Alright, 2 Samuel chapter 23. Now, I knew that we were going
to have our time together yesterday in our cookout, what have you,
so I was prepared early and had my sermon ready. But Tuesday,
it's been a week of news, and Tuesday I got news that A faithful
pastor of the gospel had died, Brother Scott Richardson. And
then I received some other news that caused my heart to break
for my brethren. And so I got up a bit more early
than usual this morning. And I think I have a message
that will hopefully comfort you. It's a familiar passage here,
but I hope it's a comfort to you. In 2 Samuel chapter 23,
King David, the man after God's own heart, is dying. And verse 1 says, Now these be
the last words of David. Now David is a wonderful, wonderful
type of Christ the Lord. And even in these things that
are said about David, we see something of our Lord here. David
is the son of Jesse. Our Lord Jesus is the root of
Jesse, called the son of David, and David's Lord. David the son
of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed
of the God of Jacob. God took David from tending his
father's sheep, and He anointed him, and He made him king over
Israel. God the Father anointed Christ Jesus, His Son, and He
raised Him to a glorious high throne. the throne of David over
spiritual Israel, the government which has no end, and he's the
great shepherd of the sheep. It says here, he's the son of
Jesse, the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the
God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel. David's psalms are
so sweet because he sings of our Redeemer. And he says here, the Spirit of the Lord spake
by me, and His Word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said,
the Rock of Israel spake to me." Notice the three in one here. The God of Israel is God the
Father. The Rock of Israel is Christ
Jesus, the Son of God. The Spirit of the Lord is the
Holy Spirit. And notice he says, the Spirit
of the Lord spake by me. This is the divine inspired gospel
that was spoken by David for our comfort, to us. And he says
here, the God of Israel, the Rock of Israel spake to me. That's
what God the Father and Christ Jesus, the Son, spoke to David,
to comfort David. That's a blessing to have the
Father and Son speak to us for our own benefit, and the Holy
Ghost speak by us for the benefit of our brethren. And this is
what the triune God spoke by David and to David. Verse 3,
he that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of
God. And he shall be as the light
of the morning when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds.
As the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining
after rain, David ruled the kingdom as justly as a man can rule a
kingdom. But this description especially
speaks of David's Lord, of his government. He's a just God and
a Savior. Not just a just God and not just
a Savior, a just God and a Savior. He's just and He's the justifier
of all who believe. Christ is the light of the world.
He's the Son of Righteousness. This is what He says, verse 5.
David says, Although my house be not so with God, yet He hath
made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure.
For this is all my salvation and all my desire, although He
make it not to grow. The hope of the believer is the
God of everlasting covenant, the hope of the believer. The
fifth verse here is gonna be our focus, and we're gonna divide
it just by phrase. First thing we see here is David
says, although my house be not so with God. In our immediate
families, you and I, we have children, some have spouses that
don't know the Lord, that don't believe on the Lord, and we mourn
for those. children. You pour out your heart
to God for those children, for that spouse, that God might be
pleased to be merciful to them. We have relatives in our extended
families, brothers and sisters, who just simply do not know the
Lord. And they have just created havoc
for themselves and for everyone around them and caused great
sorrow And our hearts mourn for them. You think about David. This is what I was thinking about
last night. Think about David. He looked
over his house and he saw clouds from morning till evening over
his house. His wife was forced from him
and another man took her. And when he got her back, he
finally got her back. David was zealous for the Lord
and she despised him for that. She despised, hated him for that. Amnon, David's son, raped his
sister Tamar, David's daughter. That's a trial. That's some serious trial. That's a cloud. Absalom, David's
son, then killed Amnon, his brother, David's other son. He killed
him. Absalom fled and David mourned for him for three years while
he was gone, just left. And then he was rebelling and
he was riding and he got hung up in an oak limb by the neck
and was thrashing around and while he was doing it, Joab went
to him and shot him through the heart and killed him. And in himself, David couldn't
find any peace. David couldn't find any comfort
in himself. He had murdered, slain thousands with his sword.
He numbered Israel one day and 70,000 people died because of
it. He committed adultery. He sent
Uriah into the heat of the battle, Bathsheba's husband, and he was
killed. And he did it on purpose. He
did that on purpose. Our God's teaching us through
these things that you and I are not going to be able to look
over our lives and look over our the lives of our families,
in our immediate family, in our extended families, and find any
hope and any rest from that. We're just not going to be able
to. Our Lord, The Rock, said, he said, I've said these things
to you that you might be comforted. He said, in this world, you're
going to have tribulation. That's what this world is about.
This world is cursed by sin. And you're going to have tribulation
in this world. But he said, be of good cheer.
I've overcome this world. There's where we're going to
find rest. There's where we're going to
find our hope and our comfort. It's in him. David said, although
it be not so with my house. Here's the second division. Yet. Yet. Aren't you thankful for
that word yet? Yet. That's a big, that's a little
three-lettered word, but that's a big word. Yet. Yet. He has made with me an everlasting
covenant. This is a covenant of grace,
free grace. Look over to Psalm 89. Psalm
89. These are David's last words. Our hope Our hope is getting
more narrow. And when we get to that day where
it's our last day, and we're speaking our dying words, you
see here with David, this hope is simple and it's narrow. He's
not too concerned about high theology right now. This is what
he's concerned about right here. This covenant, Psalm 89 verse
1. And this covenant now, as I read
this, this covenant that God made with David is the covenant
God the Father made with His Son. And the reason God made
this covenant with David is because of His Son, God's Son, Christ
the Lord. So as you hear this now, you
consider these words between God the Father and God the Son
as well as the covenant God made with David. Psalm 89.1 says,
I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. And with my
mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. For I've
said, mercy shall be built up forever. Thy faithfulness shalt
thou establish in the very heavens. I made a covenant with my chosen. I have sworn unto David my servant. Thy seed will I establish forever
and build up thy throne to all generations. Now who's that talking
about? David said, my Lord. He called Christ my Lord. David
said unto thee, Lord my Lord. He made this covenant with David,
but it's the covenant of our God the Father, God the Son.
Look over here at verse 19. Then thou spakest in vision to
thy Holy One and saidest, I have laid help upon one that is mighty. I've exalted one chosen out of
the people. That's who our Savior is. I found
David my servant, and with my holy oil I have anointed him. He says, with whom my hand shall
be established. Mine arm also shall strengthen
him. The enemy shall not exact upon him, nor the son of wickedness
afflict him. And I'll beat down his foes before
his face and plague them that hate him. But my faithfulness
and my mercy shall be with him. And in my name shall his horn
be exalted. I'll set his hand also in the
sea and his right hand in the rivers. He shall cry unto me,
thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. Also
I'll make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.
Higher than the kings of the earth. Luke says, he shall be
great and shall be called the son of the highest. The Lord
God shall give unto him the throne of David. Talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he'll reign over the house
of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there'll be no end. He says,
my mercy will I keep for him forevermore. My covenant shall
stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to
endure forever. And his throne is the days of
heaven. And if his children forsake my law and walk not in my judgment,
if they break my statutes, keep not my commandments, then will
I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with
stripes. Nevertheless, my loving kindness will I not utterly take
from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not
break nor alter the thing that's gone out of my lips. Once I've
sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David, and his seed
shall endure forever, his throne as the sun before me, it shall
be established forever as the moon and as a faithful witness
in heaven." Now, in Acts 13 it says, as concerning that God
raised Christ from the dead, now no more to return to corruption,
he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of
David. Everything that the mercies that
were given to David. These are the mercies of our
Lord Jesus Christ They're the mercies given to him They're
the mercies that come through him and by him to his people
for the by the sake of this this everlasting covenant And it's
eternal. It's everlasting. It is an everlasting
covenant When Paul wrote in Ephesians, they said that God has blessed
to be God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who's blessed us
with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places. It's an eternal
God, blessing with eternal blessings in eternity of things that are
eternal. It's eternal, it's everlasting,
everlasting. He said, if you can break my
covenant with the day, you can break my covenant with the night,
then shall this my covenant be broken. It can't be broken. God's covenant can't be broken.
He said, I've spoken it. It's gone out of my mouth. It's
done. It cannot be broken. The covenant
is ordered. It's ordered and it's sure. It's ordered and it's sure. God's
a God of order. And you ever notice that everything
that God requires, He provides? Everything He requires, He provides. And everything He requires is
so higher than us and so much more lofty than us that He requires
it of us to make us behold that we need Him to provide it for
us. We do. We needed righteousness. Christ is our righteousness.
We need the perfection of holiness. Christ has the beauties of holiness. He's the just one. He's the holy
one. We need perfect fidelity to God. We need perfect faithfulness
to God. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. This thing's ordered and sure
before the beginning of the world. God made His Son the surety.
He entered into suretyship with His Father. Can God lie? Is He a man that He can lie?
Can somebody change Him? Can somebody turn Him so that
what He says doesn't come to pass? Our God is a sovereign
God, omnipotent, omniscient. He is the all-knowing, all-powerful,
ever-present God. Our God is. Shall He not bring
to pass what He said He would bring to pass? Christ is the
Savior. He's the sanctifier. He's the
mediator. All that the Father chose, the
Son redeemed, and the Spirit calls and keeps. That's ordered
and sure. That's ordered and sure. He shall
not fail nor be discouraged. Our God shall not fail nor be
discouraged till he has set judgment in the earth. Scripture said. You and I, we can't even say
what we're going to do this afternoon. God determined this before the
foundation of the world and has brought everything to pass. In
spite of a bunch of little self-willed stiff-necked rebels running around
trying to make everything God said he'll do not come to pass.
It's come to pass. Every bit of it. Look over at
Isaiah 46. I love this passage. It's one of my favorite verses
of scripture. And it's just, these are things
I just, I know you know these things, but these are just things
that comfort us. Isaiah 46, verse nine. Remember the former things of
old. For I am God, and there's none
else. I'm God, and there's none like me, declaring the end from
the beginning. And from ancient times, the things
that are not yet done, saying, my counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure, calling a ravenous bird from the east,
the man that executeth my counsel from a far country. Yea, I've
spoken it. I'll also bring it to pass. I've
purposed it. I will also do it. You know, John Newton wrote Amazing
Grace, and I read when he was dying, he said, my memory is
nearly gone. It's nearly gone. And I'll tell
you, it may come to the point where
our memory's completely gone. It may come to the point where
we don't even know who we are. But our hopes, he knows his own.
He knows his, he calls them by name. And he said, my memory's
nearly gone, but I remember two things. I'm a great sinner. And Christ is a great savior. Look back there, David, verse
five. This is the first thing he said
was, it's not so in my house. He said, He has made an everlasting
covenant with me. Yet, He has made an everlasting
covenant, ordered it in all things and sure. Here's the third thing,
for this is all my salvation. This is all my salvation. I think by what David said here,
if somebody asked you, what's your hope? You could say, He
has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered it in all things
and sure. And this is all my salvation. What about you? Not about me, I'm trusting Him. It's about Him. This is all my
salvation. David looked around at his house
and he looked around at everything about him and everything that
had taken place. And the only thing he could say,
the only thing that gave him any comfort in his dying hour, this covenant God has made, this
word of God to him to save him, to save him. And he said, this
is my salvation. It's in a word. It's in not my
promise to God, not how many things that I've said I would
dedicate to God and promise God, and it's God's promise to me. God's promise to save. God's
promise to bring glory to himself while he's doing it. That's the,
that's my hope. Truly my soul weighteth upon
God, from Him come up my salvation. That's what David said. He said,
He only is my rock and my salvation. He's my defense. I shall not
be greatly moved. He's the rock of Israel. That
firm foundation we looked at last week. He's my salvation,
David said. Everything God requires of me,
Christ is. Everything God requires of me,
God's provided. He's my defense. He's a wall
of fire around me. So my enemies can't hurt me.
They can't harm me. And He has me hedged about so
I can't harm myself and perish and be cast away. He leads us
along and then He's our rear ward at the same time. How can
somebody be two places at once? With men it's impossible, but
not with God. He's all-encompassing of His
people. He's our defense. When everything around us is
falling down, when Satan, Buffets, and our dearest loved ones have
let us down and our house is just falling down around us,
He's our defense. He's our defense. That's all my salvation. I shall
not be greatly moved. He that believeth on him shall
not make haste. He won't be ashamed. He won't
be confounded. He won't be moved. Because there's some strength
in me. I don't know if I told y'all
this. I watched this documentary about this fellow who was flying
an airplane. And the windshield of this airplane
blew out, a big jet, passenger jet. And the windshield of this
thing blew out, and it sucked the pilot out of that windshield. And the only thing it did to
keep him from flying back into the engines was his ankles hung
on the, on the deal that you, what's it called? Yeah, whatever
it is, he hung on that. And then some people held on
to his legs and flight attendants held on to him and everything.
And this fellow was just flapping on the side of this airplane,
dangling, ripped all his clothes off of him. Blood's coming out
of him. He's going 300-something miles an hour and can't breathe. He went unconscious because he's
so high up. And they brought the plane down.
They landed this plane in this condition and got down on the
ground. And this man, they took him away,
and I think he broke a thumb. And maybe, I don't know, just
didn't hardly do anything to him. And they interviewed all
these folks that were on the plane, his co-workers, and they
said, what is it that you think? How do you think he survived?
And they said, he's just so strong. He was unconscious dangling on
the side of an airplane. And he's just so strong. You know the only thing that's
gonna save me and you is not our strength, it's God's strength.
It's His strength, not our strength. He said, this is all my salvation.
Look there fourthly. Fourthly, He says, and this is
all my desire. It's all my salvation and it's
all my desire. You know what the word there
means? It means this is my delight. This is my assurance. They think of all the sin that
could trouble David. All the things that could trouble
David. You know, what I just told you about David? In our
day and time, he wouldn't be a king. His political opponents
would pull out every skeleton. And he surely wouldn't be leading
anybody in religious matters. And God said, this is a man after
my own heart. How is that? He's perfect in
Christ. He fulfilled the whole law of
God in Christ. He never had one sin in Christ. This is the covenant I'll make
with them in those days, saith the Lord. I'll put my law in
their hearts. I'll write my law in their minds and their sins
and iniquities. I'll remember no more. I'll remember
him no more." And David said, this is all my assurance. This is all my desire. This is
the only comfort I have right here. Look over at Psalm 73. I want
you to see this. Psalm 73. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside Thee. Psalm 73 verse 25. Whom have I in heaven but Thee?
And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. Can
you say that? What do you want in heaven? What's
heaven? What's that to you? It's Christ
being with him. He's my desire. My flesh and
my heart faileth. This is up. My flesh and my heart
faileth. But God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever. For lo, they that are far from
thee shall perish. Thou hast destroyed all them
that go a-whoring from thee. But it is good for me to draw
near to God. I put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare
all thy works. My heart faileth. My flesh and
my heart faileth, but God is my strength. My soul fainteth
for thy salvation, but I hope in thy word, the psalmist said. This is what David said, my only
hope is in his word, what he said. God's satisfied with his
son, that's what he said. Are you satisfied with him? God says, hear my son. Is he the one you'd like to hear?
God says, I'm well pleased with my son. Are you well pleased
with him? God says, all those that trust in my son, those that
are found in him, I'll remember their sin no more. Are you in
him? Do you desire to be in him? Is
he the comfort of your heart this morning? Look now there
at the last thing, verse five. This is the fifth thing. Although
he make it not to grow, He had spoken of His house before. Look there with me in verse 4. Verse 4, He shall be
as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning
without clouds, as the tender grass springeth out of the earth
by clear shining after rain. And now He says, although that
grass has not sprung forth, hasn't come forth, And to look at my
house, I don't see how it's going to come forth. Christ is the
tender plant. He's the root of Jesse. He's
the root out of a dry ground. And the promise to David was,
the Lord's coming. He's coming through your lineage.
He's going to be the son of David, according to the flesh. He's
coming of your lineage. And David said, I look at my
house, I look at all about me, and I think, how can it be? How can it be? How can it be? How's he going to come forth
that tender plant like a sprig of grass after the rain? And
he says, This is still, in spite of how it looks, in spite of
what it looks like to the natural eye all around me, in spite of
that, still, He says, He hath made with me an everlasting covenant.
He says it's going to happen and it's going to happen. He's ordered it in all things
and it's sure. And this is all my salvation
and all my desire. He says, I trust Him. I trust
Him. Turn over to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. When our hearts are heavy by
the tribulation in this world and we've got troubles in our
own house, when your flesh and your heart fails, when your soul
faints, Come back to this everlasting
covenant. Come back to this Word. You know,
when we really need our Savior, when we really need to hear this
Word rehearsed so that the Spirit of God comes forth and refreshes
us with it. So many times, when we need it
the most, we're the most distracted from hearing it because of all
the things that's causing us to need it. That's the problem. These trials come upon us and
that's what causes us to need it. And most of the time these
trials keep us, cause us to look for a refuge somewhere else or
try to be saved from somewhere else or try to fix things ourselves.
And this is what we need to hear. We need to be calmed in this
thing first. This is it. I think our equivalent today,
since Christ has come and He's gone to the cross and He's accomplished
the salvation of His people, He's redeemed His people, He's
put away their sin, He's risen to the right hand of the Father
declaring before this whole world God's satisfied with His people.
I think that the equivalent for us today of what David is saying
here is what John said when he said, Beloved, it doesn't yet
appear what we shall be, but we know when He comes we're going
to be just like Him. Well, it doesn't appear like
it right now, does it? But how do you know? Well, how
are you so sure? He made an everlasting covenant with me. It's ordered
in all things ensured. This is all my salvation, all
my desire. This is my assurance. And for
you that don't know Him, for you that don't believe on Him,
listen to this word in Isaiah 55. Listen to this now. Oh, everyone
that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. Remember what we saw
these waters were last week from that Smitten Rock? It's in your
bulletin, you can review it. Come to the waters, he that hath
no money. You can't purchase this. The purchase has been made by
Christ. You can't purchase this. Come ye buy and eat. Come buy
wine and milk without money and without price. You hungry? Anybody here hungry? I mean,
just physically. You hungry right now? I'm hungry. What if any restaurant on Route
1 or wherever you'd like to go, any restaurant, said, our door's
open. Come, eat, don't bring money.
It's all yours. Come and eat. You'd go, wouldn't
you? You know why? Because you're
hungry. And it's free. You'd be foolish
not to. That's what he says about this
glorious salvation. It's free. Are you hungry? Are you thirsty? Wherefore do
you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor
for that which satisfieth not? Hearken diligently unto me, and
eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself
in fatness. That's Christ our Lord, the delight.
Incline your ear and come unto me here, and your soul shall
live. How are you going to hear and
climb your ear and come unto Him and hear and your soul live? How are you going to do that
and then your soul live? You just come if you can. You'll
find out. If you can, your soul's alive. But what you'll find out is your
soul's alive forevermore. And there'll be a well of water
springing up in you. Now look at this snake. What
I want you to see here. Incline your ear, come unto me here,
and your soul shall live. Watch this. And I will make an
everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I've given him for a
witness to the people, a leader and a commander to the people.
Wouldn't it be nice? You don't think you're going
to die today. So this probably won't make much sense to you.
But wouldn't it be nice that you could reach that dying hour
and have assurance? Not be frightful, not be terrified,
not looking for that judgment to come, but to know that you've
been judged in Christ. And your sin's been put away.
And all that awaits you is the marriage feast. All that awaits
you is to sit down at the table in Christ's kingdom and for the
feast to be spread, to be united with yourself. Wouldn't it be
rejoicing to face that hour and to know that? To know that. I had a friend that died. I heard
Paul Mahan, this happened to him, one of his friends died
when he was young. I had a couple of friends of
mine that died when I was young. And that made a big impression
on me. That made me realize that death is a very real, it's a
reality. if we just knew how close we
are to eternity. I'm so scared of heights. And
the older I get, the more scared of them I get. I don't know what
it is. Like when I walk up to, I'm on
a mountain or something, I walk up, even if there's a rail there,
it just frightens me to even walk up and just look over it.
I'm not afraid of falling, I'm afraid of hitting the ground. But But that's how we are all the
time. We're right on a precipice, right
on a, just like that, and we're over the edge. I want to know
that God has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
and sure. It's all my salvation, all my
hope. It's my soul's desire. I do pray. I pray, first of all, that the
Lord will comfort you that are in tribulation and trial and
mourning. And I pray that he would bless
this to somebody's heart to hear it for the first time and to
know the Redeemer. Brother Scott said, ever since
I heard the good news, There hadn't been any bad news. I emailed a friend this week
and I said, no bad news, only more good news. Closed his eyes
in a broken body and woke up brand new at the feet of Christ. Oh, to be able to look forward
to that day. I pray God will give us grace. Amen.