May it please almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his holy word.
Let's turn to the second book of Samuel, and chapter 23, and
we'll read verse five. in the second book of Samuel,
chapter 23, and reading verse 5. 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. We are told at the beginning of
this chapter, now these be the last words of David. David the
son of Jesse said. Obviously the last words of anybody
are always important are always relevant, because they're the
last words that will be uttered this side of the grave and before
they enter into their eternal state. And so we're blessed to
have a record of the last words here of David. And we would expect,
faced with death and what should follow, that we would always
be very honest in the statements that we make on such an occasion. So we can believe that these
words that David spoke were indeed from his heart and indeed were
those things which he desired therefore to be recorded. And he tells us, the Spirit of
the Lord spake by me And his word was in my tongue. So it wasn't something that he
just dreamt, he just thought of. It was those words which
he believed the Lord had given him to speak and to recite. And he speaks to us and tells
us that the Spirit of the Lord spoke by me. and his word was
in my tongue." I've often said, and I often think it's very true,
David was very honest in the statements he made, and we have
a lot of statements made by David through the book of Samuel, and
also, of course, in the Psalms and other places. And it's good
to realise that when we are speaking before God, or really speaking
any time, we need to be honest in the words that we speak. And
therefore he doesn't suffer from mock humility. He's honest and
acknowledges those things that God has said and directed him
and he desires to follow that way. And he goes on and says,
the God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake to me. 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 up out of the earth by clear
shining after rain. I don't intend to speak really
on that verse, but just a brief comment. It's interesting that
when you see a morning without clouds. And it's often a wonderful
sight, a blue sky and the sun shining and the freshness. But
of course, we're not promised that that's going to continue
throughout the day. And although it may feel very
wonderful to commence with, We have to recognise that things
may change as the day goes on, and that's so in our lives. We
may perhaps be blessed, we may be encouraged, we may be strengthened,
but we should realise that everything may not go on just like that. We may have then to face more
difficult situations. And then he comes down to this
fifth verse, 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. So we see in this verse really
a confession by David and it's good for us to recognize what
he says he starts and he says although my house be not so with
God his life would it have been like he couldn't claim that it
was a perfect life and you know you and I will never be able
to claim that we've got or had a perfect life and he tells us
although my house be not so with God again honestly in that we
cannot turn away from those things which have occurred and you and
I know what have occurred in our lives perhaps no one else
knows anything about them but God knows and therefore it's
always good to come and make confession to our God indeed
we have those encouraging words If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. So we should never be backward
in confessing our sins and never pretend that we don't have sins. David was a man who was greatly
blessed as we know. He was left to himself on a number
of occasions and committed terrible sins but God was gracious and
God was merciful and therefore it's good for us today to realise
that our God reigns, the same God that dealt with David Yes,
he dealt in love and mercy. And that should be an encouragement
to you and me. We won't be able to claim we've
lived a perfect life. We'll have to confess our sins. We'll have to confess our shortcomings. We'll have to confess, perhaps
in virtually the same words, As David did here, although my
house be not so with God. It's good to be able to do that
and not to pretend it's been perfect or been good. And so
he tells us this, but he had a good, kind and gracious God. My friends, what a mercy if you
and I also have a good, kind and gracious God. One who doesn't
deal with us as our sins deserve. David wasn't dealt with, was
he, as his sins deserve. And what a mercy therefore to
understand that that God of David is the same God today and what
a blessing therefore if we can come to him and be like this
and be honest in our prayers and remember this was the last
words of David wasn't something that he kind of thought well
I needn't worry about them he obviously made a confession He
didn't therefore die without a confession. He didn't die without
a good hope. And that's a great blessing for
you and me today. And so he tells us, although
my house be not so with God, yet. That was a yet. He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. ordered in all things and sure,
David was relying on the promises of God. And my friends, it's
a great blessing. if God has given you and me a
promise, a promise of our good hope through his grace that it
will be eternally well with our souls. And if that is so, we
can indeed rest on it with a humble confidence that God will be merciful
to us, that God will be gracious to us, that he will not deal
with us as our sins deserve. We should never be able to think
that we don't deserve God's punishment, but we can believe we have a God
who is compassionate. He remembers that we're dust. Remembers that we're sinful dust. And so how wonderful it is to
be able to come to our God. We can tell our God everything.
He knows everything. but it's good to confess everything
and to seek that he will be with us and guide us and direct us
and bless us indeed and to have this confidence which David had
a humble confidence and yet a good confidence yet he hath made with
me an everlasting covenant everlasting promise that it would be well
with his soul. That's the vital thing, isn't
it? We may make mistakes, we may do foolish things, we may
do wicked things, and yet what a blessing it is to realise that
we have a God who forgives. A God who recognises our failings
and hears our confession. And as I've already said, if
we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Let us not forget such a wonderful
statement, how encouraging that should be for us. Clearly, it
was encouraging for David. And he was resting, therefore,
in this, as he tells us, everlasting covenant. You see, God's promises
to us do not change. We may change. We may be fickle
in our lives, but the Lord God is the same yesterday and today
and forever. And he is a kind and gracious
and merciful God. You only have to read the word
of God. And there are numerous statements
that his mercy endureth forever. What a blessing that is. If it
wasn't so, there wouldn't be any hope for us, would there?
There wouldn't be any forgiveness. But He's ever merciful. How amazing,
isn't it, to think that Almighty God, who is so pure, yet He condescends
to look down upon us. He condescends to forgive us
of all our sins and how important it is then that we come to our
God with confession. David didn't hide his sin. He
did to start with. He thought no one knew about
it. He thought it was all hidden away, that sin of Bathsheba and
Uriah. He thought it was hidden until
Nathan, the prophet, came to him. and showed to him that he
was the sinner. And because of that, as you probably
know, he wrote the 51st Psalm, which is a beautiful psalm of
confession. It's wonderful to realise how
the Spirit of God works, how it worked in David's life, and
bless God if it works with us in a very similar way. He comes
and commences the 51st Psalm by saying to prayer, isn't it,
have mercy upon me, O God. As I often say, real religion
is personal. It's between our soul and God. And that's why David comes and
says, have mercy upon me, O God. And you and I, we'll have to
be there. We'll have to come there. We'll
have to be thou art the man. Have mercy upon me, O God. And
he tells us, according to thy loving kindness. See, God had
no reason, naturally, to forgive David. He has no reason, naturally,
to forgive us. But we can bless God for his
loving kindness. When you and I think of ourselves,
guilty, miserable sinners, not worthy of any notice. Why should
God hear our prayers? Simply because he's loved us
with everlasting love and with loving kindness, has drawn us
to himself, drawn us to make us willing to confess our sins. And so David comes in this condition,
saying, according to thy lovingkindness, according unto the multitude
of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, so that our
sins are remembered no more forever. It's wonderful, isn't it? What a kind and gracious God
we have. And that's why he goes on to
ask, wash me throughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from
my sin. He realized he needed to be cleansed. He couldn't cleanse himself.
He needed his sins to be washed away. There's only one way that
can be achieved. And that's to know that you and
I are washed in the blood of the Lamb. And surely that's what
will draw us to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what will make Him to be precious to us and valuable to us and
needful to us. What a mercy then to come there
To be brought there, you and I don't bring ourselves there.
You see, David didn't bring himself there. God sent Nathan to reckon,
to show to him his sinful state. And what a good thing it is when
God uses various means to bring us to a place of guilt, to bring
us to a place of confession, And he tells us, carrying on
in this 51st Psalm, for I, remember personal for I, acknowledge my
transgressions and my sin is ever before me. We can't just
get rid of our sin ourselves. It's there. We're reminded of
it probably very often. But what a mercy it is that if
we come with confession, like David here, he acknowledged his
transgressions and he tells God, against thee, thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. You see, we stand,
each one of us, before God, a holy, righteous, pure God. And we,
as miserable sinners, Guilty. Come and stand before this great
God. What a mercy then if we come
and say, The only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. Well, it's a blessing if God
comes and gives us a tender conscience. A willing
spirit. You know, we don't like to admit
we're wrong. We don't like to admit we've
made mistakes. We don't like to admit we've
sinned against God. Well, what a wonderful thing
is then, when God comes to us, and as
it were, he has a conversation with us. Yes. David, you see, had this conversation
with Nathan. It wasn't demonstrated to the
whole world. And God does these things to
you and me, so that we're convicted, we're convinced. And God's very
compassionate and in love to our souls, deals very graciously
with us, so that we recognize his kindness. And he says, against
thee, the only of us, and done this evil in thy sight. that thou mightest be justified
when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. God doesn't
make any mistakes in his judgment. He doesn't make any mistakes
when he corrects us. No, God knows the truth. You and I sometimes may try and
make excuses. Excuses never count with God. But confession counts. And therefore,
rather than trying to excuse ourselves, how much better it
is to confess our sins before our God. And the Lord tells us
through this psalm, he says, Behold, David's speaking to God,
behold, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts, in our very
heart. God desires truth. Thou desires truth in the inward
parts and in the hidden part. Thou shalt make me to know wisdom. We can't hide anything from God.
He sees us through and through. And what a blessing, therefore,
if the Holy Spirit comes and makes us aware of this great
truth and makes us willing to come then and seek for God's
blessing and seek for God's mercy. And that's why We read this word
and recognize it. Yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. Yes, what a merciful God we have. And so we could go right through
this psalm. We won't, but it's a beautiful
psalm to go through. And unless you are a convicted
sinner, it won't really mean very much
to you. It'll just be words. But if God
has convinced you and convicted you of your sin before a holy
God, your walk up and down in this
psalm. And you'll understand when he
comes and says, created me a clean heart, O God. God has shown you
and me our hearts. We won't be able to think, well,
I've got a clean heart. I don't ever think anything wrong.
Far from it. And so the confession and the
desire created me. Again, the personal view here
of David and the personal view of all the Church of God, they
come on the same ground. They have to make the same confession
and therefore what a blessing it is He desires to have a clean
heart and a right spirit. And then he pleads, cast me not
away from my presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Clearly, he knew he deserved
it. And we will find that when we're standing before God, we
deserve it. And so he asked then, restore
unto me the joy of thy salvation. You see, David was a converted
man. He'd been blessed, and he'd wandered
away, and now he wanted to be restored. He didn't want to continue
in that wrong path. And what a blessing it is. when
you and I come to this place, recognising our sinfulness, praying
to be cleansed, praying for a new heart, and praying that God would
indeed come. and restore unto us the joy of
thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. How kind our
God is. He does uphold us. We may fear sometimes we're going
to fall. Yes, we're going to be left again. But God graciously upholds us
and it's good to pray for it. The Lord tells us He will be
inquired of by the House of Israel to do these things for them.
And we shouldn't think that we're just going to be upheld. We should
pray for it. And pray that God will be with
us, and bless us, and help us, and be round about us. And just
another couple of comments. The Lord tells us, The sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart, O God,
thou wilt not despise. It's not always easy to come
there, you know. It's easy to read it, but it's not easy to
come before God. That's who we have to come before,
with a broken spirit, because of our foolishness. because of
our sinfulness, and it produces a broken and a contrite heart. And David says, oh God, thou
wilt not despise, because it's God's work. It's God's work towards
an unworthy sinner. of graciously bringing them to
this place. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. You and I won't be able to bring
ourselves there. Naturally we're hard-hearted,
rebellious to God, and yet what a blessing it is when the Holy
Spirit comes and convinces us of our sins and directs us to
the glorious truth of God's Word, to pray and to seek after that
forgiveness, and to believe that we come to a God who does hear
and answer our prayers. Well, says David, although my
house be not so with God yet, hath he made with me everlasting
covenant ordered in all things and sure and what a comfort that
will be if you and I can lay hold by faith of the promises
of Almighty God. You know the Apostle Paul as
he walked this earth and we know that the Apostle of course had
walked very contrary to God before he was Converting, he had much
to regret. And when he wrote to the Corinthians,
he says, we are troubled on every side. Sometimes you and I may
feel like that. Troubled on every side, things
without and things within. troubled on every side, and yet
he wasn't distressed. Yet not distressed. We are perplexed. He was perplexed, but not in
despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. And why? Because of the mercy
of Almighty God. because of the compassion of
Almighty God, because of his amazing love. Well, we should
bless God tonight for these great truths and therefore to understand
what David was able to write here, ordered in all things and
sure. He goes on and says, for this
is all my salvation. What does he mean? He means that
all his hope is in the mercy of God. that all his hope, of
course, was looking forward to the great blessing of the forgiveness
through the Messiah. We today can look forward indeed
to that wonderful blessing of the Saviour and to recognise
that the Lord Jesus came into this world as the Apostle said,
to save sinners of whom I am chief. Yes, it's good to be brought
to that position and not look around at other people. We stand
before God. We need to plead for mercy. We need to recognise that we're
not a little sinner, but that we're a great sinner. and we
need mercy and we need forgiveness because this is all my salvation
and our salvation depends upon Christ's sacrifice which was
done for us. We need that personal evidence
that Christ died on that cross at Calvary to take away our sins,
that he shed his precious blood so that you and I might be washed
in the blood of the Lamb. We must be forgiven. We can only
be forgiven if indeed we're under the blood, if the blessed Saviour
of sinners came into this world to deliver us from the wrath
to come. And the only way that is achieved
is to recognise that Christ died for us. He stood in our place. He paid the punishment instead. For this is all my salvation. And it goes on then. and says,
and all my desire. That comes a bit close, doesn't
it? To the reality of our religion. Because sometimes the sins which
we have committed and do commit don't seem to really weigh us
down, don't seem to really have a much an effect upon us. But
when the Lord shows us, as he did David, as we've already gone
through that 51st Psalm, that we are the guilty sinner, then
our desire is And he tells us, all my desire, all our desire
is to know that the blessed Saviour has died for us. And that because
of that, our names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And
because of that, it is well with our soul for eternity. How relevant it is that without
that blessed evidence, in our hearts. We shall never really
be found in that eternal state with the Saviour in glory. Every person in glory is a forgiven
saint. Every person in glory has been
under the blood Every saint in glory, Jesus Christ has died
for and paid the price to take away their sin. All my desire,
says David. Well, is it our desire? And is it all our desire? How difficult sometimes these
things are. How evil is the devil, how he
keeps on pestering us, tells us you're an impossible case. There's no hope for you. Remember,
Jesus came to seek and to save those that were lost. No one
is beyond the saving power of the Saviour. That's a glorious
truth, isn't it? That's why David was able to
say, Yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, the
devil cannot remove the promises of
God. If God has given you a promise,
lay hold upon it, tell the devil it cannot be removed because
it's written in heaven and it's a sure and certain blessing. Rest in it, rejoice in it, and
all my desire It's good, isn't it, to have statements like that. In actual fact, the Word of God
is full of very positive statements. And here we have one before us
this evening. For this is all my salvation
and all my desire. Join them together, don't they
and what a blessing if that is so and maybe so for you and me
tonight My friends God knows where we are God knows what our
desires are God knows what our concerns are God knows where
we stand we may be under a great burden and We may be under a
great fear that we should never be forgiven. Well, that's why
in God's great providence, we have an account of David, who
was not only an adulterer, but a murderer. And God had mercy
upon him. So you and I can recognise that
whatever our situation, The Lord is a merciful God and can deal
with us and take away all our sin. And when God takes away
our sin, you know, it's cast into the depth of the sea to be remembered no more forever. That really is a glorious statement,
isn't it? To think of that. What a mercy,
then, to realise that this is the God that David was dealing
with. This is the same God, my friends,
that you and I have to deal with today. And how wonderful it is
to realise David obtained mercy and all the Church of God obtained
mercy when they come to the Savior, like this, confessing their sins,
pouring out their heart. You don't have to tell people. You can tell God, because God
understands. And we have to come and say,
like Hezekiah did in his life. He said, by these things, men
live. By these things, our religion
becomes a reality. It's not just some vague theory. It's a reality. And we stand
then, like David, guilty before God and needing forgiveness. And my friends, what a blessing
it is then to realize that God still comes where his people
are. He meets with them. He's a God
full of compassion. And what a mercy, therefore,
to have such a God as this. So, this evening, as we have
this, remember the last words of David. Relevant, isn't it? David didn't pass out of time
without leaving on record such a gracious statement as this. May we recognise the truth of
it and be thankful for it. Perhaps we have to come there,
like David did, and say before him, 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. No, we have to accept what the
Lord does for us and be thankful for it and bless him as we go
on our way, remembering we have a great and glorious Saviour.
And how wonderful it is to think that the Son of God The eternal
Son of God has condescended to give His life so that you and
I might receive that great and blessed gift of eternal life. No greater gift is there than
to receive the gift of eternal life, because it's something
which never ceases and we shall enjoy it forever. Well, may God
instruct us and bless us. Although my house be not so with
God, yet hath he 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. Amen.