I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of 2 Samuel chapter
23. 2 Samuel. I'd like to read the first five
verses of 2 Samuel, chapter 23. Now these be the last words of
David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised
up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob. And the sweet psalmist
of Israel said, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his
word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, The rock
of Israel spake to me. He that ruleth over men must
be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light
of the morning, when the sun riseth even, a morning without
clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining
after rain. Although my house be not so with
God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered
in all things insure. For this is all my salvation,
all my desire, although He make it not to grow. All of us know, at least in our
head, that this life is but a vapor. James chapter 4 verse 13-14 says,
Go to now ye that say today or tomorrow we will go into such
a city and continue there a year and buy and sell and get gain,
whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is
your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth
for a little time and then vanisheth away." David, under the inspiration
of God's Spirit, Psalm 39 5, says, Behold, thou hast made
my days as an hand-breath, And mine age is as nothing before
thee. Barely every man at his best
state is altogether vanity. Selah. That means think on that. Muse on that. Well, David, like all of us,
has come, as we are, to the end of our days. And the Spirit of
God has recorded in this passage of Scripture these words. Now these be the last words of
David. Now, these are chronologically
not the very final words that David said because he said some
things that's recorded after this took place. But these words
are the afterward, the uttermost, the hinder words. David has come to the end of
his life, and very soon, and he knows this, he's going to
meet God. We're going to meet God. We're
going to meet God. Now listen, we're going to meet
God. We're getting older. Some of
us are looking toward that end attentively. Let's just be honest. These are the hinder words. I've heard people say some hinder
words, some last words, maybe not the last word that was said,
but some words I'm talking about right there at the end. And I
remember those words. I remember what was said. Someone
that I knew was getting ready to meet God. And I wanted to know, what are
you thinking? What's going through your mind
right now? Let me ask you this. If you knew it was inevitable,
you're getting ready to leave, you're going, what would you
say? What would you say? What would
you say to your kids? What would you say to your spouse? What would be your final thoughts?
If you knew that today was your last day, you know the problem
with me, and this is the frailty of my flesh, I don't really believe
today's going to be my last day, Carl. I don't think it is. But
I don't know. What if this is the last time
you'll ever hear me preach? What if this is the last time
you ever hear the gospel? What would you reflect on? How
much you've accomplished? How much you've acquired? What's
it going to matter? What is it going to matter of
all the things and the mess and stuff? What's it going to matter? What would be your last remembrances? The hinder words are recorded of this man David. Now these
be the last words of David. David, the son of Jesse. He's just a man. He was born
just like anybody else. He was a man. David, the son of Jesse. Marvin,
the son of Gerald. Marvin, son of Marian, just a
man. Scripture says, and the man who
was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet
psalmist of Israel said, here the Spirit of God is going to
reveal that this man, he was a sinner. A man born a sinner. But a man that Almighty God was
pleased to cross His path and to reveal Himself to. David knew, the Lord has put
me where I've been found. God put me here. There's not
an ounce of difference in any of us. The only difference in
one man and another man, if God has crossed His path, is the
grace of God. The Spirit of the Lord spake
by me. His Word was in my tongue. David
was saying all these things that he wrote, these Psalms, what
he said and what he spoke. The Spirit of God spoke by him. The God of Israel said, the Rock
of Israel spake to me. You know, before a man says something,
God's going to have to tell him something. I try to make preparation to
be able to preach. Grave responsibility to be able
to preach. And I think of the years of preaching. And years and years and years
of preaching. And somebody would say, well, couldn't you just
get up Just, I mean, just right now, just on the spur of the
moment, kind of just open up your Bible. By the grace of God,
I wouldn't get up here unless I truly had asked the Lord. Lord, you give me a message.
Lord, speak to my heart. I wouldn't know the book to turn
to. I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know.
That'd be the most foolish thing I could ever do. The rock of
Israel spake to me. He that ruleth over men must
be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be... Now listen, this is a promise.
This is a promise. This is what he's saying. Now
listen to this next verse. What he's saying, what the Lord
said to him and by him, is that the Messiah is coming. The Messiah
is coming. Now you listen to this verse
and see if that's not so. And he shall be as the light of the
morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds,
as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining
after rain." He's coming. He's coming back. And we know
that. That's what David knew. These
are the last words of David. God spoke to him and by him and
promised that the Messiah is coming. Now this verse 5 is where
I'm going to just stay for just a few minutes. Now listen to
this. This is what David, his hinder words, his latter words,
not the final word in his life, but this is what he had come
down to. This is where his life had come down, and this is what
he knew. Although my house be not so with
God. Amnon, David's son, had forced
himself on his sister, Tamar. Absalom stole the people's heart,
went behind his daddy's back and said, my dad is just way
too busy, talk to me. Share your thoughts with me.
Stole the people's heart in rebellion against his dad. Adonijah, another
son, he wanted to be king, Scripture says, exalted himself. David said, although my house
be not so with God. What he said, my house is a mess. My house is a mess. Here's an amazing thing, an honest
man about the condition of his house. He said, my boys, they give no
evidence of grace. No evidence at all. You know,
you ever, I know you have, you ever gone to a funeral? Have
you ever gone to a funeral and anybody ever went to hell? Did
anybody ever go to hell that was at a funeral? We just, by nature, we're just
going to justify rebellion, especially in our kids, in our family. Well, they made a profession
years ago. They've done the best they could. But they ignore what God has
to say. John 3, 36, He that believeth
on the Son, He that trusts himself apart
from anything that he can do. He that looks not to his own
works, his own decision, his own free will. He that believeth
and cast himself on the Son hath everlasting life. He that
believeth not the Son shall not see life. But the wrath of God
abideth on him. Here's what God has to say. He
that cast Himself upon Christ for salvation believes Him, believes
that Almighty God chose the people. Christ redeemed those people.
The Spirit of God called out those people and has given me
a heart to believe Him and trust Him and look away from myself. He that believeth. Not that there
is a Jesus Christ. Devils believe that. Everybody
believes that. I'm talking about He that trusts
Him apart from anything that I can do. He that believeth on
the Son. David said, I admit my household
evidence is nothing but rebellion against God. He's just honest. Now these are his latter words. I mean, here's a man that's just
honest. Yet. No, this is absolutely so. So
I bow to the one who does as he will in heaven and earth.
David knew that salvation was of the Lord. David knew that. David knew, I've got kids and
grandkids and I want them to know God. I want them. Listen to me. My heart's desire
and prayer to God is that He might have mercy upon us, save
us. Don't you want the Lord to save
your kids? Don't you? But I can tell you this, I know
this one thing. I know that God Almighty is sovereign.
I know He's going to do as He will. I know He's got a people.
I know He chose them before the foundation of the world. I know
that God is going to save His elect. I know that. And I know
that the preaching of the gospel, the preaching of the glory of
God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ is the only message that
God's going to bless to the salvation of His people. He's not going
to bless a lie. Now you can just take that to
the bank. Everybody that's standing in
pulpits and trying to tell men that God wants to do if they'll
let Him and they've got a free will and He's done everything
He can, that's up to you. That's a lie. You're a liar. You're a liar. And David knew,
although my house be not so with God, and he said God's the only
one to do anything about it, I can't, yet. Yet. Although my house is in
a mess, yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Now this is all of David's comfort
right here. This is all I've got, he said.
That's all I've got, that's all you've got. If you know him,
that's all you've got. He made the God of sovereign grace, the God
who spoke all things into existence. He has made with me. A sinner by birth, by choice,
by practice. I'm so thankful that God showed
mercy to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Moses and you. But
what about me? What about me? Every one of us
needs to ask this question right here. What about me? He hath
made with me an everlasting covenant. When there was but God. In the beginning, God. When there was but God, this
covenant existed. In the heart, in the will, in
the mind, in the purpose of God Almighty. in the eternal purposes
of God only, when I was not yet born, when nobody was here but
God. This scripture reveals that God
Himself was pleased to look and saw in mercy, in love, in compassion,
a people that He chose out of every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue that was not even created yet. Wasn't even there
yet. Not even a world yet. There was
God. That was it. But that everlasting
covenant. There was a surety. There was
a Redeemer. There was a Lamb. Before anything
else was, there was a covenant. And God Himself, in an everlasting
covenant with Himself for them in Christ, He hath made with
me an everlasting covenant. A covenant that met all the demands
of justice and judgment toward a people in their surety who
were not even here yet. They weren't even here. But all
the satisfaction, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the
world. God, who is of pure eyes and
to behold evil and can't not look on iniquity, had a covenant,
had a promise, and it was in His Son. And he looked to the
Son before there was a sinner. There was a Savior. David said, although my house
be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things, ensured. All the details for justice and
righteousness taken care of. Everything's settled in the mind
of God. Everything's settled in the purpose of God. Everything's
settled. No discrepancies. No skeletons in the closet. It's
ordered. Everything's ordered. And it's
sure. That's all my security. This
is it right here. It's bound up right here. God
has made this covenant, and that covenant is going to stand. It's
counsel secure. And the mediator of that covenant,
let me tell you, he ain't going to fail. He's not going to fail. God Almighty trusted him. The
Father was the first to ever trust the Son. All things are
given unto the Son. All power given unto the Son.
All the security of all God's elect given to the Son. And everything that's demanded
of them for righteousness before they were ever created, Freddie,
was secure in Him. And the Father never looked to
them again. Never looked to them again. The
stars are not pure in His sight. Well, how much less a man that
drinks iniquity like water? He looked to the surety. That's
my beloved Son, whom I'm well pleased. You hear Him. You listen to Him. Christ, the
mediator of this covenant, that does not change what God ordained,
Christ is going to perform. He's going to fulfill. Oh, those
blessed final words. Talk about last words. The last
words. They'd be the last words. Let
me tell you the last words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you
remember before He died? It's finished. It's finished. It's finished. That which God
Himself ordained, purpose, that eternal everlasting covenant
of grace, it, And he gave up the ghost. Ordered
by God Himself in all things, ensured to provide everything
needful for His people for time and eternity. What do I need
in time? What do I need in eternity? They're
ordered in all things. Ensured. Stands on a sure basis. The unchangeable will of God
Almighty And it's in the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ who
is the same yesterday, today, forever. Have the people of God ever been
under the wrath of God? Listen to this, Ephesians 1,
4-6, the answer to that is no. The answer to that is no. Have
the elect of God ever been under his wrath? No. I'll prove it. Ephesians 1, 4-6, according as
he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy, without blame before Him in love, having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved."
How long? Forever. There's never been a
time that we were not accepted in the Beloved. Never. Can you
imagine this, believer? God has never looked on you in
wrath. Never. Oh, I know the scripture
says we were children of wrath, even as others, but that's our
attitude toward Him, not His attitude toward us. Oh, no. Almighty God has everlastingly
loved His people. I've loved you with an everlasting
love. And David said, For this is all
my salvation. You want to hear all my salvation? It's not that I walked down the
aisle. It's not that I exercised my
free will. It's not that I was baptized.
It's not that I belong to Katie Baptist Church. Well, I try to
read my Bible every day, I try to do the best I can, I try to
this, that and the other. No, this is all my salvation. David said, He, He, let's start
where it starts, He made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure. God chose to show mercy to me. That's the only reason that God
showed me mercy is that He chose to. Had He not chosen to show
me mercy, I can tell you exactly what would happen. He justly
put me in hell and I have nothing to say about it because I deserve
it in myself and you do too. This is all my salvation. That's a believer's confession.
This is all I have or need. His covenant with me. He'd given
me His Word and it's secure in Christ, whom the Father is well
pleased. This is all my salvation. This
is all my desire. You that know Him, what else
do you want? What else do you want? This is
all my desire. And I want to know more of it,
that I might know Him. I want to know more of what He's
done for me. I want to hear. You tell me one
more time. Tell me one more time how God put away my sin in Christ. Tell me one more time how God
Almighty chose to show me mercy. Tell me one more time how He's
adopted me. by Jesus Christ. Tell me one
more time how He made me eternally in His purpose to be His own.
Tell me that one more time. This is the way I want to be
saved. This is the way I want to be rescued. Not by a covenant
of works, covenant of grace. And He said in closing, He said,
although He make it not to grow. Although God's promised to send
the Messiah and that through the loins of David. David was
in the lineage of Wasn't evident yet. Though David's house was
in a mess, there was no human evidence of stability there.
He said, God's Word's going to stand. God's going to send them. Messiah's going to come. And
David said, there's no room in my life for anything else. This
is all my salvation. This is all my desire. and there's
room for nothing else. Lord bless these words to our
heart for Christ's sake.