As we still continue to deal
with Old Testament pictures of Christ, the first five verses,
2 Samuel 23, Now these be the last words of David, David the
son of Jesse, 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 rises, even a morning without clouds,
as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining
after the rain. Although my house be not so with
God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things insure, For this is all my salvation and all my
desire, though he make it not to grow. Now David said these be the last
words of David. You know there's something special
about a person's last words. And a lot of folks don't know
that they spoke their last words. But David knew that he was down
to his last words. know that time was running out
on him and you talk about a man's last words especially one who's
a man after God's own heart and God's greatly used David And when he spoke and he wrote,
he wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He's just
not words off the top of his head. These are words, when you
read what David said, it's like what anybody else said. God said.
God's speaking. God spoke through him. God gave
him words to say. But when a man's dying, I'm sure
that he must do some serious, serious thinking about three
things. Three things. First, his relationship
with God. Do I have a relationship with
God? Do I know God? Does God know
me? Did Christ die for me? Has His
blood been shed for me? That's the first thing. Oh, let
the man get ready to die. What? Do I have a relationship
with God? Will I be accepted of God in
the end? And the second thing that he'll
be interested in How will he fare in the judgment? How will
I get along in the judgment? What will the judgment be like
for me? Will I have someone stand for
me? Will I have to stand there for myself? And the third thing
is, where will he spend eternity? And if you don't have the right
answer to those first two, there's no doubt where a person would
go. But beloved, David, you know where he found his, in this hour,
this last hour, his last words, where he found his comfort, where
he found his assurance, where he found his hope. You know where
it was at? In God's covenant of mercy and
grace given us in Christ. That's where he found his comfort
and his hope. Oh my, that's where I'm, God's
grace, that's where I want to find mine. when that time comes. And then he goes on to say this,
David the son of Jesse. When he says this, he said, I'm
just a man. I'm just a man. A mortal like
you, like me. He was a son. He was a father. He was a husband. He was a friend. Real blood flowed through his
veins. And his flesh was earthbound
and as frail as ours is. You know David, three things
I can think of that David said in one of his psalms. He said,
make me to know the end of my days. Make me to know how frail
I am. And make me know that my hand
is as a hand's breath and a weaver's shuttle. Three things, he said,
make me know just how frail I am, how short my life is, and make
me to know what my end of my days is gonna be. Gonna be. That's three things, good things
to think about and pray about, ain't it? And to know, and now
this is a man, here, these is his last words. Then he goes
on to say, David the son of Jesse, the man who was raised up on
high. Raised up on high. He said, he's
just a man. And he was raised up on high. What
does that mean? David was one who God loved and
God chose. He was an object of God's grace,
an object of God's favor. God took a shepherd boy. He wasn't
even important enough for his father to have him come when
Samuel came to anoint a king. He was a boy out tending sheep.
And God took him out of that sheepfold and took him off that
hillside outside of Bethlehem and made him one of the greatest
kings that ever lived on the face of this earth. In fact,
he was such a great king that God himself said, my son is going
to be your seed and he'll be the king of kings
and the Lord of lords. And I'll tell you, David, God
raised him up from a shepherd boy as a king. And in my, your
situation, He took beggars from the dunghill, raised us up, made
us sit of His prompt princes, made us inherit what Christ inherited,
made us inherit a throne of glory. Oh my! I'll tell you, beloved, Who can
tell? Who possibly can tell the great
thing God has actually done for us? I want you to look at two
verses of Scripture with me over in 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Look
at this with me. It's such a blessing. Who can
tell? Who can tell what God's done
for us in Christ? And the things He's done for
us. We've sung that Jesus Christ is all I need. All I need and
look what he says here. Gabe quoted this verse of scripture
to Bill Grisham on a Tuesday and Bill died on Thursday. But
Gabe stood and quoted these verses and tears streaming down his
face thinking about how soon Bill was going to go be with
his Lord and his Master. but here's what he said verse
9 but as it is written he said now this found in the Old Testament
this is written in the book in Old Testament I hath not seen
nor ear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things
which God hath prepared for them that love him but now listen
to this but God hath revealed them unto us by spirit God gave
us some conception, some truth, by His Spirit, what He gave us
in Christ. God, by His Spirit, He searches
all the things of God and the things that God chose for us
and gave us in Christ. And then He'd come around and
reveal them things to us and said, this is what you have in
Christ. Unsearchable riches in Christ. More precious, more precious
than gold. God made us to know those things.
You say, well who knows? God let us know a little bit
about what we have in his blessed son and what he did for us in
his son. Bruce, when he prayed, he said,
Father, thank you and the blessed sacred of your three persons
for what you've done for us. Oh my, picked us up out of a
dung hill. And so he was the man raised
on high and God raised us up and seated us with our Lord Jesus
Christ in heavenly places. Then look what else he said back
over here in this chapter 23. Who is raised up on high the
anointed of the God of Jacob. The anointed. The anointed of
God. David was anointed king over
Israel by Samuel and where did Samuel find out that he was the
piece to be the one that was going to be anointed king? God
said this is him. When Samuel stood before him
and he's just a boy he said that's him. God looked at us because
of his son he said that's him. He looked at his son and said,
that's him. This is my anointed. This is my blessed son. This
is my beloved son. This is him. This is him. And you know what? God has anointed us and made
us, and I'll preach on this one of these days, that He made us
kings and priests. I don't feel like a king, but
God said I was a king. And I don't feel like a priest,
but God said I'm a priest and you know things that priest and
kings do? They rule and pray. And I tell you what, He did that
through and by the blessed person of His Son and the work of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now look what He said there.
The sweet, sweet psalmist of Israel. I noticed today, and I've read
this, I don't know how many times, but all of 2 Samuel 22 is a psalm
that David wrote. There's 51 verses in the 22nd
chapter of Samuel, and it's a psalm of David. 51 things. And he called
him the sweet psalmist of Israel. David wrote most of the Psalms
for Israel and the Scriptures tells us that he sent them to
music. They're musical. They're musical. And when they
were sung right and used right, they were sweet, they were delightful
to the ear. You know why? For they praised
and magnified God. Or else they let him know how
desperately he needed God and that God was his salvation. He
said, the God of Israel is my salvation, my rock, my life,
my strength. And then he said in one time,
he said, oh my soul, why art thou cast down within me? And
you know what he said the next time? Hope thou in God. Said it again, oh my soul, why
art thou, hope thou in God. And when we get downcast, hope
thou in God. Hope now in God. Oh, sweet Psalmist
of Israel. He wrote some sweet... How about
the 23rd Psalm? What a sweet Psalm. The 22nd
Psalm. Oh my God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? That's the sweetest Psalm 23.
Because that tells us what Christ did for us. And what God did
for us. On the cross. Oh, no wonder he's a sweet psalmist.
Those psalms are sweet to us, ain't they? Oh, sweet, sweet to us. Then
look what he goes on to say in verse 2 here now. The Spirit
of the Lord spake by me. Now this tells us, beloved, that
what he's saying is, when I speak, God spoke. That's what he's saying. The Spirit of the Lord spake
by me. Not only was he a king, but he
was a prophet. And I tell you, the Psalms that
he wrote, the songs that he wrote, they weren't coming off the cleverness
of his mind, the cleverness of his tongue, the abilities that
he had. No, no. They were written by
and under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost of God. Peter
said this over 2 Peter. He said this, the prophecy In olden times, in all time,
in any time, came not, came not by man or the will of
man, but it came by inspiration and by the Holy Ghost as holy
men spake by the Holy Ghost. That's why we can take this book
and trust every single word in it. We don't have to know it
all. No, no, it would be impossible for us to know it all. But I
tell you one thing, it's not impossible to believe it all. Every word in this book is what
God said. He used men. He spoke through
men. But it was Him. It was Him. Huh? And I tell you what, that's
what even preaching, without the Spirit of the Lord and without
the anointing of God, it's awful to try to get up here and preach
and try to say something or do something without the Spirit
of the Lord being with you. And oh my, I hope the Spirit
of the Lord when I'm preaching speaks by me. Don't you Bruce? Don't you Gary? Speak by me,
oh Lord. Speak by me. And then look what
he says now. Well, he's going to quit talking
now. He's going to talk about Christ
here. The God of Israel, verse 3. The God of Israel spake to
me and said, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the
fear of God. Now David, he ruled in the fear
of God. He ruled in the fear of God.
And it says that he treated all people justly. All people justly. Over in 2 Samuel 8. But I believe
here that David is talking about our blessed master, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's talking about Christ as
King, Christ as Lord. who was the son of David. Look
over in Isaiah 11. Keep 2 Samuel here. Look over in Isaiah 11. You know, God said He had set
His King on a mountain. Set His King up. And you know,
Christ was the son of David. And look what it says here in
Isaiah 11. There shall come forth a rod
out of the stem of Jesse. That's David. And a branch shall go out of
his root. See how that's capitalized? That
word branch. Christ over Zechariah is called
the Lord's branch. He's calling Jeremiah the branch
of the Lord. Look what he said. And the Spirit
of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel, the Spirit of might, the Spirit of knowledge,
and of, listen to this, the fear of the Lord. And this Spirit
is going to make him quick quick of understanding in the fear
of the Lord. He won't judge after the sight of the eyes. Oh no,
no, no. Neither reprove after the hearing
of the ears. He won't go by what he sees and
what he hears. But with righteousness shall
he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the
earth. And he shall smite the earth with the rot of his mouth,
and the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. So it talks there about Christ
ruling in the fear of God. That's what David said. He that
ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And
he talked about our Lord Jesus Christ being Jehovah's akin to
you. Christ our righteousness, the
Lord our righteousness. Now I know and you know that
God isn't just God. But bless His holy name, He's
also a Savior. He's also a Savior. You can look
all through the Old Testament and find out how that works.
As a just God, He destroyed the old world. As a Savior, He saved
Noah and prepared an ark. As a just God, He cast Adam out
of the Garden of Eden. As a Savior, He provided a lamb
to cover their nakedness. And you can go through the Bible
and find instance after instance of a just God. Well, He showed
how just He was when He nailed His own Son. Made Him the just
for the unjust, the innocent for the guilty. Put Him to death
in the flesh. Showed how just He was. But then
turned around and said, we'll call his name Jesus, for he shall
save his people from their sins. So God turned around and makes
this very one that he justly condemned on a cross, turns right
around and makes him our Savior. I love the gospel, I just love
it. Oh my. And I tell you, by our Lord's
blessed, glorious life, And by his blessed, blessed death and
the shedding of his blood. Oh, that's what caused, that enabled
God. I don't know how to say, I shouldn't
say it that way. God in doing that showed that
he was just. and that he would justify clear
of all guilt, all sin, all condemnation to them that would come to this
blessed man and say, I believe him, I trust him, I embrace him,
I bow to him and I need him more than I need life itself. Because
he's got to be my life or I've got no life. Oh, I tell you,
he didn't come, he didn't destroy the law, he fulfilled it. You know what he did? He took
it and held it up high. Held it up high. I feel sorry
for people who try to be justified by the law. Go to Calvary to
get their sins forgiven and then go back to the law to try to
be sanctified. When the law never did nothing
but condemn. But oh my, he didn't compromise
justice. Never let it down. And he fully
and completely satisfied God in every respect. And if God's
satisfied with him, he's satisfied with everybody that believes
him. I've often said this, I've said
this, that you know, when I'm laying on my dying bed, you know,
I hope I just boom, I'm gone. I hope that's the way it goes,
but we don't know that. I may have to lay on a bed for
several days and do like a lot of people have, just go to sleep
one night and they come and say, well he's gone. But I know this, that there's
a pillar I'll rest my head on when I, every night I go to bed.
You know what it is? The satisfaction of the Lord
Jesus Christ. God's satisfied with him. I look
back over my day, did I do anything to honor God? God's satisfied
with him. Did I pray enough today? God's
satisfied with him. Did I read my Bible enough today?
God's satisfied with him. That's all that's going to matter.
That's all that's going to matter. God's satisfied with him. Oh,
and that's what we're going to lay down, and that's our pill
and a rest on, ain't it? And then look what he says here in
verse 4, And he shall be as the light, still talking about Christ
now, he shall be as the light of the morning when the sun arises,
even a morning without clouds, as a tender grass springing out
of the earth by the clear shining after a rain. He says so descriptive
here. He shall be as the light of the
morning when the sun comes up in the morning. When the sun
starts rising up. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is called the light of the world. He says when the sun of
righteousness arises with healing in his wings. And then it says the clouds will
be gone away. The clouds, he said, you know,
the sun rises a morning without clouds. I told Shurin the other
day, we was going somewhere and I said, there's not a cloud in
the sky, see that? Not a cloud in the sky. I like
it when there's not a cloud in the sky. But oh, listen, he said,
there's not a cloud, a morning without clouds. And I tell you
that our Lord Jesus Christ did away with the clouds of the law.
Huh? The law of ceremony and ritual? The law of sacrifice? And when
that sun rose up and Christ rose up as the light of the world
and come up here, He come, brought the gospel clear and plain, and
it shines! Oh, how it shines in our hearts! Oh, my! And I tell you, and He
gives us, beloved, full justification. plead redemption and rest in
his blessed person. And then it says, the tender
grass springing out of the earth after the clear shine, that tender
grass, that may be like our Lord when he is born, a virgin come
up tender. Oh, tender, oh my. Oh, there's
a clear shining after a rain. Oh, he shines so clear, so bright. And then, oh, here's something
to mourn about now. Here's a great sigh, a great
mournful, mournful thing. He said in verse 5, Although my house be not so with
God. That's a reason for great sigh,
mournful, mournful, mournful. It is for me. It is for me. Maybe it is for you. My house,
my children, my grandchildren. Your house means everybody in
your family and generations. David said all my house, all
my children, all my servants, my great court and my nation
don't know God. They're not all in fellowship
and don't know what it is to know God. They don't love Him. They don't worship Him. They
don't seek His glory. And you find David weeping, weeping
at times over his house and even over Israel. Like Paul wept and
said, Oh, I could wish myself a curse from Christ. for my brethren,
my kinsmen, according to the flesh." Oh my. I tell you, it's something. It's
something. Oh my. Not to have a... I've
said this before. If your children, or your grandchildren,
know Christ, and worship Christ, and have fellowship with Christ,
you're blessed. Oh, you're so blessed. God made your family to differ. My family is not that way. Shirley's children is not that
way. My children is not that way. But, life ain't over yet
either, is it? Life ain't over yet. That's something
to look forward to, ain't it? And then what it says though
now, Although I have mourned for a mournful thing, yet God
Yet God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Oh, yet God, and I love that
word, yet God, hath made with me an everlasting covenant. And you know this is the same
covenant that God made with Christ before the world ever began.
And God told David, He said, I'm going to make your throne
endure forever and ever and ever. He wasn't talking about David.
He was talking about David's son and his dominion being over
the whole earth. And I tell you what, and we're
talking about an eternal covenant of grace. I don't know how to
say this, but God is an eternal God. And everything He does,
He does it on the basis of eternity. He did not wait until he made
a man and then started a covenant. He started a covenant and had
a covenant before he ever made a man. And then he made a whole bunch
of people after the sons of Adam and said, I'm going to give them
to my son. And my son said, well, listen, I'll be their surety.
I stand good for them. I'll tell you what, not only
will I stand good for them, but I'll save them. I'll save them
from their sin. I'll save them to your glory.
I'll save them to the honor and glory, oh God of yourself. I'll sanctify them. I'll make
them holy. Oh my. And I'll mediate between
them and God. As you said, they were enemies. He said, you know what I'm going
to do? I'm going to make them friends back with you again.
I'm going to slay the enmity that's in their heart. And I'm
going to make it where you can know them and they can know you.
And you can have sweet fellowship together. Do you know what the Son says?
You know what it said over Ecclesiastes 3.14, and I know you've seen
this before. What the Lord does, it shall be forever. He declared the end, when? From
the beginning. And that's the end of me, end
of you, and end of all things. He declared my end from my beginning. That's good news to me, ain't
you? I'm in His hands. What a wonderful place to be.
And I know this. I know this. And I'll tell you
something else about Him. He changes not. He can't change. Then look what I got to hurry
on. I took too long. And there it says, ordered in
all things in verse 5. Ordered in all things. That word
ordered means ordained. The same thing, the word is ordained.
Ordained, He gave this covenant. It's ordained in all things and
it's sure. It's sure. You know God's mercy
and God's grace are not left to the chance, or the will of
man, or the free will of man, or the power of man, or the ability
of man. But they was decreed by God,
determined by God, and purposed by God. Huh? And Christ fulfilled this covenant.
He established righteousness. And he brought effectual atonement.
He actually redeemed his people. And you imagine the death of
Christ and what he accomplished by his death and life be left
in the hands of men? God's not going to do that. No,
no. You know why? Christ had already
accomplished it. That's why they're called the
sure mercies of David. Oh my, and I'll tell you something
else it says about him. He shall not fail nor be discouraged. And now listen to this, listen
to this. Ordained in all things ensured,
this is all my salvation. I don't have no salvation anywhere
else. Let's listen to what David says
when he says, God's love for me is in Christ. God's choice of me is in Christ. God's righteousness for me is
in Christ. God's acceptance of me is in
Christ. And that's all my salvation. Not my feelings, not my works,
not my righteousness, but His grace and His grace alone. That's
all my salvation. He's all of it. My God, when
I approach Thy throne and all Thy glory see, this is my stay
and this alone that Jesus died for me. And listen to what else
he said here. I'll hurry on here. Look what
else he says now. Not only is this all my salvation,
but it's all I desire. I don't desire nothing else but
Him. I don't want nothing else but this. I ain't desire anything
but this. This is all I desire. Bruce and
I was talking about sitting on the back porch this evening.
Paul, you know, he said, I stand in doubt of some of you. Now listen, when Christ is all
you have, then He becomes all you want and all you desire. We not only find comfort and
peace in God's covenant of grace given to us in Christ, but we
find delight, we find enjoyment, we find assurance, We find everything
we need. And that's why we're here, because
this is what we desire. We desire Him. We desire fellowship
with Him, union with Him, to be with Him. Oh my! And all that God's purpose
be fulfilled in me and in you, As it will surely be one of these
days completely and fully and finally saved. And then look
what he says here now. Although he make it not to grow.
Now what is he talking about there? Well look at me and you
right now. Although he make it not to grow.
In us right now. There is not any evidence of
what we actually are in Christ. We have no evidence. All we have
is faith. Right? We have no evidences of
what we are in Christ right now. But the gospel, what we hear
the gospel preached. Or what we shall be one of these
days. But I know this. The promise
is sure. That we're going to rejoice in
Him and with Him. I don't care what happens in
this world. You know, now it don't look like anything much
is going on. But I tell you what, we're going
to say that in a minute. It don't look like much now.
It don't look like what we are, what we have, and what we're
going to be. You know, that's why we have
a salvation that looks outside ourselves entirely and completely.
Ain't that right? Well, let's sing 51 in the hymn
book. Let's stand together and sing
this. I hope that's a blessing to you.
Two things I want when I come to this service. First and foremost,
I want to honor Christ. I want to honor Him. I want to
magnify His name, if I can, by God's grace. And secondly, I want to do you
good. I want to do you good. Alright,
praise the Savior. Praise the Savior How much we owe him. Let us surrender to him all we
are and have. Jesus is the name that charms
us. He for conflict fits and arms
us. Nothing moves, Lord, nothing
harms us. Trust in Him, ye saints, forever
He is faithful, changing never Neither force nor gout can sever
Those He loves from Him Keep us, Lord, oh, keep us cleaving
To Thyself and to Thee receiving. Now this is the verse
that says, make it not to grow. Listen to this. Then we shall
be where we would be. Then we shall be what we should
be. Things that are not now could
be. Soon shall be our own