Let's read our text in 2 Samuel chapter 23. 2nd Samuel 23 1 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. Let's pray and ask the Lord to
meet with us tonight. Father, thank you for your word
and thank you for this church and this hour. We pray your presence,
Lord. We meet in vain unless you meet
with us and teach us by your Holy Spirit. Show us our Savior. Show us our sin and cause us
to trust him tonight, to look to our Savior alone, to the Lord
Jesus for all of our righteousness, Cleansing from sin and all of
our peace and rest Reveal him to us through your word Christ
name we ask Now David says here and this
is a This is an interesting verse,
verse two and three, verses two and three. David is saying that
every person in the Godhead spoke to him. The spirit of the Lord
spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel
said, the Father, the rock of Israel, the rock is Christ. spake to me. And this is important
because when the gospel goes forth, and that's what he's talking
about here, his word was in my tongue. That's a man speaking
for God. That's what happens when the
gospel is preached. That's the commission that he
gave all of us, and that's what we do. But when that happens, when the
gospel goes forth, he says, the spirit of the Lord spake by me.
Why single out each person of the Godhead here? Well, it not
only teaches us what other scripture clearly teaches, that God is
a triune God. He's three persons in one God.
But when the word goes forth, all of the various offices of
the persons of the Godhead are necessary. And this is a good
time to think about that because he said, clearly the spirit of
the Lord spake by me. Why is it important to understand
that the spirit is speaking when the gospel goes forth, particularly
the spirit? Well, our Lord said it's the
spirit that quickeneth. That word quickeneth just means
gives life. It's the spirit that gives life,
the flesh profiteth nothing. me, my capacity to speak, my
ability. That's why Paul said, I didn't
come with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in the power of God.
It's the spirit that gives life. That's why it's important when
your loved ones are hearing the gospel, realize this, the spirit
is speaking and he gives life to whom he will. The spirit quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
they are spirit and they are life. It's the Holy Spirit of
God speaking who spoke this world. Remember the Spirit moved upon
the face of the deep when this earth was a dead thing. It was
a rock. A dark rock. And the Spirit moved
and there was life. Why God the Father? Why the God
of Israel? Why a single hymn out here? Well
God strictly considered as God. We have to think in these terms
because God, absolute God, sitting on his throne, apart from his
son, the Lord Jesus often spoke of his father as the authority
by which he had come and spoke to sinners. Christ was God in
human flesh, no question about that. He's co-essential with
the Father and the Spirit, co-equal with them. But he was fully and
completely and perfectly man. And when folks looked at him,
they saw a man. And so he said things like this,
John 5 30, I can of my own self do nothing. The Son of God says, I can't
do anything of myself. Think about what he's saying
here in the context, as I hear I judge, and my judgment is just,
because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which
hath sent me." It's not the will of a man. The Lord is not saying
here that his will is any different from the will of the Father.
There's no space in between the will of Christ and the will of
his Father. Nor is his will any less powerful. He's simply saying that as a
man, his message, his authority, his commission, and his power
was not that of a man, it was God's. It was all God. The Father had sent him. He said,
as the Father hath sent me, so send I you. And so that was his
authority. Though he was and is man, his
word is the word of God. And so that's important to remember
too. His authority and judgment are that of God. Now, why the rock of Israel?
Why is it important to understand that Christ is speaking when
the gospel goes forth? When a man speaks for God, the
son of God is speaking because God can't speak to nor be spoken
to by a sinner, but by Christ Jesus. You don't wanna hear from
God apart from his son. You do not. He said in John 3.17,
God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on
him is not condemned. The Son, believe on the Son.
But he that believeth not is condemned already because he
hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
This is a message that only God the Son can deliver. This is
not what you're gonna hear from God apart from his son, what
you're gonna hear tonight. That's not what you would hear.
If you hear from God apart from Jesus Christ, it won't be gospel. It won't be good news for you.
And Christ himself, of course, is the message. He's the messenger
of the covenant. And he said, this cup is the
new covenant in my blood. His perfect salvation by His
shed blood, His sacrifice unto the Father on behalf of His people
is the new covenant. It is the fulfillment of every
term upon which God is able to bless a sinner like you. The good news is a person and
the gospel command is come to him and be saved. Don't believe
on the spirit. We believe that the spirit of
God is God, he co-equal with father and son. But your faith
is not to be in the spirit. It's faith in Jesus Christ that
saves. You see why these different offices,
and it's not that God the Father doesn't give life. The Lord Jesus
said, as the Father quickeneth whom he will, he's given authority
to the Son to give life to whomsoever he will. But it's by the Spirit
that he does that. He breathed into us the breath
of life in the beginning. And so he does when a sinner
is saved in the new creation, in the new birth. So notice now, He said that God
in all of his persons spake by me, but notice the first thing
that David mentions about his life. And this is David summing
up his life. He said, here I am. These are
my last words. Here's what God, and he sang that song about how
God had saved him. And then he spoke these last
words in the first thing that he mentions about all that happened
in his life. This gets honor of first mention
right here. God spoke by me. Think about that for a minute
now. It reminds me of what Solomon, David's son, said in Ecclesiastes
1.12. He said, I, the preacher, was
king over Israel. And he didn't say, I, the king
of Israel, was a preacher. It's important now. It's important
that he said it the way he did. I, the preacher, just happened
to be king of the greatest nation in the world at the time. That's what this is now. That's
what this is. To be an ambassador of the king
of heaven is a much higher position than being a king on this earth.
It doesn't matter king of what, it doesn't matter. And think
about that now. We all are ambassadors of Jesus
Christ. It's not just his preachers.
I always want to stress that this church is not a man. It's
not any one of us. This is God's church here. It's
his family. It's his body. And the pastor
has a role. Teachers have roles that they
teach our children and everybody an ambassador of Jesus Christ
what you do and say I think about this and the importance of it
you as part of this church and it has nothing to do with a piece
of paper we don't write people here's the here's the members
of this church you know that the paper doesn't mean anything
a member of this church it's kind of obvious when you are
one isn't it You don't have to wonder about it. You don't have
to say oh so and so is a member of the church. He's been coming
here every time the doors open for 15 years, 20 years. Yeah I'd say he's a member. Now
if you just kind of visit every once in a while then maybe you're
a visitor. I don't know. But this paper has nothing to
do with it. I know that. You're either in
on it or you're not in on it. And that's between you and the
Lord now, but it is kind of obvious. But think about this, how important
this is. And let me make this statement
without reservation. What you do and what you say,
and even your thinking in your role as a member of this church
is of more consequence than anything else in your life. Do I need
to say that again? What you do, say, and even think
in this role. Now you act in different roles.
Some of you are a father, a husband, a boss, whatever you are. In
different roles, you play a different part, for lack of a better way
to say it. In your role as member of this
church, that's of greater consequence. What you do, what you say, your
thinking, It's more important now and you know that's right.
If you're a member of God's church, you know that's right. And don't
ever, may God never let us forget that. The Lord Jesus said that
if we do something for the least of one of his brethren, his sheep,
we've done it unto him. And what better thing to do for
one of his sheep than have your part and see into it that the
gospel is preached to them. Can you think of anything more
important than that? We all play a part in that. You can't clean a toilet in this
place without it being for one of his sheep. And he said you've
done it for me. Is that right? What do you ever
do otherwise that compares to that? He didn't say when you sell a
forklift you've done it for me. But I'll tell you this, when
I was selling forklifts, if I was part of the church and I was
supporting the gospel, I've said to you before, pretty
much, well, I can't remember anything that happened before
I ever met Vicki, but as long as I've had a family, everything
I do has something to do with my family. You get that, right? You dads and moms. Everything
you do has something to do. It doesn't matter if you're at
the grocery store, if you're driving to work, if you're on the job,
if you're at home. It doesn't matter if you're mowing the grass.
It all has something to do with your family. Well, everything
you do as a believer in a much greater sense has something to
do with Christ. But there's nothing that you
do that is of more consequence than this right here. And don't feel like you're on
the outside looking in. If you're a member of this church,
it's not just about the preacher, it's every one of us. God uses
all of his people. We are his body and he is the
head of the church, not me. We all are members of his body. And let me warn all of us too. about something. Look at it on
the other side of it. Nothing that you do in a positive
sense is of more consequence anywhere else than here. But
I'll tell you this, if you're ever a problem in the church,
and I've known some over the years, long time ago, thank God. But if you're a problem of some
kind in the church, a discouragement to one of his sheep, or a hindrance
or a grief to one of the people of God or a hindrance to the
gospel in some way. All of your other screw-ups pale
in comparison to that. Your whole life might be a disaster,
but it doesn't even compare to that. I don't need to quote that scripture
to you. You know that one. May we never be an offense to
one of his little ones. But what I'm saying from our
text is simply this. The thing of God speaking to
sinners through another sinner by the tongue of a man. And that's
all of us now. That's everybody that supports
the ministry of Christ. God is speaking. through you
by the tongue of a man. If God made me a millionaire
and I could just go around preaching, you know, on my own, it would
not replace this. Do you understand that? It would
not even be something to do. It's not God's way. This is God's
way. And notice another thing that's
sort of subtle here. He says by me and to me in these verses. He spake by
me and he spake to me in the same thought. He says both of
those and they are interchangeable here. It's clear that he's not Saying that the spirit spake
by him and then the then the father and the son spake to him
That's that's clear that that's not what he's saying He's changing
these words out and they're interchangeable here. And what he's saying is
that all three spake by him and to him and The lesson is simply
this if you're gonna speak for God, you're gonna have to be
spoken to by God We have nothing to say Do we? except what God
said. You know, when we're talking
about something, you know, whatever, that's whatever. But in the worship, you can't talk about somebody
you don't know, that you haven't heard from. How are you going
to be an ambassador of the King unless the King has given you
a message? Otherwise you have nothing to say, no matter how
much talking you do. There's a whole lot of people
doing a lot of talking. though they have nothing to say. It
must be so. Here's what has to be true. If
somebody has a problem with something, I say from this pulpit, they
have a problem with God and not me. It's got to be that way.
It's got to be that way. And whenever somebody asks you
something about the scriptures and you answer them, make sure
if they're arguing with you, they're arguing with God and
not you. I think they're arguing with you. Make sure that's not
true. Don't ever argue with anybody.
And I learned that along the hard way through a lot of being
stupid. Now here's the first thing that
David says that God said to him. You see how we're going just
a step at a time here. The first thing that David says
God said to him is this. He that ruleth over men must
be just. ruling in the fear of God Now
this is the perfect standard now, it doesn't say that he's
got to be You know relatively just or he's
got to be a good person he got to be just And he's got to rule
in the fear of God and really only one man fulfills the perfect
standard of this and it's Christ and That's why when we speak,
we're speaking for Him. God hath in these last days spoken
unto us by His Son. Not by me, although He uses a
human instrument. But this is the Son, this is
Christ's message. We are ambassadors of Jesus Christ. We have nothing to add or nothing
to take away. Here's what He said. I don't need anybody to
tell me what He meant by what He said. Just tell me what He
said. It's not complicated. It's really not. So that's first and foremost
here. The Lord Jesus Christ has all
authority. He ruleth over men, all authority
over mankind in heaven and earth. And he, the Lord Jesus Christ
is that just one. He must be just. Well, that's
Christ. He's spoken to us by that just one by whom we speak. He speaks by us, but also we
speak by him. You see, he said I spake by the Spirit
of God or he said the Spirit of God spake by me but when we
speak we speak by his spirit so it's all Christ it's all you
remember what the Spirit does? Even the Spirit now. What is
the father doing? The kingdom of God is like unto
a king that made a marriage for his son The father is in this
for the honor and glory of his son. What does the spirit do? He takes the things of Christ
and reveals them to us. It's all about Christ now. It's
all about Christ. And he is the one with all authority.
He is that just one. When God saved Saul of Tarsus,
he sent Ananias to him. You remember that? God blinded
Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. And he spoke to him
there, and he said, I saw a great light brighter than noonday sun.
But then after that experience, and Saul is blind as a bat, and
he goes on his way, well, God sent Ananias to Saul and said
this to him, the God of our fathers has chosen you, that you should
know his will and see that just one. And shouldest hear the voice
of his mouth, for thou shalt be witness unto all men of what
thou hast seen and heard. In other words, you're gonna
speak, but he's gonna speak to you first. You're gonna hear
the voice of his mouth, and then you're gonna be witness of what
you heard and what you saw. And that's how it happens. You're
gonna speak for God as his witness, but he's got to speak to you
first. Otherwise, what are you gonna say? He that ruleth over
men, the just one, has a message for sinners. Anyone who is used by God in
any capacity to be in any authority over anybody will make it clear
who truly is in authority. And I want to make that crystal
clear. God does ordain all authority in the church, in the home, and
in society. But anybody, I'll tell you this,
who speaks for God especially, is going to make it real clear
whose authority it is. It's not mine. It's his. Now
some people dream of this kind of authority in positions of
leadership in the world. They say, boy, you know, we just
need some godly leaders. Can you think of any of those?
Come on now. I don't think there's anybody
in here that doesn't know what my politics are. But godly leaders? Really? Just shut up about that. Let me give you some advice.
Just vote for the one that's not completely insane and be
happy with that. I'm dead serious about that.
Be happy with that. Because it's not going to happen,
is it? It's not going to happen. But when you do that, when you've
done that, most importantly, rest in this truth that the just
and holy Son of God is on the real throne. And He runs everything. And He worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will. And His will is the salvation
of His elect. And everything else is expendable.
You may not like that word, but he's going to burn it all up.
Everybody and everything that does not glorify his son. And
him burning them up is going to glorify his son. And so we bow to him alone. We
bow to him only. Does verse 3 describe any preachers
talking about he must be just and he must be ruling the fear of God and all
that? Are there any preachers like that? Only in that they
preach Christ and Him crucified. That's it now. In every other
way they're a disaster just like all of us are. There aren't any preachers that
are just in themselves. Nor that fear God in any sense
worth talking about. But what God does for his preachers
is this. Paul said, though I preach the
gospel, I have nothing to glory of. Necessity is laid upon me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach
not the gospel. There's no glory in it for anybody
now but him. And so, I believe, look at verse four now. And he
shall be as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth. Sorry it's so hot in here. I think about what a beautiful
description of what happens when God speaks through a man. About whatever means God speaks,
In time past, he spake unto the fathers by the prophets, and
he hath in these last days spoken unto us by his son, because he
sent ambassadors to say what he said. Things that I've taught
you and shown you, he said, you preach them. And whoever believes
you, I'll save them, and whoever doesn't, I'll damn them. That's
what he said, just as plain as day. But what a beautiful description
of what happens when God speaks by whatever means. He is pleased
to do so. And he shall be as the light
of the morning. Oh man, the first scripture I
thought of was this. Turn with me please to 2 Peter
chapter 1. He shall be as the light of the
morning. Think about what happens when
the gospel is preached now. Everybody in here has somebody
that they love that they would They would give their life in
an instant to see God save them. But that's not how it happens.
It happens by the grace and will of God Almighty. But we'd give
ourselves like that to see God save somebody we love, wouldn't
we? Well, here's how it happens.
First Peter 116, for we have not followed cunningly devised
fables. when we made known unto you the
power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses
of his majesty. For he received from God the
Father honor and glory when there came such a voice to him from
the excellent glory. This is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased." He's speaking of the Mount of Transfiguration.
Peter, James, and John were the only ones there that witnessed
the Lord Jesus Christ His glory shone through the earthly body,
the human body that was given him and his face glistened and
his robe glistened and they saw him as the Holy Son of God and
they glorified him there as God spake from heaven as Simon testified
here and said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
The only man that God has ever been pleased with. And those
in him. And listen, this voice which
came from heaven, we heard it. And we were with him in the Holy
Mount when that happened, when God Almighty, the Father, spoke
from heaven and said, here he is, right here. And those who
didn't know him still didn't know him. Can you imagine that? God Almighty
saying, this is my son, and then some people are still calling
him an imposter. But listen to verse 19. We have
also a more sure word of prophecy. You might think, well, if I could
have just been there and seen that, boy, I could tell people,
you know, with complete confidence. You know what's more certain? and more valuable than a vision
from heaven? Right there. The eternal word of God almighty. He said not only did we see him
in his glory and heard the father speak and identify his son, but
we have something more certain than that, more sure and steadfast,
more dependable, more reliable. Where unto you do well that you
take heed. You see what he's saying here?
He set all this up by talking about how he was a witness of
the very glory of Christ himself. But faith is not based on what
these eyes see. Faith is in God's word, it believes
God, it believes what God said, not what I saw. You do well that you take heed
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place. Until. Well, you know, I brought my
loved one and they heard the gospel and didn't seem to, didn't
seem to hear anything really. You know, I just wonder if the
Lord is going to save him or not. See if they'll hear it again. And if they don't hear it then,
see if they'll hear it again. How many times, Greg? Until.
Until. Pray for them again. Pray that
God will have mercy on their soul again. Pray for them tonight.
And if He doesn't save them tomorrow, pray for them again tomorrow
night. But I know how He'll do it if He's gonna save them, don't
you? This more sure word of prophecy is the only light that shines
in darkness in this world now. And just keep on hearing it.
Keep on hearing it until the day star arises in your heart.
Now he's light in darkness whether you ever see him or not, but
keep hearing, keep listening to the gospel, keep hearing from
God, keep hearing the gospel of his son. Hear somebody tell
the truth about Christ Jesus and his precious blood until
the day star rises in your heart. That's our desire. The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God shines in the face of his son, and we preach
his son. When you see, and that light is given. I want
us to turn over there. You know, I can't hardly get
through a message without quoting this passage of scripture, but
I want us to see quite a bit of the context of it now. Turn
over with me to 2 Corinthians 4, and let's look at this. That
light is given now. It's not in your ability to find it. You know,
some people say, I found him. Well, the truth is he found me. And
I think that's what needs to happen to you. He needs to find you. And he
will. He don't have to try, does he? Look at verse one, 2 Corinthians
4.1. I want to look at the context of it because what are we talking
about? We're talking about preaching the gospel. That's what David,
the spirit of the Lord spake by me. God in all of his persons
spake to me and he spake by me. And that's the first thing. That's
of utmost importance. And so Paul talking about the
same thing that says, therefore seeing we have this ministry
as we have received mercy, we faint not. but have renounced
the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth,
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God. But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are
lost. It's not because we're not being plain, it's not complicated,
it's just, it's hidden. In whom the God of this world
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for Jesus'
sake. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness. The God of this world may blind
your mind, But I'll tell you this, when
God says, let there be light, there's light. The God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness in the old creation, when he
created this world, and he said, let there be light, and there
was light, has shined in our hearts, has shined in our hearts,
to give, to give. It's his gift. He said, I quicken
whomever I will to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. When you know the glory of God,
when you look into the face of the Savior by faith, You see
him in his gospel. You see his precious blood shed.
Your only hope of your sin being washed away. Your only hope of
acceptance with God. When you see his righteousness,
your only hope of standing before God. You know your works are
not going to cut it. You've got to stand before God
in Christ or you won't stand. And when you see him, when you
look into his face, what are you going to see? If you see
the glory of God, what are you going to see? It's what spiritual
light look like. Well, you're going to see him,
aren't you? He is the glory of God and the greatest glory concerning
himself that God has ever revealed. He's revealed in his son. And
it's revealed in redeeming sinners by his precious blood, the gospel
that we preach. That's it. You're going to see. Now, listen, didn't he say when
he when he said that the disciples, he said, one of you is going
to betray me. One of you at this table is going
to betray me. And they started saying, Lord, is it me? Is it
me? Is it me? And then they talked
one of them into asking him, who is it? And he did. And he said, whoever I dip the
sop, whoever I hand it to, that's who's going to betray me. And
he dipped the sop, and he handed it to Judas. He said, what you
do, go do it quickly. And then he said this. You remember
what he said next? Now is the Son of Man glorified. He's about
to be betrayed into the hands of wicked men and crucified and
slain. And he said, now, my glory is going to shine. That's what you're going to see.
When you, by faith, look to Christ, you're going to see the lamb
of God. We're going to be praising the
lamb of God forever. And you're going to start praising
him the first time you look into his face by faith. Did he not say in John 17 in
his high priestly prayer, Father, the hour is come. You know what hour he's talking
about. He's going to Calvary and he said the hour has come.
You remember the next word, glorify. The hour has come, glorify. That's what you're gonna, when
you see the glory of God, you're gonna see Christ crucified by
faith. And the light is gonna rise in
your heart. And you're never gonna walk in
darkness after that. There's darkness in there now, but you're
not walking in it anymore. From that moment on. Do you remember
when Paul talks in Romans chapter nine about the riches of his
glory, what he's talking about? How he reveals, how God reveals
the riches of his glory? It's by having mercy on one of
the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared in the glory.
That's the riches of the glory of God. So when you look into
the faith, when God says, let there be light, and the day star
arises in your heart, and you look to the Savior by faith,
what are you gonna see? The glory of God? What does that
look like? Christ crucified. the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, living and dying for you. That's your hope. When the gospel is preached,
and if by God's free, invincible grace, the day star arises in
your heart, you'll see how God can be just and justify a wretch
like you. by the precious blood of his
only begotten, well-beloved son. And by God's grace, I'm going
to keep preaching for that reason. Simon Peter said there in 2 Peter
1, take heed, take heed. You do well that you take heed
until God commands the light to shine in your heart. That
word until, that's my hope. for those that I love and tell. Keep hearing. Apply your heart. Solomon cries in the Proverbs
as a father to his son. He says, son, apply your heart
to wisdom. Listen to what I say. In the wisdom of God and Christ,
apply your heart. Listen. And don't despair of hope. You
may be in a dark place now, but as David said, he shall be as
the light of the morning. Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
May God, who makes light to shine out of darkness, shine in every
heart in this room. Let's pray.