Alright, in 2 Samuel chapter
23, Christ, the surety of the covenant. The surety of the covenant. Now David here in this verse
5, he says, and this is very familiar to you, you've heard
probably several messages on this. I don't know that I can
get through all that I want to say on it in one message. But
he says, although my house be not so with God, yet he, That's
God. God hath made with me, with David,
an everlasting covenant. David was the recipient of the
blessings of an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And David says, this is all my
salvation, not just part of my salvation, not just a half or
quarter, it's all 100% my salvation. And this is all my desire, although
he make it not to grow. Now, before we get into this
passage, I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 1. What
David is talking about here in his final words in this everlasting
covenant of grace is the assurance that he gained in dying grace.
This is dying grace. This is one of the greatest examples
in the scriptures of dying grace. People talk about dying grace.
Where do you get it from? Well, right here it is. David
stated it. That he has comfort and assurance
in the promises of an everlasting covenant, and that covenant is
ordered in all things, and it's sure. And that's his whole salvation. Well, look at 2 Corinthians 1,
look at verse 18. He says, Paul writes here, 2
Corinthians 1, 18, he says, but as God is true, that is faithful
and true to his word, our word toward you was not yea and nay.
Now, Paul's saying when I preached the gospel to you, I didn't preach
an uncertain message. I didn't preach this, I don't
know message. You know, somebody says, well,
come to Christ. I don't know if God will save
you or not. That's yay and nay. If you come to Christ, I can
give you a yay and a yay and a yay. God will save you. That's
that's the gospel now. So this word that I have, Paul
says, it was not yay and nay. It was Tim James said it wasn't
yay be nay be may be. It's yay. And he says in verse
19, for the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among
you. Now that's what Paul preached. See? And that's why this message
was not yea and nay. Because he preached the Son of
God, Jesus Christ. Christ and Him crucified. Finished
work. Buried and risen again. And he
says, preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus. It was not yea and nay, but in
Him. Now you see that? In him was
yea, that means it's sure. Yes, yes, yes. That's what he's
saying. You can't over-emphasize. But
how is it sure? In Christ, who I preach to you. See, I'm pointing you to Christ. And in him it's yes, yes, yes,
yes, yes, yes. And you can't stop it. Alright?
Now this is the same promise, the same gospel, according to
the same covenant that David's talking about. And he says in
verse 20, for all the promises of God in Him, in Christ, are
yea. And in Him, amen, so be it, unto
the glory of God by us. That is, we preach it. It's preached
by us. But the assurance is not in us. The assurance is not in
you. The yea The Amen is not in us,
it's in Christ, alright? So he says now, verse 21, now
He which established us with you in Christ, see there's the
establishment of the sinner, saved in Christ, hath anointed
us is of God, who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the
Spirit in our hearts. Now He sealed us. That seal back
then was a seal. that marked and stamped the product
as being genuine and real and true. It's like you've heard
of the good housekeeping seal of approval. That's supposed
to mean something to you ladies, I guess. That means this is good
product. Well, this seal here that he's
talking about stamps and marks the individual as being certain
and surely safe. And so this seal here, he sealed
us. How'd he do it? He gave us the earnest. That's
like a down payment. That's like a foretaste. All
right? If you're going to buy a house
and you put in earnest money, you don't give them the whole
thing at once. And that's the way God has done us in this salvation.
He hasn't given us the whole thing at once. That'll come in
glory, final glory. But he's given us the seal of
the Spirit, the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. And what does the Spirit do?
Now, what is the main work of the Holy Spirit? To point us
to Christ for our assurance. You see, it's amazing how this
works because you see the wisdom of God here. You can look for
the Holy Spirit in yourself until you're blue in the face. And
you may think you find him one day, you may not think you find
him one day, you may feel it one day, you may not feel it
so much the next. That has nothing to do with it.
Here's the point. If the Holy Spirit indwells you
and fills you and has marked you and sealed you and has been
given to you in your heart as an earnest, what are you doing?
You're looking to Christ for all salvation. Go back to the
second saying, that's exactly what you're seeing right here
in the final words of David. This is it. David's not looking
to himself. He's not looking to his household.
He's not looking to his glorious reign. He's not looking to his
victories. He's not even looking to the Psalms that he had written
in this sense of saying, well, look at how many Psalms I wrote.
He's just simply looking to Christ. And you know, if you're ever
in doubt, that God has made that covenant with you personally. That's what David's saying here.
Look at it, verse 5. Although my house be not so with
God, yet God hath made with me an everlasting covenant. God's
made that with me. Now, if you're ever in doubt that
God has made that same covenant with you personally, there's
only one question you need to ask. What or who is all your
salvation? Is it in your baptism? Is it
in your church membership? Is it in your works? Is it in
your family, your denomination? If it's in any of those, I'm
going to tell you something, God hadn't made that covenant with
you. Because that's not the terms of the covenant. Now, what are
the terms of the covenant? The terms of the everlasting
covenant are preached out, read out. You know, if you're going
to make a covenant, there's got to be terms. Isn't that right?
There'll be terms of that covenant. And those terms have to be written
down and read, and then it has to be sealed and signed by the
recipients of that covenant. Well, what are the terms of that
covenant? The preaching of the gospel of God's grace in Christ. That's the terms of it. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. You see what's
happening here? Now, let's take each one of these
verses, and like I said, I'll go as far as time permits, and
that's as far as I'll go, but let's just look at them. Verse
1. Now, he's talking about a surety. This is a covenant that is ordered
in all things ensured. Now, in order for a covenant,
a covenant is an agreement. Normally, a normal covenant between
men has two parties and both parties agree. And this covenant
has to have a surety. How do I know that you're going
to meet up to the terms of this covenant? Who are the parties
involved in this covenant? The Father, and the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. The everlasting covenant of grace.
You see, David said, he hath made with me an everlasting covenant.
That's an eternal covenant. David is the recipient of it.
Now let me say this quickly. David did agree to the terms
of the covenant. You know when he did that? When
he was born again by the Spirit. You agreed to the terms of the
covenant. When? When you were born again by the
Spirit. When you were given life and you heard the gospel. When he sent from above and took
you. Remember that in 2 Samuel 22?
And when he brought you to faith in Christ, you're in agreement
with the terms of that covenant. Yes, sir. Christ is my surety. He's my all and in all. He's
my wisdom. He's my righteousness. He's my
holiness. He's my redemption. He's my surety. He's my one mediator between
God and men. He's everything to me. That's
agreement that we come to by the power of the Spirit. But
you see, this covenant has a surety. Now, who is our surety? Now,
let's look at this. Look at verse one. First of all,
he says he says now these be the the last words of David.
Now, these weren't actually the last words that David spoke.
But these are the last words of David. It's almost like somebody
said, if you if you ever talk to somebody and you get in an
argument or something, you say, well, that's my last word on
the issue. That's the final thing. That's it. That's the bottom
line. That doesn't mean you're never going to talk again, does
it? Well, that's what David's saying here. This is what the
Lord is saying here about David. This is the finality of David's
life. This sums up David's whole hope.
This sums up his whole life right here. This is the last word on
it. And my friend, if you're a child of God, saved by the
grace of God, this is the final word on you too, isn't it? I
know it is on me. The last words of David. And
what he does here in verse 1, he speaks of the qualifications
of our surety. He says, first of all, you could
apply this to David himself as king of Israel. Look here, David
the son of Jesse. That's who he was. David, son
of Jesse, he had humble beginnings. Remember back in 2 Samuel 20,
verse 1, there was a man named Sheba who hated David and led
a rebellion against David and he He decided he was going to
put David down among the people, and the way he did it, he said,
we're not in agreement or we're not in alignment with this son
of Jesse. You see, he was not of the royal
house of King Saul. But I'll tell you what he was.
He was in the royal house of Judah. And Israel had lost sight
of that one. That's the royal house ordained
by God. For the scepter shall not depart
from Judah until Shiloh come." And then here comes this little
shepherd boy who, of all appearances, would not even qualify in his
physique. I mean, even though he was what
they call a pretty boy, but he was not a kingly person, he was
a shepherd. out of the house of Jesse, a
mere shepherd, a servant in the household of his father, one
whom Jesse didn't even call to the table when the prophet Samuel
came to choose the king out of Jesse's family. He's the son
of Jesse. And then it says he was the man
who was raised up on high. God chose David, not man. Man
chose Saul. What a miserable choice. Any
of men's choices are miserable choices, wrong choices, self-righteous
choices. That's the way it is with our
choices. That's why salvation is not by the will of men, because
by nature our wills are depraved and in bondage to sin, just like
everything else about us, born of Adam. But God chose David
to be king of Israel. God raised up David and set him
on the throne, and God kept him on that throne. David didn't.
David failed miserably in many ways. But God is the one who
raised him up on high. That's David, king of Israel. He calls him the anointed of
the God of Jacob. God empowered David with the
spirit of wisdom and truth and conviction to reign over Israel. And though David messed up in
a lot of ways, his reign was in general a good reign, a reign
that would lead sinners to God. He's called here the sweet psalmist
of Israel. God gave David the songs of grace,
the songs of truth, the songs of worship, He worshiped God
from the heart, in spirit and in truth, and led others to worship.
Don't you thank God for the psalms? How many of those that we were,
the beautiful psalms that teach us and lead us to worship. He's
the sweet psalmist of Israel. So this does apply to David in
himself in many ways, but it mainly Verse 1 mainly speaks
of and identifies Christ, our surety, and our Savior. David
here is a type of Christ. Now, let me show you that. First
of all, David, the son of Jesse. Well, our Lord, in His humanity,
was also a son of Jesse. Look at Matthew chapter 1 with
me. This is referring to His humanity. The Bible says in Romans
chapter 1 that he was made of the seed of David according to
the flesh. That's his humanity. But look
at Matthew chapter 1 here, verse 1. This is the book of the generation
of Jesus Christ. Now the generation there, that
speaks of a creative act. So what's it talking about? It's
not talking about his deity here, it's talking about his humanity.
His humanity had no generation. I mean, his deity had no generation. His deity was never created.
Had no beginning and no end. For unto us a son is given, a
child is born. And he says this is the generation
of Jesus Christ, the son of David, son of Abraham, Abraham begat
Isaac, Isaac begat Jacob, Jacob begat Judas, that's Judah, and
his brethren, and Judah begat Phares, and Zerah, and Tabor,
and Phares begat Eshram, and Eshram begat Aaron, Aaron begat
Amenadab, Amenadab begat Naasa, Naasa begat Salmon, And Salmon
begat Boaz of Rachab, that's Rahab the harlot there, and Boaz
begat Obed of Ruth, and Obed begat Jesse, and Jesse begat
David the king. David the king begat Solomon
of her that had been the wife of Uriah, and it goes all the
way down, verse 16, and Jacob begat Joseph, husband of Mary,
of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. Our Lord was the
son of Jesse in his humanity. And you think about it, you see,
he took upon himself the seed of Abraham. His lineage, humanly speaking,
comes through the lineage of David and Jesse. But you know
what? It doesn't go all the way back
to Adam. And the reason is, is because he was born the seed
of woman. He had a perfect, sinless humanity
created for him in the womb of the Virgin Mary. And Mary herself
was a descendant of Jesse and a descendant of David. And that's
how he and his humanity became so. The Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. You see, he's the seed of woman.
But look back at 2 Samuel 23. He's the son of Jesse, our Savior
is, our surety is, and the man who was raised up on high. Our
Savior had humble beginnings too. Read Isaiah 53 again sometime
in your spare time. How He was born a root in a dry
ground, raised up like a tender plant. The Bible says that God
raised Him up on high in this sense. You know, in His humanity,
He grew in wisdom and stature. What a thought! That's mind-boggling,
isn't it? He was extolled among the people
for His miracles. But mainly, He was raised up
by God on the cross. for the redemption of his people,
for it pleased the Father to bruise him. And he died and was
buried and raised again for our justification." You see, he was
declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection
from the dead. And he ascended unto the Father,
and he is now seated at the right hand of the Father in the heavenlies,
ever living, to make intercession for us, so that when we sin,
and we do and will, and always do, we have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is our propitiation. He's our sin-bearing sacrifice
who made satisfaction to law and justice so that God could
be just and justify the ungodly. So like David was raised up on
high, our Savior as God-man was raised up on high. David is called
the anointed of the God of Jacob. Our Savior was the anointed of
the God of Jacob. You know that word anointed?
Turn to Daniel chapter 9. And I refer to this passage quite
a bit when I'm talking about messianic prophecies and the
work, the person and work of Christ. Look at Daniel chapter
9 and verse 24. Now, David was called the anointed
of the God of Jacob. Our Savior was also ultimately,
perfectly what David only typified, the anointed of the God of Jacob.
And I'll tell you what, anytime you see that term identifying
our Lord as the God of Jacob, you better thank God for it.
Because that identifies him as the God who saves sinners, who
justifies the ungodly. But look at Daniel 9 and verse
24. This is a prophecy of Christ. Seventy weeks are determined
upon thy people and upon thy holy city to finish the transgression. That's what our Savior did. To
make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity,
to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and
the prophecy, and to anoint the most holy. Know therefore and
understand that from the going forth of the commandment to restore
and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah." That term, Messiah,
is the same word translated, anointed, in 2 Samuel 23. Same word, Messiah. David was
the Savior of Israel in a temporal way as in his kingship. But he
only typified the true Savior, the eternal Savior, our surety,
the surety of the covenant. Messiah the Prince shall be seven
weeks and three-score-and-two weeks, the streets shall be built
again, the wall even in troublous times, and after three-score-and-two
weeks shall Messiah, that's the anointed one, be cut off, but
not for himself. And the people of the prince
that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, and
the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of
the war desolations are determined." What that's all speaking, that's
metaphorical language describing the establishment of the nation,
spiritual Israel, the Church, through the work of the Anointed
One. So, back here in 2 Samuel 23,
our Savior is the Anointed of the God of Jacob. He said that
when he stood in his hometown synagogue in Nazareth, and quoted
from Isaiah 61, where it says, "...the Spirit of the Lord God
is upon me, because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good
tidings unto the meek. He has sent me to bind up the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening
of the prison to them that are bound." He is the anointed of
the God of Jacob. He was appointed by God to be
the Messiah. You remember there's three requirements
for the Messiah to do his work. He had to be appointed or anointed
of God, he had to be willing to do the work, and he had to
be able to do the work. Christ was all three. And then
as David was identified here as the sweet psalmist of Israel,
we can say in a sense that our Savior, Christ, is the sweetest
psalmist of Israel of all. He's the sweetest of all. And
I'll tell you why. Because, first of all, he's the
author of all the Psalms. David was used to pen the Psalms.
Others were used, Moses, others, Solomon. But, ultimately, it
was our Savior who penned the Psalms. He's the author. He's
the subject of all the Psalms. We talk about Messianic Psalms,
but all Psalms are of Christ, worshiping Christ. He's the one
who put the Psalms in our hearts and in our minds. He gave us
the new Psalm, or song, worthy is the Lamb that was slain. And
that's the qualifications, not only of David, to rule over that
earthly nation, but it's the qualifications of the greater
Son of David, the eternal, the eternal Messiah, to rule over,
to establish and rule over his church. Look at verse 2 now of
2 Samuel 23. David writes here, the Spirit
of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. Now,
David is the speaker of these words, but he said these words
are of divine origin. They're not of David. He's speaking
by the Spirit of God. These words are God-breathed.
Peter said it this way in 2 Peter 1. He says, we have also a more
sure word of prophecy. where unto you do well that you
take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until
the day dawn and the day star rise in your heart, knowing this
first." There's no prophecy of the Scriptures or any private
interpretation. In other words, it didn't just
come from one man and his interpretation of things. He says, "...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." That's
what David is saying here. This holy man, you say, David,
a holy man? Exactly. What does that mean? That means David was holy in
Christ. Christ is our holiness. You see, our works are not the
way to holiness. And our holiness is not the way
to Christ. Christ is the way to holiness.
You can read about David, and you can see his character and
his conduct, his shortcomings, his sins, glaring forth. But he was still holy in Christ.
What does that mean? That means he was set apart by
God in grace in Christ. Our Lord said, search the Scriptures,
for in them you think you have eternal life. They are they which
testify of me. That's what David's saying here.
I'm speaking by the Spirit of God of Christ. All Scripture,
Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3, verse 16. All Scripture is
given by inspiration of God. Literally, God breathed. and
profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all
good works." Our Lord took the disciples aside and He taught
them the things of Himself and His death and His resurrection
and the forgiveness of sins by His blood. This is what David
sang. And then here in verses 3 and
4 of 2 Samuel 23, he gives the character of the surety, the
king messiah who is to come. This is his character. It says
in verse 3, 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. He must be just. He must be righteous. He must rue or minister in the
fear of God, that is, with respect and reverence and regard and
trust in God. Now, David himself, we know,
as recorded in the Word of God, had failed many times in this.
But on the whole, as I said, his reign was devoted to the
just and righteous cause of the glory of God. We read about that
last time in Psalm 35 and verse 27. When David wrote, let them shout
for joy and be glad that favor my righteous cause, yea, let
them say continually, let the Lord be magnified, which hath
pleasure in the prosperity of his servant. That's our righteous
cause. We're sinners, saved by the grace
of God, but we do have a righteous cause, and that is to glorify
God through Christ. But listen, when it comes to
our eternal salvation, David's included. All this has to be
done in perfection. It has to be done in perfection.
And it cannot be done by any sinful human being, any sinful
human instrument, no matter how, how much that person tries. It
had to be done by one to whom David looked to. It had to be
done by one of whom David prophesied, the God of Israel, he said, the
rock of Israel, our foundation. We spoke of that rock quite a
bit in 2 Samuel 22. Christ is the rock of our salvation,
that tested, tried rock upon which we stand. So much so that
when the storms of life and the accusations of men and Satan
come against us, we cannot fall because our house is built on
the rock. And as we sing in our hymn this evening, that hope
that's built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.
That's the rock. And then he's light, verse 4.
He shall be as the light of the morning. You remember David is
called the lamp or the light or the candle of Israel. He wasn't
in himself perfectly that, but only as he pointed sinners to
Christ and represented in type Christ. The Christ is himself
the light. He's the light of the world.
We saw that. His gospel, which speaks of Him, is the gospel
light. And the Holy Spirit, which empowers
that Word to our regeneration and conversion, sets that light
within our hearts so that we can see the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And that light
of the morning is the eastern light. That's what that is. Rising
in the east. That's a picture of the Messiah.
And he says, when the sun riseth, that says S-U-N, but it's a type
of the S-O-N who rises. His resurrection from the dead,
his ascension unto the Father, and he's coming again in the
eastern sky. Even a morning without clouds.
In other words, there'll be no thing hindering this life. You
know, as we go through our lives, even as sinners saved by grace,
even me as a minister of the gospel, there are a lot of clouds.
that hinders. We have to get through them.
We have to work hard sometimes to see through the clouds, don't
we? The clouds of our own selfishness, the clouds of our own sin, the
clouds of our own bad attitudes, all kinds of clouds. But when
Christ comes as the light, when He appears upon the scene in
that morning light, that eastern sky, there'll be no clouds then.
This is a perfect revelation of God. Now, we're told to strive
to be like Christ, to be conformed to His image. We're told to be
like God, the Scripture says, in those communicable attributes
wherein we represent Him in our love, in our faith, in every
way. But I'll tell you what, the best
that we can do on this earth is a very cloudy existence. Isn't that right? Our skies are
always overcast. Sometimes, by the grace of God,
the sun breaks through and we see the glaring light of His
glory. Sometimes we don't think that
comes very often, does it? But you know what? When this
one comes, when Christ comes, there's the perfection of glory,
the express image of His person, the effulgence of His glory,
Hebrews 1 says. He is the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. You want to
see perfection? Don't look in yourself. I don't
care what anybody tells you. First of all, if you want to
see perfection and you look within yourself, I hope and pray that
you do not find it. Because if you do, you're just
fooling yourself. You want to see perfection? You
want to see righteousness? You want to see holiness? You
look to Christ. There are no clouds there. And
out of Him, it says, as the tender grass springing out of the earth
by clear shining after rain, There's the water of life, and
there's the growth that comes from it. That tender grass, the
fruit of the glory of God and His grace, the fruit of the cross.
For out of His death came life. Right? Because righteousness
demands life. That's who He is. That's His
character. And so, therefore, Based upon
this surety, here's the foundation laid by our surety. David says,
although my house be not so with God. Now some translations, there's
a little variation here and I want to just give you this. Some translations
translate that first line this way as a form of a question.
Is not my house so with God? And then the King James here
says, although my house be not so with God. If, and you know,
a lot of times there's a lot of problems in translations.
Now you know that. And I know there are people who
are just convinced King James only and all of that. But let
me tell you something. Let's put it this way. If David
were saying, is not my house so with God, what he's speaking
of here is not his family and not his earthly kingdom. He's
speaking of that dynasty. of the house of God, which finds
its ultimate fulfillment in Christ, the eternal King and Savior.
And what he would be saying is, look, even though I'm dying,
and even though my children have rebelled, and even though my
wives are against me, and the kingdom is going to fall apart,
all of that, the kingdom of God is still in pact. It's fine. It's fine. It's going to come
to full fruition. It's going to come to complete
perfection in the Lord Jesus Christ. But I believe that this
translation here in verse 5 is the right one. And I believe
David in his last words on his deathbed, in his dying grace,
he's expressing a very sad, sad reality here. Although my house
Be not so with God. And I'll tell you why I believe
that's the right translation. It's that three-letter word that
follows that. Yet. It's kind of like one of
those words in the New Testament, three-letter words, but. But
God. Here's our case. Ephesians chapter
2 says, born in sin, born dead in trespasses and sins, rebellious,
don't want Christ, can't come to Christ, children of disobedience,
even as others, but God. That's grace. But God, who's
rich in mercy, wherein He loved us, unconditionally sent His
Son to die for us, even enemies, ungodly. And I believe that's
what David's expressing here. Here it seems to indicate that
David is recognizing his own sinfulness, and the sinfulness
and the failure of his own family, his own kingdom. He certainly
knew that his hope and assurance was not in himself or in his
family or in his earthly kingdom. Although my house be not so with
God. We've been reading a lot about
David's house, haven't we? His household, his kingdom, his
reign. We've seen some times of triumph,
haven't we? Times of victory. You can think
about them as you go back over the life of David. When David
defeated Goliath. And it wasn't David, you know
that. It was God who did it. Here this uncircumcised Philistine
stood against the God of history. And David knew that and he wrote
about it. He sang about it. David's wisdom in dealing with
Saul. Boy, that was one time when David
did the right thing. And yet, in all of that, David
doing the right thing, for a righteous cause, acting in wisdom, that
still was not his righteousness before God, was it? Still Christ. Always has been, always is, always
will be. And we see David, when he failed
miserably, openly, scandalously, So we know David understood that
he had no hope in himself and in his works and in his greatest
triumphs and certainly not his grossest failures. The reason
for David's dying grace and dying faith and assurance is this,
yet he, God, hath made with me, and it was of God's making, not
David, this began with God, Salvations of the Lord, He hath made with
me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things insure. Now, that's
all my salvation right there. That's all my desire. An everlasting
covenant. You can read about this. Look
at Psalm 89. Psalm 89. And like I said, perhaps we'll
come back and go over some of these things again. But let me
just give a few more minutes here. Psalm 89. This is the psalm
of the everlasting covenant. Take some time and read the whole
thing. Psalm 89, verse 1. I'm not going
to read all of it tonight, but he says, I will sing of the mercies
of the Lord forever. These are covenant mercies. With
my mouth, I will make known thy faithfulness, not mine, but God's
faithfulness to all generations. For I said, Mercy shall be built
up forever. Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish
in the very heavens." You see, that's covenant language. Right
there. I've made a covenant with my
chosen. I've sworn unto David my servant. That's Christ speaking
as the surety of the covenant. He chose him. He says in verse
4, Thy seed will I establish forever and build up thy throne
to all generations. If it were conditioned on David,
where would it have been? destroyed. Where is the earthly
kingdom of Israel today? It's gone. You can go on. Look at verse 13. Thou hast a mighty arm, strong
is thy arm, and high is thy right hand. Justice and judgment are
the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before
thy face. Psalm 85, he says, mercy and
truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. God must be just when he justifies
the ungodly. How is all that going to take
place? Through Christ. And he goes on. He says in verse
34, my covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone
out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness
that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure forever,
and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established forever
as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven." That's the
psalm of the covenant. That's David's hope. And this
covenant's ordered in all things, the execution and fulfillment
of all its details, all of its conditions, all of its requirements,
are foreordained and set in order by God. Nothing stipulated on,
conditioned on man. Nothing. It's ordered in all
things. God ordered it before the foundation of the world.
It's an everlasting covenant. He didn't look down through the
scope of time and say, well, now what's David going to do
so that I can know what I'm going to do? That's not the God of
this book, my friend. The God of this book declares
the end from the beginning. He's sovereign. And you know
why? That's why we can have dying
grace. That's why we can have assurance. Because I guarantee
if it was conditioned on me, it's a goner. And I am too. And
you are too, if you're honest. I'm talking about even when we're
good little boys and girls, as Mama would say. That's the case. I so think about that. God works
all things after the counsel of His own will. Therefore, it's
ordered in all things. And sure, if it's not ordered
in all things, then it's not sure. This is not fatalism. This
is not faith. This is not kismet. This is not,
what are you going to do? Or what do you think you might
do? Or what are you promising to do? No, sir, it's what has
God done in Christ. And He proved it on the cross
of Calvary when He drank damnation dry for His people and fulfilled
in time all the terms and requirements and stipulations of this covenant. That's when He did it, on the
cross. That's why this is the covenant of the cross. This is
the covenant of blood. This is the covenant of redemption.
When Christ died on the cross, He fulfilled all the requirements,
conditions, and stipulations of this covenant promise of salvation
for the redemption of His people, and that included David. That's
how God could justify David back here in the Old Testament. Because
it was sure, it was ordered in all things insure, and God gave
it to David just like He gave it to Abraham. by promise. Promissory
note. And a promissory note has a surety.
And his name is Jesus Christ the righteous. What were the
conditions of this covenant? That God be glorified. And I'll
go into that next time. I've got a lot to say about that.
But David said, this is all my salvation. Now that's it. Isn't that right? That's all
my salvation. He said, it's all my desire.
It's the only thing I want. You know why it's the only thing
he wants? Because he knew himself. God had revealed to David who
he really was. And if God ever reveals to a
sinner what he really is and what he really can do, you'll
find out that this salvation is all your desire too. Although
he make it not to grow. We'll deal with that next time.
But let's sing as our closing hymn, Blessed Assurance. Okay.