Let's look I've just got one
verse tonight, so let's look at the Lord To show it to us
in that 2nd Samuel Chapter 23, I believe it is Verse 5 2nd Samuel 23 Five, the title of the message tonight
is Although and Yet. Those are key words in this verse.
Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me
an everlasting covenant. ordered in all things ensure for this is all my salvation
and all my desire although he make it not to grow. Let's ask the Lord to bless us. Gracious Father, thank you for
this verse of scripture. Thank you for the blessed and
sure promise of salvation in our Redeemer. Thank you for ordering the covenant that is sure salvation for our souls
because of our Lord Jesus, the messenger of the covenant, and
because of that precious blood, which is the blood of the everlasting
covenant. Bless us tonight with an understanding
of Him. And may we find all of your blessings
in Him, the comfort and peace and rest and hope and joy and
desires and mercy in His precious name. Now we need to set this up a
little bit. David has sung his song of praise Chapter 22, the
previous chapters, also Psalm 18. He wrote this song at the end of
his life to praise the Lord. And now he, in chapter
23, speaks personally of how that God had spoken by him, how God
had used him. And God had made him king over Israel, and he was a great
king. He was, as we read, the fear
of David was on all nations. He was the greatest leader, the most powerful man
in the world at that time, and yet he doesn't really talk much
about that. He talks about how God spoke
by me, he said. God spoke by me. And in verse four he talks about
how that God speaking by a man is how the light of God shines
into this dark world. It pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching. Paul said, we preach Christ crucified
and by that, by what this world considers nonsense and foolishness,
they don't even have any interest in the preaching of the gospel.
And yet, that's how God saves people. That's how God saves
sinners. Through faith in Christ. Now,
David here, in this verse, makes a statement, an even more personal
one. You could say it's his personal
testimony concerning his own standing before God. what God did for him in a brief
and summary statement here. And it begins with regret. And
I thought that was interesting. This is not the beginning of
all he said, by any means, in his last words. Verse four is
beautiful, hopeful. It just means that though all
the scriptures equally perfect and true and vital, some scriptures
or passages of scriptures by God's design are so full of truth
that they shed light on a thousand others. Not every single verse, though
all are necessary and true, is that way. But this one is. And we tend to quote certain
passages often because of that, because no matter what the particular
point is in scripture that you're making at the time, those certain
key verses or passages shed light on them. They're key to understanding
all the other scripture. And that's why we tend to gravitate
toward those certain ones. Not because all scripture isn't
profitable, it is. But by God's design, there are
Verses like this. So David here in this one expresses
regret first. As I often have had to do, I
remember telling you without even thinking about this verse
at the time, this was probably a month ago, I remember saying
to you a lot of times when I pray, I begin by being sorry for not
praying. Do you have to do that? How else are you gonna begin
when you've gone days and you haven't even addressed the God
that made you? You haven't even come before his throne and asked
for anything when you know that you need everything from him.
You know that and yet we forget, we get busy, we get... We're just stupid. Can I just
get to the bottom line? And I have to start that way
a lot, don't you? And David, I believe that's what
he's doing here now, because he's talking about his house,
but you need to understand something about that. We do. In our Lord's model prayer for
us when he was teaching us to pray, he taught us to say this,
forgive us our debts. We owe God. Everything. And when David says, although
my house be not so with God, we need to understand he's not
just pointing out that what he is about to say, when he says
although, wherever there's an although, there's always a yet. That's why I wanted to title
this that way, because it'll remind us of that. But when he
says, although my house be not so with God, he's gonna say,
yeah, he's gonna say something else. But he's not just saying
that when God made a covenant with me, he didn't make it with
my house. That's not all that he's saying in that. Although
that was true, that was largely true. But when David says, although
my house be not so with God, he understands that he is the
head of that house. You can't talk about my house
without talking about me, can you? He also understands here that
all of the evil in his house was his fault. He knew that as much as theirs
it was, and it was theirs. Yes, Amnon was guilty of raping
his own sister, Tamar, and Absalom was guilty of murder. cold-blooded
murder, and rebellion against his own father, and other horrible
things happened in and to David's family, and other men were guilty.
But God had told David that all of this would happen because
of David's sin. And so it doesn't alleviate their
guilt, but it's on David too, isn't it? And he knew that, he
understands that, and that's what he's starting with here.
Although my house be not so. He just talked about God's light
shining on. The darkness, and he said, my
house is not like that. Yet, God. Yet. Yet God, not yet I. Although, In spite of the fact
that I'm a failure in every conceivable way apart from his grace. Anything in David's whole life
that could be rejoiced in and looked at with any kind of, anything
but sorrow and regret and horror even, was just simply God's grace
on him. And although that's true, yet
God did this for me. Rather than God taking me and
my whole family and dumping us in hell where we belong, yet
God hath been gracious unto me. Is that your testimony before
God? Is that it now? David doesn't
say this as cold and calculated fact. This is not a doctrinal
statement. This is deep heartbreaking sorrow
and regret. Sorrow because he loved his family
in spite of their evil. Absalom was perhaps arguably
certainly the worst of them and when he died David cried in 2
Samuel 18 33 says he was much moved and went up to the chamber
over the gate and wept and as he went thus he said oh my son
Absalom My son, my son Absalom, would God I had died for thee. Oh Absalom, my son, my son. I didn't add anything to that.
There's, I don't know of another verse of scripture that's like
that, do you? Where it's just every, the whole cry of his heart
is recorded. How many times did he say my
son, my son, my son? So let's not pass too easily
over these words, although my house be not so with God. Sorrow because he loved them,
and regret because David himself was complicit in all of it, as
I said. Remember what God said about Eli and his sons, and think
about David here. This is, God speaking to his
prophet Samuel concerning Eli. He said, in that day, I will
perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning
his house. When I begin, I will also make
an end. For I have told him that I will
judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knoweth. Because
his sons made themselves vile and He restrained them not. That's a hard thing for a father
to hear out there now. And David, there's a lot of that
in David's heart as well here. And yet God is
merciful and gracious and forgiving and kind. And when he told David what was
going to happen. He said, but you're not going to die. Your
sin is forgiving you. And that's what we have next
to God's mercy, his grace, his forgiveness, his long suffering. And the way God shows mercy to
sinners is by a covenant of grace, a promise, a promise. And It's easy to categorize and
say, okay, here's God's covenant, and make it in a concise little
statement, and this is one, two, three, A, B, C, and all of that,
but God's covenant, every time the Lord Jesus Christ said, come
to me, I'll give you, that's the covenant, isn't it? That's
not what most people would refer to as the covenant of grace.
That's a promise from God. And what's the result of that
promise? Grace, mercy, life, rest. But God has made that covenant
from the start, from the very beginning. There are several
covenants, if you want to look at them separately, in scripture
that illustrate the one David's talking about. But what I guess
I wanted to point out is that covenant of grace is expressed
in many at various different times in different ways. But
the simple truth of it is it's God's promise to have mercy on
sinners like us and how he's going to do that. It's that simple. But as I said that was made over
and over but think of the different covenants in scripture and we
won't be able to spend a lot of time on this but think about
there was a promise made to Noah wasn't there? He, God said, I'm
going to destroy this earth. And he told him clearly why the
evil of man is great in the earth. The wickedness of man is great
in the earth. And the imagination of man's heart is only evil continually. But God made a promise. He said,
I'm going to destroy this earth and here's how I'm going to do
it. But he said, I'm not ever going to do it like this again.
And he made the promise that he would not destroy the earth
by flood again. And the rainbow is the sign of
that covenant. And think about it. What difference
does it really, God is going to destroy the earth. He's going
to do a much more thorough job of it than he did then. Not because
he couldn't have then. But he's going to burn it up.
But so what difference does it make if he's not going to send
a flood and just kill everybody that way? Well, this is a picture
of the gospel. That's what difference it makes.
It's not just about not destroying people. He's going to do that
again. It's a beautiful, glorious gospel covenant. When he saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that the imagination of man's
heart was only evil continually, what do you think he sees when
he looks at this world now? Do you think it's any better
now than it was then? I don't think anybody would say
that, here at least. But as then, there is mercy with
God. God shut up those that found
grace in his sight then in the ark, which pictures Christ, upon
whom God's wrath fell instead of upon those in the ark. Everywhere
outside of the ark, God's wrath fell on sinners. But in the ark,
his wrath fell on the ark and not those sinners that were in
it. His wrath destroyed everybody else. But he said, I'm gonna
put my bow in the sky. And when we see that rainbow,
we know that though we deserve His wrath, just like those that
were outside the ark then, there's safety in Christ. There's an
ark. There's a promise. There's a
covenant. There's hope. There's mercy with
God, His way. There wasn't but one, though,
was there? You couldn't just say, well, I don't know about
this ark thing, but I know about this cave that's way up Go ahead,
you're a goner. There's mercy with God his way. There's the old covenant in scripture,
the Old Testament. What we call the Old Testament
is a whole part of the, large part of the Bible. But the old
covenant that was often repeated throughout that Old Testament,
the word testament just means covenant. But God said, if you
keep all these commandments that I give unto you, I'll bless you. And if not, I'll
curse you. That's pretty clear. It wasn't
anything to go back to the garden. There was a covenant there, wasn't
there? God said, in the day that you eat thereof, you're a goner.
And he made good on that promise, didn't he? Thou shalt surely
die. And we did. Spiritually, mankind
fell into darkness and sin But it's just like the old covenant
was pretty clear. That was pretty clear in the
garden, wasn't there? Even when it's almost impossible
to mess up, we're going to mess up, aren't we? That's not in
my notes, but I want to say that again. Because what is in my
notes, you'll see why I'm saying this again now. If there's any
way we can mess up, it's going to be messed up. Look at the
Garden of Eden. Just about impossible to mess
that up. And yet we did. That's why this verse is so precious. Deuteronomy 11, 26, Behold, I
set before you this day a blessing and a curse. A blessing if you
obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command
you this day, and a curse if you will not obey the commandments
of the Lord your God, but turn aside out of the way which I
command you this day, to go after other gods which you have not
known." All right. I should have had you turn there,
but we're going to run out of time. But this is key here. Let
me read part of this again because there's a key phrase in it. that
I want us to notice particularly. Behold, I set before you this
day a blessing and a curse. You see obedience, blessing.
Disobedience, curse. But listen to this next part.
A blessing if. I'm just gonna stop right there.
That's the problem. A blessing if. This is why Paul said what he
did in Hebrews 8, 8. And I do please want you to turn
there with me, please, to Hebrews chapter 8. And look at verse
8 with me. And remember those fatal words
that I just read, where God set forth the old covenant, a blessing
if. Keep those words in mind as we
read from Hebrews 8, 8. And talking about the old covenant
is verse eight when he says, for finding fault with them,
those who were under that old covenant, he saith, behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with
the house of Israel. God could have just abided by
the old one and said, you're all cursed, the end. But he said,
no, I'm going to make a new covenant. with the house of Israel and
with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that
I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the
hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. That's what we
just read about. When he made that old covenant
with a blessing and a curse, a blessing if, and now he's saying
this covenant's not like that one. Why not? Because they continued
not in my covenant. The if is what got us. The if. was fatal for us, eternally,
spiritually, vitally fatal. And it is precisely why the new
covenant is not like the old one. It's the reason it's not
like it, and it's the way it's not like it. Does that make sense? The reason the new one is not
like the old one, because if the new one had an if in it,
We wouldn't be saved by that one either. And that's why we wouldn't. Because
of that if. If you obey. And yet, religion
still wants to preach to you a so-called gospel that God's
done all he can do and he'll save you if. Don't give me that
if. You just took all my hope away.
I don't want to hear about that. I want to hear about the covenant
that doesn't depend on me. I want to hear about the covenant
of grace that Christ met all the conditions of and just said,
I'm making it with you now. And here's what I'm going to
do for you. When he made that covenant with Abraham, you remember
what he said to him? In blessing, I'm going to bless you. Isn't
that beautiful? God comes along to Ur of the
Chaldees where Abraham's out there worshiping idols and he
said, I'm in the blessing field. He's not saying we're not going
to teach him. What he is saying is that he's
not going to do it. It's best to me. But the way
he's not saying it, he shouldn't have done it. You're making a deal you're not
having mercy I Will be merciful to their unrighteousness
and their sins and their iniquities will I Remember no more not a
single if anywhere in there That's how it's different and that's
why it's different That's what David said when he said this
next line. Ordered in all things and sure. No if. Religion loves to say
God's done all he can do, now it's up to you. In spite of the
fact that all of the hope of the gospel, all of the hope of
salvation for any sinner exists only and precisely because nothing
is up to you. fulfilled all of the terms of
the covenant and we just stand still like the Israelites did
at the banks of the Red Sea and see the salvation of the Lord. The language there, ordered in
all things ensure, here's literally what it means, this covenant
that God made with me was ordained and kept. Think about that for a second. What was the condition of the
first covenant? You've got to keep it. Well, wait a minute, doesn't
David have to keep this covenant that he's talking about? It says
in Deuteronomy 7.11, Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments,
and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day
to do them. That's how we get the blessings
of the covenant, by keeping the covenant. But that's the old
one. David said, this one, when God
made it with me, it was already kept. That's my hope. That's salvation. That's grace. He ordained it and he kept it
in the person of his well-beloved, only begotten son. But David said, God made it with
me. What does he mean by that? He made this covenant with me.
What's my part in that? If he made the covenant with
me, what's my part in it? Here's your part. Just listen
to the language of this. This is your part in the covenant
right here. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us. There's you. There's you, there's
your part in it. Who hath blessed us with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. According as he hath chosen us.
There you are again, there's your part, us. He chose you,
if you're his, if you believe on Christ. He hath chosen us
in him. before the foundation of the
world. Remember what David called it? An everlasting covenant. It's new because you're born
under the old one and then you hear sometime in your life about
the new one. But the new one's a lot older
than the old one. The old one was given in time on tables of
stone. The new one, was forged in eternity
between God, the Father, and His Son, and His Holy Spirit.
And you were in on it even then. He made with me an everlasting,
how can God make with me a finite creature an everlasting covenant
without beginning or end? Because He's God, that's how. He's God. His blood is everlasting
blood. that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love. Having predestinated us unto
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ himself, according to
the good pleasure of his will, remember all the I will, I will,
I will, that's salvation, that's salvation. to the praise of the
glory of his grace. There's only one that'll get
any glory out of this guy. You can't get any out of the
old one. He's broken. One of these days God's gonna
show this to me. I don't know. I don't know if
I, I don't think you can ever be there. May God reveal this
to us. We're talking about what was
the point of the old covenant. Obey and I'll bless you. Listen, wherein he hath made
us accepted. We, in this new covenant, are
accepted of God. Accepted. There's no charge busting. There's no disengaging. That's how sinners are washed
white. Come now, let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as wool, and though they be red like crimson, they
shall be white as snow. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins. Not accountability for
sins, that's the old covenant. You don't obey and you're cursed. In this one, if Christ don't
obey, we're cursed. But he did, though. That's the
thing. He did. According to the riches of his
grace. That's the new covenant. And
that's your part in it. God gave you everything when
he gave you his son. And he did it just because it
pleased him to do it. In spite of you, for you, for you. Those
two words in the scriptures, how many times do we see these
words with regard to salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ? He
took bread and gave thanks and break it and gave unto them saying,
this is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance
of me. When we observe the table, remember
those two words, for you. Think about what he did for you. This cup is the new covenant
in my blood, which is shed for you. That's your part in it,
for you. That's the only covenant that
can save me, is if my part in it is for me. He said, 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. Salvation is not offered to you. It is accomplished for you, if
you're gonna be saved. David said, God made a covenant
with me, but my house, David didn't know for sure whether
God would save his house or not. That's why he said, although
he make it not to grow, because he didn't know for sure, God
may save them all tomorrow before David dies. But he said, even
if he doesn't, this is all my salvation. And all my desire now Ordered in all things and sure
means that you simply cannot mess it up. That's just putting
it in plain language now. And that's why I stressed what
I did a while ago. In the garden, if there was any
place we could have not messed it up, it would have been in
the garden. This is an especially wonderful
thing. that we can't mess it up. Ordered
in all things and sure, because if there was any possible way
that you could mess it up, you'd have messed it up a long time
ago. And think about this, God ordaining and keeping a covenant
and just including me in it. David said this, it's all my
salvation. It's all my salvation, there's
nothing for me to add. Now, there is going to be an
effect. We're a new creation in Christ. And Paul said, I reckon
if he died for us, we ought to live for him and not for ourselves.
That's got to make sense, doesn't it? And his people do. They live for his glory. But don't ask them that. Are
you living for his glory? I can't say yes to that. I don't know how, I'll tell you
this. If God sees me any other way
than looking to Christ and sees me in him, if he sees me any
other way for one nanosecond, I'm in hell right there. That I know. There's nothing for me to keep.
It's kept. This covenant is kept. I love that word. I never had
seen that. I've heard that preached on many,
many times. I've preached on it, but I've never looked that
up. That word, sure, means kept. That's what has to happen with
covenants. They gotta be kept by somebody. And David said, when God made
this one with me, it was kept. And he says this, I wouldn't
have it any other way. It's all my desire. Now he's not saying
he didn't have a desire for his family to be saved. I imagine
he prayed to that end. It's not what he's saying. He's
just saying this, the way God does things, that's the way I
like it. Whatever that is. All my desire, every sinner likes
God's way of salvation. every real center by Christ because
of Christ accomplished by Christ. Look, when you spent all that
you have and you're only worse being shut up to him doesn't
seem like that bad of a thing anymore, does it? I need for God to ordain my salvation. And he did that by covenant,
and I need him to keep it. Because there's no way. There's
no way you could imagine an easier covenant for me to keep than
to drop me in paradise and say you can enjoy everything in this
paradise. Perfect fellowship with God,
being at the top of the list. And just whatever you want. But I'm God, and here's my authority. Don't
eat of that tree. It didn't have anything to do,
Satan was lying when he implied that that was the best tree.
It didn't have anything to do with that. They didn't get tired
of the 999,000 other things and say, well, we really better try
that one. No, it was about who's God and
who's not. So I need God to ordain it and
I need him to keep it and just include me in it. And that's
what Christ did for me. That's my testimony. All of my
salvation is because of what he did. And it depends to this
day completely on him. As much as it did before I knew
him. It depends utterly on him. And I can't mess it up. No way. I can't mess it up, even if I
tried. No man can pluck me out of his
hand. And I can't get out if I wanted
to. And that's how I like it. That's
just what David said. That was his testimony. And I
believe that's the testimony of every believer. It's pretty
simple, isn't it? Christ is all. Let's pray.