Second Samuel 22, this is the
12th and final message in this series. Son of David. This is David's last words, the
title of this message. Perhaps more accurately, this
should be entitled the son of David's last words. Now, before Christ died, Upon
the cross. Before he bowed his head before
he laid his life down. He uttered what are recorded. Seven what are only reported
seven. That's all that are recorded
that he said while hanging upon that cross but. He hung there
for six hours. Christ hung upon the cross for
six hours, fully conscious, and he was completely in control
of his mind and his thoughts, his faculties himself. But for six hours he was hanging
there. His mind never rested, never
rested. His soul, the Son of God, his
soul never ceased to commune with his Father, never. Never. He was thinking. Perhaps even
talking or spiritually. Communion with his father at
all times, Christ. Like David, like David, the son
of David was a praying man. He constantly he constantly retired
into private places to pray. You read that? Did you read the
article on the back of the bulletin by J.C. Rye? Spoke of great men
being men of prayer. Well, our Lord was the leader
in this area. We're told to pray without ceasing.
He did that. He literally did that, communed
with his father all the time. And like David, as were all of
God's closest and greatest men, Christ prayed With the father. And it's certain. It is certain that his mind and
his thoughts were continually his heart was continually upon
his father and he conversed with his heavenly father. Now. I hope the Holy Spirit will bless
this. David is the penman of this 22nd
chapter of 2 Samuel. He is the penman. These are the
very words that are written in Psalm 18. Psalm 18 is 2 Samuel
22. It's certain that the words were
divinely inspired, though. David may have been the penman
who wrote them down, but it's certain that these words were
divinely inspired by the Lord Jesus Christ. himself. I'm not going to be speaking
too much more about David. Not too much more about David
now, but only of Christ. I believe these words here in
2 Samuel 22 are wholly meant for Christ. And I believe they were his dying
thoughts. You'll see with me as we go through this, if the
Holy Spirit will give you grip your attention for a little while,
you'll see with me how amazing this is, how that this could
only be uttered by the Son of God himself. I believe that these
were the very dying thoughts of Christ, perhaps the prayer
of Christ to God while he was hanging up on that cross. Or
maybe even these were the words that Christ. Considered these
are the words that he spoke. The thoughts he thoughts when
he went back to the father and sat upon the throne. This is holy ground here. It
really is. We need to get barefoot right
here. They really do. Come on, stay with me. Stay with
me. Utter a private prayer right
now that the Lord will bless you. It says here in 2 Samuel
22, verse one, it says, David spake unto the Lord. For the
Son of David spoke unto God the words of this song in the day
that God the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his
enemies, out of the hand of Saul, unto the Lord, unto the Lord. I believe this is communion,
Terry, between God the Father and God the Son, private spiritual
communion. It says in the day of deliverance,
ours and his. He was delivered, John. Yes,
he was. He was delivered from the hand
of Satan, of men, of sin. He was subjected to, tempted,
tried, and assaulted by all of our enemies for us, for us. He was delivered as were we in
that very day. Yes, he was. Verses 2 and 3,
and he said, The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. the God of my rock, in him will
I trust. He is my shield, the horn of
my salvation, my high tower, my refuge, my savior. Thou savest me from violence,
my rock." As a man, as a man, Christ the Son of God had to
live by faith. He had to live by faith. Paul
said in Hebrew that he had to be made perfect. He had to be
made perfect through sufferings, that is, in the flesh. In order
to be the captain, that is, the mediator, the intercessor, the
representative, the substitute, a great high priest who's touched
with the feet of our infirmity, we live by faith. We've got to
live by faith in an unseen God. He did the same thing, Henry
Sowell. He had to, to know, to feel our feelings, to be touched
with our infirmities. He had to live by faith. The
just shall live by faith, not sight, faith. And Christ did
that for our salvation. Christ, for thirty-three years,
while he lived upon this earth, he did not provide for himself. He did not relieve his own misery
and suffering, because we can't. So he didn't. He could, but he
didn't for us. He depended upon and resorted
to God always, in all things. He prayed about everything, didn't
he? He was always in prayer and supplication with thanksgiving,
making his request known to God, wasn't he? He always let the
Father know what he needed. Do you remember at Lazarus' tomb?
Do you remember when Christ prayed out loud? And remember what he
said after he prayed, he said, Now, Father, I know that you
always hear me. Didn't I know you always hear
me. God must God must answer the
prayer of a truly righteous man. The effectual, fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much. He said, Father, I know you and
I know you hear what I say, but for their sake. I prayed this
prayer for their sake. so that they'll know that prayer
avails something with the Father. So he prayed. God was Christ's
Savior. God was his Savior. He called
upon God to save him in the same way we call upon
Christ to save us. God was his Savior. Yes, He was. God delivered him. Verse 4, he
says, I will call on the Lord And so, he did. Always, didn't
he? Always. His life was in constant
praise. He said, the Lord is worthy to
be praised. His life was in constant praise
and glory to God. Though he himself possessed all
power in heaven and in earth, as a man, though he himself possessed
all power, he cried for help from God. for us. He didn't have to, but he did
it for us. He said, I'll be saved from mine
enemies, so shall I be saved from mine enemies when God saves
me. Verse 5, now when the waves of
death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid,
the sorrows of hell compassed me about, the snares of death
prevented me, in my distress I called upon the Lord and cried
to my God, my God, my God. I cried to my God, and he did
hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did come into his
ears." You better believe it. Faced with the prospects of hell,
faced with the prospects of being made sin, now we can't possibly
enter into that. made sin, that is, all of the
evil and wickedness of sin converged upon Him while on that cross. And the final blow was when God
forsook His Son, having our sins upon Him, as He must do with
us if we don't have a substitute. He must forsake us. That's death,
isn't it? Faced with the prospects of being
Forsaken by God, he cried out in distress, didn't he? And no
man can even repeat this cry of his. My God! I don't even want to try to say it like he said. Surely no man cried like he did
under his father, who was daily his delight. Think about this. Perhaps Christ
was thinking these very thoughts we're reading right here. Perhaps
he was thinking these very thoughts between vocalizing, between saying
the things that he said while upon the cross. Could be. And he said he cried out, I cried
unto my God, and he did hear my voice. I cried, my God, my
God. And you know, God always hears
his son. Because God always hears a righteous man. Scripture says
that. And God heard Christ. Now, shortly after Christ said
that, my God, my God, then he uttered those wonderful words,
it's finished. And in the Scripture it says
he bowed his head. He's sovereignly in complete
control of himself, of his life, His soul, his body, says he,
his head didn't just droop and loll about, just flop down. He says he bowed his head and
gave up the ghost. He said, no man takes my life
from me. I lay it down of myself. And he said, the Father's well
pleased for that, for my sake. Well, please, but just shortly
after he cried to the father, he bowed his head and gave up
the ghost. Do you remember what happened? Look at verse eight. Says, then
the earth shook. And trembled. The foundations
of heaven moved and shook because what God was wrong. There went up a smoke out of
his nostrils, a fire out of his mouth devoured. Coals were kindled
by it. God bowed the heavens also and
came down. God came down. And darkness was
under his feet. It's as if God came down to kiss
his dead son. God came down. Would you hug
and kiss and make over your child who died in your arms? Would
you? God was angry at the sin in this
wicked world that had to make this take place, and He came
down. Like He did at Sinai. You think
He'd come down for the law and not come down at this most magnificent
of all hours? God came down. It says the earth
shook. Why? And beheld his son in his army. Who do you think this is talking
about? What do you think this is talking about? It can't be talking about
anything else. Look at Matthew 27 with me. Matthew
27, I'm telling you this is holy ground. I didn't make this up. Matthew 27 with me. God came
down, it says. Luke, over in the account Luke
gives, Luke said there was darkness over all the earth, the face
of the earth. There's darkness until the ninth hour. It says
the sun was darkened. Let's read the account here in
Matthew 27. Keep your place back there in 2 Samuel. Here's the
account of Christ's death on the cross in Matthew 27, verse
50. It says, When Jesus had cried
again with a loud voice, I believe that's when he said, It is finished. He yielded up the ghost. And
behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top
to the bottom, and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent,
and graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept
rose and came out of the graves after his resurrection. and went
into the holy city and appeared unto many. And when this centurion,
a soldier, and they that were with him, standing there watching
Jesus, saw the earthquake and saw these things that were done,
they feared greatly, and they said, Truly this was the Son
of God. God came down. Back to the text. God came down, and darkness was under his feet.
The earth was dark from the sixth hour to the ninth hour, and the
earth shook. Certainly this is talking about
the death of Christ. Don't doubt my mind. Verse 11,
this is speaking of Calvary. The earth shook when God came
down, as it will when he comes again. Verse 11, And he rode
upon a cherub. He did fly, and he was seen upon
the wings of the wind. Oh, this is too mysterious, isn't
it? But he made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters,
thick clouds of the skies. Through the brightness before
him were coals of fire kindled. The Lord thundered from heaven,
the Most High uttered his voice. He sent out arrows and scattered
them, lightning and discomfited them, made the people afraid.
The channels of the sea appeared. The foundations of the world
were discovered. At the rebuking of the Lord,
at the blast of the breath of His nostrils, God came down to attend His Son's funeral. And look at what it says, verse
seventeen. He sent from above and took me and drew me out of many waters."
This is as if God came to get His Son. God came down to get His Son. It's like God was saying, I'm
going to take you out of this mess. You've been here long enough. Are you with me? It's as if God
was saying, son, you're coming home. God taking his son away from
this vile place, just like he dragged Lot out of Sodom, just
like he took the Jews from Egypt, he came to give his son. Out of many waters, great waters. We wade into shallow pools of
troubles and trials, don't we? Ankle deep. Christ dove into
the depths of the ocean. They that go down in ships do
business in deep waters. The waters went over his head. Verse 18, 19. He delivered me
from my strong enemy and from them that hated me. They were
too strong for me, they prevented me in the day of my calamity,
but the Lord was my stay. Now, men, these men, Satan, sin,
men were too strong for a mere mortal man, yes. But he says
here, no, but God was my stay. The Lord was my stay, my strength,
my rock, remember? He brought me forth, look at
this, verse 20, he brought me forth also into, after he delivered
me from this place, he brought me forth also into a large place. Oh, he came down and got me,
rode the wings of a cherub, the earth shook, blast of his nostrils,
gathered up his son in his arms, took him out of those deep waters
and said he brought me forth into a large place. Heaven itself. What must that
day have been like? The day the Son of God walked
back into the streets of glory after an absence of thirty-three
years. What do you reckon that day was
like? Who is this coming through these
gates? Oh, it's the King. It's the King
of glory. What must that have been like?
God's son had been gone for thirty three years must have seemed
like an eternity the lovely man you were he's back he's back
there must have been a standing ovation. You know. God's son is home from war. Our elder brother who died in
the war. He's home. Home to stay. As in the beginning, when Christ
was daily the father's delight. It says there. He delighted in
verse 20, he brought me into a large place, he delivered me
because he delighted in me, delighted in me. You remember there in
Proverbs 8, He said, I was daily His delight, daily, as in the
beginning. And while on this earth, God
was altogether delighted in His altogether lovely Son. Ever think
about it. Pleased the Father. It says in
verse 21, it says, The Lord rewarded me according to, now listen,
look at it with me. The Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness. Who is talking here? Come on
now. The Lord rewarded me according
to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands,
hath he recompensed me. I tell you, I want to shout this
from the top of my lungs, all this self-righteous, legalistic,
self-pious regeneration of our day. The very first word some
of the very first word recorded back in first Samuel when all
this started Hannah. She said talk no more so exceedingly. Don't let arrogance and self-righteousness
and piousness come out of your mouth. God is the God of knowledge. By him actions are weighed. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only righteous man who ever lived. Who are these pinheads that would
dare to say that about themselves? You know David didn't say this
about himself, did he? We've been reading this. You've
been reading it with me. It's not talking about David. It ain't
none of this. We're not talking about David anymore. Like Peter
said at Pentecost, men and brethren, listen to me now, David, his
tomb is with us, and if you dig it up, you'll find some bones. I ain't talking about that son
of David. I'm talking about that son of David. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only wholly acceptable man approved of God Almighty. Only one. Only
one who could ever say, the Lord rewarded me according to my righteousness. He hath recompensed me according
to the cleanness of my hand." Isn't it? Why? Because I've kept, verse
22, I've kept the ways of the Lord. I've kept the ways of the
Lord. And I have not wickedly departed
from my God. There's a mighty, mighty solemn
verse of Scripture in Acts chapter seventeen, verse thirty one.
It says God has appointed a day in which he will judge the world
in righteousness, that is perfect, holy equity, justice, righteousness. How's he going to do it? According
to the best you've done. God will judge the world, he
says, in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. Whereby, whereof, he gave assurance,
that is undeniable, irrefutable, absolute, certain, positive truth,
promises. He hath given assurance unto
all men, and he raised him from the dead. and sat him at his
right hand, and we're going to stand before him and see him
as he is. That's what amazes me about that
scripture that talks about some people appearing before God and
saying, well, we've done this, we've done that. I don't see
how anybody's going to be able to say anything in the face of
looking into the face of that holy one. Oh, we're going to be, God's
people are going to be like the cherubs, aren't they, Henry? Two wings,
six wings. You have six wings. You put two
over your eyes and two over your body in modest and humility,
and two of them, you fly high. He said, I didn't depart from
them. Christ is the only one that could
say, I kept God's law perfectly. Every jaw and tittle. I was upright before him. Verse
24, I was upright before him. I have kept myself from mine
iniquity. Therefore, the Lord hath recompensed
me according to my righteousness. He says it again, according to
my cleanness in his sight. In that all-seeing, omniscient,
all-knowing sight Holy eyesight of God who sees down into the
deep recesses of the soul, the heart, a discerner of the thoughts
and intents of the heart. Christ is the only man that can
say this, isn't he, Terry? The only man. In the sight of
God, I've been spotless, blameless, holy, unreprovable. What peon
would say such a thing, Barbara? People are saying that, that
this applies to the believer. Only in Christ it applies to
the believer. Therefore the Lord hath recompensed
me with the merciful." With the merciful, God will show himself
merciful. Christ was truly merciful and
pure. With a pure, thou with an upright
man, thou wilt show thyself upright. With a pure, thou wilt show thyself
pure. With a forward, thou wilt show
thyself unsavory, wrathful. Verse thirty, by thee, by God,
I've run through a troop. By God, Christ broke through
our sins, a host, the host of our sins. By Christ, it says,
by God, Christ says, I have leaped over a wall. That barrier between
God and man. He's the only Man who's able
to leap over a wall with a single band, that wall that separates
us between God and us. That middle wall of partitions,
the only man that could bound that wall. He didn't only do
that, Terry, he broke it down, didn't he? Broke it down, busted
up. No more enmity, no more partition
between us and God. Jump down to verse 38. For time's
sake, he said, I pursued my enemies. And I've destroyed them. Satan's head was crushed. His
power, his dominion has gone. Sin was destroyed. He said, I
pursued my enemy and I've destroyed them. And I didn't turn again
until I had consumed them. Covered them. Got rid of them. Tone for covered paid in full
never to be brought up again never. Christ pursued our sins
every one of them found. He found every one of them pursued
them with. The purpose of putting them away
and he did just that verse thirty nine he said and I have consumed
I have. Wounded them. Put them away. The scripture says there are
sins and iniquities I'll remember no more, no more. One other place
said that God put them behind his back. God has no back. God is ever facing us. God has
no back, but he says he put our sins behind him. That just means
a figurative, he put them away, they're not going to be found
anymore. Why? Christ consumed them. He put them away, covered
them in the blood. The blood's the only thing God's
eye can't see through. You better be under the blood.
It's your only hope. I've consumed them, I wounded
them. They could not arise, yea, they're falling under my feet. under his feet. All our enemies,
seeing Satan's self, is under his feet, the Lord of glory. Verse 40 and 41, Thou hast given
unto me, given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy
them that hate me. Oh, they looked. They cried. There was none to save them.
And that final day, you know, when Christ comes back, when
everybody is made to bow under his feet, Proverbs 1 says they'll
be crying unto him then. They'll be hollering, pleading
for mercy, but there won't be any to save. Even unto the Lord,
but he won't answer them. He said, because I called, and
you refused. And though crying out, verse
42, though crying out for mercy, mercy's cup is run out. That
cup is still full right now. There's coming a day when God's
going to dump it out, but it's all been expended. When the door
is shut, he said, when the master of the house has risen up, when
once the master of the house has risen up and shut the door, it won't be open again. No answer from God. zealously, with all he could
muster, sincerity, with tears even, but he found it not. Then the destruction of the earth,
verse 43. Then did I beat them as small
as the dust of the earth. God's going to say, dust you
were, planet Earth. I made you out of dust and dust
you shall return. I stamped them as the mire of
the street, and it spread them abroad. Thou also hast delivered
me from the strivings of my people." See, he came to his own and his
own received him not. Thou hast delivered me even from
the strivings of my people. Thou hast kept me to be head
of the heathen. A people which I knew not shall
serve me." A people I knew not, that is
a people not called my people. Gentiles. Strangers shall submit
themselves unto me. Strangers. As soon as they hear
me, they will be obedient to me. As soon as they hear the
gospel, like Peter said in his epistle, to the strangers and
pilgrims scattered abroad. They'll hear his gospel, and
they'll know the voice of the shepherd, and they'll follow
him, and they'll be obedient to the faith, to the gospel.
They'll be obedient unto me. Verse 46. Strangers shall fade
away. Some of them will fade away. Some shall fall away. Some hypocrites,
some nominal professors will fall away. Look at that. Verse
46. And they shall be afraid. The
rest of the people will be afraid. when they see people follow the
wayside. Had one of the fellows, somebody tell me the other day,
he said, do you ever feel like that you're a complete hypocrite
and you're going to be the only one, the only apostate in the
bunch? You ever feel like that when
you get with God's people who you esteem so highly and admire
so much and love so dearly and And it's being so much more Christ-like
and spiritual than you are. And you say to yourself, I'm
going to be the only one to miss. Don't you? I'll be the only one
to miss out. And then when somebody does fall
to the wayside, what do you do? Oh, Lord, keep me by your power. Incidentally, what is the power
of God? He says, when strangers fall
away, fade away, the people will be afraid out of their close
places. But, verse 47, the Lord liveth. And John, he said, you pray that
you die because he lives. We'll live also. In him we live
and move and have our very being. Some will fade away and we'll
be fearful of it, but the Lord liveth. Our rock, the Lord liveth. Blessed be my rock, he says,
my rock. Read Joe Terrell's article in
the Bulletin. I rock. I tell you, when I get to looking
within, like John Newton said, all is vain and dark and wild. Oh, when I see all that, can
I deem myself a child? Well, I tell you what to do,
John. Quit looking at ends. Look under
me and be saved, he said. All the ends of the earth. I
rock. He said, I'm still in the same place. The rock of salvation. And he said, I'll never leave
you. All that come unto God by me will never perish. Never. He said, I'll never leave you.
The rock of God is eternally set with the cement of God's
covenant, seated on heaven's throne. He's the rock of my salvation,
the rock of ages. It's God that avengeth me. Christ speaking here, verse 48,
God hath avenged me. God hath avenged me. Christ didn't
open his mouth, did he? Christ didn't avenge himself,
did he? He's really the only man that ever could have. The
only man who could have rightfully stood up for himself. The only
man who didn't deserve one accusation, one ill treatment, anything.
He didn't deserve anything but reward. Praise goodness. But he didn't. He never did.
Why? As our substitute. As our substitute. But he said, God has avenged
me. Because God said what? Vengeance is mine. I will repay,
saith the Lord. I will repay. I tell you, God
will execute wrath upon the sons of men, all them that hate his
son and don't believe his son. Paul said it in one place, in
Corinthians, he said, Cursed is anyone that loveth not the
Lord. Any man that loves not the Lord Jesus Christ, he's going
to go to hell. Why? Because his son, God's son, poured
his soul out unto death. And if you esteem it a light
thing, unworthy of your consideration, my consideration, if we try it
underfoot, or that is, don't give it any passing thoughts,
Do not esteem, venerate, worship the Son of God. God's going to
put us under his feet, like we did the gospel, isn't it? God
will avenge him. God hath avenged his son. And
God will bring down the people under me, he says. He'll bring
all his enemies till they're made his footstool. It's God,
verse 49, that bringeth me forth from my enemies. Thou also hast
lifted me up on high above them that rose up against me. Thou
hast delivered me from the violent man, the prince, the power of the
air himself. Therefore will I give thanks. I will give thanks unto thee,
O Lord, among the heathen, among your people." Like we said that
one time. Christ is going to lead us in
singing praises unto the Father. Yeah, He will. He said there
in one place, in the midst of the congregation, I'll sing praise
unto thee. Why? God delivered Him too. I'll give thanks unto thee, O
Lord, among the heathen. I will sing praises unto thy
name. He's the Tyre of salvation. for
his king. He showeth mercy to his anointed
unto David, that is, the son of David, and to his seed forevermore." God's king, God's anointed, God's
seed, son of David. stand with. you