Wonderful to know that those
who have went home to be with the Lord are in perfect harmony,
praising our God and waiting for the rest of us. They shall
not enjoy all of the benefits before us, but as I read to you
earlier, that we all shall meet Him in the air. And so shall
we all be with the Lord, those that go to be with the Lord and
those that are alive when He returns. And so this brings us great comfort.
Now, I want to do this before I begin
the message. Let's go to God in prayer. I
need His grace and mercy to deliver this message to you. I ask you
to pray for me. You know, when your mind don't
work on all cylinders, and it just seems like mine's that way,
but I need His help, and I pray God would use this Word for His
glory. Let's go to Him in prayer. Our
gracious Father in Heaven, we thank You for this time that
You've given us. Father, this time that You have ordained,
this time that You have set aside, that You have brought us here,
to this time and this place, to hear this message. For this
we are thankful, and we pray, Father, that you would, by your
grace, send your Holy Spirit. And Father, I pray that you'd
give me grace as I long to preach this message. I pray that you
would give me the ability, the unction of thy Spirit to preach, that you would fill my heart
and mind with the words that should bless your people And
Father, I do pray that you would open the hearts and minds of
everyone to hear it. It doesn't matter if it's done
in great oratory skill, but Father, if your spirit does not apply
it, it cannot be learned. And I pray that you would teach
every heart, even those that aren't looking for you, that
you should find them. And I pray you would do this
for the glory of Christ. Forgive us our sins in His name.
Amen. If you've got your Bibles, take
them and turn with me to 2 Samuel. 2 Samuel chapter 23. 2 Samuel
chapter 23. I've entitled the message, The Last Words David, the last words of David. Here in Holy Scripture we read
verse 1, Now these be the last words of 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. 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 be
as a light of the morning when the sun rises, even a morning
without clouds. as the tender grass springing
out of the earth by a clear and shining after the rain. That's
what God said he should be. Now listen to what he said. 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 maketh it not to
grow." Now, I know that at the deathbed of many of saints, there
have been great and comforting words spoken. Now, some saints
will die and no one in the world will ever hear what they have
to say. But some believers are afforded
a last word. I've written down a couple, but
I'll just go over a couple of them with you. A man named John
James Henry said this at his deathbed. He said, you tell me
I only have a few moments to live? Oh, let me spend them adoring
our great Redeemer. Oh, welcome death. Thou mayest be well reckoned
among the treasures of the Christian." Oh, welcome death, a treasure
of the Christian. Jonathan Edwards, he said goodbye
to his family, and as he was about to leave, he looked around
and he said, now, where's Jesus of Nazareth? And he fell asleep. My brother Eric, when he was
capable of talking to me, he said this to me. He said, I do
not care what God does to me. I trust in Christ. Blessed last words. The last
words of the saints of God are a comfort. The words of a believer
comfort our hearts and we rejoice in them. Why? Because they, like Paul, could
say this, I have fought the good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. Isn't
that the only thing that's important? That we endure in faith? Jesus
said, He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. Only those who have true faith
will endure to the end in faith. I know this is the desire of
every believer, isn't it? My desire is to be found in Christ. Not having mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but the righteousness of God. Listen,
the righteousness of God, that's what I need. Who's going to earn
that? By the righteousness of God which
is by the faith of Jesus Christ. You see, my righteousness is
not merited by my faith. My righteousness is simply received
by my faith. It's not merited. Christ earned
my righteousness. Christ is our righteousness. Now, we have recorded for us
here the last words of David. The last words of David. Look
at what he says in his last moments. David would have this penned
when he was dying. Notice he states his experience
here, what he had experienced. He said, David, the son of Jesse. David, the son of Jesse, said,
and the man who was raised up on high. First of all, he wants
to remind you of this, where he came from. He said, I'm just
the son of Jesse. Remember when Samuel was commanded
to go to anoint the king? God says, there's a king in the
house of Jesse. Go over there and anoint my king.
And those boys of Jesse lined up, and the first one was a strapping
fellow, a big strong fellow. And Samuel looked at him and
said, well, that's got to be the guy. And God said, no. He
went to the second one. Hey, God said, no. Went down
to the last one and God said, no. And he said to Jesse, don't
you have any more sons? He said, yeah, I got one old
little boy in the sheepfold. The last son in that day was
a nobody. So what is he saying here? I
was a nobody. I was the last one that anybody
would have ever chosen. I'm a son of Jesse. I'm a son
of Jesse." What does this remind you of, believer? It reminds
me of this, that I was a son of Adam, a nobody. Every believer understands this,
where we came from. We were sons of Adam. We were
born dead in sin. No hope of saving ourselves. I had no love for God. I had
no love for His Word. I wasn't seeking God. The Scripture
tells me this, that the natural man is at enmity against God. I was born hating God. Oh, I love religion. Made me
feel good. Made me feel good about myself. I love to pretend
before people that I was righteous. But when God came to me, I knew
this, I was dead. I couldn't save myself. That's
what a dead person is, isn't it? A dead person is one without
life. Tell a dead person to do something.
You know, if you'll just do this, it'll be alright. When God came to me, I was dead
in my sins, and I could not satisfy the law of God. I couldn't do
it. That's what David hears remind
us, our origin. We were sons of Adam, born dead
in sins. We were fallen, dead. In Ephesians chapter 2, this
is what the apostle says about every believer. Every believer
knows this about themselves. Let me get over there. In Ephesians chapter 2 he says,
And you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins,
wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air, and
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all. He's talking to every believer.
We all had our conversation in time past, in the lust of our
flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind.
And listen, we're by nature children of wrath, even as others. That's where God found me. He
found us in our sins. Another verse that describes
me is Romans 3, verse 10. There is none righteous. Listen to these words. No, not
one. Now, is that hard to understand?
Can you understand that? How many's righteous? No, not
one. None of us are born righteous.
We're born sinners. I got children here. I didn't
teach them to lie. They figured that out all by
themselves. Why? Because they were born of a liar.
I was born a sinner and my children were born sinners. There's none
righteous. No, not one. There's none that
understandeth. There's none that seeketh after
God. No one is seeking after God.
No one. They are all together unprofitable. You take all of our good works
and put them together and not one of those works will merit
favor with God. Now listen, if your work can
merit favor with God, your God's too small. Your God's too much like you.
God declares that I am holy, the thrice holy God. In order
to enter heaven, listen, this is very serious, you must be
as holy as God. You must be as holy as God. So every believer understands
this. Yet God sent His Word. The only
reason I knew I was dead, I heard somebody preach the Gospel to
me, and that Gospel, I heard it a thousand times before. But
when the Spirit of God came with the Gospel... When I was a kid,
I knew everybody was dead in sins. When the Spirit of God
came to me, I knew I was dead in sin. Big difference. When
the Spirit of God came to me, He raised me up. That's what
He says in the Psalm. He said, I was a son of Jesse
in the sheep. I was watching the sheep. I was
a nobody. And then what did God do to David?
He raised Him up on high. This is what God does for every
one of His people, is that He calls us, in that text in Ephesians
2, it says, But God. Here's the difference? What made
the difference? How is it that I am saved and
others are lost? What is it? It wasn't me, but
God. who is rich in mercy, for His
great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in
our sins. Listen to what He did. He hath
quickened us together with Christ, for by grace you are saved. And so as he is looking here
at his humble origin, he sees what God has done. God raised
him up to be King of Israel. God raised Him up to be King
of Israel. And this is true of every believer. The Scripture
says this. Listen. He had taken us from
the dunghill. That's descriptive, isn't it?
Where did He take you from? Took me from the dunghill and
raised us to sit among princes. How did He do that? He did that
by Jesus Christ. That's the only way he could
do it. He did it by the merits of a substitute, of one doing
the things that I could not do. He did it. And then he revealed
it to me. Now, you know the difference
between David's last words and everybody else's? David's last
words are prophecy. These are not just the last words
of a believer. These are the last words of a
believer as was inspired by God. Look what it says. He said, He's
a sweet psalmist of Israel. He 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. When David wrote something,
it was not just David writing it. The Spirit of God wrote these
things. So these last words of David
are intended by the Spirit of God for the comfort of God's
people. Because these words here, I own
them as my own. These words of David are the
words of God that He speaks through every believer. When we read
this, these last words of David, every believer can identify with
this. Every one of us. And so, as we
die, We have the same hope that David has. Now listen, if you
hear these last words, and you don't have this same hope, listen
to me, you have no hope. If your hope is not David's hope,
then you have no hope. Why? Because these are the words
of God. This is the word of God. And
so as God raised him up, he does every believer this way. Now David is, the Lord here in
verse 3 and 4 describes how the king should be. David was set
up to be king and God prescribed to him exactly how a Godly king
should be. Look at this. He said, 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 a light of the morning when the sun rises, even a morning
without clouds, as a tender grass springing out of the earth by
a clear and shining after the rain. The visual picture is beautiful.
A storm is happening in the night. A violent storm is taking place. The rain is pelting on the tender
grass. It's rudely penetrating the earth. It's a hard, violent storm. And
then what? When the storm passes and the
sun rises, clouds are gone. He said that's
what a good king looks like. A good king is is like a bright
sunny day without clouds. Notice what David said about
himself though. He said, although my house be
not so with God. David said, that's what a just
king looks like. But that sure don't look what
my house looks like. He said, my house is not like
that. The psalmist says this in sorrow,
that his house is not like that. But what man is there, what believer
is there that is not riddled with this same trouble? We see
what God demands of us, and what do we find? I find I can't do
it. God demands holy perfection,
but I cannot attain it. I cannot do it. And this causes great fear and
struggle within ourselves. We feel the guilt and shame within
ourselves before God that we will never be able to meet this
standard. But what is our hope? Our hope
is in not me personally meeting the standard, but rather this,
that there is someone else who has met the standard in my place.
David said, ìMy house is not like that.î In other words, David
is saying, ìThis king is not me, itís someone else.î David
here is describing the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the only just king. He is the only righteous king. But unless you understand your
sin, youíll never seek a Savior. Do you understand that? If you
donít know your need of a Savior, youíll never seek one. You always
look to somebody else. Something else. But when you
look within and you don't find anything, it's then you need
a Savior. Listen, I heard this said before.
Only an absolute sinner needs an absolute Savior. That's me. I am an absolute sinner. I have nothing to give. Nothing
to offer. My house is not so. Is yours? So what do I need? I need an
absolute Savior. I don't need one that does 90%.
I don't need one that does 50%. I need one that does it all. That's what David's recognizing
here. His house was a mess. It was full of sin. And David
is no different than any other believer. Have you considered
what David's house looked like? Now David was a man after God's
own heart. He was a sinner saved by grace. But do you see his
house? David's house, in his house, his son committed incest
and rape with his daughter. Another son of his murdered that
son. And then that son that murdered
tried to overthrow David and have him killed. Is that a good
house? That sound like a just house,
a righteous house? David said, my house is not like
that righteous house God described. There was a painter for kings,
and during the revolution there in England, Oliver Cromwell took
power and put down the reign of kings. And he had his portrait
painted by this painter. And Oliver Cromwell had a big
wart on his nose. This big old wart. And that painter,
he painted his face clear, beautiful. And he said, why did you do that?
He said, well, kings, they didn't want any blemishes on their painting.
He said, no. You paint me warts and all. That's
what God does with every one of his saints. He paints them
warts and all. You won't find a saint in God's
Word that you won't find his sin revealed. David's house was a mess. God above describes what a good
king's house is. And we know this, that the only
king that matches this is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the
one. He is as the bright and morning
star that arises after the storm. When God comes and we feel the
weight of our guilt, it's like a storm. The rain of God's justice
seems to be down on us. We feel the guilt. We feel the
shame. But when God reveals Christ,
the rain ceases. The sun arises. And we see things clearly. He
is the light of the world, isn't He? He is the light of the world. So by the Holy Spirit then, what
did we do? We fled to Him. Have you fled
to Christ for refuge? Are you still trusting in your
own works? Anybody trusting in their works?
Anybody want to take your good works and say, Here God, accept
this. When God convicts you of sin,
I know this, you'll have no place to go but Christ. When God convicted me of my sin,
I fled to Him. You know what? I hadn't stopped.
I hadn't stopped. Jesus Christ is my refuge. He is my high priest. He is my
offering. He is my righteousness. He is
my wisdom. He is my sanctification. He is
all my salvation. That's what David is describing
here. Although my house be not so with God. My house is full
of sin and grief and sorrow. But notice what David had confidence
in. He said this, Here, since my
house is not like that, listen to me, this is what I'm trusting.
Yet, He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. Listen, ordered in all things. His house wasn't ordered. Is
your house ordered? Say, I got it down now. No, my hope is not in my house,
in myself. My hope is in a covenant. Not
a covenant I made with God. People do that all the time.
Well, God, if you do this, then I'll do that. What a horrible
covenant, because you're never going to do it anyway. If you
do it, it's not perfect, is it? No, my hope is in this. God made
a covenant with me. God made a covenant with me.
What's a covenant? It's a contractual thing, isn't
it? You have something you want done,
you hire a man, you contract over it, and each person does
their part, and the contract's fulfilled. God's contract's not
like that. Did God consult you when He made
this contract? Did He ask your permission to
make this contract? When He made Adam in the garden,
did He ask his permission? Adam, what kind of covenant would
you like? No. God made a covenant with Adam,
and this was a covenant of works. Listen to this. God said, Don't
eat this. In the day you eat it, you will
die. Now, did Adam get a say-so? Did he get to say, Well, I don't
like that covenant. I'd like to change it a little
bit. No. God made with Him a covenant.
And when God makes a covenant, it's one-sided. God makes the
covenant, and you abide by it. Or listen, die. That was it! Are you basing your salvation
on a works covenant? Well, God did what He can do,
and now I've got to do the rest. Is that your covenant? A worse covenant is useless. You know why? Because you'll
never do it. You could never keep your end.
God said this, listen to this, listen to this. If you want to
earn your way to heaven, listen to this. Be ye holy even as I
am holy. Now go do that. Well, I've made some mistakes.
No, you've failed and you'll die. I don't like that covenant. God
doesn't care if you like that covenant or not. That is the
covenant. If you seek to serve, be accepted
of God by your works, listen to me very carefully, you'll
be damned. You'll be damned. But David wasn't trusting in
a covenant like that. He said, my house is a wreck.
I have no hope in a works covenant, but this is the covenant that
He will make with Him. Look, He said, Yet He hath made
with Me an everlasting covenant. An everlasting covenant. How long is everlasting? It's
forever. In other words, this covenant
never had a beginning. The covenant David's talking about, it didn't
even have a beginning. And listen to this, it doesn't have an end. This covenant is eternal. Listen
to the covenant that God made with him. This is the covenant
that God chose some of Adam's race that he would save. Here's
a covenant, God made it. Paul said in Ephesians chapter
1, he says, according as He hath chosen us in Christ. When? When did He choose you, David? Before the foundation of the
world. According as He had chosen us
in Christ before the foundation of the world. Listen, here's
the covenant, that we should be holy. Isn't that what He demanded? And yet God purposed that His
elect should be holy in love, having predestinated
them unto the adoption of children. Listen to how all this is going
to be done. Two words, or three, by Jesus Christ. That's how. How is this covenant fulfilled?
By Jesus Christ. Now look, I'm the object of all
the benefits. But I'm not the one to perform
the covenant. I have a mediator. I have one
who is going to perform the covenant. Jesus Christ is going to perform
the covenant of making me holy. That was the covenant. And listen,
Jesus Christ, when He came into the world as a man, you know
why He came as a man? Why did the Son of God become
a man? Why was that so important? Well, God couldn't die. And I
needed someone to pay for my sins. God's justice had to be
satisfied. And in this covenant, Jesus Christ
said this, I'll pay the price. So when Christ came and He lived
that righteous life as that just King, He lived a holy life, He
was doing that for me according to a covenant. And then when He died, He died because God made Him
to be sin for us. He bore my sin in His own body
on the tree. And then to prove that that covenant
was done, God raised Him from the dead. How do I know my sins
are gone? God raised Him from the dead.
Now He sits on the throne of God. You know what Christ's last
words were? You know what his last words
were? It is finished. What? The covenant. The covenant
was done. Everything God required, Christ
performed. Then by the power of God, when
I wasn't even looking for God, I wasn't searching for God, I
was living my life in sin, enjoying my life in sin. I played the
religious fool. until God came to me." What a
special time that was, when God came to me and revealed Himself
to me. You know why He did that? He
was in a covenant. God had already purposed to do
it. Was there anything going to stop
that? I stand amazed at this. I didn't want it. I wasn't looking
for it. God had already determined it
and nothing was going to prevent it. He found me. He saved me
and then He showed me this covenant of grace. And so what is my hope? Is it in my house? Is it in myself? When I come to die, is my hope
in anything I've done? No! My house is not so! But He
has made with me an everlasting covenant, listen, ordered in
all things. And what? What is it? Sure. Do you say it about anything
in this life? Is anything in this life sure? This is the only thing that's
sure. Why? God decreed it. Christ accomplished it. The Spirit
of God applies it, and listen to this, He keeps it. I don't
even have the keeping part. Peter said this, we are kept
by the power of God unto salvation ready to be revealed at the last
time. I've only got a glimpse of this
salvation. I've only got a little narrow glimpse of this thing.
My brother, as of right now, has a full glimpse. He has a
full measure of understanding. That's our hope, isn't it? And so this morning, what is
your hope? Now, look, it is appointed that a man wants to die, and
after this, the judgment, isn't it? When you stand on the abyss of
death, and listen to me, death is solemn, isn't it? You know
why death is so solemn? Because it's final. Listen to what God said about
death. He said, He that is just, let him be just still. And he that is unjust, let him
be unjust still. When a person dies, however you
die, that's how you are. For the believer, we have been
justified. Right now, I'm justified. Why? God justified me. Well, how can
you be so sure? Christ died. That's how I'm sure
my sins are gone. Christ died. Where's your sins? They died with Him. How do you
know they're dead? He rose again. Can't rise from
the dead with sin on you. Sin had to be gone. He raised
from the dead. How are you sure He's going to keep this covenant?
Because He ever lives to make intercession for me. He sits
on the throne of God right now. What is happening is happening
all according to the decree of this just King. This just King
who has made a covenant with me. Now look at David's satisfaction. Look at the end of this. What
was David's hope? The covenant of God. And he said
this, For this is all my salvation. Wait a second, David. You were
a prophet. You were raised up to be king
of Israel. You were a mighty warrior. You did many wonderful
things. As a young boy, slew the giant
with a sling. That was a big accomplishment,
wasn't it? You went from the sheep to the throne of Israel. That's an accomplishment, David.
Surely, you're going to trust in any of that. David said, Nope.
None of that has anything to do with my salvation. None of
it. What was all His salvation? Listen
to me. This is the truth of every believer.
Christ is all my salvation. All of it. I don't contribute
anything to it. I've seen pictures, I've never
been there, of that Sistine Chapel. Have you seen that beautiful
ceiling? Amazing work, right? What if
I were to go up and say, well, you know what, that needs a little
touch up. And I start drawing stick figures. You want to add your works to
his? What are you saying about his work then? If you add your
works to his, what are you saying about his work? I'm saying it's
not enough. You're saying, I need to add
to your work. Your work's not sufficient. What
do we say? It's sufficient. That's what
I say. It's sufficient. And I dare not
add one thing to it. Why? Because if I do, I contaminate
it. I contaminate it. David said, listen, on his last
breath, his dying words, this is all. my salvation. All my salvation. And listen,
all my desire. I'm going to read this and I'll
close Philippians chapter 3. Listen, if this is not your desire,
the desire of the Apostle is in my mind, right? In Philippians chapter 3, Paul
lists all of his wonderful religious works, and this is what he said, Yea, doubtless I count all things
but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do
count them but dung. What do you think about his religious
works? Now Paul, he had a lot of religious works. What do you
think about them? He said they're dung, crap. That's all they are. Why? That I may win Christ. Listen,
and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness.
You want your own righteousness? I don't. I want His. But the righteousness of God, which is through the
faith of Christ, the righteousness, which is of God by faith, that
I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship
of his suffering be made conformable unto his death, if by any means
I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. The only way we
attain to the resurrection of the dead is to be found in him.
Are you found in him? When you breathe your last, what
is your hope? David said, it's not my house.
My house is full of sin. My hope is in a covenant He made
with me, a covenant He ordered, and a covenant He accomplished,
a covenant He applied covenant He keeps, this is all my salvation. Now that's the Word of God. What is your hope? I pray it's Christ. Let's stand
and be dismissed in prayer. Our gracious Father in heaven,
we bow before you, praying for grace and mercy upon your word.
I beg you to use it according to the power of your spirit,
according to your grace and mercy upon the hearts of sinners. I pray, Father, that you would
reveal your covenant in Christ, their need of it, and that, Father,
they might find their all in Christ. Those of us who have
found Christ and rejoice in Him, I pray for grace to continually
look to Him, cling to Him, even until the time you take us home.
In Christ's name, Amen. Oh, yes, I'm sorry, sweetheart. My mind gets she'd like to say
something. You stop that. Yeah, please. Yes. Oh, did you want them to
hear? No. Okay. I didn't know.