Let us turn then to God's Word
and I want this morning to direct your attention to words that
we find in the 2nd book of Samuel. The 2nd book of Samuel chapter
23 and we'll read the first five
verses in the chapter 2nd Samuel chapter 23 and reading the first
five verses the end of the psalm that we
read, Psalm 72, we are told that the prayers of David are ended. And here we have David's last
words. Now these be the last words of
David. David the son of Jesse said,
and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the
God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel said, 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. He that ruleth over
men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall bear
the light of the morning, when the sun riseth even the morning
without clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth
by clear shining after rain, 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."
Of course we were considering words that we find in this same
second book of Stabiloni last Thursday evening when we considered
the words of that wise woman of Tekoa, although it was Joab
in a sense who put those words into her mouth, we looked at
those words then in chapter 14 and verse 14, for we must need
to die and die as water spilt on the ground which cannot be
gathered up again Neither does God respect any person, yet does
he give those means that his banished be not expelled from
him. We must need die. And here, at
the end of the chapter we have David, at
the end of his life, at the end of this book we have David, at
the end of his life, speaking these last words. Often times in the Word of God
we see that little is said with regards to the sayings, the dying
sayings of the godly concerning men such as Abraham and Isaac. We have very brief accounts of
their actual end if we turn back to the book of Genesis there
in chapter 25. We read of the passing of Abraham
who is, of course, the father of the faithful. But all we're
told is that Abraham gave up the ghost and died in a good
old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to
his people. But a brief account of the passing
of Abraham. It's the same also when we come
to His son, Isaac, in chapter 35 of Genesis, the end of the
chapter, again just a simple statement, Isaac gave up the
ghost and died, and was gathered unto his people being old and
full of days, and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him. With regards to others, we do
have some greater detail. For example, with regards to
Jacob, in Genesis chapter 49, we read of how he called to him
his sons and spoke prophetic words concerning each of those
sons. He blesses his sons in from his
dying bed. and likewise with regards to
the man Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 33 we read of Moses at
his end speaking blessing with regards to the twelve tribes
of Israel but that is really an exception we have nothing
really of the dying sayings of men like Job or the prophets
When we come to the New Testament we read little with regards to
the end and the dying words of the apostles. We do of course
have a very detailed account of the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ in the fourfold gospel and we have those discourses
in John 14, 15 and 16 which we often speak of as his valedictory
discourses, his dying words in a sense, before he goes the way
of the cross. There is much detail there with
regards to the end of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is how
it should be. But with regards to the god,
we have to recognise in scripture that often times very little
is said concerning things that they were moved by the spirit
to utter at the end of their lives. Therefore, this account
that we have of David is most interesting. These be the last
words of David. David the son of Jesse said,
the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God
of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel said, the spirit of
the Lord spake by my mouth and his word was in my tongue. And I want this morning to centre
upon these words, these dying words of David, as we find them
particularly here in verse 5, where he 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. What is this covenant? It is
not what we might term the Royal Covenant concerning his seed,
concerning his sons. That was a covenant that was
spoken of by the Prophet Nathan back in chapter 7 at verse 12
and the following verses. The Royal Covenant we might describe
it as There in that 7th chapter then, Nathan says, When thy days
be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will
set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels,
and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my
name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
I will be his father, he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity,
I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of
the children of men, but my mercy shall not depart away from him,
as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before them. And my
house and my kingdom shall be established forever before them,
my throne shall be established forever According to all these
words and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto
David. That is the Royal Covenant concerning
his house, his kingdom, being established forever. And it's
repeated again there in the 132nd Psalm and verses 11 and 12. But I say what we have here is
not so much that Royal Covenant, Notice how David speaks of his
house, of his family, at the beginning and at the end of the
verse, although my house be not so with God. Although he make it not to grow. What David is speaking of here
is very personal. It is in fact the everlasting
covenant, is it not, that he makes mention of. Yes, he has
made with me. That's how personal it is. Though
my house be not so with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure, for this is all my
salvation and all my desire. What we have then is clearly
personal. as well as being that eternal
purpose of God, that everlasting covenant of God. The prophet
Isaiah says, I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure
mercies of day. But as we come to consider these
words of verse 5 for our text, I want to deal with three heads
this morning. First of all, to consider something
of those who are the parties of the covenant. the parties
of the covenant. The covenant obviously involves
more than one individual, there must be two parties. In that
sense, of course, a marriage is a covenant. When a couple,
when a man and a woman come together and exchange solemn vows and
promises entering into covenant there are the two parties and
there is God there of course when the marriage is made in
his holy presence there is God there to witness to these things
in fact the whole congregation are witnessing to what is transpiring
when those vows and those promises are so solemnly given one to
the other. Then what of the parties in this
covenant? Well, as the covenant is an everlasting
covenant, surely the parties must be eternal. The parties
must be eternal. This is that covenant that was
made on behalf of David by the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the
covenant of grace. David, here we might say, is
a typical character. David is a type of the Lord Jesus
Christ. We know that that is the case,
because when the Prophet Ezekiel speaks those prophetic words,
concerning the true shepherd of Israel in Ezekiel 34 he speaks
in terms of David. David who had been dead for many
centuries when Ezekiel was exercising his ministry and remember how
Ezekiel 34 is a great chapter in which God reproves the shepherds
of Israel how God had given those various offices in the nation,
there were the princes, there were the kings, there were the
priests, the Levitical priests who served God in the temple
of the Lord, and then there were the prophets. But in this chapter
God reproves those three offices. they had failed to be the true
shepherds of his people but God promises that he will give to
his people a true shepherd in verse 23 he says I will set up
one shepherd over them and he shall feed them even my servant
David he shall feed them and he shall be their shepherd and
I the Lord will be their God and my servant David the prince
among them. I the Lord have spoken it and
I will make with them a covenant of peace and so on. Who is this David? It's not King
David as I said he was long since dead. We have his Last words
in the portion we're looking at this morning. This is a prophecy
concerning Christ. He is that one who is the true
Prince. He is the King of Kings. He is
that one who is the true Priest. That great high Priest of our
profession who has made the one sacrifice. He is the great Prophet
of the Law. David then is one who in Scripture
is said before us as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. David
was a shepherd before he became the king. And there, in that
portion in Ezekiel 34, God promises to set up one shepherd. Is it
not the Lord Jesus Christ? He comes, and remember what he
declares in the Gospel, I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd
giveth his life for his sheep. Now, we've referred already to
those words of Isaiah 55, which are parallel really to the words
of our text. In Isaiah 55 and verse 3, God
says, through his servant Isaiah, I will make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure mercies of David. Now when we come over
to the New Testament, we see how Paul, in his preaching in
Acts 13, he's there at Antioch in Pisidia, And we have this
remarkable record of the sermon that he preaches and Paul there
in Acts 13 makes reference to those words and applies them
directly to the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 32 in Acts 13 he says,
We declare unto you, glad tidings, that the promise which was made
unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children,
in that he hath raised up Jesus again. as it is also written
in the second psalm, Thou art my son, this day have I begotten
thee. And as concerning that he raised
him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption,
he said, on this wise I will give you the sure mercies of
David. That word then in Isaiah 55 concerning
the covenant, the everlasting covenant, Even the sure mercies
of David has to do with the Lord Jesus Christ, says Paul. It is
Christ who is the one here that is party to this covenant. The
covenant, yes, it's made on David's behalf, but it's made by David's
greatest son. It's that covenant that Christ
entered into with his father. these things are spoken of throughout
the scriptures we have it in the Old Testament I was thinking
initially that we might read this morning as our public reading
the 89th Psalm and then I thought maybe the 72nd Psalm might be
more suitable but it was difficult to know which of the two Psalms
to read but if we turn to Psalm 89 There we again see the promise
concerning Christ and the covenant. Verse 19, Then thou spakest in
vision to thy Holy One and said, I have laid help upon one that
is mighty, I have exalted one chosen out of the people, I have
found David my servant, with my holy oil have I anointed him. Verse 3, I have made a covenant
with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant. Psalm
89, it's messianic, it's speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, but
speaking of him, of course, under the name of David. Isn't David
one of the names that belongs very much to the Lord Jesus Christ? What's the meaning of the name
David? It means the beloved, the beloved. And God says concerning
Christ, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He says it at the baptising of
Christ. He says it again on the Mount
of Transfiguration. And then in Matthew chapter 12
where Matthew makes reference to Isaiah 42 concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's interesting to see how it's
rendered there In Matthew 12.18, Behold my servant, whom I have
chosen, my Beloved. In the prophecy it's mine elect. But there in the Gospel, Matthew
12.18, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my Beloved, in
whom my soul is well pleased. I have put my spirit upon him. Who are the parties then to this
covenant? It is God and Christ. It is Christ who is the one who
is the surety of this better testament or covenant. The word that we have in Hebrews
that's translated as testament time and again could equally
as well have been rendered by the word covenant. It's the same
word. Jesus was made a surety of a better covenant. He is the
mediator, says Paul, of the new covenant, the New Testament. All this is all mediated then
to David, King David, in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the New Testament. This is a better covenant, 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. Here is David looking to Christ,
looking to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The law was
given by Moses grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Oh, it is a better covenant that's
established upon better promises. John Berridge says this contrasting
those two covenants, the one from Sinai, the one from Zion,
contrasting law and gospel. Run, run, and work the law commands,
yet finds me neither feet nor hands, but sweeter news the gospel
brings, it bids me fly. and lends me wings. It is the
Lord Jesus Christ then who is the party to this covenant, party
with God. It's the everlasting covenant
that's ordered in all things unsure. The great covenant of
redemption, the covenant of salvation. But having said something with
regards to the party, Let us also observe the properties that
belong to this covenant. And we can observe three things
here. First of all, it is spoken of as being everlasting. An everlasting
covenant. As I said, as it is everlasting, so we see that it is from eternity. We often say, from eternity to
eternity, from eternity past to eternity future, and yet,
in a sense, the language is contradictory. Eternity takes us altogether
outside of time. Eternity is above and beyond
our understanding. And God, of course, is that one
who is the eternal one. He is the everlasting God. Moses
speaks of God in his prayer in the 90th Psalm. He says, verse 2, before the
mountains were brought forth, Whatever thou hast formed, the
earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou
art God. or it's an everlasting covenant.
It's that covenant that was made, I say, before time was created. It's that covenant that was entered
into by the persons in the Godhead. It's that covenant in which the
Eternal Son of the Eternal Father willingly became God's servant. Zachariah tells us how the Council
of Peace shall be between them both. The Council of Peace, or
that Covenant of Peace, wherein God purposed to reconcile sinners
who were in a state of alienation and enmity, and to bring those
sinners back to himself. This was the Council, this was
the Covenant. that was entered into them before
ever God created the mountains. It is an everlasting covenant. Not only an everlasting covenant
we are told here, but it is also an ordered covenant. Ordered
in all things. What a comfort to know that there
is nothing outside of this great covenant, this gracious eternal
purpose of God. This is why Paul can say there
in Romans chapter 8 that we know that all things work together
for good to them that know God, to them who are the cause according
to his purpose. There's no exception. There is
a deep mystery in these things because even those things that
are contrary to God, those sins, are so overwrought. There's that
little couplet in the Gospel Summits of Ralph Erskine, which
some of you are probably familiar with. It's a very striking couplet
really. He says, sin for my good doth work and win, yet it is
not good for me to sin. How true it is. You see, God
so overrules even our follies. He doesn't excuse us in our sins. It is not good for us to sin.
We must not sin. We are to hate it. We are to
flee from it. We are to resist Satan when he assaults us, when
he comes with his temptations. And yet, all things work together
for good. The covenant is so ordered. And
how remarkably we see it in the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we come to that death that
Christ must die upon the cross. In his preaching on the day of
Pentecost, what does the Apostle Peter say to the Jews who gathered
there, the Jews and the proselytes, who were there in Jerusalem for
the great feast of Pentecost? As he, under the unction of the
Blessed Spirit, who comes in all his glorious power on that
day, of course, he tells quite plainly that they are the crucifiers
of Christ, that they are guilty. There are many of them who are
convicted, struck in their hearts, brought under a real sense of
their need before God and cry out, what must we do to be saved? They were the ones who had been
the crucifiers of Christ and yet in the course of his preaching
Peter says this, him being delivered by the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, ye have taken and with wicked hands have
crucified and slain. Yes they were the ones who had
killed him, had taken him They sought his destruction. They
made false accusations against him. They were determined that
Pilate should pass that sentence of death upon him. Sooner let
Pilate release the rabbis, who was a thief and a murderer, than
release the innocent Jesus of Nazareth. He hath taken, he says,
and with wicked hands hath crucified and slain, and yet it's all under
the sovereign hand of God, Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. All these things are ordered. This is the mystery, is it not,
of the ways of God. it was true in the Lord Jesus
Christ who is the head of his people who is the mediator of
the covenant and it must therefore be true in all their lives and David knew it, David felt
it oh what awful confusion in his own house does he not acknowledge
it here although my house be not so with God He made reference
only on Thursday to the awful deed of Amnon. Lusting after
his sister, his half-sister Tamar. Lying with her. Having his way
with her, forcing himself upon her and then hating her, despising
her. The rage of her brother Absalom. Absalom was a full brother to
Tamar. Did he not call one of his own daughters to him? He
was very mindful of his sister. Thou, Absalom, in his rage. Rage
is the death of Amnon. He's guilty of murder. And that's
just one incident you see. In the household of King David. What awful scenes in the royal
court. Although my house be not so with
God, although he make it not to grow, how these things must
have grieved David. And yes, when he looks to the
covenants, this is his comfort, it's ordered. It's ordered in
all things. It's an everlasting covenant.
It's an ordered covenant. It's a sure covenant. It's a
sure covenant. I will make an everlasting covenant
with you, even the sure mercies of deity. Oh, there's nothing
precarious with regard to this covenant. It's an eternal covenant,
and those, of course, who are in it, are in it from eternity. There is an eternal union. John Kent says, once in Him,
that is in Christ, once in Him, in Him forever. Thus the eternal
covenant stands. It is so sure. It is from everlasting
to everlasting. And those who are in it can never be out of it. God's
gracious purpose cannot be overturned. His decree cannot be frustrated. whom he loves, he loves to the
end. And so it's not surprising that
when this covenant is revealed to us in all its fullness, in
the New Testament, with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
ministry of Christ and his apostles, or do we not see the certainty
and the sureness of these things? What is the Gospel? Is it not
the great promise of God? Is it not the great promise of
God? Paul tells the Corinthians that all the promises of God
in him, that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, are in him. Yea, and
Amen. To the glory of God, he says,
by us. By us poor sinners. That all sure and certain, it's
not a gospel that says yea, one minute and now the next minute.
Paul, there's no variableness with God. All that is sure, it is a gospel
that is yay and yah. It's the unchanging purpose of
God. These are but some of the properties
that belong to this covenant that David is speaking of. It's
not simply that royal covenant that had been spoken of by the
prophet Nathan concerning his own house, his own descendants.
It is personal. It's what David finds comfort
in, in the midst of all the confusion that he witnesses amongst his
own offspring. Yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And then finally this
morning, We see also here the provision that God has made in
the covenant. David says, this is all my salvation
and all my desire. This is the provision you see.
What has God provided in this covenant? He has provided a great
salvation. It's that contrast again between
the two covenants. We have it there in Hebrews chapter
12, the covenant that God gave at
Mount Sinai, the covenant that comes from Mount Zion. What is that covenant at Sinai? It's the law. And that really
is a ministration of condemnation and the ministration of death. We know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, Paul says,
that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world become guilty
before God. Therefore by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law
is the knowledge of sin. That is the ministration of the
law. and we are to understand that.
It has to do with the sinner. Or there is to be that law work
wrought in the sinner's soul, that sense of his transgressions,
his transgressing of God's holy commandments, that sense of his
many failings, his falling short of what God has commanded, sins
of omission as well as sins of commission. And the contrast
between that law, which is the ministration of condemnation
and death, and the Gospel, which is the ministration of the Spirit,
and the ministration of righteousness, the contrast is drawn out by
Paul, is it not, when he writes to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians
chapter 3. 2 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 6
following it says who also hath made us able ministers of the
new testament or the new covenant not of the letter but of the
spirit for the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life but
if the ministration of death written and engraven in stones
was glorious So that the children of Israel could not steadfastly
behold the face of Moses, for the glory of his countenance,
which glory was to be done away, how shall not the ministration
of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if the ministration of condemnation
be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness
exceed in glory." There was a glory in the law, it's God's law. And
the Lord is holy and the commandment is holy and just and good. All the fault is not in the law,
the fault is in the sinner. You cannot measure up to the
law. Run, run and work, the law commands. Do and live, that's the language
of the law. But the sinner cannot do the thing that the law demands
of him. But there's a glory in it. But
here he says, you see, there is a greater glory in the Gospel,
in the New Covenant, which is a ministration of the Spirit.
God will write his Lord in the hearts of his people, he'll give
them a new nature, they're born again, they partake of the divine
nature. It's a ministration of righteousness.
It's not that God makes them a righteous people, he does that,
they're a sanctified people. but that righteousness that's
imputed to them, that righteousness that was wrought by the Lord
Jesus Christ, that righteousness which is put on by fire. Here is salvation, you see, in
the Gospel. You know, the Apostle Paul is the one who constantly
draws out the contrast. He says, concerning this salvation,
if by grace it is no more of work, otherwise grace is no more
grace if it be of works it is not of grace otherwise work is
no more work it cannot be the mixing of these two covenants
it's either of grace or it's of works and this is the covenant
of grace and David says it is all my salvation the whole of
salvation is in the covenant Not just a part of salvation.
Neither is there salvation in any other. There is none other
name under heaven given amongst men, says Paul, whereby we must
be saved. This is all my salvation. What a provision God has made
in the person of his only begotten Son. in God's incarnate in that work
that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished as he was faithful in fulfilling
all the terms of the eternal covenant who came not to do his
own will but the will of him who had sent him to finish his
work who was obedient unto death even the death of the cross Christ
has fulfilled all the terms of the covenant And David says it's
all my salvation. And then he says this, and all
my desire, and all my desire. I said that one of the names
given to the Lord Jesus Christ is the name David, the Beloved. But many names are given to Christ
and amongst them there's another name. Is he not the desire of
all nations? The desire of all nations? Is the Lord Jesus Christ this
morning your desire? That's the important question,
is it not? That we have to put to ourselves, not just to you,
to myself. Can I say really and truly Christ
is all my desire? Whom am I in heaven but thee,
says the psalmist, there is none upon earth that I desire besides
thee. Or can we Can we come in with
David? Remember David in another of
the Psalms, in Psalm 38 he says, Lord, all my desire is before
the earth, and my groaning is not heard from them. How the
Lord hears our poor prayers, our poor prayers, groanings,
moanings, sighs, cries. He hears them. But do we know anything of them?
that real longing after Him, that true desire towards Him. This is the God, you see, that
He set before us, the God of the everlasting covenant. 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 nice to grow he looks at his family there's much to
cause him great dismay even after his death you see there's the
business of Adonijah seeking to seize the throne instead of
King Solomon we read at the beginning of the first book of Kings much
to fill him with grief in his own family and yet the comfort
of the covenant remember how that great Godly Puritan, Oliver
Cromwell, when he lay on his deathbed and his family gathered
around him, amongst his dying words, he said to his loved ones,
I leave you the covenant to feed on. Oh God be pleased to feed
us today then with this rich food of the everlasting covenant. And the Lord bless to us his
word. Amen.