Alright brethren, let's turn
in our Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7. Now everybody that is sanctified
by God has spiritually what David had in a temporal sense. We have in a spiritual sense
what David had in a temporal sense. We read in verse 1, it
says, It came to pass when the king sat in his house, and the
Lord had given him rest round about from all his enemies. And
that's what we have. By God's grace, we have rest
round about from all our enemies. We have this spiritually. We
have it spiritually. And David had fought a lot of
battles, and God had made him victorious. And every battle
that you and I have fought as children of God, God has made
us victorious. And it is by God's grace that
we have rest round about. And all these things, Paul said,
were more than conquerors through Him that loved us. And so, just
like David had given freely by His grace, God has given us freely
by His grace. He had given David freely what
he had and He has given us freely what we have. He chose us by
grace. He redeemed us by grace. He called
us by grace. He preserves us by grace. And
when it's by grace, that means we don't contribute by our works
whatsoever. David's fighting wasn't over
yet. And our fighting is not over yet. But for now, he had
peace round about. He had peace round about. And
so, God's saints, when we have peace, out of gratitude for what
God's done for us, we want to do for God. We want to serve
God. And that's what David wanted
to do. Look here at verse 2. He had all this peace, and then
the king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in
a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtain.
And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart,
for the Lord is with thee. It was David's heart to build
a house for God for that ark and a place where God would be
honored and glorified. That was in his heart. Now, God
who looks on the heart said this was a good thing. He said David's
motive was right. Let me read you this from 1 Kings
8.18. Solomon said, The Lord said unto David, My father. This
was years later, Solomon wrote. He said, The Lord said to David,
My father, whereas it was in thine heart to build a house
unto My name, thou didst well that it was in thy heart. So,
you and I, who God has given rest in Christ, we ought to desire,
out of gratitude in our hearts, to serve God, to do something
to further His Kingdom and further the Gospel. I ought to always
be asking myself, what can I do to help God's pastors, to help
God's people, to further the Gospel? That's a good motive,
to want to do that just from the gratitude of your heart for
what God's done for you. And God said that was a good
motive in David's heart. But, as we see from this text,
we ought never imagine that building God's house is something left
to our hands. Though we ought to always be
serving God and doing what we can in the Kingdom of God, don't
ever imagine that it's put in our hands to build God's house. That's not so. And that's what
God is going to show to His beloved servant David. Now look at verse
4. It came to pass that night that the word of the Lord came
unto Nathan, saying, Go, tell my servant David, thus saith
the Lord, Shalt thou build me a house for me to dwell in? Shalt thou build me a house for
me to dwell in? Now here we are. Another question
that God asked the sinner. We are going through the Scriptures
and we are looking at these questions where God asked the sinner a
question. And here is another question God asked of David. And I have changed it slightly
for our title. Shall thou build God a house?
Shall you build God a house? Shall I build God a house? Well,
it is a rhetorical question. The answer is no. And God said
that clearly in 1 Chronicles 17 verse 4. He said, Thou shalt
not build me a house to dwell in. See, that's not the responsibility
of God's child. And that's not even in the capability
of God's child to build a house for God. Not at all. And that's
what we see here. We see why it's not for us to
build His house. Now, first of all, we can't build
a house for God to dwell in because God does not dwell in temples
made with hands. We can't build Him a house to
dwell in because He does not dwell in temples made with hands. Now look here in verse 6. We're
going to read verses 6 and 7. He said, Whereas I have not dwelt
in any house since the time that I brought up the children of
Israel out of Egypt even to this day. Now understand what He said
there. I have not dwelt in any house. I have not dwelt in any house."
But, he said, I have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. In all the places wherein I have
walked with all the children of Israel, spake I a word with
any of the tribes of Israel whom I commanded to feed my people
Israel, saying, Why build ye not me a house of cedar? Now, did you see those two words,
dwelt and walk? There's a big difference between
dwelling and walking. There's a big difference. Dwelling
means you have a permanent residence there. That's where you dwell.
That's where you live. That's where you abide. But when
you're walking with somebody, that means you're there with
them and they know you're there with them sometimes, but sometimes
you're not. They don't know you're there
with them, walking with them. In the tabernacle, God walked. And in that tent, there was a
tent inside the tabernacle, curtains that made a holiest of holies,
made a room in that tabernacle where the Ark of the Covenant
was. And God promised Israel. He didn't promise, I'm going
to dwell in that house. He said, I'll meet with you over
that mercy seat. That was a picture of Him meeting
with us in Christ. And He said, I will walk with
you. And He walked with them in that
pillar of fire by night that led them, and in that cloud by
day that led them. But He never ever said, I'm going
to dwell anywhere. Did you catch the question He
asked David? He said, Shalt thou build me
a house for me to dwell in? That's what we're talking about.
It's one thing to build a house where we worship God. It's another
thing to build a house where God dwells. Two different things. He never promised to dwell. Go
to Acts 7, verse 46. Acts 7, verse 46. Look here with
me. Mark your place in Acts. I think
we're going to come back there. Acts 7, verse 46. David found favor before God
and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. But Solomon
built him a house. How be it? How be it? The Most High dwelleth not in
temples made with hands. He does not dwell, He doesn't
reside in temples made with hands as saith the prophet. Heaven
is my throne, earth is my footstool, what house will you build me?
God said. Saith the Lord. What is the place
of my rest? And in that prophecy in Isaiah
66, He said, everything you're going to build me has already
been made by me. So you're not really building
me anything. See, to build something for God to dwell in has got to
be a whole new creation. for God to dwell in it. And it's
got to be built by God. Solomon built a house. Go to
2 Chronicles 2. Solomon built a house, but he
only built a house to worship God. He didn't build a house
for God to dwell in. Go after 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1
Chronicles, 2 Chronicles. Look at chapter 2 in verse 5. He said this, he said 2 Chronicles
2.5 He said, the house which I build
is great, for great is our God above all gods. There's no doubt
now, when we build a house to worship God, we want it to be
the very best of the very best that we can possibly build for
God, because great is our God. Is that right? That's right.
Now watch this though. But who is able to build Him
a house, seeing that the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot
contain Him? Who am I then that I should build
Him a house save only to burn sacrifice before Him? In other
words, save only to worship Him in. I can't build Him a house
to dwell in. I can only build Him a house
to worship in. That's all. That's all. But now
why did God choose a tent and a tabernacle to walk in even
when He was just walking with the children of Israel in the
wilderness. Why did He choose a tent and a tabernacle? God
has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise. That's why. That no flesh should
glory in His presence. Human nature was pictured in
that tabernacle. Human nature is a ruined thing.
It's a despised thing. It's a foolish thing. It's a
sinful thing. And it's here today and it's
gone tomorrow. It's dead and it's dying. That's
all we are. And if you saw that tabernacle
in the wilderness, you would not think anything about it.
It was covered over in badger skins on the outside. Ever seen
a beaver? That's what it's covered in,
on the outside. It wasn't pretty to look at,
at all. And that's the picture of me
and you. Yet, when Christ came, to be made in the likeness of
His people, that's the very tabernacle He took up to dwell in when He
tabernacled among us. It was that tent, our flesh.
And so for this reason, brethren, we can't build a house to God. We can't build a house for Him
to dwell in. He never ever asked anybody or
commanded anybody to build Him a house to dwell in, only to
worship Him in. So that's the first thing. God
doesn't dwell in temples made with hands. So you don't just
forget trying to build Him a place He's going to dwell. And I'm
not just talking about a building. I'm talking about you. You can't
make yourself fit for Him to dwell in you. We can't build
Him a house to dwell in. Now secondly, we can't build
God's house because God builds the house He'll dwell in. Look
at verse 8. The Lord calls and He exalts
His people. He does all the building for
us. He does the calling and He does
the exalting. He does the building. Look at
verse 8. He said to David, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, I took
thee from the sheep coat. Remember we saw that a few weeks
ago in our last question when God asked Samuel, how long are
you going to mourn over King Saul? and then he sent him down
there to choose David. And remember David? David was
the least of all those brethren out there in the sheep coat,
tending to the sheep out in the back side of the desert. And
God says here now, remember David, where I found you. I took you
from the sheep coat. I found you there from following
the sheep and I chose you to be a ruler over my people over
Israel. Now the Lord Jehovah, He's the
one that does the building. He chose you and me. We didn't
choose Him. He came and found us and He found
us in a lot lower place than where He found David. He found
us dead in our sin. He didn't find us tending sheep.
He found us dead in our sin. And He chose us and He called
us and He separated us by His own power and exalted us in the
person of His Son. He does the building up. And
it's God's presence with us by which we are preserved. We don't
add anything to this work at all. Now look here at verse 9.
It's by His presence with us that we are preserved. He said,
I was with thee. I was with thee, David, whethersoever
thou winnest, and I have cut off all thine enemies out of
thy sight. Who cut them off? God said, I
did. I cut them off. I cut off all
your enemies out of your sight. I have made thee a great name
like unto the great men that are in the earth. If God wasn't
with us, if He wasn't with His people, there is no power in
us to persevere. We would not at all have conquered
a single enemy if it was left to us. You know, God calls His
people out and He leaves a sinful world. He leaves you in the midst
of a sinful world partly to show you something. God's done something
for you He hadn't done for the rest of the world. That's not
to exalt you over them. You'd be just like the rest of
the world if God left you alone. But God's called you out and
separated you from the world and He did it. He conquered all
our enemies. We didn't conquer a single enemy.
And He has made us a name. We have a great name. Our name
is the Lord Our Righteousness. This is the name wherewith she
shall be called, He said, the Lord Our Righteousness. We couldn't
have made that name for ourselves. To make that name for yourself,
you have to absolutely fulfill the law of God. You have to come
into this world sinless and you have to fulfill the law of God
beginning to end. Not only that, There's a much
bigger work you have to do. We're fixing to see that in order
to make this name God's talking about. But Christ made that name
and in Him we have that name, the Lord our righteousness. And then not only that, it's
God who plants us. He plants us in our dwelling
place. We don't build a dwelling place
for Him. He plants us in our dwelling place and it's not the
other way around. Now look at verse 10. Moreover,
I will appoint a place for My people, Israel. He doesn't do
this for everybody. He does it for His people, the
elect of God. I will appoint a place for My
people, Israel, and I will plant them that they may dwell in a
place of their own. We're not talking about a sojourning
place. We're talking about a place where
He said, I'm going to plant you in a place where you will dwell,
where you will be forever. You will inhabit this place forever.
And He says, and move no more. You won't be moved about. Neither
shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more as before
time. And do you see that? Rather than
us building a place for God to dwell in, God says, I will appoint
My people a place for them to dwell in. See, this was somewhat
of a rebuke to David, but it was a blessing to David. And
it's a blessing to us to be taught this and reminded of this. We
don't build him a house. He said, I'm going to build you
a house to dwell in. I'm going to plant you, he said. I was
preaching down in Jamaica and a fellow came up and he was talking
to me about church plants. And he kept saying that over
and over about church plants and church plants. Do you have
anything to do with church plants? And honestly, I'm not joking,
I thought he was talking about a potted plant that somebody,
that they had in churches or something. I was like, a church
plant? What are you talking about? And he's talking about building
churches and building works and building a place, you know, But
God said, no. This scripture right here ought
to be enough for us to never say we've ever planted a church.
God said, I plant my people. I plant them. I make them trees
of righteousness and they won't be plucked up. Christ said, every
plant that my Father has not planted shall be plucked up.
And that goes for every church that He hadn't planted. He plants. We don't plant. He does the planting. He does all the planting. And
look at this. I want to go over this again.
Look what He said there. When He plants us, He says that
they may dwell in a place of their own. He takes you out of
the waste, howling wilderness where there is no life and no
righteousness and nothing but wickedness and striving and strife. And He says, I'll plant you in
a place of your own where you can dwell there, where you can
live there and abide there and move no more. I'm going to put
you on a solid rock. Your house is a solid rock that
won't be moved anymore. It won't be tossed to and fro. It won't be moved. Neither shall
the children of wickedness afflict them anymore. You realize something
when the Scriptures make a statement like that. The children of wickedness
won't afflict you anymore. Understand this. Hebrews 11 makes
abundantly clear that a lot of God's children died at the hands
of wicked men. They killed them. They hooked them up between two
animals and sent them in different directions and pulled them asunder.
Read it. It's in Hebrews 11. They burned
them on a cross. But you hear what He is saying
right here? They never touched God's children when they did
that. They never afflicted God's children when they did that.
Because His children aren't in the flesh. His children are created
anew. They can destroy this body. That's
all they can destroy. They hadn't afflicted me at all
by that. The me that He's talking about
is not this flesh. It's not this flesh. Do you understand
that? You'll find that out one day.
When you lay off this body of death, you're going to find out
nothing has happened to you. All you did was shed everything
you've been wanting to get rid of all your life since God called
you. That's all it is. They won't
afflict you anymore. Look here now. And when God plants
us, God provides us with shepherds. And through all this, He gives
us rest. Look at verse 11. He said, and since the time that
I commanded judges to be over my people Israel. That's how
they got judges over them. God commanded it. And I've caused
thee arrest from all thine enemies. Also the Lord telleth thee that
He'll make thee an house. God commands His pastors. Makes
them. He makes them. He creates them.
He makes them faithful. And He gives them to the people
and gives the people to them and sets them to minister to
His people just like He set the judges over Israel. That's what
they were a picture of. And He sets His pastors to minister
the gospel, not to the Lord over His people, to minister the gospel
to His people. And when He does this through
this gospel, He gives us rest. He said, I'm going to put judges...
Since the time I put judges over my people, I've given you rest. And He says, and I'll build you
a house. Now listen to that. That's key. Look at that scripture
again. Where's this dwelling place?
Where's this dwelling place He's going to put us? It's in Christ. That's the dwelling place. And
we dwell in Christ when Christ dwells in us. It signifies a
oneness. And it signifies that you don't
know where Christ ends and the believer begins. We're one. We have a new spirit. There's
a new heart. We're an individual. He doesn't
believe for us. We believe, but we're so vitally
connected to Him, you can't tell where one ends and the other
begins. Now look at what he says here. Look at this verse 11 again.
The Lord telleth thee, the very end there, also the Lord telleth
thee that He will make thee an house. David said, I'm going
to build a house for God to dwell in. That's not what God said
to David. God doesn't say He'll build David
a house. God says He will make David a
house. He's going to make David himself
to be the house. that God dwells in. That's what
he's saying. David's a believer in whom Christ
dwells. And Christ's people are the temple
where He dwells. Remember when Christ prayed in
John 17? He said, I in them, I in them, and Thou, Father,
in me, that they may be made perfect in one. And I go to Ephesians
2. When Christ takes up dwelling
in you, Then you found your dwelling place and it's in Him. Watch
this. When He dwells in you, that's
when you dwell in Him. This is how God puts you in your
dwelling place. Christ comes and dwells in you.
He makes you a house. And then you find out Christ
is your house. Now watch this. Ephesians 2.20. You're built. upon the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, that is through the gospel, Jesus Christ Himself
being the chief cornerstone. in whom, in Christ, all the building
is fitly framed together and groweth unto a holy temple in
the Lord. You see that? His people are
His temple and we are a temple in Him. He is our dwelling place. And when do you find that out?
Look here, verse 22. In whom ye also are built together
for a habitation of God through the Spirit. You see that? He
dwells in His church, in each member in particular, and we
dwell in Him. That's the dwelling. That's the
house. God didn't say, I'm going to
build a house for you. He said, I'm going to make you
the house. I'm going to make you the house. And that's what
He does. So we, see here, we can't build
a house for God to dwell in because He builds the house. He called
us. He separated us. He conquered
our enemies. He gave us a great name in Christ.
He built us up. He made us the house for Christ
to dwell in. So we don't build Him a house
for Him to dwell in at all. Now thirdly, we can't build God's
house because God's given that honor to His Son alone. We can't
build a house for God. He gave that honor to His Son
alone. And His Son is typified right
here in Solomon. In Solomon. Now look here. Christ
is the seed of David. Look at verse 12, 2 Samuel 7,
12. When thy days, David, be fulfilled, when you're dead and
you're gone, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set
up thy seed after thee. I will set up thy seed after
thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, out of your heritage,
out of your family tree, and I will establish his kingdom. Now how do we know that speaks
of Christ? You know, I always tell you all, turn to Acts 2.
Be turning there while I'm saying this. You know I'm always telling
you this is a type of this and this is a type of that. Am I
just making this up that it's a type? How do we know Solomon is a type
of Christ? Look here in Acts 2.29. On the
day of Pentecost, Peter stood up and the Holy Spirit gave him
the words to speak and he preached 2 Samuel 7. He preached our text. Here is what he said. Acts 2.29.
Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch
David. And He's both dead and buried. And His sepulcher is
with us unto this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and
knowing... David knew this. David knew this. David knew what I'm telling you
right now. Knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that
of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise
up Christ to sit on His throne. That's what our verse just said.
David, I'm going to raise up thy seed to sit on thy throne.
He said here, he knew that it was of the fruit of his loins
according to the flesh that he would raise up Christ to sit
on his throne. He seeing this before spake of
the resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell,
neither his flesh did see corruption. David knew what I'm preaching
to you. Abraham knew Christ was all his salvation. Christ said,
Abraham saw my day and was glad. Those Old Testament saints, Adam
saw Christ when God slew those animals and made coats of skins
to cover Adam and Eve in their nakedness. Where did he find
Adam? Hiding in the trees. After he
made his profession of faith with his fig leaves, it wasn't
enough when God came speaking, he had to hide himself in the
tree. And God called him out, and God killed some animals,
and God was in His place, and God covered him with those animals.
And he saw Christ in there. All these Old Testament saints
were saved the same way we are, through faith in Christ alone.
Now go back to our text, 2 Samuel 7. Christ is the one who is building
God's house, and He is doing it for God's name. You understand
this? Let me say this before we read
this. There's something more important in salvation than me
and you being saved. The world has this totally wrong.
The world speaks and preaches like it's all about the sinner. And like if you are not saved,
God's world is going to be torn upside down. It ain't about you
and me. It's about God's name. Look here,
verse 13. He shall build a house for my
name. You see that? He'll build a house
for my name and I will establish the throne of His kingdom forever. This was the covenant, the everlasting
covenant. You see, the covenant of grace
is not a covenant God makes with you and me for us to do something.
That was the covenant of works where God said, you do this and
you shall live. You do this and I'll do this. That's the covenant
of works, conditional on your obedience. That's not the covenant
of grace. The covenant of grace was God
God the Father said to Christ, you establish My name. And Christ
said, I will do this work to establish your great name, to
glorify your great name. And God the Father said, you
do that and I will establish your kingdom forever. I will
raise you from the dead and I will establish your kingdom forever.
That's the everlasting covenant right there in verse 13. He shall
build a house for My name and I will establish the throne of
His kingdom forever. That was the agreement. the covenant. And Christ built that house of
God for His name by justifying His people on the cross. When
He did that, He declared God's name. God's name is Jehovah Shekinah,
the Lord our righteousness. It means God's just. He does
not clear the guilty. And God is the justifier. If
anybody is saved, God does it. How can He be just and kill us
and execute us, send us to the electric chair and at the same
time save us and spare our lives and give us eternal life? In
Christ. That's the only way. For Him
to die under the judgment of God and live whereby we live
in Him. That's the only way. And by doing
that, He declared His name just and justifier. And God is so
satisfied with His Son, He fulfilled His end of that covenant. God
the Father raised His Son and gave Him a throne to sit on and
His Kingdom is established forever. That's what Peter declared at
Pentecost. Let everybody know this. God has made that same
Jesus whom you crucified and slain, both Lord and Christ.
He's got a Kingdom established forever. That's when it was verified
to men that it was established on the day of Pentecost. And
it's been being declared ever since. Because Christ went to
the Father, sat down, the work finished. Now go to this verse
14 and let me make a statement here. Christ builds this house
in a way that we would have never thought of. He built this house
by making His Son sin for us who knew no sin. That's how He
declared His name and built this house. Look at verse 14. He said,
ìIíll be his father and he shall be my son. And if he commit iniquity,
I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of
the children of men.î He said, ìIíll be his father and heíll
be my son.î What did God say when Christ was baptized? He
spoke from heaven. He said, ìThis is my beloved
Son, in whom Iím well pleased. Hear ye Him.î God is His Father
and Christ is His Son. I'll be His Father and He'll
be my Son. You want to be a son of God? Anybody here want to
be a child of God? Only one place you'll be found
to be a child of God. That's in God's Son. That Son
He's so pleased with. That's the only place, through
faith in Him. But when He made him sin, when
God made him sin, this had to be in order for God to impute
sin to him and to pour judgment out on him and to pour everything
that we owed, the curse we were under, in order to save us from
that curse, Christ had to be made sin, He had to be declared
guilty by imputation, and He had to bear that curse to redeem
us from that curse. And so when God made him sin,
Make sure you get this now. The law of God looked at Christ
as head of His people who had committed iniquity, though He
committed none Himself. He said if He commits iniquity,
and when He made Him sin, the law of God looked at Him as the
head of His people, as the One representing all His people who
had committed iniquity. Just like God came to Adam and
saw Adam and said, He is the One that has committed iniquity.
Adam did it willingly by his rebellious hand. Christ did it
willingly by His obedient hand, going before God and submitting
Himself so that God could make Him sin for us. And when God
made Him sin for us, God said, He's the one that's committed
iniquity. He's the one. And what did God say He would
do? He kept the covenant He made. Christ knew this covenant from
eternity. He said, if He committed iniquity, I will chasten Him
with the rod of men and with the stripes of the children of
men. That means if iniquity is found on Him, I'm going to do
to Him what my people deserve. I'm going to lay on Him what
my people deserve. The rod that should be laid on
my people, the chastening that should be laid on my people,
I'm going to lay it on Him. And that's exactly what He declared
in Isaiah 53, verse 5. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. God said when iniquity is found
on Him, I'll chasten Him. The chastisement that was required
to give all God's people peace was laid on Christ. and with
His stripes. God said, I am going to lay stripes
on him. And with His stripes we are healed. That is how we
are made the righteousness of God. That is how God is just
and God is the justifier. By Christ's obedience shall many
be made righteous. I put another article in the
bulletin this week and I want you to read it. I wrote an article
in that passage in Romans 5.14, I believe, where God said He
does not impute sin where there is no law. That's telling us,
brethren, God doesn't impute sin to make anybody sinful. He doesn't impute righteousness
to make anybody righteous. God imputes what you are. So
when God... He didn't impute sin to Adam
to make him sin. He imputed sin to Adam because
Adam had sinned. He didn't impute sin to us to
make us sin. He imputed sin to us because
we sinned in Adam. By one man's disobedience we
were made sin. He didn't impute sin to Christ
to make Him sin. He made Him sin and then He imputed
sin to Him. And He don't impute righteousness
to us to make us righteous. He imputes it to us because that's
what we are by the obedience of Christ. If you ever get a
hold of what I just said, you're going to turn back flips because
it's good. I mean, it's joy, it's rest to know He's not treating
me as if I'm righteous. I've been made righteous and
so have you in Christ. Alright, now according to this
everlasting covenant, after He did all this work, Christ went
in that grave. God didn't take His mercy from
Him though. Remember, God said, I'm going to make your kingdom
everlasting, established. And God didn't take His mercy
from him. Look at verse 15. He said, But my mercy shall not
depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away
before thee. It pleased God to bruise him. That means God was
satisfied. It means Christ fulfilled. When
Christ said it's finished, He was saying, Father, I've done
everything you sent me to accomplish. I accomplished it. And God is
so well pleased with him, God did what He said. He didn't cease
to have mercy on him. Christ is the faithful one. What's
true faith? We don't want to depend on our
faith to save us. What's true faith? True faith is seen in
Christ. He trusted God so much, He was
willing to lay down His life, give up the spirit, and be buried
trusting that God the Father would raise Him from the grave.
That's faith. And He did. He didn't take His
mercy from Him because Christ pleased Him. And now, the way
that that kingdom is established is because Christ went up to
the Father and He said, now by His death, burial and resurrection
that kingdom is established. Verse 16. He said, Thine house
and Thy kingdom shall be established forever before Thee. Thy throne
shall be established forever. How is a poor sinner going to
find this out? Here we are, we come into this world dead in
sin, lost, we don't know God, we think that we've got to be
working. I heard Ice Cube say something so profound this week. Ice Cube. I heard him say something
profound. The rapper. Dan Rather interviewed
him and he said, I've checked out all the religions and they're
all the same. And I wanted to say, amen, brother. You got it. They're all the same.
They're all telling you what you got to do to be saved. All
but this one. All but this one. This is why
everybody will join together. Religions that hate each other
join together against us because we're declaring a message that
says God does it all. We don't do anything. Now how
are we going to know that? How is that going to be made
known to us? And then after it is made known to us, and we get
to thinking that it is in our power to build God a house, and
we get to looking at what all He has done for us, and we start
thinking, I want to build Him a house. I want to do something
for Him, but we overstep it a little bit. How is it going to be made
known to us like it was known to David? From the first hour
we are made to hear this, Every moment since then for the rest
of our days, it's done by God sending His Word to us through
His prophet to declare it to us. Look at verse 17. According to all these words
and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. That's how David learned all
this promise of God. That's how he learned it the
first hour. That's how he learned it in this hour we're looking
at right here, where he thought, I'm going to try to do something
that I can't do. God came to him and said, no,
you can't do that, David. And that's how we're made to
hear it. He sends his word, declares it to us, and keeps doing it
over and over and over. What happens when he does that?
I can't read the rest of it, but I want you to go home tonight
and read the rest of that chapter. But let me show you what happens.
God's child bows. in humility and praises God. Look at this. Look at verse 18.
Then went King David in and sat before the Lord and he said,
Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that Thou
hast brought me hither to? He said, I'm nothing. That's
where he brings you. I'm nothing. And look at verse
21. For Thy word's sake and according to Thine own heart hast Thou
done all these great things to make Thy servant know them. Wherefore,
Thou art great, O Lord God, for there is none like Thee, neither
is there any God beside Thee, according to all that we have
heard with our ears." Have you heard this? Have you heard this
with your ears, with spiritual ears, what God has done for His
people in Christ? I pray that He make you hear
it, because when He makes you hear it, you that heard it, you
know this is so, you do what David did. Who am I for you to
have shown me these great things? And Lord, how great are you to
have shown me this and done all this for me. That's the twofold
place He'll bring you. He'll bring you to cry, my flesh,
not just all flesh is grass, my flesh is grass. But God is
reigning and ruling. He is my God. That's where He
brings you. I pray that's where He brings those that don't know
Him yet. This is God's work. This is the house God built.
He makes you His house. All right. Brother Eric.