goes so well with our text. All the Word of God goes really
well, wherever you are, because it all speaks of one. But this
goes really well together with what Rob just read. 2 Samuel 2, we read here in verse
1, and it came to pass after this, You note that opening phrase,
it came to pass after this. Everything that had happened
in David's life had come to pass up to this point. God had anointed
David king from his mother's womb. God had anointed him king
from his mother's womb, from the foundation of the world before
time began. or anointed, he had ordained
purpose that David would be king. Same was true of our Lord Jesus
Christ. He chose Christ in eternity. And he ordained him to be king.
Now, in time, many years before this, God sent Samuel and he
anointed David king. David was just a boy at the time. Here David is about 30 years
old. But then when he was anointed, he was just a lad. He was out
keeping his father's sheep. Christ was chosen by God and
ordained before the foundation of the world, but then he came
in time. And he suffered many things while
he walked this earth. He came to represent his people
in perfect submission to the Father. perfectly looking to
the Father and praying, Thy will be done. Not my will, but Thy
will be done. Perfectly submitting to the Father. And David suffered many things
from the time the Lord sent Samuel and anointed him. David suffered
many things. Just like you and me, we have
to be taught this submission. We have to be taught to look
to Christ our King. Now our Lord, when He walked
this earth, He had the Spirit without measure, and it made
Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord. He was
continually looking to the Father. He was continually trusting the
Father. He preached only the Word of
the Father. But me and you have to be taught
this. We have to be taught this. And it takes a long time, many,
many trials, and David had gone through many, many trials before
this. He was hunted like an animal
by Saul. Sometimes David was strong in
faith, he believed God, and God did some valiant things using
David. And that's how we ought to look
at it. God had given him faith, he trusted
the Lord, and God did some valiant things through David. That's
what Paul just said in that text. God's the one that gave the increase.
God's the one that does the work in his people. And David did
some valiant things. He slew Goliath. He spared Saul
when he had a chance to kill him. He fought many battles. And then there were some times
that David acted like he didn't even know God. He ran without
asking God. He ran without looking to God.
He acted like he didn't even know God. But from the time that
God anointed him until this point right here, it was the Lord who
brought him through every one of those trials. And the Lord
was teaching David the whole way through. Everything that
came to pass was the Lord teaching David. And brethren, everything
that comes to pass in your life and my life is the Lord teaching
us. It is the Lord teaching us. He
taught David this vital lesson. He taught David that he could
do nothing without the Lord. That's the number one thing David
learned, is he could do nothing without the Lord. He taught David the danger of
running before he was sent of God. The danger of doing before
he was sent of God. And so it came to pass after
this, after all these trials and all these lessons that God
taught David, it came to pass after this. that David inquired
of the Lord, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of
Judah? And the Lord said unto him, Go
up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron. Now David inquires of the Lord. David asked the Lord, Should
I go up to any of the cities of Hebron, of Judah? And then he asked, Which city?
We see the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ here in David. When
our Lord walked this earth now, He was the Son of God. He is
the Son of God. But when He walked this earth
as a servant of the Lord, by the Spirit of God abiding on
Him as the servant of the Lord, He looked to His Father in perfect
submission. He never did His own will. He always did the will of the
Father. He said, I don't preach my word,
I preach his word. He said, I didn't come to do
my will, I came to do the will of my father. He was continually
asking the father. He was continually inquiring
of the father. He waited on God, the father
in all things. When he was going to the cross,
when he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane, he said, father,
not my will, but thy will be done. And brethren, it's only
by that perfect submission, it's only by that perfect submission
that David was righteous when he was in those times he didn't
believe God and acted like he never had even heard the name
of God and was acting a fool. He was still righteous because
of that perfect submission of Christ and that's why the Lord
Continually graciously taught David. That's why he keeps teaching
me and you Because in Christ David was righteous in Christ
his people are righteous and it came to pass after these things
after the Lord suffered after he suffered all the things he
endured in his life and after he suffered the the ignominious
death of the cross due to his obedience due to his righteousness
due to the fact that he is justified his people and declared God just
and upheld his law. God raised him up and set him
at his own right hand as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He arose to the throne. David
had failed to inquire many times, many times throughout the life
of David. He failed to inquire of the Lord.
He just impulsively did. He just acted. or he ran, or
he did this or that, without even asking the Lord. But by
the Lord teaching David, now David, he was not hasty to take
the office of a king. Now you think about this. David knew he was anointed king.
He knew he was anointed. Samuel had come and anointed
him king years and years ago. David knew Saul now was dead,
he knew the office is vacant. Providentially, it looks like
God's hand of providence, he's just opened the way and David
should just go right up to Hebron and take the throne. But now,
before David moves a muscle, he asks the Lord, should I go
up to any of the cities? And the Lord said, go up. And
he didn't go then. He said, which city? And the
Lord said, Hebron. That reminds us of Moses, brethren. Whenever the Lord had made Moses
know that the Lord was gonna use him, Moses knew that. And Moses goes out one day and
he sees an Egyptian smiting one of his Israelite brethren. And
Moses looked both ways and nobody was looking and Moses killed
the Egyptian. Moses had in his heart that God's using him to
deliver the kingdom. And so the next day, two brethren
who were Israelites are arguing, and Moses just goes up, interjects
himself in the middle of them, and starts trying to tell them
to be in unity, don't be fighting with one another. Acts 7.25 says,
He did this for He supposed His brethren would have understood
how that God by His hand would deliver them, but they understood
not. And one of those Israelites said,
Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Well, God did. God had. But they didn't know
that. He said, will thou kill me as
thou didst the Egyptian yesterday? And then fled Moses at this saying
and was a stranger in the land of Midian where he begat two
sons. God put Moses on the backside
of the desert where he tended his father-in-law's sheep for
years. And then the Lord came to David
when he was pleased to use him. It's just like David's life.
The Lord had made Moses know he was going to use him, just
like he had sent Samuel and anointed David. But years and years and
years passed. And then when the Lord came to
call Moses, he had the same spirit in him that David has right here,
a totally different spirit than he had before. He said, Who am
I that I should go unto Pharaoh and that I should bring forth
the children of Israel out of Egypt? When God purposes to use one
of his saints, he does this for us all, all through our life,
because he's using us all every day. But if he's going to especially
use one of his saints, especially if he's going to make somebody
a pastor, for instance, God's going to put him through the
school of hard knocks. He's going to go through the
school of hard knocks. God's going to teach him that he is
a sinner. He is a sinner, that he's being saved himself just
like the people he's ministering to. He has no ability in himself. The Lord is going to teach him
that. Christ is our only righteousness, Christ is our only strength,
and Christ is our only wisdom. The Lord is going to teach his
man that. Before God uses us, God is going
to teach us the necessity of believing on the Lord. He is
going to teach us the necessity of inquiring of the Lord in all
things. The necessity of waiting on the
Lord in all things before you make one move. A man has been prepared by God
when God's made the man cease being hasty to run. Hasty to act. When his desire
is not to take one step until God's made it clear that this
is the way. not take one step till God's
made it clear, I'm with you. He wants God to lead him every
step he takes, so he's continually inquiring of the Lord. Even after God used Moses and
had delivered Israel, even after he had done that with Moses,
he's going to now go through the wilderness to the land of
Canaan. And even after the Lord did all
those works and used Moses and delivered the children of Israel,
Moses cried to the Lord and said, If thy presence go not with me,
carry us not up hence. For wherein shall it be known
here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is
it not in that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated. So shall we be sanctified, I
and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face
of the earth. How? God with you. That's how. God's gonna teach us by all our
many mistakes. That's what they're for. If there's
fault in it, sin in it, that's our own fault. But God's gonna,
he's so wise, he's ruling everything that he can teach you from your
blunders. And that's what he's doing. And
he teaches us not to be hasty. Hasty in the scripture means
this. It means don't do things in our time. It means don't do
things in our strength. Don't do things in our wisdom.
Being hasty is the opposite of faith. Listen to this. Thus saith
the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation of stone,
a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth
shall not make haste. That doesn't mean that you won't
ever be hasty. David was a believer when he
did some hasty things. But he that believes God, when
God's got you looking to Him and trusting Him and you're really
believing God, you won't make haste. Making haste is the opposite
of faith. Through much painful experience,
David acted and just acted quickly when he should have waited. And
through doing that, the Lord taught him, showed him, He needed
to believe the Lord, he needed to wait on the Lord. God says
to his people, their strength is to sit still. That's God's
word, their strength is to sit still. For thus said the Lord
God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall you
be saved. In quietness and in confidence
shall be your strength, resting, waiting on the Lord. The Lord
taught David his need for the Lord to be his wisdom and his
guide. Trust in the Lord with all thine
heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy
ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. The world
says, follow your heart. God says, don't trust your heart. He says, trust in the Lord with
all your heart. Lean not to thine own understanding,
and all thy ways acknowledge him, and he'll direct thy paths."
Now you think about this. God's providence made it look
like David should go up and be king. The way's open. Saul's
gone. David's anointed. Providence
looks like, just go on up to Hebron. Take it. But he didn't
judge by providence. He inquired of the Lord. Never judge by providence. Ask
God not only when providence appears to be against you. That's
when we tend to ask God is when it looks like providence is against
us. But when it looks like providence has opened up and is on your
side, ask God. Ask God. To acknowledge the Lord
in all our ways is the opposite of self-sufficiency and self-will
and self-wisdom. It's saying what I've been saying
over and over and over, that we are nothing and can do nothing,
that we have no strength, that we have no wisdom, that we're
the sinner, that we depend entirely on the Lord. It's begging God
to grant us light from his word to make us know in our heart
this is what God would have us to do and then to lead us in
a way as we go. That's what we're asking God
to do. So David inquired of the Lord. Now, when he did this,
he would have done this through Abiathar the priest. Abiathar
had that ephod, you remember, the priest wore the ephod, and
it had the Urim and Thummim in it, which meant lights and perfections. And that priest and that ephod,
that Urim and Thummim, pictured the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord
Jesus Christ is the high priest of his people. He is the lights
and perfections of his people. Our access and our communion
with God is through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. We come
to God our Father in the name of our Lord Jesus. Listen to
Hebrews 10, 19. Having boldness to enter the
holiest by the blood of Jesus. We're talking about, he's talking
about praying, inquiring of the Lord. We have boldness to enter
the holiest by the blood of Jesus. by a new and living way which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his
flesh, not that old veil, his flesh, laying down his life for
his people. Now we have a high priest over
the house of God. And let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Now,
because of what it cost Christ, he laid down his life, he poured
out his blood, you have access and welcome access, believer,
to inquire of the Lord. Think about that. You know, some
people, if you come and ask them, like say a boss or something,
and he tells you what to do, and you go and start doing it,
and you don't know what to do, and you come back and you ask
him again, some will get impatiently did. I've told you this so many
times, stop asking me. The Lord never is that way. His word tells us to come and
inquire, come and inquire, come and inquire, come and inquire
as much as you want, come and inquire. And it costs Christ laying down
His life to give you that access. So come to Him and inquire of
Him in everything. In everything. And wait on Him
until He teaches you and then follow Him. We sing, O what peace
we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear, all because we
do not carry everything to God in prayer. So David had learned,
been taught by God, and the first thing he does as the king now,
the first thing he does is he inquired of the Lord. That's
a good indication he's going to be a good king. He inquired
of the Lord. Now secondly, we see a type of
Christ, our King, risen to his throne right here. Verse 2, the
Lord told him to go up to Hebron. So David went up there and his
two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail and Abel's wife the
Carmelite, and his men that were with him did David bring up,
every man with his household, and they dwelt in the cities
of Hebron. And the men of Judah came, and
there they anointed David king over the house of Judah. Now
in David going up to take this throne, we have a picture of
Christ ascended to God's right hand to his throne in glory.
Go over to Hebrews 1.3. I want to see this. Here's what we have pictured.
God promised this all through the scriptures. He promised David
of his seed, he'd raise up a righteous branch who would sit on the throne
forever and execute righteousness. And here's what he says, Hebrews
1 verse 3, Christ being the brightness of his glory, the express image
of his person, upholding all things by the word of his power,
when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right
hand of the majesty on high. Look down at verse 8. It says,
that unto the Son, God said, Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. Thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of Thy kingdom. That's what we have pictured
here with Christ going up. David took his wives and went
to Hebron. Our Lord Jesus Christ took His
church. He redeemed His church, His elect
church. And He took everyone with Him
And we went in him and we sat down at God's right hand. Paul
said in Ephesians 2,6, God has raised us up. together and made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the
ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace
in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Child of God, listen. You really are. This, this, it
takes God giving us faith to really believe this. You really
are seated at God's right hand in Christ right now. That is
so, brethren. You want assurance? Assurance
is not going to be found in this world looking to you. You want
assurance. Look to Christ and hear and believe
God's Word that your life is hid in Christ with God, with
Christ in God. Right there is where you are.
It says, his men that were with him did David bring up. He brought
every man with his household. And they dwelt in the cities
of Hebron. And then it says, and the men of Judah came. Some
new men came. And there they anointed David
king over the house of Judah. I won't have you turn over there
right now, but when you go home, you can read 1 Chronicles chapter
12, verses 1 through 40. It talks about the men that were
with him. It numbers them, tells who all they were. And then it
talks about the men of Judah that came. Every tribe, there
was an exact number of men that came, valiant men, men of war
that came and joined themselves with David. And it tells us the
exact number. There was 348,800 men, not counting women and children,
that came up there at this time to Hebron with David. It says
it was a great host like the host of God. And what it's telling
us is God elected an exact number of people by His grace. A lot
more than 383,000. God elected an exact number of
people. Christ redeemed each and every one of them by his
precious blood. And he ascended to glory. They
all ascended to glory in him. And he right now, as the king,
is sending forth his messengers, and he's calling his people to
faith in Christ. And he shall call each and every
one of that exact number to him. and they shall all come to Him,
and He shall save every one of them, and not one of them shall
be lost." That's what we have pictured here in David. They
all came to David. It's said there in 1 Chronicles
12, all of them were of one heart. They were united. David was their
king. They were of one heart. In Christ,
His people have one heart. This is our one heart. Christ
is our King. He is our righteousness. He is
our wisdom. He is our all. We're of one heart
in that, united, knowing Christ is our only acceptance with God. And it said they were three days
eating and drinking, and there was joy in Israel. It's picturing
all who Christ brings to himself. Listen to Genesis 49, 10. The
scepter shall not depart from Judah. That's talking about a
king with a scepter. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh
come. That's Christ. And unto him shall
the gathering of the people be. That's what we have here in our
text. They all go up to David. We're all gathering to Christ.
Isaiah 11.10, And that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which
shall stand for an ensign, the Lord our banner, the ensign of
the people. To it shall the Gentiles seek,
and his rest shall be glorious. We are all gathering to Christ.
Each one shall be of one heart with great joy giving Christ
all the glory. We're of one heart that He is
our justifier. He's the one who justified us.
And we have one heart that He gets all the glory. God said
this, listen, Isaiah 45, 24, Surely shall one say, In the
Lord have I righteousness and strength. Even to him shall men
come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed.
In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and in
the Lord shall they glory." You have all these men of different
tribes, but they're of one heart that David is their king. The
Lord's people are one under Christ our King. We're of one heart
under Christ our King. He alone makes you have one heart.
united, that because we know in ourselves we are each ruined
sinners. We cannot be confessing Christ
is our righteousness if we are trying to say we're not ruined
sinners. Because to say Christ is our
righteousness, we are saying we are absolutely, totally ruined
sinners, guilty of every transgression that can be committed. And that's
so of me and you and everybody Christ saved. This is our unity. We have one righteousness. One
righteousness. We can't be in unity unless everybody's
in the dust together looking to one who is our righteousness.
That's the only way we can be in unity. There was joy in Israel
and so it is with each one God gathers to Christ. Jerusalem
now is a city we usually think about when we think about the
city of God and we think about heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly
city, but Hebron's a good picture of it too. Hebron was a cluster
of cities really, but it goes by one name, Hebron. This was
Abraham's favorite city. It's where he pitched his tent
under the oaks of Mamre, and it pictures that heavenly city
that Abraham looked for, whose builder and maker is God. This
was his favorite city. Hebron still exists today. It's
one of the oldest cities in the world. Well, our Hebron, our
heavenly Hebron, is the oldest city. It existed before time,
and it will exist when time is no more. Hebron means community. It means seat of alliance, seat
of association. In Christ, all God's straying
sheep are restored to communion with God in Christ Jesus. That's just like David. He was
brought back to the Lord and had communion with God. This
is so with all of the Lord's people. And when we get to glory,
we're going to have perfect communion, perfect association with God
our Father and Christ Jesus our Lord and all our brethren when
we get to our heavenly Hebron. Hebron was taken by Joshua and
given to Caleb. And the only way we're citizens
of this city is Christ Jesus, our Joshua, took this city. He
did everything necessary to give us this city, and he gives it
to his faithful dogs, to his Caleb's. That's who he gives
it to. Hebron was one of the cities
of refuge. Christ is our refuge, and he's
abiding there in that eternal city, and he tells you and me,
when any time that you need refuge, He says, flee to Him. And that's
all the time. That's all the time. Hebron's
where David abode for the seven and a half years that he was
the king of Judah. And our Lord Jesus Christ abides
in our heavenly Hebron now, and He will abide there for all eternity,
and everyone He redeems shall abide there with Him. That's
the picture we have here of them all going to Him. to David in
Hebron. Now, I think I'm going to not
preach this last point. I'm going to save this. We need
something positive for the next portion of this, and I think
I'm going to save this for the next portion. So let's go to
the Lord. Well, let me recap what I've
said to you. Inquire of the Lord. Don't make
a step. It's not just if you don't know
what to do. Inquire of the Lord when you
do know what to do. Inquire of the Lord continually. We need to know he is with us,
present with us individually, and we need to not take a step
unless we're walking in the direction he'd have us to go. according
to His Word. And then know this too, that
Christ our King reigns on His throne in glory. He reigns there. He is ruling everything. Hebrews
1, God said He raised Him up and gave Him all power over all,
over every name that's named, over visible and invisible. Christ
has all, he goes to just saying things to make you know that
there is absolutely no way you'll miss the point that Christ has
all power. The God man does. And when you
trust him, you can trust him, you can rest in him, and you
know everything he's working is for your good. Everything. So when you fall and it's painful
and you're humiliated and you're ashamed, go to Him and confess
your sin to Him, pour out your heart to Him, ask His mercy,
ask His grace, and you'll find it. You'll find it. And He'll
restore you. He'll restore you to Him in Hebron
where you have communion with the Father. And learn from it
and don't take another step till he says, go this way. And when he makes you know, he
will make you know so certainly that you know without a doubt.
But until then, don't do anything. Wait on the Lord. And when you're
actively doing what God would have you do, wait on the Lord.
We're never trying to get ahead of him. We have to wait on him.
Even when we're doing, we have to wait on him at all times. And we'll look at the rest of
this next time. Let's go to him in prayer. Our gracious Lord, our King, we ask you, Lord, If you would
go with us, we need your presence and we need to know your presence.
Don't let us take a step without your presence, Lord. Lord, we
ask you to keep us from being hasty. Keep us from acting in
the strength of our flesh and the wisdom of our flesh and the
impulse of our flesh. Give us the wisdom to stand still To wait, to inquire of you. Lord, bring this to our remembrance. When we would act, when we would
speak, when anything we would do, Lord, we ask you bring this
word to our remembrance. To inquire of you. And make us,
Lord, get in a quiet place and ask of you, what should we do? Lord, we thank you that we have
a king ruling a holy nation with a perfect government, a
perfect kingdom, full of people made perfectly righteous. And though we live in a sin-cursed
world and we see a corrupt government surround us and men and women
of the world running here and there and We know You're ruling
them. We know You're ruling us. We
know You're ruling all things. And that You're doing it, Lord,
to teach us individually through everything we encounter in our
life. Keep us remembering this, Father.
When we're disappointed and we're cast down, make us of one heart,
knowing Christ has justified us. Make us of one heart. and
full of joy knowing that we're sinners saved by grace, being
saved by grace. Fill us with this joy, Lord.
It's joy in believing you, knowing that all is well by your sovereign
hand. Lord, we ask you to continue
to Keep us for Your name's sake. Thank You, Lord, for Christ our
King. Forgive us of our sin. Forgive
us for being hasty. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen.