Turn with me, if you would, back
to 2 Samuel 23. Our brother just read these five
verses to us. And I love these verses. I love these five verses. I believe that These five verses
are very deep. I believe they're deep, I believe
they're meaningful, I believe they're wise. They grab my attention and every
time I run across them I'll read this and enter into this and And then if I go a while without
seeing it and I come back to it every time that I see these
verses, they make me want to ponder life and death, the things that really matter,
things that truly matter. I've never known anything as
precious or as fragile as life. I believe I entered into it more
when God gave me the responsibility of two children. I believe I
cared more for life at that point. But I've never known anything
that is as fragile, as precious as life. You can't put a price
on it. It is priceless. If somebody came and said, I'll
give you $10 trillion right now if you give me your life, would
that be worth it? It is priceless. But unfortunately, men throw
it away every day. They're just throwing it away.
And it breaks my heart. They're not considering their
latter end. And it breaks my heart. It breaks my heart. There are
people I've met in this life and I love them. I cannot help
it. I like them and I love them. And I do not want to see them
go out into eternity losing their life. These verses are sobering to
me. This is very sobering. Our Lord
has given us a very short space of time to physically live. Man is born spiritually dead,
but God has in goodness given men and women life, physical
life on this earth. And it breaks my heart to see
them not redeem that short precious time by bowing the knee to Jesus
Christ. It breaks my heart. Compared
to eternity, compared to eternity, our time on this earth is not
even the blink of an eye. That's too long. We say it's
a blink of the eye. It's a vapor of smoke. That's
too long compared to eternity. And then after that short time
is over, the soul is ushered out into eternity. It's either
unto eternal glory in life. or it's unto eternal damnation
in death. One thing is the deciding factor. I need to know what that one
thing is. Whenever I see verses like this, and I pray the Lord
would cause this to be the case for me every time, but sometimes
when I see certain verses like this, it causes me to realize
we're not playing games here. Oh, look at that little church.
It's so cute. They got a couple of people in there going through
the motions. They're religious. They do it
over and over and over. Same thing. Worship their God.
Come in. We're not playing games here, are we? We are not playing
games. Time is flying. Time is fly. I'm not that old. But I can already
look back and see chapter after chapter of my life that is over. I'll never get it back. You can
see those stages in life when you say, well, that chapter's
over. It's gone. Eternity is running at me. It's coming fast. It's coming
quickly. And I need a hope going into
it. I'm about to be I am about to
be ushered into eternity. At some point God put this soul
in the body and at some point God is going to make this soul
leave the body. That body is going to fall and the soul is
not. I need a hope going into eternity,
don't you? Don't you need a hope going into
eternity? Eternity is forever. It's forever. Look with me right here at 2
Samuel 23 verse 1. It says, Now these be the last
words of David. Isn't that sobering? This is the end of David's life. All of his ups after all of those triumphs,
after all of his downs, all of his falls. These be the last words of David. David died at a full age. He died at a full age. Let me
show you that back in 2 Samuel chapter 5. This morning we're
going to take a minute and move around 1 and 2 Samuel and we're
going to see a little bit about David's life. 2 Samuel 5, look at verse 4. It
says, David was 30 years old when he began to reign. And he
reigned 40 years. In Hebron, he reigned over Judah
seven years and six months. And in Jerusalem, he reigned
30 and three years over all Israel and Judah. So he was 70, roughly. Three score and 10. That's when
he died. And throughout his life, clearly
the Lord's hand was on him. God gave him great strength. God gave him great courage. Go back with me to 1 Samuel 17.
1 Samuel chapter 17. 1 Samuel 17 verse 1 says, Now the Philistines gathered
together their armies to battle, and were gathered together at
Shoko, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Shoko and
Ezekiah in Ephesdamim. And Saul and the men of Israel
were gathered together and pitched by the valley of Elah, and set
the battle in array against the Philistines. And the Philistines
stood on a mountain on one side, and Israel stood on a mountain
on the other side, and there was a valley between them. And
there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines
named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span."
That's nine and a half feet tall. And he had a helmet of brass
upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail. And the
weight of the coat was 5,000 shekels of brass. And he had
greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between
his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was
like a weaver's beam. And his spear's head weighed
six hundred shekels of iron, and one bearing a shield went
before him. And he stood and cried unto the
armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are you come out to
set your battle in array? Am not I Philistine, and you
servants of Saul? Choose you a man for you, and
let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me
and to kill me, then will we be your servants. But if I prevail
against him and kill him, then shall ye be our servants and
serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy
the armies of Israel this day. Give me a man that we may fight
together. When Saul and all Israel heard
those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly
afraid. Saul was afraid. All of Israel
was afraid. Look at verse 32. And David said to Saul, let no
man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight
with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, thou
art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him.
For thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, thy
servant kept his father's sheep. And there came a lion and a bear,
and he took a lamb out of the flock. And I went after him,
and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth. And when
he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him,
and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion
and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine
shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of
the living God. David said, Moreover, the Lord
hath delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the
paw of the bear. He will deliver me out of the
hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, Go,
the Lord be with thee. Go ahead. The whole kingdom is
resting on this. If you lose, we're their servants.
He said, Go ahead. We know how this story ends,
don't we? David put a smooth stone in a
sling and he went running at that giant. And he slung that
stone and God caused. There are no accidents. We say
there are no accidents with God. What that means is there are
no accidents in this world. Everything is ordered. And God
caused this smooth stone to fly through the air and hit that
man. Here he is covered in, I can see him with all this chained
steel all over him. And he's got a big shield between
his shoulder blades here. And he's got this big helmet
on. He's got all this stuff. And the one little spot where
he had to see, And the one little spot right between his eyes,
that rock sunk into his forehead, killed him. David ran up to him,
pulled his own sword out of his sheath, and cut his own head
off with his own sword. David was a man who was truly
blessed by God. God was with him. He was a man
who was anointed by God. Look with me at first Samuel
13. First Samuel 13, look with me
at verse 13. Samuel said to Saul, the king
at that time, thou hast done foolishly, thou hast not kept
the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee,
for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel forever.
But now thy kingdom shall not continue. The Lord hath sought
him a man after his own heart. And the Lord hath commanded him
to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that
which the Lord commanded thee." Who is that man? The man after
his own heart. Who did he choose? Look at chapter
16. This is where he chose David.
1 Samuel 16, verse 1. The Lord said unto Samuel, How
long wilt thou mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from
reigning over Israel? Fill thine horn with oil, and
go, I will send thee to Jesse the Bethlehemite. Now, David
was born in Bethlehem. That's an interesting point,
isn't it? He said, You're going to go to
Bethlehem. I've provided me a king among his sons. Verse 2, And
Samuel said, How can I go if Saul hear it? He will kill me. And the Lord said, Take an heifer
with thee, and say, I'm come to sacrifice to the Lord. And
call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show thee what thou
shalt do. And thou shalt anoint unto me him whom I name unto
thee. Samuel did that which the Lord
spake, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled
at his coming, and said, Comest thou peaceably? And he said peaceably,
I am come to sacrifice unto the Lord. Sanctify yourselves and
come with me to the sacrifice. And he sanctified Jesse and his
sons and called them to the sacrifice. And it came to pass when they
were come that he looked on Eliab, David's oldest brother. And he
said, Surely the Lord's anointed is before him. But the Lord said
unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance or on the height
of his stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord seeth
not as man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but
the Lord looketh on the heart. Then Jesse called Abinadab and
made him pass before Samuel, and he said, Neither hath the
Lord chosen this. Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by, and
he said, Neither hath the Lord chosen this. Again Jesse made
seven of his sons to pass before Samuel, and Samuel said unto
Jesse, The Lord hath not chosen these. And Samuel said unto Jesse,
Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth
yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel
said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him, for we will not sit down
till he come hither. And he sent and brought him in.
Now he was ruddy and withal of a beautiful countenance, and
goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint
him, for this is he. Then Samuel took the horn of
oil and anointed him in the midst of his brethren. And the Spirit
of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose
up and went to Ramah. Now watch the good providence
of God. I love this. I just love this. This is how our Lord works. Verse
14 says, But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and
an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him. The Lord sent a
troubling spirit to Saul, just troubled him. Verse 15, And Saul's
servant said unto him, Behold, now an evil spirit from God troubleth
thee. Let our Lord command thy servants
which are before thee to seek out a man who is a cunning player
on a harp and it shall come to pass when the evil spirit from
God is upon thee that he shall play with his hand and thou shalt
be well. All of Saul's servants saw that
he was troubled and they said, let us go find you a musician
to play for you, somebody who can play well. Verse 17, and
Saul said unto his servants, provide me now a man that can
play well and bring him to me. Then answered one of the servants
and said, behold, I have seen a son of Jesse, the Bethlehemite,
that is cunning and playing, and a mighty, valiant man, a
man of war, and prudent in matters, and a comely person, and the
Lord is with him. I've seen a boy play. Wherefore
Saul sent messengers unto Jesse, and said, Send me David thy son,
which is with the sheep. And Jesse took an ass laden with
bread, and a bottle of wine, and a kid, and sent them by David
his son unto Saul. And David came to Saul and stood
before him, and he loved him greatly, and he became his armor-bearer. And Saul sent to Jesse, saying,
Let David, I pray thee, stand before me, for he hath found
favor in my sight. And it came to pass, when the
evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took a harp
and played with his hand. And Saul was refreshed and was
well, and the evil spirit departed from him." Who does that remind
you of? God said he's going to be king. And he moved in all the providence
of David's life for Saul to say, I want him to grow up in my house
right next to me. I want him to grow up watching
the king. That happened for somebody else.
God said, you're going to be the deliverer, Moses. And God
worked it out for the Pharaoh of Egypt to say, he's going to
grow up in my house. I'm going to teach him everything
he needs to know to be a leader of the people. God prospered
David. He anointed him. He loved him. He said, he's a man after my
own heart. But here's the truth of the matter.
David sinned against God. We just have seen all of this
good, could you imagine God doing that for one of us? And David
sinned against this God. He spit in his face and he, in
spite of all of God's goodness, sinned against him. And here's
the thing we already know. So have I. And so have you. David's sins are recorded in
here. We've read them and we're not
going to go read them. Some of David's sins are recorded in
here and they're terrible. We read those and we acknowledge
those. If that happened in our midst,
we would be shocked. Wouldn't we? They're terrible. But the truth
is, is they're really not much different from ours. The end
of verse 7 right here in 1 Samuel 16 says, The Lord seeth not as
man seeth, for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the
Lord looks on the heart. He looks on the heart. And every
single one of us has lied just like David. Every single one
of us has cheated just like David. We've all murdered just like
David. We've all sinned against the
living God and it has ruined our life. It has ruined our life. No matter what good could be
said about David, and no matter what good can be said about you
and me, when it gets right down to it, we're in the same boat
as a man named Naaman. There was a man in the scripture
named Naaman. And the scripture says, he was
captain of the host of the king of Syria. He was a great man
with his master and honorable, because by him the Lord had given
deliverance unto Syria. He was also a mighty man in valor,
but he was a leper. He was a leper. None of that could change the
fact that this was a dying man. Every man in this life is in
that boat. David was a great man, but he
was a sinner. Sin ruined his life. Sin has
ruined ours. The rest of David's days, and
I read them, and we don't have time to. But the rest of David's
days were totally surrounded by death and trouble and fear. They were ruined. His friends
turned on him, betrayed him. His generals, David was king. His generals betrayed him, turned
on him. His children betrayed him and
turned on him. His own son Absalom died trying
to kill David his father so he could take that kingdom. He wanted
that kingdom. And he died trying to kill David. Sin ruined it all. And that's the case for every
soul in this life. If he had left this life, we
just read these are the last words of David. David entered
into eternity. And we are all going to do the
same thing. Had David left this life trusting in his strength,
he would have entered eternity with no hope. He laid there a
dying man. He couldn't even get out of the
bed. He lost it. It was gone. Had David left this
life trusting in his courage, he would have entered eternity
with no hope. He spent his last days running
in fear, hiding in caves, letting spit run down his beard, acting
like a crazy man so he wouldn't die. He had no hope in anything that
he was. Anything that he was. If he would
have left this life trusting in his accomplishments, some have accomplished great
things. He made it all the way to king. God put him there. But he was the king and his kingdom
at this moment is about to be stripped away from him. He's
about to lose it all. Job said, naked came I out of
my mother's womb and naked shall I return. All the gold, all the
silver, All the power, he can't take any of that with him. Not
one bit of it. But here's the thing. None of
those things were David's hope. None of those things were David's
hope. David had one hope. And it's the only hope that will
carry a sinner safely into eternity. One hope. Go with me back over
to 2 Samuel 23. Verse 1 says, 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 be
as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even a morning
without clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth
by clear shining after rain." Who is all that talking about?
Who truly is the root of Jesse? The man who was raised up on
high? The anointed of the God of Jacob? The sweet psalmist of Israel. Who is the God of Israel, the
rock, the one that rules over men justly? Who is the light
of the morning? The tender plant, the root out
of dry ground, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. David's Savior. And this is what David said in
verse 5. Although my house be not so with God. David's house
was a mess. His family was a mess. We can
say though the same thing about this house. Right here. The house that my soul dwells
in. The house that I've polluted.
The house that death has ruined. and sin has ruined. Verse 5 says,
although my house be not so with God. Although it's not worthy
to stand in the presence of God. People talk about being right
with God. He's going to die. He's on his
deathbed, but it's OK. He's right with God. He's made
his peace. That's not so. That's not so. No flesh in this life is right
with God. No flesh can make peace with
God. No flesh is worthy to stand in
his presence and no flesh is going to. He told Job, he told
David, he told Isaiah, all flesh is grass. And he said it's going
to be cut down. But this is what David said,
I found one hope. I found one hope, there is one
hope. Verse 5, although my house be
not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant. A forever lasting promise. What was it? This is the best way I know to
describe it this morning. I'm going to finish with this. God made an eternal promise.
It came from God the Father and God the Son. And God used David
to represent both of them. He used David to illustrate both
of them in this covenant. David's own son Absalom. He died while he was pursuing
his father. His hair got caught up in a tree,
wrapped around a tree branch, and it hung him. And they killed
him while he was hanging there. In Absalom, he sinned against
his own father. He hated him. And he did it by
by trying to get all the people to come over to his side. He
went and he talked to all the people and he got them to follow
him instead of his father. And then once he had their confidence,
he cried, crucify him. Kill, I want him dead. I will not have that man reign
over me. And that's what this flesh did
to his own Lord. That's what this flesh did to
his own Lord. But whenever he pursued after
David, he died in that pursuit. And David's servants came and
told him of all this news. And I just want to show you this
verse in 2 Samuel 18. Look back at 2 Samuel 18. 2 Samuel 18 verse 31, Behold Cushi
came, and Cushi said, Tidings my lord the king, for the lord
hath avenged thee this day of all them that rose up against
thee. And the king said unto Cushi, Is the young man Absalom
safe? And Cushi answered, the enemies
of my lord the king and all that rise against thee to do thee
hurt, be as that young man is. They are all dead. Absalom is
dead. Verse 33, and the king was much
moved, and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And as
he went, thus he said, O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom,
would God I had died for thee, O Absalom, my son, my son. The promise of God the Son to
his own is this, my son, I have died for thee. David said as
a type of Christ, this is my desire, that I die for thee. And that's what Christ did. I died for thee. You sinned against
me. You hated me without a cause. You deserved the death of a rebel,
but I died for you. I took your place. After Absalom
died, David came back in as king, king of Jerusalem. And while
he was running, there's a man named Shimei. Have you ever heard
of that man, Shimei? being chased by Absalom, running
for his life. And Shimei was over on a hill
cursing David, throwing rocks at David, throwing dirt on David. And one of his soldiers said,
you want me to go take his head off? And he said, no, it may
be the Lord will requite me good for his evil this day. So this
man, Shimei, cursed him. hated him. When David came back,
came back in, look with me at 2 Samuel 19 verse 18. There went over a ferry boat
to carry over the king's household and to do what he thought good
and Shimei the son of Gerah fell down before the king as he was
come to Jordan. Here he comes back in as king
and this man Shimei comes and falls down before him. and said
unto the king, let not my lord impute iniquity unto me, neither
do thou remember that which thy servant did perversely the day
that my lord the king went out of Jerusalem, that the king should
take it to heart, for thy servant doth know that I have sinned.
Therefore, behold, I am come the first this day of all the
house of Joseph to go down to meet my lord the king. That sounds
like the same thing David begged in Psalm 51, have mercy on me. I acknowledge my transgression. Verse 21, but Abishah the son
of Zeruri answered and said, shall not Shimei be put to death
for this? Because he cursed the Lord's
anointing. And David said, what have I to do with you, ye sons
of Zeruri, that you should this day be adversaries unto me? Shall
there any man be put to death this day in Israel? For do not
I know that I am this day king over Israel? Therefore, the king
said unto Shimei, thou shalt not die, and the king swear unto
him. David made the same promise that
God the Father made to his people. This is what he said. This is
what David said. My son died today. No other soul in my kingdom will
die. Here comes this man, he falls down for mercy, and David's
captain said, he ought to be killed. David said, he's not
going to be. My son died today. And God the
Father said, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Christ
died and the kings swear unto him. That right there is the
only hope a sinner can enter eternity safely with. That's
it. The promise of God in the death
of his son. David said, although my house
be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant
Ordered in all things ensure this is all my salvation and
all my desire, although he make it not to grow. Even though I
can't physically see it yet. You don't see much when you look
at me. And even though we can't see it yet, David said my hope
is ordered ensure. It's in the blood of my Savior.
He is all my salvation. He is all my desire. And if God will let us say that,
we can enter eternity with that. That's a hope we can enter eternity
with. That's a promise that we have
that will carry us safely all the way through. All right, let's
stand together.