Let's be turning to 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel 7. After the Lord had established David as king over all of Israel and given him peace from all his enemies, And a beautiful cedar house was now built for David. David had a desire to build a permanent house for the Ark of the Covenant. And since the Ark of the Covenant symbolizes the presence of God among that people, David had a desire to build the house of God. He wanted to build a house for God.

Now at first, when he said this to Nathan, the prophet, Nathan said to him, Go, do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee. But that night, that night, the Lord gave a word to Nathan for David. And it says there in verse four that it came to pass that night that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan saying. And so the Lord gave Nathan words concerning the desire that was on David's heart. David had a desire. He wanted to build a house for the ark of God. And this word came in regards to that house, and it came in order to instruct David according to the word of God. And David heard it when Nathan came and preached it to him.

Nathan then came and declared the word of the Lord to David. Now, it was a gracious, the Lord was very gracious to David. The Lord didn't rebuke David. The Lord was very gracious to David regarding this. And I bring this up again because in this we see a beautiful pattern here in how our Lord ministers to the hearts of his people. How that he lays things upon the hearts of his people. How that he burdens us with things that concern our minds and concern us. And it's like having a burden, right? You think about it. It's a burden. You're thinking about something. You're praying about something. You have questions about something that is laid on your heart. Whether you see something in someone else, you read it in the Word, you hear something preached, or you have a trial that you're going through, there's a burden that the Lord lays on the heart, and then he gives the Word, the preacher of the Word, to instruct that burden which he's laid on your heart. And it's how he grows us in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior.

When Paul was writing to the Thessalonians in the second epistle, 3-5, he said, the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patient waiting for Christ. So in other words, by his word, through the burdens he lays on your heart, through the trials and the path which he has predestinated for you to be conformed to the image of his son, He's directing your hearts, brethren. He's instructing you in the love and understanding of God and the patient hope of the believer in Christ. This is how He grows us. This is how He instructs us. This is how we learn of God. Him burdening the heart, speaking to the heart, and then giving that word. to inform us, to teach us of Christ, to grow us, to strengthen us in the Lord. And so, it's the Lord that does this. It's the Lord, and it's a beautiful picture of His grace to do this for us.

We have other examples in scripture where this is done. For example, we're told in Acts chapter 10 that there was a certain man of Caesarea named Cornelius, who was a centurion of the Italian band, and we're told about this man, that he was a devout man. He was a man who gave alms. He was a man that was led of the Lord, and he feared God, and he prayed to God always, but he didn't know the truth. He was sincere, but he didn't know the truth. And he wasn't against Christ, he wasn't opposed, he just didn't know him. He didn't know the truth. But he was a very sincere and religious man. And the scriptures tell us that he saw a vision, evidently, about the ninth hour of the day, which would be about 3 p.m. It always started from about sunrise, was the beginning hour. So noon is six hours. The sixth hour of the day would be noon. The ninth hour would be about 3 p.m.

Anyway, he's He's praying and he sees this vision of an angel of God coming to him and the angel comes and tells Cornelius what he is to do, which was to send men to Joppa to go and call for one Simon, Simon Peter. And he did this, right? There was a burden on his heart. An angel, a messenger of God, came and laid a burden on his heart. Go. You need to hear this man, Peter. I'm sending him to you. You go seek him, and he'll come. He'll come.

And he does this. And Peter also saw a vision. And he's burdened by this vision of a sheet let down with all manner of creeping things and animals that were unclean that Jews were forbidden to eat and he's thinking it's a head scratcher he's wondering what does this mean it happened twice what does this mean Lord why did you do this and then The spirit of the Lord spoke to him, saying, get up. There's three men down there. They're asking for you. Go with them. Asking nothing. I've sent them. You go. And you'll know what to do. You'll know what to do.

And so he goes to Cornelius. And what does he do? He preaches the gospel to them. Cornelius had a burden. And even Peter was burdened. And the Lord made it plain, speaking to Peter. And Peter went and spoke that word to Cornelius, leading him into the truth and knowledge of God, leading him into that love and understanding which is given by God to the saints.

So, when you're concerned, when you're tried and troubled, seek the Lord. Pray to Him. He's able to give a word to your heart, to instruct you, to teach you, to settle you and ground you and root you in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's what the Lord does for us, brethren. That's what He's doing there for David. This is what He does for us today. It's a picture of His grace and how He has predestinated all things and brings all things therefore to pass, just as He's ordained them to come to pass. That's how He teaches us and grows us.

So when he does this, you'll know it's him if it leads you to Christ, if it leads you to hear the gospel, to rejoice in the hearing of Christ, to be comforted by the grace and love of God revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. If it leads you to Christ and he feeds you Christ, you know it's of the spirit of God. You know it's of him, because that's what the Spirit does. He takes the things of Christ and shows them unto you. He does that for his people. Our Lord said, when the comforters come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. If it's the spirit of the world, it's going to testify of all manner of things that lead you away from Christ, that feed the flesh, that puff up the flesh, and carnal wicked things. But if it is leading you to Christ, and the worship of Christ, and the fellowship of the saints in Christ, if it blesses your heart in Christ, if it leads you to Him to rejoice in Christ alone, that's the spirit of God, because that is what the spirit of God does.

our Savior and the Father gave the spear for that very purpose, that very purpose, brethren. So, tonight... I want to continue where we left off. I think that's an important thing to see, but I want to continue where we left off last week, which is where we saw David as a type of the believer. And we saw five things, five things in that, and I'll just repeat them here, how he draws his child. The Lord always draws his child to him, always. He delights the Lord to call us out of darkness, to call us off of the sandy, shaky ground, and establish us, fix us on the Lord Jesus Christ. Delights him to do that. And in doing that, he makes known to us our poverty from which he's taken us. He said to David, I've taken you out of the sheep. We're going to read those verses again and see Christ. I'll say these things, and you can see them again in the believer, and then we'll talk and see how they are of Christ, right?

But he takes us, well, shows us our poverty. Why? To strip us of vain pride, to strip us of thinking we're something when we're nothing, to humble us before the Lord, because that's how we're gonna love one another, that's how we're gonna hear the Lord and rejoice in Him, is being stripped of vain pride. Then, the third thing we saw, And so that he assures us that he never leaves us nor forsakes us. In other words, what the Lord, what our Savior, what our God has started, he's going to finish. He's going to finish it. He's going to bring it to fruition all the way to the end, till we are brought into glory. When he starts, he finishes. he reveals himself as our victory over all our enemies. When we began in religion, and even when the Lord began to graciously draw us, we see, we've heard the voices of our enemies, the accuser of the brethren, charge us with sin, charge us with faults, show us our weaknesses, but who is it that settles us and comforts us? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the Lord. And so it's the Lord who gives us the victory over our enemies. And then he glorifies us. He tells us that he glorifies us with the glory which he's given to the Son, that is found in the Son, Jesus Christ. Paul said, whom he justified as you that believe in Christ, he also glorified. He makes known who are his people, that they are justified through faith. Giving them faith, confessing Christ, believing in the heart that God hath raised him from the dead. He makes it known. He manifests his grace for a sinner by calling them out of darkness to Christ. And whom he's justified in Christ, he glorifies. He glorified them.

Alright, so that's just a quick summary of what we saw. Now, having considered these spiritual blessings for his people and David, let's now consider the one for whose sake we are blessed. Let's see Christ in these verses here. So, verse 8. what Nathan was to tell David. Now therefore, so shalt thou say unto my servant David, thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheep coat, from following the sheep, right, I took you out of the pasture, from being a shepherd, looking after the sheep, to be ruler over my people over Israel. Now, now we're looking at Christ. Now we're looking at the Lord Jesus Christ. And the scriptures teach us, of our Lord, thou madest him a little lower than the angels. Thou crowned him with glory and honor, and did set him over the works of thy hands. So that we see how that Christ was born lowly, in a low birth there, lower than the angels. He came in the flesh, in the humility of the flesh, and the humiliation of that weakness, and then through his work and his purpose for redemption of his people, he brought him to glory. and set him over all his creation. We see that beautiful picture there of what our Lord has done, but our Savior came meek and lowly, and in weakness first, just like we see David. a lowly shepherd.

Well, so our Savior came as of no reputation, of no reputation. Paul said it this way, ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that through his poverty, his weakness, his suffering, his beatings, his stripes, his dying, his burying, that through that poverty we are made rich, rich in the Lord, righteous and rich in the Lord, eternally wealthy, eternally wealthy, brethren. It's to encourage our hearts, to not set our hearts on earthly things, but in heaven, where our treasure is seated, on the right hand of the throne of his Father, the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherever he is, you can be certain that we have all we need. all peace and joy and happiness in him. Now we walk by faith, but it's ours in the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so he laid aside his glory in eternity, picked up the flesh, the weakness and humility of the flesh, to suffer and die for his people, to obtain eternal redemption for us who sinned and rebelled against him and did not earn or merit any of his mercy and grace. It's all freely given in Christ. Now, and because he did that, we're not going to come short. You're not going to come short of it, brethren, for what you seek. Just keep looking to Christ. Keep trusting Him.

Now, continuing verse 9, And I was with thee, whithersoever thou wentest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. So, In order to cut off all his enemies, again, he was made weak. He did it. How did he do this? How did he triumph over them? In weakness. In weakness, our Lord triumphed.

Paul said, the weakness of God is stronger than men. The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. And that was in response to the Greeks, probably even the Jews but the Greeks who said that's absurd that a man in his death triumphed gloriously over all his enemies indeed yes he did by his suffering he obtained life and an eternal redemption in dying on the cross he triumphed over his enemies they didn't defeat him he defeated them and that that's what he's saying and so Colossians 2 if you look there in Colossians 2 verses 14 and 15 Paul there details what our Lord was doing for his people when he hung on the tree right and in overcoming his enemies and our enemies and Colossians 2 14 says that he was blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross."

He's speaking there of the law, and the burden of the law, and the yoke of the law, and how that we cannot keep the law for righteousness. not before and not now. In this flesh we cannot keep the law for righteousness. As we were dependent on Christ's righteousness before, so we are dependent upon his righteousness now. The Lord Jesus Christ is our righteousness and he took that law and nailed it to the cross. In other words, it was satisfied and settled. He died and we died in him to the law so that the law has nothing more to say against us and to not even accuse us anymore. It is settled, it is silenced there. And so he put to death the death of the law against us.

And in so doing, he silenced the devil, right? The accuser of the brethren has nothing more to say. His mouth is closed. He is silenced. He has no presence there before the throne of God. He overcame the world, which was against him, and he overcame death and the grave, and it's overcome for us because he's put away our sin forever. He has washed away our sins. They are gone. gone from us, brethren. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it."

And so Christ did that. He's the one whom the Father is well pleased in. Well pleased. Look to Christ. Fix your heart in the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust Him. Seek Him. Cry out to Him, Lord, save me. Don't pass me by with this Savior, because there's not another. And I cannot save myself. And He's merciful to all that seek Him.

And there's an example again. There's that burden He lays on the heart. If he reveals to you your need, and your poverty, and your sickness, and your death, and your deserved hell, that's a burden. That's a good burden. Hear it, obey it, and flee to Christ. Lord, save me. That's why he gives the burden, and he sends the word to declare to your heart, to stir up that burden he's put there.

Because if you're his, he's going to lead you out of that death, and that fear, and that terror that he's laid there. and give you rest and peace and hope and joy in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he does. That's another example of why he allows that terror to strike the heart of his child living in sin and death.

To bring you out of that death and into the arms of Christ. To hope in him, to trust in him. The first time, and anytime that our eyes are taken off of him, to bring us back to him, to keep us, so that we will not come short of that which has been obtained for us by the Lord Jesus Christ, that inheritance.

And because he did this, God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every name, that at his name every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. You do it now in faith by the grace and power of God, testifying in you that you are his child, that he has given you the spirit of adoption, whereby you confess him. And the wicked will do it in that day, and then go off to hell.

Now, verse 10, moreover, this is new ground here, but we're going to see Christ in this. Verse 10, moreover, I will appoint a place for my people. I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more. Neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more as before time.

Now, when this was first spoken, this signaled Jerusalem. That was the appointed place. It was first speaking of Jerusalem in that physical sense, but it pictures spiritually our place fixed first and foremost in Christ. That's the place that we are fixed in, brethren. That is our inheritance. That is our place where we can no more be touched. In Christ our strong tower. He's our protection from the enemies and the arrows and the darts that come against us and the persecution. He's our protection, brethren. And so pictures that place prepared for us in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Turn over to John chapter 15. Let's see this. I'm going to read with you verses 1 through 5 with some comments sprinkled in there. John 15, this is our Lord, just before he went off to the cross to obtain redemption for his people.

Verse 1 and 2. I am the true vine, and my father is the husbandman, meaning he has the pruners and he does the clipping of the branches. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away. And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, he prunes it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

I know something of that, that there are certain plants that benefit in the garden, that benefit from you taking a pruner and cutting it in the right spot, and then it puts out more shoots and it becomes more fruitful. And God, in all his wisdom, knows exactly how to prune his people. He knows exactly what trials. He knows exactly what we need. What burdens to lay on the heart and how to give those burdens and how to lift those burdens for your good, for your good and benefit. He's able. And so he does it. He does it.

And all right, let's go on here. Verse 3. And now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." What an encouragement. That is how he cleans us. That is how he purges us of filth, of the world, of doubts, of sin, of a heart set on this world. He purges us through the word. which he has spoken unto us." And that's, again, another example of how we are brought to the Lord, made to know our need, made to know our poverty, and he ministers that word of faith, right? That's how the Spirit is ministered to us, Paul said, right? Through the hearing of faith, not through the law, but through the hearing of faith, and that means through the preaching of the gospel, right? That we are saved not by works, but by grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. And faith lays hold of that. Faith grabs on to that. That's the hearing of faith. Yes, Lord, save me. Save me by that same grace.

Abide in me, Christ said, abide in me. He's our place. Abide in me. And I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except ye abide in me. And so our Lord Jesus Christ is saying, I am the means of your fruitful. You're fruitful in me. That's where we're going to be made fruitful. And religion misses that. Jesus is just a token name. He's a token word for many. But they turn to the law of Moses, then, to bring forth fruit. Why? Christ is divine. And if we abide in him, we are confident that we're going to bear fruits of righteousness in and by him. In and by him. He's our husband. Don't go to another husband, Moses, to try and bear fruit. That's just spiritual adultery. You trust Christ to do it. If you don't see it, you go to him and say, Lord, have mercy on me. Save me. And trust him to do it. Verse 5, I am the vine. He's the place where we're fixed of God. In him, ye are the branches, he that abideth in me. And I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, ye can do nothing. And this is another one of those examples where the Lord, when he says, without me you can do nothing, by his grace, he lays that on the heart and makes us to know by his wisdom and power, Lord, you know that I'm dust. Lord, you know that without you I can do nothing. And he teaches that in time. You get in the classroom, so to speak, you hear it, and then he's going to bring it with understanding in the experience that we have.

As we live in faith to Christ, we're going to see at various times that without Christ, I can do nothing. I was talking to another pastor, and he said to me, he's like, at the point, and this man's been around longer than me, but he said, I'm at the point where I see that I can't do anything. My preaching doesn't, like me, preaching doesn't do anything. Like I can't affect anything in the hearers. It's entirely dependent upon the grace of God. And what we think will bless the people, doesn't. And what we think, I just failed, and I don't know, I didn't feel it tonight. That's usually when the people of God are blessed, and we don't even know. The Lord does it, because he's able to do it, and it teaches us that without him I can do nothing, but that's good. That's good for me to know that, because that puts me on my knees before the Lord. And that's a good place for a pastor to be. That's a good place for any believer to be, is on their knees before the Lord. Lord, I can't do anything, except you do it.

And except the Lord keep the city, the watchman watcheth and bane. We can do our best. We can set up the best defenses. But if the Lord doesn't protect us, the arrow's going to make it through. A random arrow's just going to fly through Go right to the chink of the armor and get us in the right spot. So we need him. And he's able, his grace is sufficient to teach us that, to uphold us and teach us through that, to make us to know that truth there. And so having done that for us in Christ, that then we see his grace and mercy in blessing his people with a local place. where he brings his people to a local assembly that he's gathered, that he has established and put there to feed his sheep.

Sometimes in the one parable on the road to Damascus there of the Good Samaritan, he called it an inn, a picture where the Lord brought that wounded sinner to the inn to be ministered to. He poured in his oil and he sawed the wounds and cleaned the wounds and then he said to the innkeeper, whatever is necessary, you do it, you give it. Now here's two pence and whatever more you need, whatever you spend, whatever you labor, I'll make it up to you. You don't have to, you're never going to out give The Lord is able to give above and beyond all that we can ask or think. But it's a picture. The Lord is saying, I'll provide for you. He's provided for you. He's given you a place where there was no place to be gathered together with his sheep and to hear Christ. And that word, meet the burdens he's laid on your hearts to minister, to pour in the oil, to clean the wounds and to bind them up with ointment and cooling or warming or whatever's needed, that salve, to give you peace and rest in Him. He's able, He's able, brethren.

And in doing so, instructing your hearts with the gospel, that's how we are grown in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, as Peter said in 2 Peter 3.18. but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How do we do that? By His grace. And He lays it on our hearts and brings us to hear the word, and He sows that word to our hearts, and we are grown in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All right?

Let's go down to verse 11, 2 Samuel 7, 11 through 13. And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies, also the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee in house, and 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 an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." Forever.

And so, we see here, in a certain sense, how this speaks of Solomon, who would be that initial fulfillment, that picture, where, under his rule, a temple was built. A temple was built by him, but Solomon was just a picture. And that temple was just a picture. And that temple was torn down, and then another one built in its place, and then that one's been torn down, and nothing's there now. So we see here that it's pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ. Only His kingdom is forever. Forever, brethren. And so, we see that it's speaking of Christ.

Now, in verse 14 and 15, he says, I will be his father and 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 thee.

Now, the Lord Jesus Christ committed no sin. No sin. He is called in scripture holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. And who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. He is perfect, righteous, holy. He is the eternal Son of God. He can do no sin. He can do no evil, no wrong whatsoever. He's perfect and sinless.

And that's what makes him the fit sacrifice for his people as the Lamb of God, to take away their sin, to satisfy the justice of God by his suffering, right? When he was made like unto us, yet without sin. And by him, God hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And so our Lord Jesus Christ satisfied his father perfectly.

And therefore by him, we declare the righteousness of God is your righteousness in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. And we lay hold of that righteousness, not by our works, but through faith in him. And faith is the gift of God. Right, lest any man should boast, it's not of our, it's not of our flesh that we believe, but it's of his grace, manifesting and showing forth his power and glory in us.

And so the good news which is given unto us is that this is an everlasting righteousness which shall never fade away. Verse 16 says, in thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee thy throne shall be established forever.

And so brethren, this is speaking of that seed from David, right, according to the flesh, according to Mary, the seed of woman. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. And we are born again of his seed. We are the seed of the woman, of the church, in the hearing of the gospel, in the rejoicing of the Lord Jesus Christ, because his kingdom is forever.

and ever and it shall never fade and shall never pass away brethren so settle it in your hearts that these things concerning David concern our spiritual David who has obtained these glorious blessings for us whereby we may hear them and believe them and worship God in spirit and in truth because without him we couldn't we could not do it we could not do it but by his grace and power We believe, we believe, and we serve and walk in that faith.

So I pray you bless your hearts in that word.