All right, brethren, 2 Samuel chapter five. Verse one says, then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron. You know, when David first ascended the throne in Hebron, the tribe of Judah submitted to him. They submitted to him, but not the tribes of Israel. Majority did not submit to it. Now, all the tribes of Israel come, and they submit right alongside the children of Judah. Now, David here is a type of Christ our king. He's a type of Christ. And all the tribes coming to David and submitting to David typifies the good news that God shall draw all his people to Christ. Just like all the tribes came, all God's elect shall be drawn to Christ. Not one will be lost. Everyone that was chosen by the Father, Christ redeemed them. He bought them. He paid all our debt, and he justified us before the law, so we must and we shall be called. Everyone that he died for shall be called. God's grace and God's righteousness demands that because he justified them. God won't pour out justice on them a second time. He's holy God and he will save his people. Our Savior will not lose one that God trusted to him. He will not lose one. And all shall come to Christ and they'll cast all their care on him. Then came all the tribes to Israel all the tribes of Israel to David unto Abram. Now when I read this passage, there's three things that grip my heart, three things. It's always interesting to me how the Lord gives messages and when he gives messages. I first looked at this passage the first Thursday in September. And I know that because I had referenced it the Sunday before that, and I was talking to, that's when I began looking at it, I was talking to Brother Eric, and he said, I just preached on that Tuesday night. And for some reason, that made me not finish studying it. I don't know why that did, but I didn't continue studying it. And so a couple of weeks have gone by now. Here we are, first, second day of April, I mean of October. And when I heard about Sister Devika, this passage and what I was seeing in it came to my heart. Because what grabbed me about this passage was how comforting it was to me. I referenced it when I think we were in Psalm 144, and we were looking at how the Lord is providing everything for us, and David prayed and said, Lord, you caused my people to submit under me, something to that effect in Psalm 144, and I referenced this. And the Lord, a lot of times, will lay a message on your heart, and you start seeing things in it that blesses you, but then he won't, He won't give the message. You won't have it to preach right then. And then a lot of times it'll be later and he just gives it to you so strongly that you know now I have to preach it. And that's how this was. That's how this message was. And here's what gripped my heart. Here it is right here. We're seeing David as a picture of Christ and his people being drawn to him. And when that happens, number one, Number one is our testimony of Christ is the same as the tribes of Israel was of David. This is what we say of our Lord by God's grace. Verse one, it says, they all came to Hebron and they said, behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. Also in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou was he that leadest us out and broughtest in Israel. And the Lord said to thee, thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel. This is what the Lord makes us know about him when he first calls us and brings us to him. And we come, this is our testimony concerning Christ. Lord, you're our king. You're leading us. And then secondly, this is what gripped my heart. When the Lord first brought us to him, He made a covenant with us, just like David did here. And this is everything to a believer. He said, verse three, so all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron, and king David made a league with them in Hebron before the Lord. He made a league with them before the Lord. And they anointed David king over Israel. And there's one more thing, and we'll get to that at the end of the message. But these first two things, brethren, when the grace of God draws us to Him and the Lord, the Spirit of God reveals Christ in our heart, you come and for the first time you see Christ, you know Christ, you believe Christ, you remember that? Remember how just overflowing your heart was? And we come to Him knowing what they knew and saying what they said. in spirit, in spirit. It's even more than what they're saying. We know this in spirit, what Christ has done for us. We come knowing, by God regenerated, we come knowing that the Lord Jesus, our Savior, the Lord Jesus, we're one with him. We're one with him. They came saying, behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. We are thy bone and thy flesh. That's what the Spirit makes you know. The Spirit of the Lord reveals Christ and makes you know, by God's grace, you're one with Christ. You're one with him. They speak, saying, behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh. We have to be taught this by the Lord. But when he reveals Christ in you, we find out we're members of his body. we're members of his flesh, we're really one with him. That the spirit declared this when talking about a husband and a wife and instructing the husband to love his bride, he said this is why a husband and wife exist. It's because it pictures the oneness between Christ our husband and his elect, his church, his bride. He said in Ephesians 5.29, no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth it and cherishes it, even as the Lord the church. For we're members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. You see, this took place way, way before we knew anything about it. This took place before anybody knew anything about it except for the Father and the Son. Before the world was created by God choosing his people, we've been one in Christ. We've been mysteriously one with him before time existed. And so when our Savior He came down and took flesh. He didn't take the nature of angels. He took the nature of Abraham. That's what Hebrews 2 says, and that means is the nature of his elect. He came and became one with his brethren to make us one with the Father, one in spirit. He became one with our fleshly nature to make us be one in spirit and in body. and be one with the Father. So when our Lord Jesus went to that cross, all his people were in him. When he walked this earth, we were in him. When he went to the cross, we were in him. You know, whenever you hear about your brother or sister being sick, it breaks your heart. But you know what, for the Lord's people, If you hear your brother or your sister has fallen in sin or has sinned, some besetting sin, it's the same as when you hear somebody's sick. You don't go take them to law. You don't call for a judge and wanna go and accuse them and all that. That's not the heart because you know this, we were one with Christ and in Christ when he walked this earth And we kept the law perfectly. We have kept the law. God's elect have honored the law. I'm not trying to keep the law. I have in Christ and so have you that believe him. And when Christ went to the cross, he put all our sin away wherein we broke the law. So now we know because of that, we know that brother that's fallen is righteous in Christ. They need help, they need mercy to see Christ and remember what Christ has done for them. We're one with Him, brethren, one entirely, and when He arose, we arose in Him, and we're one with Him. I am crucified with Christ because I was in Him. You are crucified with Christ. You're dead when He died, you died, and when He arose, you arose in Him. He's one with his people. Go to John 17. This was our Lord's high priestly prayer. And this right here is the heart he gives you and me for him and for our brethren because this is the way he teaches us about us. Look here, John 17, verse 20. He said, neither pray I for these alone, These ones he revealed himself to, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word. That includes you and me. Our Savior was praying for his people in our day right then, always has been. That they all may be one as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me And the glory which thou gavest me, I've given them, that they may be one, even as we're one, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me. Brethren. Look at that next word. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. You know, some of David's afflictions, and in this world, there's a lot of afflictions. We're gonna have to suffer, and right now, the world is craziness going on, and then you have your sins, you have your bodily sickness, and then you have afflictions of every kind. And David compared those in the psalm, he compared those to almost drowning. He said he was so overwhelmed. Remember that one psalm, he prays for the Lord to help him get to the rock that's higher than I. He's drowning, he said, I can't even get to the rock. And that's how it feels sometimes. You get news like our sister got. When my dad got that news, that shook me. And I wasn't the one who had it, she has it. And it shook her, I'm sure. But you know what? We're one flesh with our Redeemer. We have eternal life. He is our life. That means nothing, nothing can really harm us because we're one with him. This body is gonna be laid aside one day and we'll be perfect with him. But Spurgeon used to say, long as the head is above water, the body can't drown. And we're one with Christ We're members in his body, he is at God's right hand, and long as our head is seated above, nothing can happen to the body. We can't be separated from him. We're members of his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. We're the fullness of him. He has to have all his people with him where he is because we're the fullness of him. Every member makes up his body and there's not gonna be any left out. There's not gonna be any that perish because he's gonna have every member of his body. He fitly frames us together. All the nourishment comes from him. We're one with him. Just like you take care of the members of your body, he takes care of every member of his body. He won't lose one. That's what the Lord revealed to us. When we came to Christ the first time, He made you know we're bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh. We're one with Him. We're one with Him. Here's another thing. The Spirit reveals that Christ has always been the King of His people. Even when we were lost, He was our King. Look here at verse two. Also, in time past, when Saul was king over us, thou was he that led us out and brought us in Israel. When Saul was king, they said, it wasn't Saul that was our king, you were our king. You led us in and brought us and carried us out. They recognized David was leading them when Saul was yet in that office and appeared to everybody else to be king. They recognized, David, you were our king even then. Brethren, you think about this. Here's our comfort right now as believers. Remember when you did not know the Lord and Christ was the king protecting you when you didn't know him, you didn't wanna know him, you had no interest in him, and he was protecting you then. He was leading you then when you didn't even know him. You know, we get, our feelings and our feelings and do I know him, do I not know him, am I his child or whatever. When we did not know him, he was leading us and guiding us and protecting us and saving us every step we took when we were sinners and did not know him. So right now, You know, I hope He gives you assurance. I want Him to give you assurance that you're His and that you're saved by Him. But if you don't have assurance, that's not what's going to be your salvation. Christ, when you didn't even know Him, He was leading you and protecting you. And even now, when you don't feel like you know Him, He's still leading His people and keeping you. He is. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom and shall gently lead those that are with young. When we didn't even know him, that's what he was doing for us. That's what he was doing. You remember when you're, I've just been thinking a lot about this this week. When I first began to hear the gospel, it was so Like it just, I just remember reading the scripture, and for the first time, I could understand what this book said. And for the first time, I saw Christ, and for the first time, I rejoiced in what I saw. And that's what I hear when I hear them coming and say, when Saul was ruling over us, you're the one that was leading us. When the devil was ruling you, when your sin nature was ruling you, It was Christ that was leading you and keeping you. Why? Because he justified his people. You had to be given a new heart. You had to be given faith to believe him. He's just and you had to. I love to think of this, the same justice that required that the Son of God take flesh and die for his people to justify us before God could be just to be merciful to us. That same justice, having been satisfied by Christ, demands that everyone he died for must be called out and must be kept and must be brought to the Father. Man, that's what, that's the strength, that's what keeps us. You remember how many close calls you had when you didn't know the Lord and you almost could have died? I had a bunch of them, I was pretty wild. But the Lord kept me when I didn't even know him. Anytime you feel cast down about current situations, you remember Christ kept you when you didn't know him, he's keeping you now that you do. Here's what he makes us to know, verse two, the Lord said to thee, they came to David and they said, the Lord said to thee, Thou shalt feed my people Israel, and thou shalt be a captain over Israel. The Spirit reveals to us it was God who made Christ our king. That's what they came confessing, the Lord made you the king. That's what they're saying, the Lord made you the king. And we come knowing God made Christ king. Before this world was made, he made him king of his people. The Father said to the Son, thou shalt feed my people Israel, thou shalt be a captain over Israel. The Lord said to thee, thou shalt feed my people Israel. By his grace, by his grace, he made us his people. And he didn't entrust us to us, he didn't trust us to any other man, he entrusted us to his Son and said, you shall feed my people, Christ. God the Father said to his son, you shall feed my people, Israel. But he makes us know that. He makes us know he's been our king and made so by God. And as a king feeding us, we think about the shepherd. He is our shepherd. You know that word pastor in the New Testament, the Greek word for shepherd is pastor. Our pastor is the God man. Our pastor is sovereign God, perfect man, seated at God's right hand, and he's the one, he's our shepherd feeding us. And this, when he saves you, what a comfort to be able to say, the Lord is my shepherd. He's my shepherd. I shall not want, He makes me to lie down in green pasture. He does that. He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake. Right now, you know what this world is? It's the valley of the shadow of death. It's full of dead sinners. We're walking through the valley of the shadow of death. But for you who Christ has called, it's only a shadow. He's conquered death for his people. It's just the shadow of death for you because Christ is your life. And right now, he's leading you through it. And he makes you to know thou art with me. You're with me. I'm not alone. When I'm alone, I'm not alone. Do you believe that? When you're alone, you're not alone. Christ is with you. There's some of you sitting here that are like me. We're alone a lot. But you're not alone. When you're alone, Christ is with you. Thou art with me. Thou art with me. That's what the Psalm 23 says. Christ my shepherd, thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. What's that? The preaching of this gospel right here, this is how he comforts his people, is he keeps, just like a shepherd would take that rod and pull back his sheep when it strays, this gospel, he sends it and you hear it and he pulls you back in. When the sheep need to be corrected, the shepherd use that rod, correct the sheep. This gospel goes forth and Christ is correcting you if you need to be corrected. And the best correcting is when the preacher don't even know. The preacher's just preaching. He just preaches what the Lord gave him, and the Lord's doing the correcting. And you don't even know it. And when you need to be counted, you know how they counted the sheep? They counted the sheep with that rod. That shepherd, he made them pass under that rod. There's scriptures in the book of Daniel, I believe, where he said, you're gonna pass under the rod. You're gonna be counted. You're gonna be numbered. How does he number his sheep? He calls you into the fold with his gospel, and he keeps you numbered, he keeps track of you, because you're the ones that are gonna be under this rod, under this gospel. This is how he prepares a table for us in the middle of our enemies. We're right here, right now, in the middle of our enemies. He brought you into an oasis in the middle of the desert, and he's prepared a table for you in the midst of all these enemies in this world around us. And look, Look at the next thing they said. He said, the Lord said to thee, thou shalt be captain over Israel. You know what that means? That word captain means, it means prince. It means ruler, governor, king. Go to Isaiah nine, Isaiah nine. I want you to do something for me. Next time, next time, a brother, sister. Now you're not gonna, don't do this for people in the world. They won't understand what you're talking about. But for a brother or sister, if they text you or they send you something and they're worried about Trump or they're worried about Xi Jinping and they're worried about Putin and all the rulers of this world, you send them back this and remind them. Isaiah 9, 6, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. They said, Lord made you know what they said of David. They came to David and said, the Lord made you captain over Israel. Look at that. The government shall be upon Christ's shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Captain of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end, no danger of anybody waging war and overcoming our king and this nation we're talking about right here. No danger of it. He's already conquered. And the increase of his government, he's keepin' callin' his people and bringin' them into peace. And the increase of his government, peace, there shall be no end upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. So you can just remember that yourself and remind your brethren of it. We don't have to be overly concerned about who's in the White House or who's ruling here or there, Christ our King is ruling it all. God's made Him the captain, the Prince of Peace, and it's on His shoulder. He's on His shoulder. He established judgment and justice for us on the cross. He established it in our heart, and He's gonna work it for us as we go through this world. and one day he's gonna stand before the father and present us to the father and the whole world's gonna know it's Christ who established judgment and justice for us and presented us perfect to God. He's ruling everything right now for one people, doing it for one people. He's doing it for his people, his Israel, God's elect who God chose. I'm not talking about a political Israel. I'm talking about that holy nation made up of Jew and Gentile chosen by God, redeemed by Christ, regenerated by the Spirit, out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and people on this earth. That's who His people are, His holy nation, made holy by Him. Here's the next thing. I'm gonna be very quick on these next two points. When the Spirit's given you faith to believe the Lord, Christ makes us know He has made with us an everlasting covenant of grace. They came owning who he was, owning the Lord had made him the king, the Lord had made him the shepherd, the Lord had made him the prince, and he'd been ruling them the whole time. That's what Christ makes us know. And then when he brings you to faith in Christ, he makes you know he's made an everlasting covenant with you. Look at it, verse three. So all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron, and King David made a league with them. That's a covenant. He made a covenant with them in Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king over Israel. The Lord Jesus makes a league with his child when he draws you and you come in faith, he makes you to know his everlasting covenant. We understand what a covenant is. Go with me to Galatians 3. We know what a covenant is. There's several ways in this life we have to enter into agreements, contracts, and two people enter in, and one's gonna do something, the other's gonna do something, and you sign it, and it's signed, and it's done. Nobody can change it. Well, that's the illustration Paul gave. Look here, Galatians 3, 15. Reverend, I speak after the manner of men, Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth or addeth thereto. It's just between the two men. Nobody else can add anything or take from it. Now, to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He said not to seeds as of many, but as of one and to thy seed, which is Christ, and this I say. Now listen to these next words. The covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ to Abraham, the law, which was 430 years after that, given at Mount Sinai, 430 years later, it cannot disannul that it should make the promise of no effect. For if the inheritance is of the law, it's no more of promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise. Abraham didn't have the law. He didn't have it. God made this promise with him in Christ, fulfilled by Christ, and the law entered in, did not add to that, did not change that, did not disannul that. Salvation is by God's covenant promise. It's not by our works, it's by God's covenant promise. Listen. Here's what I want you to understand about this covenant. Christ is the covenant. He is the covenant. I'm not trying to teach you covenant theology. I'm not trying to get you to believe in doctrine. I want you to know Christ, he is the covenant. You know Isaiah 42, God said, I've given thee, speaking to Christ, I've given thee a covenant for the people, a light to the Gentiles. I've given thee, God said, I've given you for a covenant to the people. This covenant, it's a unilateral covenant. He didn't give you something to do, and if he's gonna do something, Christ has done it all. He took away, he fulfilled the old covenant of works, the curse we were under, satisfied it, put it out of the way, and he establishes in our hearts this new everlasting covenant of grace. This is the law he writes on our heart, the covenant of grace, ordered by Christ, sure by Christ, fulfilled by Christ, all accomplished by Christ. They're all accomplished by Christ. Here's what the father said to the son. We just read it, verse two. The Lord said to him, thou shalt feed my people Israel, thou shalt be a captain over Israel. And Christ agreed. And he came forth and laid down his life and God raised him and gave all power in heaven and earth and all deep places to the God man. And when Christ calls you to himself by his sovereign power, this is what he makes you know. How sure is this covenant? When he gave us that cup of wine to remember, he said, he said, this represents the covenant in my blood, the New Testament in my blood. It's written in his blood. That's how sure it is. God's satisfied. Nothing to be added to our salvation, nothing can be taken from it. The law was given to say, you're guilty, you need him to be all. That's what the law's telling his people. You're guilty, You need Christ to be the covenant and to be all salvation for you. And that's what he revealed to us. And this covenant is sure. Brethren, the promises of God in him are yes and amen. They're yes and amen. This is, why do you, you know, the world, a reformed religion that's trying to make people holy by the law, they say you can't tell this to people because this will make them just want to sin. That's what makes us not want to sin. That's what motivates us in our hearts so that our motive is not legal, and it's not fear, and it's not trying to please men. It's love to Christ because Christ has done it all for us. That's our motive to keep walking by faith. That's our motive to love one another. That's the motive why we don't go to the law when a brother has sinned. That's why we come in mercy and try to help them up and help them back to Christ. That's why when our sister is sick, that's why it breaks our heart because, but this is why we don't, we're not so sorrowful that we're just, you know, falling away, because this covenant's so sure in Christ, we're gonna be with Him. We're gonna be with Him. He's either gonna make us well, and we're gonna walk in this earth a little longer, and then be with Him, or He's just gonna take us with Him, and we're gonna be whole with Him. But we're gonna be with Him. If you have the Son, you have life. Right now. Right now. It's just gonna get better. It's just gonna get better, better, better. Till we're with Him. This promise, He said, I've prepared a place for you. He's not there trying to prepare a place. He went to the cross and prepared it. And He said, and I'll come again, and where I am, you'll be with me. We saw, John 17, that's what He's praying for us. I want them to be where I am, Father. He's gonna have what He desires. He's gonna have us with Him. Here's the last thing. Here's another comfort. So when you're sick, when you're beset, when you see trouble in the world, any of these things, remember first off, he's God's king. He's our prince, and the Lord chose him, and he's been our king before we ever knew him. Secondly, remember, the covenant he's made with us is everlasting. There's nothing for you to add to it, and nothing can be taken from it. It's settled, it's done. And here's the third thing. He reigns, he reigns, look here. They said David reigned, he began to reign, and he reigned the exact time God said, and he reigned over Judah, he reigned in Jerusalem, he reigned over all Israel and all Judah. Right now, the Lord is in heavenly Jerusalem, and he's reigning. He's reigning. Everything happening is happening by him. If a leaf falls, it's ordered by him. If a king makes a decision for a country, it's ordered by him. Least to greatest, he's ruling every bit of it. The cancer cells that's in our sister, he's ruling those. He's ruling those. He's ruling the doctors. He's ruling the science. He's ruling everything in this world. And he only does good for his people. We can't see it, but he's doing it. He's only doing good for us. and he's doing it to teach us more and more this one thing. He is the one thing we need. He is our king, he is our savior, and he is our acceptance with God, and we have him, we have salvation. How beautiful upon the mouth are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, and publisheth peace, and declares, thy God reigneth. I pray, this is how we know he's going to get this gospel to all his people and get all his people under the gospel, and he's going to teach them all what he's taught you. Everyone he died for, he's going to teach them this stuff, because he reigns, and he's going to get them. He's going to call them, and he's going to save them. And you that he has saved, brethren, I'm telling you, we're just, we're just, it's going to get better and better and better. We're just getting closer and closer to Him. And one day we're gonna drop this body of death, we're gonna drop this world, we're gonna drop everything, and we're gonna go to a place where there won't be any more tears and no more death. You know why? We're gonna be with Him who is our salvation, that's why. I pray the Lord bless that, amen.