All right, 2 Samuel chapter 22
this evening in verse 30. 2 Samuel 22 30. David is writing what most believe
was his last psalm that he wrote, Psalm 18, but here in 2 Samuel
22, We have the language of it also.
And you remember how he thanks God in verse one for saving him
from all of his enemies. Listen to what he wrote in verse
30. For by thee, by the Lord, by thee, I have run through a
troop. And by my God, I have leaped
over a wall. We get some insight into what
David was talking about there in verse one. Thank you, Lord,
for saving me from all my enemies. We get a little insight into
that here. God saved Israel from the Egyptians, as recorded in
the book of Exodus, without them lifting a sword. No one is unaware
of the story of the Red Sea and how God parted the Red Sea and
that the Israelites passed over on dry land and then God swallowed
up the Egyptians in that same sea. This is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ and what he accomplished on Calvary. It's
a picture of his precious blood. Why do you think it's called
the Red Sea? I'm sure you could come up with a historical reason
that they called it that, and maybe laugh at me for saying
that. But listen, God caused them to call it that, did he
not? He causes everything. This book reveals that not a
pair of dice is rolled in this world, but what God determines,
whether it comes up seven, 11, or snake eyes. That's in Proverbs
chapter 16, verse 33. Think of it, the Red Sea, the
precious blood of Christ, which makes a way for God's people
It's their salvation, but that same blood is the destruction
of his enemies and the enemies of his people. But God saved
them there without them lifting. Do you remember what God told
Moses to say to the people of Israel that day, that he saved
them from Pharaoh and his army? In verse 13 of Exodus 14, Moses
said unto the people, fear ye not. They're standing there,
the Red Sea is in front of them and the Egyptian army is behind
them and they are despairing of any hope. And Moses says,
fear not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which
he will show you today. For the Egyptians whom you have
seen today, you shall see them again no more forever. The Lord
shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace. That's how it
is with the salvation of the sinner. What's my part in it?
You just stand there and shut up. That's what hold your peace
means. It means shut up. Remember, Listen,
God doesn't, just watch God save you. God saved us. He didn't
help us get saved. He didn't make salvation possible.
He saved us. Remember in 2 Chronicles 20,
how the Ammonites and the Moabites had arrayed themselves in battle
against Jehoshaphat and the Israelites. And Jehoshaphat cried unto the
Lord, and the Lord heard him. And after speaking with the Lord
and getting reassurance and comfort from the Lord, Jehoshaphat gave
some battle instructions to the people, to the army of Israel.
Here's your battle instructions today. You shall not need to
fight in this battle. Set yourselves, stand ye still
and see the salvation of the Lord with you. O Judah and Jerusalem,
fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them,
for the Lord will be with you. You're not going to need to fight.
God's just going to win. And he's going to give you the
victory as he does in salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
God saves sinners by his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, coming
down to this earth, born of a woman made under the law that he might
redeem them that were under the law. and he did all that we could
not and cannot do, we can never please God in any one thing that
we do, much less in everything we do in a full life of righteous
perfection before God. Christ did just that. And he
did it as the representative and substitute of his people.
We can never satisfy God for our sin. How will we pay our
sin debt? How are you going to make up
for murdering God's son in cold blood? You're not going to, that's
the answer to that. Everything that you do is sin,
and me too. Paul said, in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. Isaiah said, all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags in the sight of God. Christ paid our sin debt,
a debt we could never pay. When people say my good outweighs
my bad, that word good, that's just more sin. The more you do,
the more you sin. Christ suffered the full wrath
of God for the sins of his people in their place, in our place
on Calvary and obtained eternal redemption for us and perfected
forever all whom he sanctified with his precious blood. Hebrews
9, 12 and 10, 14. The greatest battle ever fought
was when our salvation was accomplished by Christ Jesus. The victory
won on Calvary, and our mighty conqueror fought and won it by
himself, and we didn't lift a finger in it. And when the gospel is
preached and God is pleased to reveal that truth to a sinner,
that sinner stands still and shuts up and marvels at the salvation
wrought by God for him through Jesus Christ. And then he cries
with Jonah, salvation is of the Lord. And we rejoice in him,
we praise his holy name and thank him from now on. for his perfect
salvation that he accomplished for us. Listen, I said, you can't
please God. I said, you can't pay for your
sin. You know what else you can't do? You can't come to Christ.
Well, Chris, wait a minute. Don't you preach come to Christ?
Yes, I do. And God told Ezekiel in Ezekiel
chapter 37 to preach to a bunch of dead bones. Listen to Ezekiel
37, four. Again, he said unto me, God speaking
to Ezekiel, prophesy unto these bones and say unto them, oh ye
dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. That's what I say when
I preach. I don't have anything to say
to anybody except hear ye the word of the Lord. We say what
God said. That's what his preachers do.
But we're preaching to a bunch of people that can't no more
hear what God said than the man in the moon. God said, preach to these dead
bones, these skeletons, hear God's word. That's gospel preaching. But listen to what happened.
And he said, thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, behold,
I will cause breath to enter into you. I will save you. And of course, that's by Christ
and what he did on Calvary. But listen to the picture here.
I'm going to make it happen. I will lay sinews upon you. I
will bring flesh up upon you and cover you with skin and put
breath in you. If you're going to live spiritually,
God's going to have to work a miracle and give you life. I'm going
to put breath in you and you shall live. You shall live. and
you shall know that I'm the Lord. All who are saved like that say,
he's God, he decides, he saves, not me. All glory unto him. I've heard people say, I've heard
more than one person say in my life, God would never tell a
sinner to do something that that sinner can't do. God has never
told a sinner to do anything that that sinner could do. That's
just the truth now. You think about that. You show
me where God ever told somebody to do something that they were
able to do. This is the gospel. The Lord said, rise up and walk.
You know who he said that to? He never said that to anybody
that could rise up and walk. He said it to lame people. That's
the gospel of our, he said to Lazarus, Lazarus come forth. Are you going to tell me Lazarus
is capable of doing that? He's been four days dead. Lazarus
can't do that. This is what the Lord was talking
about in teaching in John 6 65. He said, therefore, said I unto
you that no man can come unto me. Yes, the Lord preached, come
unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give you
rest. But he also said this, the same Lord Jesus Christ said,
you can't come to me. No man can come unto me except
it were given unto him of my father. And from that, many of
his disciples went back and walked no more with him. They still
do when you talk about salvation being of the Lord and it's his
sovereign choice. That's what elect, look up the
word elect sometime in the scriptures and see how many, did you know
that the people of God are called the elect more often than any
other name in the word of God? You know what the word elect
means? Chosen. God chose his people. You've
not chosen me, he said to his disciples. I've chosen you. And when you preach that, people
still walk away. But he still saves whom he will.
All whom the father gave to him, they'll come to him. And when
they do, he'll never cast them out. When we preach to sinners,
come to Christ as all, and you come into the Christ of this
book, not the Jesus of religion that wants, that's standing over
in the corner waiting for you to do something. You've got to
come to the sovereign Christ who saves who he wants to save,
the one revealed in this book. You've got to come to Him as
all your righteousness before God. You've got to renounce all.
That has to happen. You must come to Christ if you're
going to be saved. You're not going to be saved
apart from that. But when we preach that, come to Christ.
Come to Him as your righteousness, your only righteousness before
God. Renounce yourself and everything you've ever done. Christ is my
righteousness. I come to Him. and come to him
as your only sin offering before God. The only offering that God
will accept for sin is Christ and his precious blood. But when
we preach, come to him, it no more means that you're capable
of doing that than him saying to that man with the withered
hand, stretch forth thy hand, meant that he was capable of
doing that. He can't do that, but he did. But he did. That's why we preach,
because sinners do. But here's the teaching of our
Lord. Listen in Mark 10, 25. He said that rich young ruler
walked away after the Lord said, sell everything you have and
come follow me. And here's what the Lord said about that. It's
easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. And his disciples
were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, who
then can be saved? Isn't that our message, come
to Christ? And that man did. He came inquiring of how he could
be, how he could go to heaven when he died. And the Lord said,
it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than
for a rich man. That's why he walked away, he can't do it.
And Jesus, looking upon them, saith, with men it's impossible. Their question was, who can be
saved? Those dead, dry bones. You remember what Ezekiel said
when the Lord asked him, can these bones live? Somebody asked
me one time, knowing what I preach, that I preach the electing grace
of God and that God saves sinners. He don't leave it up to them.
Thank God he comes where the sinner is and he causes life
to enter into us and breath. He puts his Holy Spirit in us
and by regenerating power gives life to dead sinners. That's
how he said. And somebody asked me one time,
they know in what I preach, they just pointed to some random person
and said, can that man over there be saved according to your gospel?
I'll give the same answer that Ezekiel did. Can these bones
live? And you know what he said? Thou knowest, Lord. Thou knowest. The only one that knows whether
dead bones can live or not is the one that's able to make them
live. And that's the answer. Can this
sinner or that sinner be saved? The Lord knows whether they can
or not. He's the one that's got to save them if they're going
to be saved. So in the matter of salvation,
listen, he said, with men it's impossible, but with, not with
God, for with God, all things are possible. He didn't, the
Lord didn't say no man can come unto me. He said, no man can
come unto me except my father. Give them the power to come.
The father which has sent me, draw him, take him from where
he is and bring him to the savior. That's what God's got to do.
Now listen, and, the life of a believer, in the matter of
salvation now, we stand still and we shut up. And in the life
of the believer though, there's a constant battle. David said,
I've run through an army. I've leaped over a wall by him,
by him. We're utterly passive in the
matter of salvation. That was between God the Father
and God the Son. But as we live as believers in
this world now, there's some fighting to do. And we're gonna have to fight.
We're gonna have to pick up the sword now, the sword of the word
of the Lord. And we're gonna get bloody. Paul
said we're cast down, though we're not destroyed. We're going
to be cast down sometime. We're gonna fight with all that
we have because he's worthy of it. Not in order to accomplish
salvation. Christ already accomplished that
for us. Listen, I want to stress that
a little bit more before I move on. Hebrews 1.3, Christ being
the brightness of God's glory and the express image of God's
person and upholding all things by the word of his power when
he had by himself purged our sins. It didn't have to say that
there. He could have said when he had
purged our sins and we would have understood that. But he
said when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. I have no sin before God tonight. And the reason I don't have any
is because Christ accomplished that by himself, by himself. You had just as much to do with
your creation anew in Christ Jesus, if you've been created
anew in him, as you did with the creation of the universe.
You had just as much to do with your second birth if you be indeed
born again as you did with your first birth. What then is the
battle that we fight now? David said, I've run through
a troop. David was a mighty warrior. But listen, turn with me to 2
Timothy 2.1 and read along with me here. This is the battle.
Now this talks about as believers, as born again believers, knowing
Christ, God having saved us and given us life and faith in his
son as our righteousness and as our sin offering. Listen to
what Paul wrote to Timothy about this. Second Timothy 2.1, thou
therefore my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast
heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful
men who shall be able to teach others also. Be strong in the
grace. And here's how that looks. What
I've taught you, teach others that can teach others. That's
how you learn the gospel. You listen, you sit down and
listen to somebody that knows it. It's not talking about the
Jesus of religion that wants to do things and can't. Find
somebody that knows who Christ is and listen to him. Okay, and
listen to what he said next. Thou therefore endure hardness
because you're going to. If you preach the Christ of this
book and commit yourself to him, you're not gonna be any more
popular than he was. He said, they hated me before
they hated you, remember that. He also said, fear not, because
I've overcome this world. The world's gonna hate you, but
I've overcome this world. and I'm thankful for his precious
promises. But listen, Paul said, thou therefore endure hardness
as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that woreth entangleth
himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him that
hath chosen him to be a soldier. The Lord Jesus Christ has chosen
us and saved us and given us life and we fight. We fight for
him because we love him. We love him because he first
loved us. God had blessed David with supernatural ability. From
his youth now, when he was just a young man, God enabled him
to kill a lion and a bear that threatened the sheep he was watching
for his father. He was guarding those sheep.
And God gave him the ability to do something that people can't
do. You can't grab hold of the beard of a lion and kill that
lion with your bare hands. With God, all things are possible.
He was enabled to kill Goliath by slinging a single stone, a
single stone. Is that because he was just so
accurate? No. What did David say about that
before he ever slung that stone? He said, God's going to give
you to us today. And then when he had slung the stone and killed
Goliath and cut Goliath's head off, he said, look what God did. When by him, when by God you
run through a troop, and by him you leap over a wall, he gets
all the glory. Of course he does, he deserves
all the glory. That's what everybody who wants,
that's what everybody who's involved in the salvation of God, the
one who accomplishes it, and the one who receives it, and
the ones who witness it and are in on it, everybody wants him
to get the glory, everybody involved in it. This church, College Grove
Grace Church, exists because a troop was run through, and
a wall was leaped over, and everybody involved that was involved in
it says, look what God did. What else would we say? So God
in the scriptures at times just had his people stand there while
he saved them, physically. And that, of course, pictures
spiritual salvation. And at other times, as David
refers to in our text, he sends us running. David said, I ran,
I've run through a troop. The picture there is David plowing
through in battle, swinging his sword and leaving a trail of
dead enemies in his wake. That's the picture there. And
David was a mighty warrior and God got all the glory in it,
every bit of it. In the salvation that we see
him accomplish for us spiritually and in the battles that we fight
as saved believers, he gets all the glory. God doesn't save us
and then leave us to fend for ourselves. He's still saving
us. Listen to what Paul wrote to
the Philippian church in Philippians 2.12. He said, Wherefore, my
beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but
now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling, for it is God which worketh in you, both
to will and to do of his good pleasure. Was there anything
unclear about that? Did you hear that? We're not
even gonna wanna do what God says do, much less do it, unless
God works it in us as believers. Now, remember what the Lord said
in John 15, five. I am the vine and you are the
branches. He that abideth in me and I in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, you
can do Do you know what the next word is? I bet you do. Nothing, no thing. He didn't say you can't, you're
not gonna get much done without me. You can't do anything now. Think about what that means.
You can't measure up to God's holy standard. By the deeds of
the law shall no flesh be justified in the sight of God. You cannot
please God by what you do. You can't pay for your sins.
You can't believe. That's God's gift. You can't
come to Christ. We saw that already. Not of works,
lest any man should vote. You can't worship. You can't
serve. You can't love unless he first
loves you. Nothing, nothing. Without me,
you can do nothing. Paul said in Galatians 2.20,
I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. I live,
yet not I. but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. Christ crucified is my life. So in our text, it is Christ
who has done these things. We've seen in that same chapter,
these words can be attributed as all of the Psalms can be attributed
to Christ himself. He accomplished it all. He did
these things, but also whatever victory we win. It's by him that
we do it, and so it's not I, as Paul said, but Christ that
liveth in me. Turn with me, I'm almost done.
One final thing here. Turn in your script in the Bible,
if you have it, to Hebrews 13.20. I want you to see this with your
own eyes. Hebrews 13.20. Now the God of
peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, That
great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will,
working in you. Think about this now. We see
that he has worked salvation for us. He accomplished eternal
salvation for us, without us, with us standing there watching
him do it, when he reveals it to us in the gospel. but he also
works in us right now as believers. Listen, make you perfect in every
good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing
in his sight. Who's working it? Don't brag
about your good work. Glorify God. If you ever do anything
but blaspheme and dishonor him in this world. Glorify God now. And listen to what he said. Listen
to the way he said it. Look at verse 21 again. The whole
verse again. Make you perfect in every good
work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing
in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory. To whom alone
be glory forever and ever. Amen. Amen. We saw a while ago where Christ
said, without me, you can do nothing. And that very verse
reminds us of Philippians 4, 13, where Paul said, I can do
all things through Christ, which strengthens me. The difference
is Christ, isn't it? It's not, Paul said, I can, the
scriptures teach you can do nothing, and the scriptures teach you
can do everything. Well, that doesn't make any sense. Yeah,
the sense of it is Christ. That's the difference. I can
do all things. And so here we are in the same
place that every text of scripture that we look at brings us. Here
we are, where are we? Worthy is the Lamb. to receive
the lamb that was slain. Worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor
and glory and blessing. Revelation 5.12, by him, I have
run through a troop and by my God, I've leaped over a wall. And here I am on the other side
of the wall and all my enemies lay dead on the other side And
it is by him that it is so. Amen.