This passage in 2 Samuel 23 is
the record of God of King David's last words. And anytime, you know, when we talk
about one of God's children, as David was, it's interesting
that somebody who was so prominent as David was in Israel, the king,
the anointed of God. We're gonna start off by looking
at David's identity. That's what he says of himself. And anytime we see the last words
of a person like that, it's always interesting, isn't it, to see
what they say as far as their hope. And that's what I want
us to look at here. This is beautiful. To me, this
is an expression of every true believer's salvation right here.
Even though we're not the same as King David, we didn't rule
Israel, we didn't do the things that he did, but we're all sinners
saved by the grace of God. And that's the key here. David's identity here is set
forth in the first two verses, or actually really the first
verse, but there are some things here that tip us off in verse
three too. But what we see here is David
pleading and testifying out of his own weakness. his confession
of sin. And a lot of this, we'll see
David himself as a weak, sinful man who was totally and constantly
in need of salvation by God's grace. And isn't that us? That's
us every day. There's not one time that any
of us can say, now at this moment, I don't need God's grace, I'm
pretty well on my own. I can't do that even up here
preaching, I can't do that. I'm in need of God's grace all
the time. But another thing you'll see in these verses is when David
identifies himself, you'll see him as a type of Christ and as
the instrument of God to bring Christ into the world. Look at
verse one, now these be the last words of David, David the son
of Jesse, the son of Jesse. right there connects him with
the royal line of Judah. Remember, Jacob said, the scepter
shall not depart from Judah until Shiloh come. That's a prophecy
of the Messiah. And it came down through the
ages in David. We talked about David, the royal
covenant that David had. You know, when God told him,
he said, the line of Judah is going to be preserved through
you, and it's going to be culminated and fulfilled in Christ, the
Messiah, the king, the shepherd king of spiritual Israel, as
David was the shepherd king of literal or physical Israel. And
so the son of Jesse connects him with the royal line. How
many times have we seen in various passages of scripture where Christ
is called a root out of Jesse, And that's what he's talking
about. So David here is being connected with that royal line
that'll be culminated and fulfilled and accomplished only in the
Lord Jesus Christ, in no other. And whenever the Bible talks
about the eternity of this throne, it's not talking about a physical
throne, it's talking about a spiritual throne upon which Christ sits
as our shepherd who died for our sins and as our King who
rules and reigns and disposes of all things to glorify the
Father and to save us from our sins. He's in control. So there
we have it. It says here in verse one that
David was the man who was raised up on high. Think about it, he
started out as a lowly shepherd And God raised him up and gave
him the throne of Israel. Replaced Saul, who was an illegitimate
king, actually, because he wasn't from the line of Judah. But David
was God's anointed, it says here, the anointed of the God of Jacob. And anytime you see God identifying
himself as the God of Jacob, you have to think of it this
way. He's the God who saves sinners by his grace. He's the God of
Abraham, which is the God of the covenant. He's the God of
Isaac, which is the God of promise. And he's the God of Jacob who
saves sinners by that promise according to that covenant. See
how that's connected? And that's a beautiful thing,
see? And that's important for this passage here because David's
going to, he's going to say here, he's going to say that this covenant
that is the ground and hope of his salvation and assurance is
ordered in all things in sure. And you can see that as God works
in providence all the way down through history. And so here's
the anointed of the God of Jacob who was raised up on high. Well,
David's a type of Christ even here. You remember Christ had
a lowly beginning in his humanity here on earth. He was born, his
birth was not with much fanfare. It wasn't like the king coming
through the clouds. It was a babe in swaddling clothes
in a manger, lowly manger, having to be carried by his parents
away because his life was threatened by another illegitimate king. And so he was a man of sorrows,
acquainted with grief. We esteemed him not, all of that,
but he was raised up on high. by the Father and the Spirit
when he did the work of salvation on the cross for us. He died,
he was buried, he arose again, and he ascended unto the Father,
and he's now seated at the right hand of the Father, ever living
to make intercession for us. And that's our, he's our assurance,
right there. Christ is our assurance. I'm
not my assurance, you're not your assurance, Christ is. His
position, His glory, His person, His finished work, His blood,
His righteousness, everything about Him is our assurance. And so we look to Him as the
author and finisher of our faith. He's the one who was raised up
on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob. God said, I am
the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. What is that, Malachi 3, 6, I
think it is. And then David identifies himself
here in verse one as the sweet psalmist of Israel. And that's
what David was. He didn't write all of the Psalms,
but the Holy Spirit inspired David to write a bunch of them.
Some people say maybe a third of them, some say a half, I don't
know. Really doesn't matter because David, like all of us, he's just
an instrument of God. This Bible, the Psalms, this
is the word of God. This is not the word of David,
even though David was used to do that, and he's called the
sweet psalmist of Israel. And I thought about this, that's
what Christ is to us. He sings to us, he preaches to
us, he is the word, and he speaks sweet things to the people of
God as they look to him and rest in him and find their peace in
him, that's what Christ is. He's our song of songs, you might
say it that way. And even the Psalms are about
him, aren't they? Just like every bit of the scripture.
The Psalms don't speak of man's glory or man's works, they speak
of Christ's glory and his work. And I thought about that and
then look at verse two. It says, the spirit of the Lord
spoke by me and his word was in my tongue. And so David, he
is acknowledging here that the words that he wrote as far as
the word of God, that they're not his. That's Psalm 23, what
we all think about, you know. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. David wrote that, but it wasn't
his word. He said this, the Spirit of the Lord spoke by me. This
is God's word. And that's important for us to
remember. This is God's word. And those who stand against,
those who preach God's word are not, in essence, standing against
the preacher. They're standing against God.
That's an enemy of God. That's what we are by nature,
isn't it? Enemies of God in our minds by wicked works until he
turns us around, gives us life, and brings us to Christ, and
brings us to bow to him. So there's the identity of David.
And there he is in himself, and there he is as a type of Christ.
But look at verse three. It says, the God of Israel said,
the rock of Israel spoke to me. Now who's he talking about here?
The rock of Israel. He's talking about Christ. Does
this have any application to David himself? Well, it does,
but only in a limited and an imperfect sense. The rock of
Israel spoke to David. Christ spoke to David. You believe that? I do. Because
Christ is the everlasting Son of God. And he spoke in the Old
Testament. He appeared in the Old Testament
many times in those pre-incarnate appearances. But the God of Israel
said, the rock of Israel spoke to me. And here's what he said.
He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of
God. That's what God required of the
kings of Israel. And it does apply to David, again,
in a limited and imperfect sense. David's reign in Israel overall
was what we would call a just reign ruling in the fear of God. And you know the fear of God
there means respect and regard and worship of God. Now did David
himself personally always carry that out perfectly? And the answer's
no. And David himself admits that
in just a few moments here. He did generally. But that's
all we can do. And that's why righteousness
is not attained by anything we do or anything we fail to do. Righteousness is attained only
in Christ because Christ is the only one who rules over men perfectly,
justly, righteously, without flaw, without sin, and ruling
in the fear of God. Now, some people say, well, if
Christ is God, how could he have feared God? Everything, and I've
got some scripture here in your lesson that you can look at,
but when Christ walked this earth as God-man, you know, God in
human flesh, and he did that for the purpose of the salvation
of his people, he was submissive to the Father. doing the Father's
will. Now, he's equal with the Father
in the attributes of deity, but as God-man, as our mediator,
as our surety, our substitute, our redeemer, our intercessor,
Christ submitted himself to the will of the Father, and he walked
in the fear of God. Everything he did was for the
glory of God. In him dwelleth all the fullness
of the Godhead, and we're complete in him. But you remember he told
him, he said, I didn't come to do my own will, but the will
of him that sent me. He wasn't denying his deity there.
He was simply showing his submissiveness for the purposes of saving his
people. And Philippians chapter two is one of the passages that
describes that, how he became obedient even unto death, the
death of the cross, how he submitted himself, he humbled himself. Yet he didn't think it was robbery
to be equal with God. Now think about that. Read that
passage in Philippians two, beginning there at verse five where Paul
says, let this mind be in you, talking about how we should be
humble and how we should treat each other because Christ humbled
himself when he came to earth and submitted himself to God.
And yet, being an obedient servant, even unto death, he didn't think
it was robbery to be equal with God, because he is God. So that's
how we would say he ruled in the fear of God. He ruled in
respect and regard, complete faith in his father. Look at
verse four. It says, and he shall be as the
light of the morning when the sun riseth, even a morning without
clouds. Now that could be said of David
because think about what shape Israel was in when Saul was king. And then when David emerged upon
the scene, how much better things got for them politically and
nationally. He was like a cool drink of water
in the dry land. He was a light in darkness. Now
again, that can only apply to David in a limited, imperfect
sense because David was not a perfect man. But it applies to Christ
in a perfect sense. in an unlimited eternal sense.
Christ is the light of the morning. He's the sun that riseth even
as a morning without clouds. Malachi calls him the son of
righteousness who rises with healing in his wings. And what's
that talking about? Well, it's talking about the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ. You wanna know God? You must
come through Christ. He must be revealed in the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ is the son, S-U-N,
he's the son, S-O-N, but he's also the son, S-U-N, of righteousness. What did he come to do? He came
to establish a perfect righteousness whereby God could be just and
justify ungodly sinners like us. And he did so. And so he is the light of the
world. He's the light of the world. All the truth, of God
finds its revelation, its summation, its fullness in him. And then it says in verse four,
as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining
after rain. I think about that Psalm 23,
he makes us to lie down in green pastures. He feeds us like He
feeds His sheep with the tender grass springing out of the earth
by clear shining after rain. He's our water, He's our bread,
He's our sustenance. We feed upon Him in His word. And then that brings us down
to verse five, which is really the main verse here as far as
this lesson is concerned. Listen to what David says. Here's
the foundation of all truth and salvation. He says, although
my house be not so with God. David's house. What's that talking
about? It's his household. That's his
kingdom. As king of Israel, his household
was the nation. That's his immediate family. David had wives, had too many
wives, had all that, but he had children. His family. And he says, although they be
not so with God, David's house, David's family. And you gotta
think about it this way. As successful as David's reign
was, which it was, it ended for him in disaster. I mean, think about it. I've got a list here. He suffered
from that dark scandal, of his own making with Bathsheba and
Uriah. He went through that. He suffered
under repeated family crisis and attempted resurrection from
his own son, Absalom. Talking about breaking a guy's
heart, you know? Oh, Absalom, Absalom, when he
found out that Absalom was dead. There was another civil war and
three years of famine. As successful as his reign, you
could probably say it this way, that David's reign in Israel
was as successful as any human being's reign can be. And yet,
there were so many problems. And it was all because of sin.
And that's what David's saying here. Although my house be not
so with God. David's including himself here.
He's not just blaming his children and his nation and all that.
Although my house, Be not so with God. My situation. And this
is a confession of his own sin. He couldn't put this off on others.
But here's the thing. The confession of sin doesn't
stop with this word of woe and sorrow. Listen to what he says. Yet. The word yet means but. And I think about Romans five.
when it talks about how even when we were yet enemies, Christ
died for the, but God, or in Ephesians there where he says,
but God who is rich in mercy, all of that, yet God hath made
with me an everlasting covenant, one that's not gonna quit. And
this covenant is ordered in all things and sure. Now what covenant
do you suppose he's talking about? He's talking about the covenant
of grace. The covenant of salvation. The covenant of redemption. The
one made between the Father and the Son and the Spirit before
the world ever began. That's what he's talking about.
This is the covenant of our salvation. Think about that. This is the
covenant of which Paul described that provides a salvation which
God gave to his people in Christ Jesus before the world began. This is the covenant of grace
that provides everything that God requires, everything that
we need in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
says it's ordered in all things. That means it's a covenant that
is not conditioned on us. It's one of those unilateral
covenants. All conditions placed on Christ. God ordered it before the foundation,
and not one jot or tittle of this covenant will fail. because
it's ordered by God. And that ordered by God, I'll
tell you what it speaks of. It speaks of predestination.
It speaks of God's sovereign purpose. It speaks of election. God chose a people, gave them
to the Lord Jesus Christ, and it's ordered in all things and
sure. Now, why is it sure? I'll tell
you why it's sure, because it's sure, as the old preacher said,
it sure ain't conditioned on us. It's conditioned on Christ. Christ is the surety of this
covenant. 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 20
says, all the promises of God, and those promises are covenant
promises, in this covenant of grace, in Christ are yea, and
in him, amen. Sure and certain. There's not
one person whom God chose to be part of this covenant whom
Christ will fail to save. All for whom he died as surety,
substitute, redeemer, shall be saved. And that's what David's
talking about. This covenant, this kingdom of
God was settled on by Christ. And Jesus Christ forever, it's
the line with the eternal covenant of grace made with Christ from
the beginning, and all of it, all of it is conditioned on him. And he, by his obedience unto
death, fulfilled all those conditions. satisfied every requirement,
every stipulation to ensure the salvation of all for whom he
died. And so the question comes up.
Well, now this is ordered in all things, because Christ is
the surety of it. He fulfilled all the conditions
of it. All, I put in your lesson here,
this is what Isaiah refers to over in Isaiah 55 as the sure
mercies of David. The sure mercies of David. How can those mercies be sure? If it were conditioned on us,
it wouldn't be sure. It'd be sure to fail. That's
what we say. If salvation were conditioned
on us, the only surety of it would be it's sure to fail. David
failed. We failed. But Christ never fails. Isaiah 52 says he shall prosper. That means he's gonna get it
done. He's able to do all things which were required. And so it's
all on Him. And it's ordered in all things
insure. Now here's a question. How can I know if I'm in this
covenant? How can I know that? We'll look
at the next line. David says this, for this is
all my salvation. You see that? It's not just part
of my salvation. Now let me tell you something,
every person who thinks that salvation at some point, in some
way, at some stage is conditioned on them, on their works, on their
decision, this isn't all their salvation. You understand what I'm saying?
Part of their salvation is on them. But David said, oh no,
this is all my salvation. It's all of God's grace. It's
all conditioned on Christ. It's all his righteousness imputed
to me, received by God-given faith. But this is a statement
of faith, God-given faith right here, and repentance. This is
all my salvation. And he says this, I love this.
He says, it's all my desire. I don't want anything else. I
don't want salvation conditioned on me. Because I know if it's
conditioned on me, it'd fail. David knew what he was. He was
a sinner. David's the one who wrote, blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. He knew that. He knew his hope
was Christ's righteousness imputed. Not anything that he did or done
in him or tried to do. This is all my salvation and
that's all I want because I know that to want anything else is
evil. To desire salvation any other
way is evil. I'm gonna bring this up in the
message coming up at the 11 o'clock hour, but I'll go ahead and just
give y'all a little preview of it. driving down the road this
morning, local church building, sign out front, asked this question,
will anyone be in heaven because of you? The answer to that question is
no. I won't even be in heaven because
of me. If anyone's in heaven, It's because
of Christ. Now, I know how people are. I know how people can reason
out rational things. Somebody might say, well, that
question, they might say something like, well, we know God uses
preachers and witnesses, and I know that. But think about
the mindset of today's modern religion. That salvation is,
as I say, conditioned on the sinner. And if they don't do
what they're supposed to do, they're going to end up in hell,
not heaven. And therefore, we gotta get out
there and get as many people in heaven as we can. Now that's
the mindset of today. You can't deny that, folks. Well,
will anyone be in heaven because of me? No. David said, this is
all my salvation. This is all my desire, although
he make it not to grow. In David's house, David's kingdom,
there was only a remnant. You know, in any given time in
history, in Israel's history, there's only a remnant of people
who believe the truth. And so David is saying, you know,
look, this is my hope of salvation. No matter who else is there,
no matter who else comes, I have no other hope. than this right
here. This is all my salvation. This
is all my desire. Christ is all my wisdom. He's
all my righteousness. He's all my sanctification. He
is all my redemption. That's the way it is. And I could
rationalize in my mind that, well, you know, I know he's not
that strict, or I want to say that so-and-so, somebody I love,
You can't do that, not scripturally. This is all my salvation, David
said. This is all my desire. Okay,
we're in there.