Thank God for that new covenant,
I'm glad it's not like the old one This covenant is fulfilled
in its entirety by the Lord Jesus Christ and all of the benefits
of that covenant Or ours in him Second Samuel chapter 22 will
Look at a few more verses. We've been in this chapter a
good while now and Because it's just so full of
teaching, so rich in gospel teaching. We'll look at verses 37 through
41 tonight. Thou hast enlarged my steps under
me so that my feet did not slip. I have pursued mine enemies and
destroyed them, and turned not again until I had consumed them.
And I have consumed them and wounded them, that they could
not arise, yea, they are fallen under my feet. For thou hast
girded me with strength to battle. Them that rose up against me
hast thou subdued under me. Thou hast also given me the necks
of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me. Sometimes in order to see what
a sentence is saying, you have to look beyond the details that
are in the actual statement, like in verse 41. This is the
title of the message tonight. It's all five words of the title
are found in this verse, and they apply not only to what David
is talking about, but they apply to everything. And this is the
title, Thou hast, those first two words, Thou hast, and then
the second half of the verse, that I might. Thou hast, that
I might. That's the title. And the details
of this are wonderful, but those words apply to everything. That's
the gospel. Thou hast, that I might. As I've said to you many times
before, the religion of this world has it exactly backwards.
You can just about listen to what this world's religion is
saying and just turn it around completely the other way and
you'll probably have a truth. They love to say if you will,
God will. The teaching of scripture and
the teaching of our text tonight is if God will, you will. And
there's a big difference. God is the first cause of everything. It's not up to me, it's up to
God. Everything depends upon His will,
not yours. Your will's not free. Your will
is not good. Your will is not smart. Your
will should never be done, and neither should mine. God's will,
everything hangs upon His will. It's just the truth, isn't it?
How are you going to fall in love with God whom you despise
with all of your nature? Everything about you and in you
despises him. The carnal mind is enmity. If
you look up that word, we bitterly hate God, but how are you just
going to fall in love with him all of a sudden? You're not going
to change and he's not going to change. The leopard can't
change his spot, and God said, I'm the Lord, I change not. How
are you just gonna love him all of a sudden? How are you, as
religion also says, how are you gonna get right with God? You
need to get right with God. How are you gonna do that when
he's holy, and everything you've ever done is evil? All that you
are, and all that you've ever even known is sin. How are you
gonna get right with God? How presumptuous and foolish
and self-destructive it is to think that God can or will have
anything to do with you because you walk an aisle or make some
kind of a decision. And that's what all of religion
is based on. They say everything hinges upon
that, you making that all-important decision. Let me ask you this too, what
are you gonna do about your sin? You gonna do something to make
up for it? Do you have any idea why? When the disciples asked
the Lord, who can be saved? Who can be saved? This rich young
ruler came to the Lord saying, what do I gotta do to inherit
eternal life? And it didn't end well. And the Lord Jesus said,
how hardly shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of God? And
they said, who then can be saved? It's easier for a camel to pass
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved. Who
then can be saved? And the Lord said there in Mark
10, 27, with men it is impossible. Do you see what that has to do
with our text? You remember the occasion of
the Lord saying that with men, salvation's impossible. They're
just not gonna be saved. It's not gonna happen. The Lord
had just given that rich young ruler an ultimatum, had he not? And don't kid yourself, that's
what the gospel is. It's not a choice. The Lord didn't
say to that rich young ruler, now you can either go sell all
that you have and follow me, or you can keep what you have
and get on with your life. You have a decision to make.
He didn't say that. He said, you go sell everything
you have and give it to the poor and you come follow me. And the man went away sorrowful
for he had much possessions. And it was then that the Lord
said, how hardly shall a rich man enter into the kingdom of
heaven. With men it's not going to happen. That's what he's talking about,
what religion calls that all important decision. I'm going
to choose Christ over myself and everything that I am and
have and can do. I'm going to choose him. The
Lord Jesus Christ said you can't do it. This man didn't do it
and you're not going to do it. With men, it is impossible. The problem with if you will,
God will, is you will not. No sinner is ever gonna choose
the Lord Jesus Christ until they see him as more valuable than
everything that they are and have and can do or ever do. How does that happen if it's
impossible? Well, I'm glad he didn't stop there. He didn't
just say it's impossible. He said, with men it's impossible,
but with God, but with God, but God who is rich in mercy for
his great love, wherewith he loved us when we were dead in
trespasses and sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. God
did something that was impossible for us to do. He saved us. With that rich young ruler in
mind, listen to Hebrews 11, 24. Think about that rich young ruler.
The Lord gave him an ultimatum. If you're going to have eternal
life, here's what you're going to do. But think about what happened
there and what the Lord said about it. That's going to happen
every time. With men, it's not going to happen
any other way. listen to Hebrews 11.24 about
faith. Moses when he was come to years
refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy
the pleasures of sin for a season. Now why would he want to be afflicted
rather than have everything that any man would ever want? Esteeming
the reproach of Christ. The most undesirable thing about
Christ is more desirable than this whole world. The reproach
of Christ. Esteeming the reproach of Christ
greater riches than all the treasures in Egypt. For he had respect
unto the recompense of the reward. He knew what he had to gain and
what he had to lose. That's what you got to know.
And with men, it's impossible. Moses did the impossible. He did what Christ said a man
cannot do. He chose Christ and the reproach
that comes with him over all the world. How? Well, we read it, didn't we?
By faith. By faith he did that. Looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Please turn there
with me at Hebrews 12, 2. I want us to look at this passage. And as we've seen so many times,
scripture will shed light on scripture. If the Lord is pleased
to speak tonight, he'll use His Word, to shed light on His Word.
How can we understand what we read there in 2 Samuel 22? We'll listen to Hebrews 12 too.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Let's
look to the one in whom is all of our hope. The
one who authored our faith, who finished our faith, And here's
who he is. For the joy that was set before
him, he endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at
the right hand of the throne of God. We often say the gospel
is who Christ is, what he did, why he did it, and where is he
right now. He's sitting on the right hand
of the throne of God. having accomplished redemption
for his people. He endured the cross and redeemed
us from our sins. Now listen, we learn three things
about faith in that one verse, Hebrews 12, two, that most people
will never know. Religion talks about faith as
though it's just kind of the power of positive thinking. If
you just have enough faith, everything will be fine. If you just have
enough faith. Here's faith. Three things, Christ is the author
of it. That word means prince, he's
the prince of our faith, but it also means this, author. Okay,
the original Greek word there means prince or author. Now why
did the translators choose the word author
over the word prince? They could have translated it,
he is the prince of our faith, We have the rest of the verse
though. He's the author and the what? Finisher. So that kind
of shows you the thought that's being conveyed here is he's the
beginning and the end. He's the origin and he'll have
to carry it through. He'll have to keep us. So the
reason the translators went with author here is in this particular
context, the word finisher follows this word. And it's clear that
the message is that Christ originates and completes our faith. He's
the Alpha and Omega when it comes to our faith. And seeing that,
the two words combined in this sentence, and so knowing that
author is the appropriate translation here, then we look at the root
word. Why does it mean that? It's from
a root word from which archegos is the word author there. But
there is a combination root word that this word archaegos is derived
from. Archae is the fir, that makes
sense. Archae and aegos put together
is what makes this word. So let's look at this. We don't
get into a lot of word studies often, but this is important
now. This is a simple, basic truth that David is expressing
in our text that's simply the gospel. It's the truth of the
gospel. Salvation's of the Lord. That's
what it is. He does and we do in that order. Okay, so it's a combination of
arche, which means origin, that by which anything begins to be. The active cause. of our faith. Well, that's pretty clear, isn't
it? Well, that's what the whole scripture teaches. It's the fruit
of the spirit, it's faith, not the fruit of the flesh. By grace
are you saved through faith, and that's not of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast. It's the act of, that by which
anything begins to be. All right, and the second part
of the compound word, is ago, I think is the way it's pronounced,
meaning to lead by laying hold and bringing to the destination
as of an animal. It almost sounds like that's
word for word, and it is word for word. That's the definition
in Strong's Concord. To lead by laying hold and bringing
to the destination as of an animal. And what animal are we in the
scriptures? We're an ox. We're a dumb ox. We're a rebellious
asses cult. You don't- when you lead a donkey,
you don't just say, here donkey, here donkey, we're going to go
over here now. No, you put a rope on him and you lead him. You bring him to the destination. And of course that's- John chapter
six, no man can come unto me except the father which has sent
me draw him. How does he do that? By faith. He's the author of
our faith. He's the one that brings us.
He's the one that brings us to the destination. And Christ is
the single destination. Now listen, that word draw, no
man can come unto me except the father which has sent me draw
him. And again, I don't, that word draw is important, but you
know what the most important word in that verse is? Me. You're
not coming to me unless my father brings you to me. Okay. That word draw is a different
word there from ago, which means to lead by laying. It's a different
word, but it's boy, it's real similar. You know what it means?
The word draw there to drag off. to draw by inward power, to impel. How does God drag you off to
Christ? By authoring faith in you. It's
pretty much the same word. And that originates with him.
He is the one by which that came to be. You see how plain that
is? The second thing we learn about
faith in that one beautiful, glorious verse of scripture there.
is Christ is the finisher of our faith. The word means to
perfect or complete. He doesn't just wind up the clock
and then just let it run. He got to finish it too now.
He which has begun a good work in you shall perform it until
the day of Jesus Christ. If he lets us go for one second,
we fall. The root word there is to carry
through, to accomplish, to finish, to complete. We know from Luke
22, 31 through 32 there that we've recently seen that if the
Lord had not interceded for Simon, what was fixing to happen to
Simon? If the Lord says to you, I've prayed for you, I've interceded
before the throne of my father for you, that your faith fail
not. What was fixing to happen if
he did that? Your faith is fixing to fail, that's what's gonna
happen. He don't waste a prayer. Simon's faith would have failed
and Satan would have sifted him like wheat. But he's the finisher of our
faith. So, it's not going to happen. It's not going to happen. That's what he's talking about
when he said, you're in my hand and nobody's plucking you out
of my hand. The third thing we know from this verse is what
faith does. And I'll tell you this, if you're
going to know what faith is, find out what it does. We know from
1 Corinthians 13, how does God define love? Love. Now about a faith and hope and
love. The greatest is love. How does
he define love? Well, it's a human emotion that,
you know, well, no. Love suffereth long in his kind. Charity, love, envieth not. Love vaunteth not itself, is
not puffed up. He defines it by what it doesn't
do and what it does do. It doesn't behave itself unseemly.
Seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil. Rejoiceth
not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth. It's what it does
and what it doesn't do that defines it. Love never fails. Faith also is defined by what
it does. Read Hebrews chapter 11, where
we quoted from a minute ago. What does faith do? By faith,
by faith. Hebrews 11 is full of that, isn't
it? By faith. We'll talk about that in a minute.
But remember Hebrews 12, where we just quoted that one beautiful
verse. What does faith do? Looking unto
Jesus. So faith, Christ is the one by
which faith begins to be. Not you. It's worked in you. He worketh in you both to will
and to do of his good pleasure. He's the author of it. He's the
finisher of it. And faith looks to him. He's
the object of it too. It's Christ. It's Christ who
for the joy that was set before him You might think a horrible
thing was set before him. No, not to him it wasn't. It was a joyful thing. I asked a while ago, how in the
world are you gonna love God whom you despise with all of
your nature? How are you gonna do that? Looking
unto Jesus, if you ever see him. We love him because he first
loved us. And herein is love, not that
we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be our
sin offering. If you ever get a glimpse of
the son of God giving himself for you, then you will fall in
love with him. I guarantee you that. How are you going to get
that glimpse? By faith. Faith that He offers,
faith that He sustains, faith that He alone is the single object
of looking unto Jesus. You're gonna look by grace through
faith. If He gives you faith, you'll
look at Him with eyes that see, with eyes that see. Blessed are
your eyes, for they see. I asked a while ago, how will
you ever be right with God? How, when he is holy and all
that you are is sin, looking unto Jesus by grace through faith
in him, we are righteous and holy in
the sight of God. Listen to Philippians three eight.
Yeah, doubtless, and I count all things but loss. For the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom
I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but
done, that I may win Christ and be found in him, not having mine
own righteousness. What does it mean to be in Christ?
Well, Paul just said it means not having your own righteousness.
When you're in him, you're in him just as you are. unrighteous,
vile, wretched, but being in him makes all the difference. Be found in him, not having mine
own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through
the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. How am I gonna be, how am I gonna
get right with God? Looking unto Jesus. The righteousness which is of
God comes by faith. It's imputed unto us by faith. Abraham believed God, and it
was imputed to him for righteousness. I ask this also, what are you
gonna do about your sin? What in the world are you gonna
do about your sin? If you could be holy from now
on, it wouldn't cut it. You've already messed it up.
Are you gonna do something to make up for your sin? No. I'm
going to look unto Him. By God's grace, I'm going to
be looking unto Jesus. I'm going to look to Him as my
sin offering. I'm going to look to the Lamb
of God. I'm going to look to the serpent of brass lifted up
on a pole. And as Moses said, I'm going
to live because of that look, because of the one to whom I
look. By the faith that he authored
and shall certainly finish, I will wash my robes and make them white
in the blood of the lamb. By his grace, that's what I'll
do. Now this is our text. Thou hast that I might. The Lord, thou Lord has given
me faith. whereby I might look unto the
Son of God and come to him and find in him all that I need. Thou hast drawn me, thou hast,
thou hast drawn me that I might come to him. David's talking
about winning a victory now there in that Psalm 18, which is also
2 Samuel 22. He's talking about winning victory,
and you know what that means in spiritual terms. Salvation. Salvation. Thou hast drawn me that I might
come. The Lord said no man can come
except thou hast that I might. David in our text is speaking
of physical battles, but we know that our true battle is a spiritual
one. How do we win? Where does victory
come from? Well, David said, the Lord girded
me with strength. The way he described it there,
you remember? Thou hast girded me with strength. The Lord hath
given me the necks of my enemies, and because he did, look what
I did. I pursued, he said, I destroyed, I consumed my enemies. My feet
didn't slip. The spiritual equivalent of that, thou hast that I might, is Hebrews
11. I told you we were going to talk
about that in a minute. Here it is. Listen, by faith Moses
chose. You can read Hebrews 11 later
if you want to. We won't turn there I don't think. By faith Moses chose. We just
read that. He chose the reproach of Christ
over all the treasures of Egypt. By faith, Abraham believed. He believed that what God had
promised, he was also able to perform. By faith, Enoch walked
with God, and he was not for God took him. By faith, Abel offered the more
excellent sacrifice. By faith, Noah moved with fear
and built an ark and saved his house. My faith, Sarah, receives
strength. Think about that. Why does it
take faith to just receive something? Because you're a sinner and you
can't receive it unless God gives you faith. My faith, Jacob, it says, listen
to this. It says, Jacob worshiped God
leaning upon the top of his staff. Can you picture that? Broken down old man, old Jacob,
worshiped God, leaning upon his staff. This is when he was blessing
his children. He was old and just about gone. But he leaned on the top of his
staff and worshiped God. You know why he was leaning on
that staff? Because God had come where he was and wrestled with
him and conquered him, touched his thigh and put him in the
dust and then said, you win, Jacob. You remember when we studied
that? That's exactly what he said now.
And that's why you worship God too. You worship as if you're
leaning on the top of a staff because God has broken you and
conquered your will. He overcomes your rebellion.
He puts you in the dust and the victory is yours. He said that now in Genesis 32,
28. He said, thou hast prevailed with God. God had just utterly
vanquished Jacob. And you know what he said? Thou
hast prevailed with God. Thou hast that I might. God has subdued me that I might
prevail. God has broken me that I might
be healed. God has disturbed me that I might
have peace. God has terrified me, and then
said, fear not, and I don't. God has killed me that I might
live. Thou hast that I might. Paul calls this faith that God
gives, faith which worketh by love. David said I've done I
pursued him and I consumed him. I destroyed him my feet never
slipped one time And I tell you this if you're
gonna be saved you're gonna believe God You're gonna lay hold of
Christ you're gonna come to him you're gonna love him Listen to this Galatians 5 for
Christ is become of no effect of Tell you what turn there with
me we won't be long than that, but you've got to look at this
with me Galatians 5 4 Faith which worketh by love Galatians
5 4 Christ is become of no effect unto you whosoever of you are
justified by the law you are fallen from grace For we through
the spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith We
talked about that a minute ago for in Jesus Christ in Christ
we're righteous by faith and And in him neither circumcision
availeth anything nor uncircumcision. And as we've seen all through
the scripture, that represents law keeping. That was according
to the law. But here's what does avail. That
word avail now, we're gonna do a little more word study than
that. It means to be strong, to have power, to be able. Your law keeping gives you no
ability to please God. But you know what does? Faith. Why else do you imagine Hebrews
11, six would say without faith it is impossible to please him? But faith which worketh by love. Now, faith brings righteousness.
You're justified not by the works of the law, but justified by
faith. Isn't that what Scripture teaches? Romans chapter 3. Justified by faith, through the
means of faith, by God's grace, through faith. But faith brings
righteousness. Listen, isn't that what he said? Righteousness by faith. We, through the Spirit, wait
for the hope of righteousness by faith. That's how we wait
for the hope that we might be righteous before God. But listen,
faith looks to Christ for righteousness. That's how there's righteousness
by faith, because faith doesn't look to faith. It doesn't look
to self. It doesn't look to the sinner
for anything. It looks to Christ, looking unto Jesus. That's how
God, through that means, imputes his righteousness to us. Abraham
believed God, and it was imputed to him. Because faith looks to
Christ for righteousness, and faith works, but not by law. Faith does not do what it does,
and I mean by that that we by faith do not do, faith is not
just something out here that acts on its own, it's us by faith.
We don't do what we do to achieve righteousness. We do it out of love for Christ,
who is himself all of our righteousness. Faith worketh not to please God.
Christ pleased God for us. But faith worketh by love because
Christ died for us and pleased God for us and saved us in every
way that a man can be saved. That's how faith works. It's
always looking unto Jesus for everything. And it pleases God,
not because of the quality of the faith, but because faith
honors Christ and not the sinner who has the faith. I hope that's clear. Faith doesn't
look to self. It looks to Jesus deliberately
instead of self. You have to look away from yourself
to look to faith. That's what Paul was talking
about. Not having mine own righteousness. If you're gonna have his, you're
gonna have to not have yours. You have to look away from you
and look to him. Don't expect anything from yourself.
God don't. when David had no encouragement
in himself. Do you remember that in 1 Samuel
31? Oh, it's Ziklag. David, on a fool's errand, went
and almost had to fight against his own people. He was fooled.
He made an evil alliance with a wicked king, and he's away
from home, and while they're away, he's taking his men, and
they've gone, and all of the women and children are kidnapped,
and everything in the camp's stolen. They lost everything
in one day. He had no encouragement in himself.
He had failed. That's us by nature. You're not
gonna find any encouragement in here. Not before salvation
and not after salvation. Because salvation is not in here. It doesn't come from what's in
here. It's not caused by what's in
me. He had no encouragement in himself that day. He was a failure.
And he didn't have any in anybody else either. They wanted to stone
him. couldn't look to anybody else. They were trying to kill
him. They were talking about killing him. But look it says
in 1 Samuel 30 verse 6, David was greatly distressed for the
people spake of stoning him because the soul of all the people was
grieved. Every man for his sons and for his daughters of course
they were. But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. That's salvation. You look to
yourself, you're gonna see a failure. You look to everybody else, you're
looking at somebody that not only can't help you, they wouldn't
if they could. By nature, would they? Not a
chance. But he encouraged himself in
the Lord, his God. That's how it is in salvation.
I'm a failure. There's nothing I can do to save
the day. And nobody else can help me.
and they wouldn't if they could. So how in the world is this gonna
have a happy ending? Well, in verse eight, it's the
two verses later, it says, David inquired at the Lord saying,
shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them? And he
answered him, pursue, for thou shalt surely overtake them. And
without fail, recover all. We lost everything in Adam. And we're born with nothing.
We're born dead, aren't we? In trespasses and sins. But Christ
recovered all. And in the rest of that chapter,
it's David. He said, you're gonna go and
you're gonna overtake them. Thou shalt surely overtake them
and without fail recover all. If you remember the rest of that
chapter, though, there were some that stayed by the stuff, you
remember, and didn't go to battle with the others. And when they
got back, they had recovered all of their wives and their
sons, they recovered all, all, everything they owned, brought
back to camp. And the ones that had stayed
at the camp to- because, I mean, they'd learned their lesson,
right? They left Ziklag and that's why
everything got spoiled. So now we're going to leave some
here in case that could happen again. In case it's taken over
and then we got no place to come back to. And so the ones that came back
said, the ones that stayed here and didn't fight with us, they're
not going to get anything. We're not going to divide the
spoil with them. And you know what David said? He said, it
ain't going to be that way. How can you be like that with
what the Lord hath done for us today? He gave the Lord all the
glory. He said, God hath given us victory
today. It's not yours, it's not mine,
it's his. It's for his people. All of them. All of them. Faith doesn't look
to self. Faith doesn't look to faith.
It looks to Christ only now. I want more faith. I want, didn't
the disciples pray, Lord increase our faith, I want more faith,
you know why? Not so I can say look how much faith I have, but
so I can see him better. I can trust him more. Look to him more. Lord increase
our faith, not to make us greater in some way, but to make us able
to better see your greatness. That's what faith does. Looking
unto Jesus. When God saved me, it was just
what David said, thou hast that I might. And it's still that
way every day. It's still that way every day. James said in 4.13 of the book
of James, he said, go to now ye that say, today or tomorrow
we will go into such a city. And you know, he starts off this
statement by saying, go to now. You know what that means? That
means come on now, look it up. It does, it means that. He's
saying, come on now, you 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.
What are you talking about? Come on now. You know, when you
say that, come on now, it's when somebody says something so ridiculous
that you just say, come on. Really? Is that really? That's
us before God. We're going to go into such a
city. We don't know that. We're going to continue there
a year. Even if we go there, we don't know how long we're
going to be there. We're going to buy and sell. Maybe, maybe
not. and we're gonna get game. Ain't
nothing wrong with having goals, y'all, but let me tell you something.
Listen to what James said. 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. for
that you ought to say. What you are saying is, here's
what I'm going to do. I'm going to do this and this and that
for this long, and this is going to be the result. Here's what
you ought to be saying, if the Lord will. That's every day,
y'all. Now, we're going to go somewhere
every day, aren't we? We're going to go somewhere. All this is just common stuff.
Going into a city, buying and selling. Some of y'all sell stuff. Here's what you ought to say
about that. When you wake up in the morning and when you go
to bed tonight, here's what you ought to say about all that.
If the Lord will, we shall live and do this or that. It's always been from the start. Thou shalt that I might. And
it still is. If he will, I will. That's the
gospel. Thank God he will. He said, I
will be thou clean. Let's pray.