Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. Welcome to our program today.
I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'm going to be preaching from the book of
2 Samuel, over in the Old Testament, 2 Samuel, chapter 23, beginning
at verse one, but my main text will be 2 Samuel, chapter 23
and verse five. That's my main text. And the
title of the message is Salvation Ordered and Sure. Salvation ordered
and sure from 2 Samuel chapter 23. And it starts out in verse
one saying, now these be the last words of David. Now, of course, we're talking
about King David there. Most of you know much of the
history, the biography, the biblical biography of King David. how
he was a shepherd boy and how the prophet Samuel came to his
home and God had sent Samuel there and he was looking for
a king to replace King Saul. because Saul had disobeyed the
Lord, and he was looking for God's anointed. You remember
the story how Jesse, David's father, had all the sons there
except David, because he was the youngest. And Samuel said,
these are not the one that God has anointed. Finally, they went
and got David, and he was the one anointed. And from then on,
the story begins of David ascending to the throne of Israel, and
all the problems that he had. You know the story about him
standing for Israel against the Philistines and slaying the giant
Goliath. All of this is a picture portraying
how Christ brought salvation to his people. Christ who slayed
the Goliath of our sins, the sins of his people. And it goes
on, David running from Saul, all of that. I don't have time
to go into the whole biography. And you know about David's mess-ups.
How David messed up in the one... the one darkest moments in his
life when he committed adultery with the wife of another man
named Uriah and his wife Bathsheba, and then how David plotted to
have Uriah literally murdered on the battlefield, how David
was exposed by the prophet Nathan, all of that. and how David suffered
immeasurably in his family and his kingdom because of that sin.
And that suffering wasn't easy. His son Absalom tried to take
the throne, ended up getting killed. But anyway, here's the
conclusion of David's life. And you gotta remember now, David
through all the problems that he had, he was a sinner saved
by grace. And out of all the problems he
had, and some because of his own sins, he was still a sinner. And last week I preached on this,
he was a sinner to whom God did not charge with his sin, but
charged with the righteousness of Christ. And David was a believer,
and that was the tenor of his life, even though he had so many
problems. But he acknowledges that. And it says in verse one
of chapter 23 here, now these be the last words of David, David
the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high,
the anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel.
Now this is how God describes him. And it says here that he's
the son of Jesse. He's the man who was raised up
on high. Who did that? God did. He was
the anointed of the God of Jacob, the God of Israel. And the sweet
psalmist of Israel, he wrote many of the Psalms. Some say
he wrote more than half of the Psalms. And this is what he said. Now understand, in verse one,
we have what God says about David, God the Holy Spirit. In verse
two, we see the words of David. And it says, the Spirit of the
Lord spoke by me, and his word was in my tongue, verse three. The God of Israel said, the rock
of Israel spoke to me. Now he's referring to his gratitude
and his glory in Christ. Christ is the rock of Israel.
And it says, he that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the
fear of God. That's what the kings of Israel
were to do. And they failed in many ways,
but David had some successes too. Verse four. 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 rain. Now that was the ultimate goal
of any king that God sat on the throne of Israel, sat on the
throne of Judah. That king was to be a leader in the ways of
God. And to be a leader in the gospel.
And David was that. He preached the gospel, read
the Psalms. You can know that. Saul wasn't,
of course Saul was never to be God's anointed king because he
wasn't from the tribe of Judah. But he was the people's choice
and God let him have their way for a while and it was a miserable
failure. And then later on when David
came and the kings began to spring from Judah, they had problems
too. There were very, very few kings. who were considered to be wise
in the eyes of the Lord, who led the people in the ways of
God. But that's what the King of Israel
was to do. He was to be a leader to the
people, an example in the ways of the Lord, especially in the
gospel of salvation of sinners by God's grace, through the promised
Messiah who would come through them in his humanity in the future
and die for their sins. So that's what he's saying here.
But look at verse five. And this is where I wanna focus.
David says this. He says, although my house be
not so with God. Now all the things that I should
have done, all the things that that we all should have done.
He said, it's a mess. David's referring to his kingdom.
At this time, his kingdom was divided. He's referring to his
family. His family was a mess. Remember
I told you, you heard me mention Absalom, one of David's son who
tried to take his father off the throne and take the throne
for himself. So David recognized that his state in this world
was a mess. It's kind of like a summation
of what Paul said in Romans chapter seven and verse 24 when he said,
oh, wretched man that I am. And that refers to the state
of every believer here in this world. As far as our standing
before God, we're righteous in Christ, we're forgiven, washed
in his blood, clothed in his righteousness. But on this earth,
in this corruptible body, we're sinners and we've got problems,
we've got a warfare, it's a daily, daily warfare. Oh, wretched man
that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Or the
body of this dead? So David says, although my house
be not so with God, yet, Look at verse five. Yet God hath made
with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. Salvation, ordered and sure.
For this is all my salvation and all my desire, although he
make it not to grow. With David's family and David's
kingdom, it didn't grow, but David had it. and it was an everlasting
covenant. Now, some commentators, they'll
say, well, that's talking about the Davidic covenant or the royal
covenant, and it's not. The Davidic covenant, the royal
covenant, was a promise that was fulfilled based upon a prophecy
back in the book of Genesis when Jacob blessed his son, Judah.
And he said, the scepter will not depart from Judah until Shiloh
come. And what he means is that the
Lord Jesus Christ, according to his humanity, would come through
the kingly line of Judah, specifically through David. In Romans chapter
one, it says that Christ was made of the seed of David, according
to the flesh. And so that was what the Davidic
covenant was about, that Judah would stay intact throughout
the generations until the scepter, Christ, the peacemaker, the king,
Shiloh, would come, and then that covenant would be over.
But David's referring to an everlasting covenant here, and he's referring
to a covenant of salvation. He says in verse five, for this
is all my salvation. Now the coming of Christ through
the royal line, that was David's salvation, but that's Christ
and that's everlasting salvation. That throne would never end.
That is the kingdom of Christ. The earthly kingdom of David
has ended, but the kingdom of Christ would forever end. And
look at what he says here. This is the point I wanted to
make. He says, this everlasting covenant is ordered in all things
and sure, Now, what does that mean? Well, that means everything
about this covenant, this everlasting covenant of salvation is set
in order, perfectly designed, perfectly decreed, perfectly
worked out. And how is that possible? I'll
tell you how. Because it is all of God and
none of man. It didn't depend on David. If
it had, it would have been a failure. Although my house be not so with
God. In a lot of ways, David was a
success, but in a lot of ways, he was a failure. But let me
tell you something about the Lord. He never fails. I've heard preachers who tell
people all the time, they say, well, God loves you and Christ
died for you. Was his death in vain for you
if you don't believe? His death was never in vain for
anybody. All for whom he died was buried
and arose the third day shall live. This is all ordered in
all things, and because God ordered it, God decreed it, God purposed
it, and all things work together by God's power and providence
and His grace for His people, it's a sure thing. It's sure
because Christ is the surety of that covenant. Now, what does
that mean? Well, you know, a surety is one
who takes the responsibility to pay the debt of another person
if that person can't pay it. Well, God chose a people before
the foundation of the world, and he gave them to Christ. He
put all the responsibility of paying their debt on Christ.
There never was a time that they could pay it. See, I fell in
Adam. I was born dead in trespasses
and sins, and I'm a sinner. And there never has been a time
that I could pay the sin debt. It was always conditioned on
Christ. And Christ, the second person
of the triune Godhead, the Son of God, co-equal with the Father
and the Spirit, agreed to do all that was required to pay
that debt. That's spoken of in the book
of Hebrews chapter two. And it's very plain here, it
talks about how In verse 17 of Hebrews chapter two, well, let's
go back to verse 14 of Hebrews chapter two. It says, for as
much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood.
Now, who are the children? Well, that's the children of
God, that's God's elect. He, that is Christ also himself
likewise took part of the same. In other words, he took part
of flesh and blood too. The only difference between him
and us is his flesh and blood is without sin. Now why did he
do that? Well, verse 14 of Hebrews 2,
that through death, he might destroy him that had the power
of death, that is the devil. Now the devil has no power to
kill or make alive, but the devil is an instrument of death in
that he charges, he's the accuser of the brethren. But you see,
if we're in Christ, And I preached on this last week, on not charged
with sin. If we're in Christ, if we're
washed in his blood and clothed in his righteousness, as evidenced
by our faith in him, the devil's charges don't stick. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? And so it says in verse 15, and
deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime
subject to bondage. The bondage of guilt. The bondage
of work salvation, you see. Working for something you can
never achieve. And he says, for verily, verse 16, for verily
Christ took not on himself the nature of angels, but he took
on him the seed of Abraham. That's God's spiritual children,
spiritual seed of Abraham, spiritual Israel. And look at verse 17. Now here's where the surety comes
in. Wherefore in all things it behooved him. That word behooved
is the Greek word for debt. Christ had a debt to pay. What
debt was it? It was the debt of sin. Those
sins were not his own by committal. He did not commit sin. He knew
no sin. He did no sin. He was the perfect
God-man. But they became his sins by imputation. God charged the sin-debt of his
people, his elect, those for whom Christ stood a surety to
Christ. And so he was indebted. It behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to
make reconciliation, that's a propitiation, that's satisfaction, a sin-bearing
sacrifice that brings satisfaction, the payment of the debt for the
sins of the people. And that's why David said back
here in 2 Samuel 23 five, this covenant is ordered in all things
and sure. Do you know that In the Bible,
there are several covenants. The covenant God made with Adam,
the covenant that God made with Noah, and we can talk about the
covenant that God made with Israel, the covenant God made with David,
and then there's one called the New Covenant, all right? And it's a good thing to do a
study of these covenants But then the covenant that goes above
all of them is this everlasting covenant. And the everlasting
covenant is the everlasting covenant of grace. Now that covenant,
the Bible teaches us, was made between the Father and the Son
and the Spirit, the triune Godhead, before the world began. And it's
the covenant of salvation. where God chose a people to save
and He gave them to His Son to do what was necessary to meet
all the conditions upon which He could save them and still
be just in doing so. It's an unconditional covenant
towards us, towards His people. And that's why David said it's
ordered in all things insure. If it were conditioned on David,
it wouldn't have been ordered in all things insure, because
David doesn't determine the end from the beginning, only God
can. David didn't know what was gonna happen each day. He had
plans, but his plans were sometimes thwarted, but not God's. So David couldn't order that
covenant in all things, and David certainly could not make it sure.
Why? Because David was a sinner. If it were conditioned on David,
it would not be ordered. It would not be all perfectly
ordered and planned. And it certainly wouldn't be
sure to be successful. It would have been sure to be
a failure. So that everlasting covenant
of salvation was conditioned on Christ. And he's the surety. There was no possibility of him
failing. Second Corinthians 1.20 says,
for all the promises of God in him, in Christ, are yea, and
in him, amen. Sure and certain. Christ is the
surety. Now if you look in the covenants
of the Bible, you know there was only two covenants that were
ultimately conditioned on man. The covenant God made with Adam,
what did Adam do? He sinned, he rebelled, he fell.
Some people call it the covenant of creation. Some people call
it a covenant of works. Some people don't even admit
it's a covenant at all, but that's okay. Man failed, you agree with
that. The next covenant that was conditioned
on men was the covenant of Sinai, the law covenant. It was conditioned
on Israel's obedience. and they failed. So would we
have. You see, any covenant that God
puts upon man as far as conditional will fail. Why? Because we've
all sinned and come short of the glory of God. But David is
talking about an everlasting covenant, one that won't end,
and one that's ordered in all things because God ordered it,
God purposed it, God planned it, God decreed it, It's the
predestinating purpose of God, and it's ordered in all things,
and it's sure, because it's all conditioned on Christ. Now, David
says here in verse five, he says, this is all my salvation. Now, here's the thing. We talk
about the grace of God, we talk about God choosing a people,
They're called his elect, that's what the Bible calls them. I
know people don't like that today, but that's too bad. We read over
in Romans 8.33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? Let's just turn over there and
mark those verses. It's something that you need
to see in Romans 8. And it's where Paul is talking
about the surety of salvation. Because he starts off Romans
8 1 there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are
in Christ Jesus Now who's it referring to it's who walk not
after the flesh But after the Spirit now if you're walking
after the Spirit that means you're looking to resting in depending
upon Following the Lord Jesus Christ for all salvation You
believe and see that he fulfilled all conditions and secured your
salvation and you had no part in it If you're walking after
the flesh, you're trying to work your way. But over in Romans
8.33, it says, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's
elect? It's God that justifies. That
means he's forgiven me of all my sins. He's counted me righteous
in his sight, all based on the blood and righteousness of Christ.
Verse 34 tells us, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ
that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. The only
reason I'm saved is because God chose me, Christ died for me
and rose from the dead, and God brought me to himself. by the
Spirit to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what
I was going back to here in 2 Samuel 23 five. How do I know that I
have a part in this everlasting covenant that's ordered in all
things insure? Well, here's how David knew.
He says in verse five, for this is all my salvation. It's not just part of my salvation,
It's all my salvation. You know that word salvation
is a word that's translated Yeshua, which in the Greek is Jesus.
And what he's saying here, in essence, is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the promised Messiah, is all my salvation. It's not him and
me working together. It's not my decision. It's not
when I decided to accept Jesus as my personal Savior, no. Do
I accept Him as my Savior? Yes. But that's what He brought
me to because of this covenant that's ordered in all things
and sure. I didn't make it, I didn't order it, I didn't make it sure.
My decision to receive Him didn't seal the deal. His suretyship,
His work, His blood, His righteousness ensured that I would. receive
him. And I now see him as all my salvation. Do you see Jesus Christ as all
your salvation? And then next he says, this is
all my desire. All my desire. Is this all you
desire? Well, my friend, listen to me.
If he's all you have, he's enough. And he's all we have. He said,
come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, I'll give
you rest. That's enough. The Bible says, Christ said,
blessed is he that hunger and thirst after righteousness, they
shall be filled. All my desire, all my hunger
is fed by the bread of life and he's enough. I don't need to
interject myself and my works and my ways into all this. Oh,
I will respond and there will be fruit, fruit unto God. But it's because Christ is my
all and my thirst is quenched with the water of life and that's
enough. He's all my desire. You say, well, you've got to
have more than him. You've got to do this, you've
got to do that. You've got to think this. The Jews said, well,
we believe in Christ, but you've got to be circumcised. You've
got to keep the law. You see, he's not all your desire.
You say, well, I believe in Christ, but you've got to be baptized.
Let me tell you something, he's not all your desire. Why is a
sinner baptized? Why is a believer baptized? because
he sees Christ is his all. He sees and knows that baptism
does not save him. It confesses that Christ is his
whole savior. This is all my salvation. This
is all my desire. And although he make it not to
grow, David is saying, I'm gonna believe this and rest in this
if nobody else does. People come and they'll hear
the gospel and they say, well, that's not what I was taught
growing up. What about mom and dad? What about my grandma and
my grandpa? Well, my friend, I hope they believe the gospel,
but if they didn't, this is still all my salvation. This is still
all my desire, although he make it not to grow. David's house,
David's kingdom, it was in a mess, but he knew that God had ordered
this covenant and all things and made it sure in and by the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's all of grace, for by grace
are you saved. And through faith, and that not
of yourselves, even that's all of Christ. You see, faith is
a gift. It's a gift. Salvation, for by
grace are you saved. Through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it's the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man
should boast. He goes on in verse 10 there
of Ephesians 2, for we are his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus. Here's the just ground. He says,
unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should
walk in them. That's salvation, ordered in
all things and sure. And is this your whole salvation? Is this all your desire? Do you
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your whole salvation, your
whole ground of forgiveness, your whole righteousness before
God? by which you are justified before
God and stand before Him whole. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.