord. Save me. Lord, you say, for whosoever
shall call upon thee shall be saved. Lord, I'm calling upon
you right now. I'm calling upon you. Save me.
Now he puts that call on your heart, doesn't he? He causes
you to call on him. He's the cause of all things.
He controls all things. He's almighty. He's a true sovereign
God, and He puts it in your heart to pray this to Him, right? He
puts it in our heart to pray to Him. When a prayer's true
and a message is true, He puts it in your heart to do it. You
don't contrive it of yourself. He doesn't leave you to yourself
for it either, thankfully. Now that's faith, right? There's
faith. There's faith, Lord. You promised you would provide
the gift of faith. It's a gift, Lord. Lord, give
me that gift. By your own will and good purpose,
Lord, if you're pleased to do it, give me that faith. Increase
my faith. Decrease my unbelief, Lord, because I'm full of it.
Increase my faith. So we call upon the name of the
Lord, and we ask him, Lord, do as thou hast said. Let's go back to our text and
we'll finish up with the last three verses. Verse 26, excuse
me, the last four verses, verse 26. And again, this is our continued
response to the Lord's grace. And let thy name be magnified
forever, saying the Lord of hosts is the God over Israel, and let
the house of thy servant David be established before thee. For
thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy
servant, saying, I will build thee in house. Therefore hath
thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee.
And now, O Lord God, thou art that God, that God, and thy words
be true. And thou has promised this goodness
unto thy servant, Therefore, in conclusion, now let it please
thee, O God, to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue
forever before thee. For thou, O Lord God, hast spoken
it. And with thy blessing, let the
house of thy servant be blessed forever. Pray the Lord would bless this
message to our hearts. And one day, if my baby boy ever listens to this,
I pray, it would be a blessing to him too.
Let's pray. Merciful Heavenly Father, Lord,
we come before you as sinners. Insufficient, Lord. Incapable
of even sitting before you. Pray that by your grace and by
your cause that you would set us before you. To hear about your word, please
open our ears to hear. Please open our hearts to believe
it. Please cause us to rest, Lord, in faith and in you and
the sacrifice of your son on Calvary's cross. Pray that you
would cover us, Lord, with his blood, that we'd be protected
in his house forever. In your name we pray, in Jesus
Christ, amen. Adam, that was that was a blessing.
I appreciate you. David started out. Wanting to
build God a house and God said no, you need me to build you
house. That's the whole chapter in it, that's a. Lord enables y'all to pray for
me. I'll be preaching at the conference
in Crossville next weekend. This coming weekend and. And I know that Caleb and Michael
covet your prayers for them as they prepare to bring messages
here Sunday. So thank you, man. All right. Dismissed.