Alright, let's be turning to
2 Samuel chapter 5. Now, David
has acted wisely in the eyes of all of Israel. We don't read of much activity
from David from the time when he is made king in Hebron. You
notice that there's not a lot of recordings of what David specifically
did, except that he showed himself wise, for example, when Joab
slew Abner. And the things that David did
were liked by the people of Israel, and the house of Saul was getting
weaker, was being made weaker and weaker while David was being
made stronger and stronger, and there's not another man even
like Ish-bosheth. That's how weak the house is,
that none of Israel could look and say, well, how about this
man over here? Let's raise him up. And there's not an Abner
in the house of Saul to even help raise up or give strength
to another man. And so it's clear now that the
Lord has made David king. And so they come now to him. We see the fruits and the blessings
of the Lord here for David, and they come now to him to make
him, to anoint him king over all of Israel. So what I want
to do first here is read the text, which is just the first
three verses. That's our text for tonight.
We'll read them, and my first comments will be on David here,
David in these specific verses. Verse one. Then came all the
tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold,
we are thy bone and thy flesh." This is on, right? This one?
Could we switch it? Okay, yeah. So they said, we
are thy bone and thy flesh. So what they're doing here is
they're confessing that they are like David. There's a kinship
there between them and David. David knows them. David understands
them. And they know David. David has
grown up in Judah, in Israelite, his whole life. And there is
a kinship there between them, a nearness there between them.
Also, verse 2, in time past, when Saul was king over us, Thou
wast he that leadest out and broughtest in Israel. And so, God had raised up for
the people of Israel a shepherd. This man was clearly a shepherd
to God's people. He cared for them the way a shepherd
cares for his flock. And the Lord said to thee, this
is Israel speaking to David, the Lord said to thee, thou shalt
feed my people Israel. And so David is the one whom
the Lord gave this blessed office to. to care for, to tend to as
a near kinsman of the people of God. There was a precious
relationship there between them and so God had made it known
to them before he was persecuted by Saul that this man I've given
to you to provide for you, to care for you, to take care of
you. And thou, they said, thou shalt be a captain over Israel. And what the Lord had showed
them is that he raised up David and blessed David to overcome
the enemies of Israel. He willingly would lead the people
out and fight against their enemies, and God gave him success over
their enemies. He would defeat the Philistines
and any that would come up against them. So all the elders of Israel
came to the king to Hebron, and King David made a league with
them in Hebron before the Lord, and they anointed David king
over Israel. And so what likely happened was
they sent some emissaries ahead to David. They negotiated this
outright. And then the leaders of the people,
the heads of the tribes, went out for this anointing of David
to be king. And David entered into a covenant
relationship with them, agreeing to be their king, to care for
them, to provide for them as his people, fight for them against
their enemies, and to defeat their enemies, and to do good
among the people. And they agreed to obey him,
to hear his word, to submit to his laws as their king, to be
obedient subjects to their king. And the people gladly made David
king over Israel. Now, all these things, I'm sure
as you could tell here, all these things can be and are spoken
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the King of God's people. He is the King of his people. And so the heart here that we
see in these people confessing these things, acknowledging these
things that God had done for David, that is the heart that
our God gives to his people who glory in Christ. whose praise
is of Christ, who boast of the Lord Jesus Christ, of who he
is, and what he's accomplished for us, how that God gave him
for our salvation, for our deliverance. It's not by accident, it's not
by coincidence that we see Christ in this, it's by design. by design,
our God, the true and living God who is sovereign over all
and does as he pleases, raised up David to provide a type for
us, to see the precious rule and favor of the Lord Jesus Christ
for his people here. So tonight, what we're gonna
do is glory in Christ according to these words which were spoken
by Israel to David and of David here, And we'll see Christ in
these and what it means for us as his people, what that means
for you that believe and call upon the Lord Jesus Christ. So
let's go back to verse one. Then came all the tribes of Israel
to David unto Hebron, and spake, saying, Behold, we are thy bone
and thy flesh. Now, this is one of the most
compelling things about our Savior, about our Lord, is there's a
nearness to Him. There's someone that was given
to us that we could feel and touch. In fact, it was John,
in 1 John 1, verse one, if I'm not mistaken, where he says,
that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we
have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our
hands have handled of the word of life. This is the word of
God made flesh, brethren, that there's a kinship there, that
God should come in the flesh to be made like his brethren,
to be made like his people. And it's one of the dearest things. It's how we approach unto God
who is spirit. We can't see God who is spirit,
but we see him in all his glory and form in the person and work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how we know the true and
living God. It says in Hebrews 2, and turn
to Hebrews, there's a few scriptures I want to show you there, so
don't turn away from it quickly. In Hebrews 2, verse 14, for as much then as the children,
that's you and I brethren, for as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, Christ also himself likewise
took part of the same, that through death, right, there was a reason
why he must be made flesh, that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death that is the devil. Drop down
to verse 16 and 17, for verily He took not on him the nature
of angels, when the angels fell, he did nothing to recover those
that fell, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore,
in all things, it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. And so we see here that he's
made like unto us. Now he is God. He is God. Look at chapter one of Hebrews.
Hebrews 1 verse 3. who being the brightness of God's
glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all
things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged
our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. Verse 8, But unto the Son he
saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever. A scepter
of righteousness is the scepter of Thy kingdom. And so we see
here that it is necessary that Christ should be made flesh. The word of God should be made
flesh, just like unto his brethren, in order to satisfy the eternal
justice of God for his people. So the Lord Jesus Christ was
manifest in the flesh, made of a woman, made under the law to
establish righteousness. to work a perfect righteousness
for his people. And our God had good reason for
him coming in the flesh. Let me just go back to chapter
2 of Hebrews. Hebrews 2, verse 9 through 11. But we see Jesus. And that name,
I believe, is used specifically there to draw us near to him. We know him. We know you. You're
like us. You came just as we are, yet
without sin, in perfect righteousness, made a little lower than the
angels, for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and
honor, that he, by the grace of God, the grace of God for
us, should taste death for every man, for all the seed of Abraham,
for all his people, given to him by promise. For it became
him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in
bringing many sons unto glory." This is the second Adam. Adam,
the first who had all dominion given to him, fell. Well, here's
the true Adam. Here's the last Adam to whom
all dominion is given, all authority, all powers given to him to make
the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. for
both he that sanctifyeth and they who are sanctified are all
of one, for which cause he's not ashamed to call them brethren. They came to him saying, behold,
we are thy bone and thy flesh. And he says, yes, you are my
bone and my flesh. You're my brethren. And he owns
us just as we own him and boast to others to know him. that he's
my God and my Savior. And so our Lord became flesh,
that he might suffer for the sins of his people and satisfy
the justice of God for them. And so there's a great acceptance
of David by Israel here. In the law of the kings there
in Deuteronomy 17, it said that when you have a king, he's not
to be a foreigner. He's to be of you, of your people,
one of you. And that's exactly what David
was. And it speaks to the Savior that
our God has given to us. that he is made like unto us
and we may approach him and speak to him and know him because he's
not something other than what we are. He was made just like
his brethren, bone and flesh. Paul telling us that we are members
of his body, of his flesh and of his bones. We are that near
to our Lord. Therefore, it says in Hebrews
4.14 and 15, seeing then that we have a great high priest that
is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast
our profession. Because he was touched with the
feeling of our infirmities, in all points tempted as we are
yet without sin. And so there's a nearness there,
there's a fellowship between God, manifest in the flesh, and
his people, so that we're one. He is the head, we are the body. And we know him, and we come
to him, we're brought to him. Lord, you've come for this very
purpose. You took upon you flesh and blood
for this very purpose, Lord. Receive us. Receive us, Lord,
and be with us. Be our King, be our Lord, be
our Savior. Lord." Now the next thing they
said to David is the first part of verse 2. We'll look at this
in three parts here. The first part, also they said,
in time past when Saul was king over us, And you can picture
where this is going. We were at one time under the
power of the prince of the power of the air. We were under his
dominion, going the course of the world, dead in trespasses
and sins. There was a time when Saul was
king over us, thou wast he that led us out and brought us in
Israel. And so they're describing David
here as a shepherd. as the true shepherd of the people. Even though Saul was king in
the land, their true shepherd was David. And what the Lord
is revealing to us, and what he's revealed to us in the scripture,
in the gospel of John especially, but in a number of scriptures,
is that Jesus Christ is the shepherd, the good shepherd of his people. Our king is our shepherd. And there's a lot of blessed
views of what that means. And I want you to turn to John
chapter 10 now. Let's go to John 10. And I'm
going to read four verses, beginning in verse 2. And we'll look at
four things in this parable about the good shepherd that Christ
gave, four things. And so each one is in each verse.
I'll just make four points here. In John 10 verse 2, Christ said,
but he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. And what our Lord is explaining
here in this, one of the beautiful things about this is that there's
nothing shady about Christ. There's nothing wrong in what
he did. In fact, he came in perfect righteousness. A thief and a
robber enters in through the window or enters in by another
way. But Christ comes through the
door because he's hiding nothing. He is the Savior. He's the appointed
Savior of his people. And it speaks also to how that
he fulfilled all righteousness. He didn't skirt around righteousness.
He didn't come up with some other way. He fulfilled the law. and
went to the cross to satisfy the justice of the law, to satisfy
the debt that his people had worked up. He didn't just say,
well, we'll just forget about that. No, he bore the sins of
his people in his body on the tree and sacrificed his holy
soul to make satisfaction unto the Father, to put away that
sin forever. And so we see that there, how
that Christ fulfilled all righteousness. And he goes through the door,
meaning he did everything that had to be done to satisfy the
law and the prophets, to fulfill every jot and every tittle, and
nothing was left undone. And he gave his life, as he says
down in verse 11 of this chapter, I am the good shepherd, the good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, for his people, for
you that believe him. That is the manifest revelation
of God in you that you are those for whom Christ died, and that
he has called you, and that he has given you life and revealed
himself to you, because faith is not of this flesh. It is the
gift of God, given by his spirit. You that hope in him and trust
in him, rejoice. Give God thanks for that, and
continue in it. Continue in it. It's his gift
to you. Now, that's the first point there,
that Christ did everything right. Everything right, through the
door. Second here, verse three. To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice. And he calleth his own sheep
by name, and leadeth them out. All right, so he's the properly
appointed savior of his people by God the Father, right, in
the first point. And second here, he speaks of
the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is the porter,
right? The door of this heart doesn't
open to Christ without the Holy Spirit. We don't turn to Christ
without the Holy Spirit. There is no life. We're not born
again without the Holy Spirit. The porter is the Holy Ghost
who opens the door to Christ, who circumcises the heart that
has flesh over it and removes that flesh so that we are turned
to Christ, so that we see Christ, that we hear his voice. Now we're
new creatures. We have an ear to hear the voice
of Christ. in the preaching of the gospel,
right? In the sense that we know this is true. This is Christ.
This is the one whom the Father sent to save my soul, to deliver
me from death. That's not what the world hears.
But you hear it because you live. You have the Holy Ghost, which
he's given unto you. And the sheep hear his voice,
and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. Out. So he gives us a new birth,
and he takes us out from where? Out from the prison of darkness
that we sat in, locked up by iron bars that we could not undo
or open, not even with our good works. We couldn't solve the
puzzle. We couldn't solve it at all, because we were dead
in trespasses and sins. But because Christ is the shepherd,
and he's accomplished redemption and sent his Holy Spirit, he
opens that door and says, sinner, show yourselves. Come into the
light. I've saved you. You're mine. Come out of this
prison with me. All right? The third thing here
is in verse four. And when he putteth forth his
own sheep, he goeth before them. And the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. And so here we see how that Christ
has first gone before us in all things, even in death, to prepare
a place for us. He went before us in order to
bring us up behind him. So he goes before us. And then
verse 5, and a stranger will they not follow? but will flee
from him, for they know not the voice of strangers. And this
speaks to how that Christ as our shepherd preserves his sheep. He goes before us to prepare
the way, and He is the re-reward. He follows that up and makes
sure that we make it home, that He's preserving us and keeping
us, that we do not fall away, that we do not go astray. He provides everything. So these
four things that we see here in Christ the Shepherd is that
He came in perfect righteousness. He is the appointed Savior of
the Father. There is not another salvation,
brethren. There is one Savior, given among
men, whereby we must be saved. And because he accomplished our
redemption, he gives the Holy Ghost. He goes before, and he
follows up after. Everything, brethren, as the
shepherd, the caretaker of his people. All right, now, continuing
on in the middle part of verse 2 of our text, the people said
to David, And the Lord said to thee, thou shalt feed my people
Israel. And so we know this is also related
to the good shepherd. What does a shepherd do? He feeds
the sheep. And there's a sweetness here.
Now, let me just say here first that David is a preeminent type
of Christ. He's a type of Christ. He's a
wonderful type of Christ in many, many things. And he wrote Psalm
23. So let's go to Psalm 23 now. Turn to Psalm 23, and I want
to show you, in each of the six verses, six more things about
the shepherd. Six more things about the shepherd
here. So, Psalm 23, beginning in verse
1. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. And so the first thing here,
brethren, you that believe in him, you that trust him, you
that call upon him, the Lord is my shepherd. He is your shepherd, brethren.
There's a sweet union and communion there with your Savior. There's
an intimate, personal relationship that is established between you
and the Lord. He's not a cold, dark, distant,
indifferent character out there. This is not the religion of formalism
and nothing like that where we cannot approach him. No, he's
my shepherd. You know, having cats, and if
you have any animal, a dog, a cat, chickens, there's a relationship
there, right? There's a relationship there.
That cat is looking to you to feed it. If you don't feed that
cat, that cat doesn't get fed. as the husbandman of that animal
there, you also feel an obligation. You're going to get home to make
sure that cat has its food just as it expects, because you care
about it. You know, if I don't get there, he don't eat. Someone's
got to care for him. Well, there's a real relationship
there. And with our Lord, he's my shepherd. He's my caretaker. He does care
about me. He does love me. And we often
think, you know, he's so distant, he's so far away. No, he's not.
He's my shepherd. And the more we lean upon him,
the more we find him a sure and certain hold. Like, he's got us. Like, the
more you're cast upon him, whether you fall upon him or a trial
throws you upon him, the more you fall upon him, the more certain
you find him to be. And if you think, well, I don't
know. I don't want to put anything on. You don't know it. You don't
realize just how firm a foundation he is, how complete a savior
he is, until you fall upon him, until you stumble upon him, until
you're cast upon him. And then you see, Lord, you really
do provide all that I need in perfect righteousness. We may
trust him, holy brethren. We may go to him and cry to him
and cast all our cares upon him. And he assures us as our shepherd,
as David said, I shall not want, he assures us that we shall not
be left in want. you shall not want for a righteousness,
you shall not want for a deliverance, you shall not want for a salvation,
because he provides everything that we need, everything. Second
here, verse two. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. In other words, he is the one
that brings peace into the soul. I don't find peace in this world. And God has purposed it to be
so as my savior, as my shepherd, that I wouldn't find peace in
this world. These things come and go. These
things are shaky. But the one in whom I do find
peace is Christ. And he knows how to make me lie
down. He brings peace and rest to me
in the appointed hour by his grace and mercy. He does it whether
it's in my daily physical toils or he does it in my spiritual
strivings and warfare that I go through at times. He brings peace
into the soul. He's the one that comforts. Third,
verse three, he restoreth my soul, he leadeth me in the paths
of righteousness for his name's sake. And so we see here how
that Christ delights to reveal himself to the heart, to show
you his precious salvation and how he manifests himself to us
in all his characters, in all his offices, in all that he has
given to do for us. You see how all these verses
here, there's a nearness there. There's a nearness. There's an
approachability there, that we may go to him and call upon him. And there's true life. Paul said
in Ephesians 3, in verse 16 and 19, he gives this prayer. And this prayer, it speaks to
how we are rooted in Christ, how there's a true relationship
there between us and our Savior, a true rooting by his grace.
He says there in Ephesians 3 that he would grant you, according
to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by
His Spirit in the inner man, that creation which He's made
by His seed, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith,
in your heart by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded
in love, may be able to comprehend, to understand with all saints
what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to
know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might
be filled with all the fullness of God." It delights our God,
not to constantly thunder and make us scurry away in fear and
in doubts and in worries, but to make you to know the love
of Christ. I'd say that to your mother,
to make us to know the love of Christ, not to always be in fear
and falling apart and doubting and worrying and ashamed and
thinking, he's gonna get me, he's gonna get me. He delights
to make us to know his love, the love of God in Christ, to
know that love of Christ. And so there's a sweet fellowship
that's described here. in Ephesians 3, a sweet fellowship
that our God has entered into that relationship, that covenant
relationship with us through the Savior, through the Shepherd,
through that Shepherd there. Now verse 4 in Psalm 23, Yea,
though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evil. For thou art with me, thy rod
and thy staff, they comfort me." They're for my help, they're
for my comfort, they're for my peace, they're for my understanding,
they're for my keeping. They're good for me. So that,
you know, there's difficulties that we pass through. Which is
very good for us, because these difficulties, when they strip
away, all they're stripping away is the flesh. All they're stripping
away is that clinging on to this world and the fading dead things
of this world. And what remains is that which
is made of Christ, that which is born of him, that which is
holding on to him and being held by him. In verse 5, thou preparest
a table before me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest
my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Reminds me, if you have any memory
of either being a child or going to a dear friend's house, and
there can be trouble all around. And you get inside that house,
and there's a meal prepared. And it's a meal that you love.
And it's a good meal. And you delight in it. And it
gives you comfort. And you just forget about everything.
all your enemies, all your troubles for a while there. And that's
the picture there is that our Lord, in the midst of the battle,
raging on, prepares a supper for you, a meal for you, to sit,
be fed, nourished, and strengthened, and to silence all the accusers
and the adversaries, to make them quiet, that you may just
sit and feed upon that supper which your Lord has prepared."
That's like this place here. In the middle of the week here,
we come to a table prepared for us to feed upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then verse six, surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And so all these provisions
that God speaks of here and that you've experienced by His grace
are given to assure your souls of both His word and His promise
to you that He shall not fail you. You will not come short
of that which you seek. What you've committed to him
against that day shall be there. It'll all be there, given in
full, and provided for you, pressed down, shaken, and spilling over,
as he's promised to do for you. He is faithful, brethren, faithful,
a faithful shepherd. And so those are six more blessings
that we've received from our shepherd king, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, back in our text, the last
part of verse two, They said, and thou shalt be a captain over
Israel. And so all these speak to, these
views here show us that He is, what a faithful Savior, what
a faithful Lord, what a conquering Savior for us. I mean, kingdoms
throughout history have had trouble, right? There's famines and warfare
and issues that come up, and yet with Christ as our captain,
we shall not lose an inch to the enemy. He's able. He overcomes the world. He does all things together for
good. He is the captain of our salvation,
as we saw him called in Hebrews. He's the captain. He overcomes
all our enemies. And we, as the scriptures say,
all who are born of God overcometh the world, because that which
is born of God overcometh, as he overcame. So we overcome our
enemies. Now, lastly, we read of a league
that David entered into with the people of Israel. Let's look
at verse three. So all the elders of Israel came
to the king to Hebron. And King David made a league
with them in Hebron before the Lord. And they anointed David
king over Israel. Now, one thing I noticed as I
was finishing up looking at my notes here is that David was
already king. They didn't make him a king.
He was already made a king when they came to make him their king. He was already a king, thereby
the exaltation which was given to him. And so it is with Christ.
He's already made the king overall by the Father. And what the Lord
does is he brings us into an understanding, a knowledge of
what he has done. He conforms us to his will, to
glory and to rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so he's entered
into a league with us, into a covenant relationship with you that that
by His grace, His power, His understanding given to you, His
Holy Spirit giving you new life, through that we understand I
have no righteousness. We have no righteousness of our
own, that we don't come to God by the things that we do. We
come to God in the Son, in the blood of the Son, washed in His
blood of our sins. They're put away by the gift
of God and the Lord Jesus Christ who died for the remission of
the sins of his people. And having shed his blood, satisfied
God, and given you his spirit, regenerating you, whereby you
are drawn to him and come to him in that covenant of relationship
where God may be gracious to you. to not deal with us as our
sins deserve, but to deal with us in mercy, and in grace, and
in kindness, in this covenant, as we saw described here, of
our shepherd, so that he has entered into that to say, I'll
do all these things for you, my people, as your shepherd king. everything you need, I promise,
I commit to give to you everything you need. And he makes his people
to come to him and say, yes, Lord, everything you say, we'll
do, Lord. Give me a heart for it. Turn
me to you, Lord. Help me. Because you know I'm
but dust. You know the infirmity of my
flesh. but I love you for what you've
done for me, and you've given me your spirit, and you say you'll
do all these things, Lord, keep me. Don't let me go, because
you know what I am. You know my heart. You know what
a fool I am by nature. Lord, save me. And that's what
he does. He brings us into that covenant
relationship, that bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh and
made of his body, and it's a sweet union between us all. And so,
they anointed David king over Israel. And so we, brethren,
with the praises of our lips, crown him with many crowns and
rejoice in him, for he's the Savior. And we're satisfied with
him. We rejoice in him. And I pray the Lord has blessed
that to our hearts. Amen.