We thank you once again for your
endless mercies and the privilege to come here to gospel preaching. Oh, we can't even begin to understand
the mercy you give us to bring us to this place today. Oh, we
ask that our only desire is that we be found in Christ, that we
know him, that we find him to be all of our love. that we find
none other, and Lord, we count everything else apart from this
law. Lord, we ask that you continue to show us in our times of affliction
and trial and suffering that it is for our eternal good and
reward. Lord, cause us to know your grace
is sufficient. Cause us to have patience and
rest in you alone. Lord, we ask you today You can
call the word of your preacher to be known to us, make it alive
in our heart and soul, that we would be long for all of them
before you. We ask once again that you would
forgive us of our sins and condemn us. I mean, we don't even know
the extent of our sin, but we look to one that will make sin
for us and make righteousness for us. Lord, we ask you to grant
us the prize of that. Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 23. We will look at the first five
verses in this chapter. In the title
of this lesson or message, both services are a message. A message from the Lord. But
the title is The Last Words of a Dying Saint. What would you want your last
words to be? You're dying. You know it. The
end has come. What would you want your last
words to be? I hope by God's grace That when
that time comes for me, if I don't die in a car accident or something,
of course, it won't be an accident that I died, but that's not an
accident. Not even a sparrow falls to the
ground. The Lord said to his disciples, without your heavenly
father, no one dies apart from God calling that life out of
this world. No one. But I hope that my last
words will be words that glorify God and encourage the saints
of God. I hope so. It has been said that
the last words of a dying man ought to be his most sobering
words. He's about to leave this life.
He's about to leave this life. Watching my parents come up to
the end of life, and listening to them talk, their words were
more sobering than at any other time. They were more sobering
than at any other time. And they ought to be. They ought
to be. We're about to meet God. We're
about to meet God Almighty. I know this. There are those who know the
Lord, those whom the Lord has saved, you know Him. And there's
those who don't know Him. But when they die, there's no
doubt. There's no doubt to who God is
and to His existence. Now David, it says, in the Scriptures,
it says that he was a man after God's own heart, David wrote
most of the Psalms concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Now he's
coming up to die, what's he going to say? What's going to be his
hope? What's he going to lay hold of
as his hope? It's going to be the Lord Jesus
Christ and that covenant that God made with Christ, God made
with David and Christ. They're called the Sure Mercies
of David. He's laying there. Now, some
believe that this was just the last thing he wrote, and then
he spoke a lot of other words, I don't know, but he said, these
be the last words of David. And so his hope is in that covenant,
that covenant that God made with him in Christ, and the mercies,
he calls them sure mercies. You know, the mercies of God
to us in Christ are sure. We will have every one of them.
Every one of them will be fulfilled. Now here in verse one, it says,
these be the last words of David. He ready to put his pen down.
He's ready to put the pen down. He's going to leave this world. And one of the first things that
he does, he said, these are my last words. And he identifies
himself, not as the king, He doesn't say, these be the
last words of the king. He said, these be the last words
of David, the son of Jesse. He could have said the son of
God and been correct, couldn't he? He could have said, these
be the last words that I'm gonna write. These be the last words
of the son of God, but he didn't say that. He said the son of
Jesse. He identified himself with his earthly father. And what he's saying is he's
putting himself in a lowly position. We are sons of Adam, aren't we? We were born sons of Adam. We're
born in a low estate. We are. These be the last words
of David, the son of Jesse. The man, you see, he just identifies
himself as a man whom God has raised up, a man whom God has
blessed, a man whom God has saved. You know, God saves sinners,
and there's sinners all the way home. He recognizes, first he recognized
himself as the son of an earthly father in a low estate, a farmer,
shepherd one who owns sheep and then he identifies himself with
and recognizes God's grace he recognizes God's grace to him
the man who was raised on high David never forgot his roots
he never forgot that he was a shepherd a young shepherd boy out keeping
sheep tending sheep and God called him And God took this shepherd
boy who had no credentials. He was not the son of royalty.
He was the son of a shepherd, a farmer. And he said, God raised
me up on high. The man who was raised on high,
he was raised from being a shepherd to being the King of Israel.
He went from the field to the throne. And God has done the same thing
for everyone whom he saves. Everyone whom he saves, he takes
us from being what? A beggar. A beggar. Everyone whom God saves, they
know, they know they are beggars. I have nothing to offer to God,
I have nothing. Now, when we compare ourselves
to one another, We can come up with one better, one worse. But when we compare ourselves
to God, He says there's none good, no not one, compared to
Him. Because good with Him is perfection.
It's perfection. And God takes every sinner whom
He saves and He raises them out of the dust. The scripture says,
out of the dunghill. And sets us among princes. He's
made us kings and priests unto God, that's what He's made us.
He's made us sons of God. John said, now are you the sons
of God, now. You're sons and daughters of
God Almighty, that's who you are, you really are. You don't
feel it, do you? I don't feel like a son of God,
I don't. I feel like a wretch. A sinful human being is what
I feel like. But I know by the word of God
and by the grace of God that I'm a son of God. He's made me
so. I didn't make myself a son of
God. I didn't make myself a believer. He did. Psalm 100, he hath made
us and not we ourselves. We are the sheep of his pasture.
He made us his sheep. He made us his sons and daughters.
He did that. That's the work of God. That's
why Jonah said salvation is of the Lord. All of it. It's not 99% of it's of the Lord,
then there's 1% left for you to do. That's you got to accept
Him as your personal Savior. That's not so. The scripture
says in Ephesians chapter 1, He has made us accepted in the
Beloved. He made me accepted. And by God's
grace in time, He created faith, a new birth, And you know what
we did? You know I did what you did?
We received Him. That's different than accepting.
That's far different. A glass sitting here and I pour
water into it, it's receiving the water that I'm putting into
it. It's receiving it. It's not accepting it, it's receiving
it. And we received the Lord Jesus
Christ. We received Him by faith. We
received Him by the Spirit of God, we receive Him. God takes everyone whom He saves
and He makes them to know they are beggars, they're mercy beggars,
and He raises them on high. You know right now, every one
of God's children, every one of God's children, I mean, from
the beginning to the end, every one of them right now are seated
in Christ at God's right hand. Spiritually, that's where they're
seated. I'm standing here in this pulpit,
but it's very real to me. This is very real to me, and
it's very real to God's children. I'm standing here, my physical
presence is here, I'm here, and yet at the same time, I am seated
at God's right hand in my Lord, in my representative, in that
man, Jesus Christ, the whole church of God. What's the church
called? His body. We are seated there
right now. Now in a little while, we are
going to experience that. We're going to experience it,
but right now I'm here and yet I'm there. I mean, I'm seated
in Christ. I'm in the kingdom of God right
now. I live in the kingdom of men, I live here, but I'm also
living in the kingdom of God. And because the kingdom of God
is a spiritual kingdom, isn't it? Our Lord said it's a spiritual
kingdom. It comes not with observation,
is what He said. It's a spiritual kingdom. And
is not Christ Jesus in you? That's what Paul said, Christ
in you, the hope of glory, the Lord Jesus Christ by spirit,
is in you. That's why he said, and we'll
see this in the next message, he said to Mary Magdalene, touch
me not, don't hold on to me, don't hold on to my physical
presence. We like physical presence, don't we? Because those who worship
Him, worship Him what? In spirit and truth. Now we'll be in His physical
presence in a little while, in a short while we'll be there.
He's just as real now. He said, where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
If there's two or three people right now gathered in this congregation,
right now in this service, Jesus Christ is here in spirit. That's
just as real as if he walked in the door physically. It's
just as real. Just because you can't see a
physical something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. He's here with us. But he takes
every beggar whom he saves and he raises them on high. Seated
at God's right hand. I know we can't comprehend, listen,
we can't comprehend what God has made us and done for us in
Christ. We believe, but we believe in
part, because that's all we know is in part. And a very little
part. And he calls himself here the
anointed of God. You can see it in Psalm 89 20,
but God made him king. And God made him a prophet. We'll
see here in a second. God made him a king. He anointed
him king. David did not make himself a king. David was not
born of royalty. God anointed him king. Just as
God made his son, Jesus Christ, the greater David, to be king
of kings and Lord of lords. God anointed the Lord Jesus Christ
to be our king. And right now, that man seated
at God's right hand, right now, is king over all. He's ruling
and He's reigning over the whole universe, over every heart in
this world. Like the rivers of, like the
ocean, He says to the ocean, He says to the waves of the ocean,
hither shalt thou come and no further. God sets the bounds
of every human being. Now He'll let some go into great
sin before He puts a stop to it. He'll either kill them or
save them, one or the other. But God exercises sovereign constraint
over the whole world or you couldn't live on this earth. I'm telling
you, you couldn't live on this earth if God did not sovereignly
constrain the human nature of men and women. That's the truth. But He says that He's the anointed
of God. God made him king. Now listen,
God, as I already said, He's made us kings and priests. We've
been anointed in Christ as kings and priests. That's what the
Word of God says. And then He calls Himself here
the Sweet Psalmist of Israel. This is His character. You know,
somebody in a place of authority does not have to be a jerk. You
don't have to be you don't have to be mean You don't have to
be a someone who's just rough and he's David's called the sweet
psalmist of Israel and he's one of the greatest kings ever Israel
ever had Don't be afraid of being called
sweet Our Lord was sweet wasn't he
he still is he still is He still is. He's the sweet psalmist of
Israel. He wrote most of the Psalms and
he put them to music. I mean, he played such beautiful
music and wrote such beautiful songs. And all the songs he wrote
had nothing to do with the songs we hear today, you know, popular
songs we hear today or any kind. Every song he wrote glorified
God. Every one of them. Every song
he wrote. None of them was a dud. Every song he wrote. And all
the Psalms he wrote speak of Christ, the greater David. When he wrote, he wrote of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was writing about Him who
is to come, who was to come and has come. Not only has He come,
He is now going to send it back to heaven. We'll see in the next
message. But the sweet psalmist of Israel,
he said, the Spirit of the Lord spake by me. He knew that. You
know, this is the Word of God. The unerring Word of God. This
is God breathed. God took holy men, he said, men
that he had saved, made holy in Christ. And he moved them
to write the scriptures. They were under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit, of the Spirit of Christ. They were under the
influence, under the power of it. They didn't just write out
what they think. There's not one opinion in this book. This
is not an opinion. It's truth. It's the Word of
God. This is not like any other book. You can read any other
book and you can put a question mark on any other book, but you
can't put one on this one. If you can put a question mark,
if you can really put a question mark on this book, throw it in
the trash, it's either God's Word or it's not. And the Word
of God says it is the Word of God. This is God's Word. But he says, the Spirit of the
Lord spake by me, that which I wrote is of God. David knew that, he knew that
when he penned this, he knew that. In 2 Peter 121, listen,
for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man,
but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And he that ruleth, here's what
the Spirit of God says, it said to David at this time, he that
ruleth over men, not among men, Our Lord is not a ruler among
men, you know that? He's not a ruler among men. He's
a ruler over men. He rules over all, God bless
forever. He that ruleth over men must
be just, ruling in the fear of God. There is nothing, I don't
know that there's any worse criminal Sin, I know there's some bad,
bad, bad sin, but among the worst of them is an unjust ruler, an
unjust judge, one who would take a bribe, one who will take off
the edge, one who is not just. You want God to be just or not?
I do. I don't want God to deal with
me in justice, but I want him to be just. I don't want God
to just save me any old way, do you? Now, there was a time I wouldn't
have cared. I would have said, well, of course, he can save
me anyway, keep me from perishing. And I tell you what, I've seen
this happen. A lot of people on their deathbed,
they're dying, they grasp at anything, anything, that a preacher
comes in the room and tells them they'll grasp at anything to
keep from perishing. but not God's children. You want
God to be just, because you don't want to be looking over your
shoulder. If God is not just, can you trust Him? You could
not trust Him. He can't be trusted if He's not
just. But God is just, and He said,
He that ruleth among men must be just, ruling in the fear of
God, not the fear of men. How many times, and we've seen
this, that a judge or even a jury will come back with a verdict
because they're scared of what's going to happen if they actually
do what's right. The riots and all that kind of
stuff. They're scared. We don't pervert justice because
of any fear of anyone. You know, whatever it is, it
is. And whatever has to happen, happens. But this applies to
our Lord Jesus Christ. You see, God is a just God and
a Savior in that order. It's in that order. He's a just
God first, and then He's a Savior. And you want it to be in that
order. I want God to save me. I don't want Him to deal with
me in justice, but I want Him to save me in the Lord Jesus
Christ, which is a just way. Christ said, I'm the way. He's
the just way. He's the way that God can be
just and justify the ungodly, Paul said, through the Lord Jesus
Christ. His blood, His righteousness,
His obedience. That's how God can justify me.
He's in my substitute, my representative, my federal head. That's who Jesus
Christ is. You know, our Lord, when He came
into this world, our Lord, He didn't destroy the law, did
He? He did not destroy the law. The
Pharisees thought He was destroying the law. You're taking the law
and you're just setting it out of the way. You're setting it
aside. No, He's not. He's fulfilling it. The Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled
every jot, every tittle of God's law, and God's law is very real. God's law is still there. Those
who die outside of Christ, guess what they're going to face? God's
law. That's what they're gonna face.
They're gonna face God's law. They're gonna be judged by God's
law. But that law was fulfilled by Jesus Christ. And everyone
in Christ, everyone for whom Christ died, He fulfilled that
law in their place. My substitute, that's what a
substitute really does. He takes your place. He hung
on the cross in my place. under God's wrath in my place.
That's why the law can't condemn me. The law can't condemn him
for hanging on Calvary's tree and then turn around and condemn
me for the same sins he died for. He can't do it. Christ died
for my sins, they're paid for. The law has no claims on me. It has no claims on me. As sinful as I am, You know there's
no charge on the books against me? You know it says over in
Revelation that he's gonna open the books, that's what it says.
And they're gonna be judged by those things out of the books. And if he opens the books and
comes up to my name or the name of everyone whom he saves, you know what comes up? Justified,
cleared of all charges. You know why? Because Jesus Christ
died for every charge. Every charge. I made this statement
in the last conference down there at Gabe's. Listen, I will not sin one sin
more than Jesus Christ died for. I will not sin one sin less than
Jesus Christ died for. But I will sin every sin Jesus
Christ died for. But he put them away. As Nathan
said to David after he committed adultery and murder, the sweet
psalmist of Israel, who is a man after God's own heart, Nathan
said, Thou art a man, but she said, you're not going to die.
God has put away your sins at Calvary. That's where they're
put away. And he, listen here, he shall
be, this just one shall be as the light of the morning when
the sun rises. It's the speaking of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of Righteousness. This is Christ, who is the light
of the world, the Son of Righteousness. He kept the law, and in doing
so, He fulfilled it. And when He was hanging on the
cross and He cried, it's finished, He finished not only redemption,
He finished all the ceremonies, all the types, all the pictures,
they're done. Now why would you want to show
me a picture of my wife when my wife is sitting there? I said,
I don't need that picture, she's sitting over there. Christ has
come, we don't need the pictures, we don't need the ceremonies,
we don't need the types no more, we don't need Aaron, the high
priest, we don't need the sacrifices, Christ is that sacrifice. He
fulfilled all of what those sacrifices pointed to. He's our advocate. He's everything we need. He's
our all in all. And so he did away with all these
ceremonies. He's the end of them. He's that,
he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun rises and
it shines in its brightness. You know, I watch, because I
take Gus out every morning, my dog. And I watched the sun come
up over here in the east, and when it gets up over those trees,
it is bright. It doesn't matter if it's summer,
winter, fall, spring, it's bright. It's bright. I watched this one guy, he's
a scientist, and he said that one of the best things that you
can do when you get up in the morning, One of the best things
you can do is get outside and get sunlight for 10 to 15 minutes. He's talked about the chemical
changes that went on in your brain just from that sunlight.
He's a scientist at Stanford. The best thing you can do is
get sunlight. S-O-N light, that's true. So the best thing you can
get up in the morning and do, read God's word, and ask him
to open it up and give you light, sunlight. That's the best you
can do. That's the best way to start
your day. Not only to physically to walk
outside and just get some real sunlight, but especially to get
sunlight from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. Then he says, although
my house be not so with God. Here's a mournful side, David. You know, after the situation
with Bathsheba, God said, the sword will not leave your house.
The consequences of that lasted throughout David's life. God
forgave him, put away his sin, but the consequence of it, he
left. It was there for life. And David's house was a mess,
wasn't it? His house was a mess. They didn't love God, worship
God, nor seek the glory of God. And you know, you whom the Lord
has saved, you've got loved ones, and you've got family that has
no interest in God. And some of them never will.
I mean, it's sad to think of it, but some of them never will. But I thought of this, and I'm
just gonna throw this out there, because I thought of this yesterday,
how this belongs to our Lord. It says that he's like a root
out of dry ground. You know, the house of David
was almost, just almost forgotten it was so low at that time when
he came into the world. He's born of the seed of David,
of the house of David, but it was just so low. Scripture says
he came into his own in his own what? Received him not. He came to that nation, Israel,
over there in the Middle East. He came, God Almighty, Creator
of Heaven and Earth, who made them a nation. No other nation
on this earth can claim that they are a nation because God
made them a nation. I mean, I know God made all nations,
I know that, but especially that nation. That's where God gave
His Word, His sacrifices, everything that pointed to Christ, everything
that spoke of salvation, He gave it to that nation. And when the
Lord God Almighty of heaven and earth came, He says, He came
to His own and His own received Him not. And the Lord Jesus Christ
wept over Jerusalem. Listen to this. Oh, Jerusalem,
Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thee together as a hen
doth gather her brood, but you would not. So I can hear my Lord saying
to that nation, it's there right now. FOR THE MOST PART, THEY
REJECTED HIM. THEY DESPISED HIM. WE WILL NOT
HAVE THIS MAN REIGN OVER US. NOW GOD'S TRUE ISRAEL, GOD'S
SPIRITUAL ISRAEL, ALL OF THEM IS GOING TO BE SAVED. ALL OF
THEM. BUT THAT PHYSICAL ISRAEL? NO. OUR LORD WEPT OVER THEM. HE SAID, HOW OFTEN WOULD I HAVE
GATHERED YOU TOGETHER, BUT YOU WOULD NOT. You would not. Rebels, I mean, they hate Jesus
Christ over there right now just as much as ever. If he came right
now, they would crucify him and everyone whom God has not saved
would crucify him. I guarantee you, guarantee you,
hands down. The proof of it was the fact that it happened 2,000
years ago by the Romans and the Jews, by the intellectuals and
the religion, religionists. Yet he says, God, here's my hope. God hath made with me an everlasting
covenant. Now who did God really make that
covenant with? Jesus Christ. God made with Him
an everlasting covenant, and in that covenant He was given
a people to redeem, a multitude of sinners no man could number.
Because if He hadn't, we would be like the angels that fell.
We wouldn't have a Savior. But God provided a Savior for
a multitude of sinners. No man can number. And God gave
them to His Son. And you know on that new heaven
and on that new earth, they're gonna reign with Him. They're
gonna be with Him. God said, ask me for the heathen
for thine inheritance. Well, here we are. You believe,
here's some heathens here that believe. Oh, yet God hath made with me
an everlasting covenant. And brethren, this is going to
be our hope in the day we come to die, isn't it? Our hope is
going to be, my hope is not going to be in the fact that I accepted
Him as my personal Savior. My hope is in this, that Jesus
Christ died for me and God made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things assured. When He made that covenant with
Christ, He made it with me in Christ. He made it with everyone
of God's children. Innumerable, innumerable. And
all those mercies are sure. Because the scripture says all
the promises of God in Christ are yea and amen. They're sure. They're sure. And so whenever
we come to die, we lay on our deathbed, and we're ready to
leave this world. My hope is not that I lived a
good life, that I straightened up, and that I accepted Christ.
No, my hope is what God has done for me in Christ. My hope is
in that man seated at God's right hand in that covenant God made
with him, and I'm included in it. That's it. It's not that
I straightened up. He said, when Jesus Christ died,
he died for me. You know why I have an interest
or I believe that he died for me? You know why I believe that?
Because I have a real interest in him. I have a real interest
in knowing the Lord. At one time, I wouldn't give
you a flip for God. I wouldn't give you a flip for
Jesus Christ. He cramped my lifestyle. He was
against the way I saw it. I saw it, he was against the
way I wanted to live. But God in grace saved me by
his grace, and then I wanted to be saved. I said, Lord, save
me. Say it scared me to death, he
wouldn't. Scared me to death, he'd leave me alone, because
he didn't have to save me. He could leave me alone. But this
here, listen, yet God hath made with me an everlasting covenant
ordered. in all things and sure, ordained
in all things and sure. Oh, they're sure they're going
to happen. And this is all my salvation. This is all my hope.
Not the fact that he's a king. No, this is Jesus Christ is all
my hope and all my desire. What's your desire? Paul said,
I have no desire to depart and be with the Lord. Be made like Him. I'll be satisfied,
David said, when I wake with His likeness. All my salvation
and all my desire right now, I can say this, and I believe
many of you who believe, you can say this. Christ is all my
desire. He's all your desire. Now, we
know there's things we'd like to do in this life and there's
things we want to do, but our great desire is to be with the
Lord, be made like Him. although we make it not to grow
although although you know this davis he's got to die in the
lord jesus christ income for hundreds of years later this
hope he has you know the profits desired to look into this is
says into this what they were prophesying they desire to look
into they were saying things that was way over their head
just like i preach every week about things way over my head
David says, although he doesn't make it not to grow, Messiah
hasn't come yet, but he has now, hasn't he? The promise has come. The Lord Jesus Christ has come.
And in a little while, he's coming again. He'll be back. This is
all my hope, all my salvation, all my desire.