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. Now today
I'd like to start the first of two messages entitled The Sure
Mercies of David. The Sure Mercies of David. This
is part one and next week part two. And what I want to do is
talk about in this message how the Old Testament, you know,
you have two prominent, really prominent, there's several prominent
people in the Old Testament, but ones that are specifically
mentioned in the New Testament, for example, Abraham is one,
David, King David is the other. And so I wanna talk about King
David. And I want to talk about him
as a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, not only as king of Israel, but
he was a type of Christ who is the king of kings and he's as
a prophet. And so we're going to look at
that. And I took that title from the book of Isaiah chapter 55.
Isaiah chapter 55, that phrase, the sure mercies of David is
used in verse three of Isaiah 55. And if you'd like to turn
there in your Bibles and follow along, let's begin reading at
verse one of Isaiah 55. And the prophet, Isaiah, is issuing
a call to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. And it's a gospel
call. It's a call unto salvation. It's
the same, in essence, and at its very heart, it's the same
gospel call that every true gospel preacher issues forth in the
preaching of this message of God's grace, come to Christ. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. It's the call of grace. And here's
what he says, look at Isaiah chapter 55 and verse one. The
prophet says, ho, or listen, get your attention, everyone
that thirsteth, now that's key, everyone that thirsteth, come
ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, Come ye, buy and
eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk
without money and without price." Now that's a strange command.
First of all, it's a command issued to those who are thirsty. Christ said in the Sermon on
the Mount in Matthew chapter 5, blessed are they who hunger
and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled. And
what he's talking about are sinners who have been made thirsty and
hungry spiritually by a sovereign, powerful work of God's grace
by the Holy Spirit in conviction of sin. That's who he's talking
about. You know, people today are looking
for something. They're looking for fulfillment.
They're looking for some kind of a reason to live. They may
be even looking for salvation. But what you have to ask yourself
is this, are you hungry for the bread of life? Are you thirsty
for the water of life? Are you hungry and thirsty after
righteousness? Because that's what salvation,
that's what is included in salvation, in the conviction of sin, in
the new birth. Christ said you must be born again. And when
you're born again by the Holy Spirit, that is regeneration,
given a new heart, you're made to be thirsty for spiritual water. And that thirst for righteousness
can only be quenched by the Lord Jesus Christ. It cannot be quenched
any other way. You won't find refreshing relief
from the spiritual thirst and hunger in the world. You won't
find it in your works. You won't find it in ceremony.
You won't even find it in going to church. Because you see, just
going to church doesn't fit the bill. Just going to church doesn't
make a sinner righteous before God. Just going to church doesn't
wash away sins. You won't find it in baptism.
You won't find it in materialism. You won't find it in your job.
You won't even find this in your family because that's, listen,
listen, we should love and cherish our families, our earthly families,
but that's temporary. The hunger and thirst that he's
talking about here is a spiritual thirst that can only be quenched
by the eternal, everlasting grace of God. based on the righteousness
of Christ. And listen to what he says. Ho,
everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. The waters
are the waters of truth, the waters of God's grace. Christ
is the water of life. There's no other way to quench
this thirst but to come and find fulfillment in the glorious person
and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, this
lays the foundation of what the prophet here calls the sure mercies
of David. Because King David, for example,
himself, the person, the King of Israel, he found spiritual
fulfillment only in the Messiah who was promised to come, and
I'll show you that. But come ye to the waters, the
gospel waters. My friend, if you know that you're
a sinner, And I'm not just talking about if you know you've made
some mistakes. You know, these preachers today, they lessen
sin to something that you ought to feel sorry, that God ought
to feel sorry for you for. Listen, the issue of sin has
to do with abject rebellion against God. The issue of sin has to
do with a sinner, a person, a creature, declaring war on God. Now that's
what sin is. That's part of, it's not just
a few, oh, you can't help it. You're just, your environment,
you know, and you've made some mistakes and God just loves you
and feels sorry for you. No, no, no. That's not the issue. Why does the Bible say, the soul
that sinneth must surely die? Why does the Bible say the wages
of sin is death? And I know it goes on to say
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,
but don't just brush over the first part. The wages of sin
is death is because of the justice of God. You see, this is the
issue of a sinner. If the Holy Spirit has shown
you this, that based upon your efforts, to keep the law, to
be good, you deserve nothing but eternal damnation and death,
then my friend, you've been made thirsty. You understand what
I'm saying? Thirsty. Now, how am I a sinner
who deserves nothing but damnation and death? How am I gonna find
life, eternal life, salvation, righteousness? Well, come ye
to the waters. And he says here in verse one,
he that hath no money, Come ye, buy and eat. How are you gonna
buy something without money? Well, this is a metaphor now.
And what he's saying, who is it that has no money? Well, you
remember Christ also said in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew
chapter five, blessed are the poor in spirit. You see, blessed
are the poor in spirit, poverty stricken, you see. Theirs is
the kingdom of heaven. You see, every man and woman
born of Adam, we fell in Adam into sin and death. And we're
born spiritually dead, spiritually bankrupt. Every man and woman
is spiritually poor. But not every man and woman believes
that, and knows that, and sees that. For example, now let's
go all the way back to Cain and Abel. That's the precedent of
the example that I'm talking about. Abel, you remember Abel. God accepted Abel and his sacrifice. What was his sacrifice? It was
the blood of a lamb. And that's a picture of Christ.
Abel was a sinner who realized that he had no money. He could
not pay the first penny towards satisfying the debt to God's
law and justice. All he could do was come as a
sinner begging for mercy from God, saying, God be merciful
to me, the sinner. And that's the way it is. Now
here's Cain. Cain brought the works of his hand. Cain was just
as spiritually bankrupt and poor and had no money, just like Abel.
But he didn't realize it. He didn't want to believe it.
He thought and believed and insisted that he had something to give
to God in order to gain salvation. So he brought the works of his
hands. So here's what I'm telling you. Any sinner who thinks that
salvation or any part of it is conditioned on himself or herself,
my friend, you have not seen that you have no money. You have
no righteousness. You have no goodness to recommend
yourself unto God. Now, I'm not talking about goodness
as we compare to each other now. And I always want to make that
point when I'm talking to you. You see, somebody said, well,
you know, I know this fella, he's a good husband, a good father,
a good friend, a good worker, all of that. What you're talking
about is as that person compares to other people. And as we compare
to other people, we should try to do the best we can do. In
every area of life, I ought to be the best pastor, the best
father, the best grandfather, the best husband. I ought to
be the best servant of the church. But what I'm telling you is that
none of those things make me good in God's sight. None of
those things make me righteous in God's sight. None of those
things will save me. None of those things will wash
away my sins. When it comes to a right relationship
with God, when it comes to salvation, when it comes to being righteous
before God. And let me tell you something
now, people ask me, why do you preach righteousness so much?
Because that's what you have to have in order to be saved.
That's what Jesus Christ came to this world to establish in
his obedience unto death as the surety and substitute of his
people. You must have righteousness, perfect righteousness. And it's
not unreasonable for God to require that because he is God, it's
out of his nature. And it's not unjust because God
has provided a way of righteousness in Christ. But when it comes
to a right relationship with God, I have no money. And you don't either. You mark
it down. But he says, come ye buy and
eat. Now how's that possible? He says,
yea, come buy wine and milk without money, without price. Now the salvation of God's elect
people, chosen people, had a price. But none of his people paid that
price or contributed to the payment of it. Christ paid it all. We
sing a hymn called Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. We
changed that second line to Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe.
Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. He by himself purged my sins. By one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. So buy wine and milk. Now wine
is indicative of the joy of the gospel of salvation. It's indicative
of the power of God's grace. And so, and the work of the Holy
Spirit. Milk is the complete food. the health of the people
of God that we find in Christ. And look at verse two of Isaiah
55. He says, wherefore do you spend
money, or do you spend money for that which is not bread?
And labor, and your labor for that which satisfieth not. Hearken
diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your
soul delight itself in fatness. Why do you spend money for that
which is not bread, that which will not feed and nourish your
soul? Why do you labor for that which
does not accomplish anything? That is a metaphor for any form
of salvation by the works or the wills of men. Now that's
what that is. If you're trying to work your
way into God's favor, If you're trying to earn your position,
your right relationship with God, you know what you're doing?
You're spending money for that which will not fill you. It's
death. Salvation by the works of man
is death, for by grace are you saved. Through faith, that not
of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works, lest any
man should boast. That's what he's saying. You
who are religious, who claim that you're saved because you've
done something, you've decided something, you walked an aisle,
you got baptized, you're spending money, you're laboring for that
which will not feed you or satisfy. It won't satisfy God. Do you
know what satisfies God in the salvation of sinners? The blood
of His Son. That's why the Bible calls it
a propitiation. That word means satisfaction.
Christ's death was not just the death of a martyr or an example. It was a propitiation. It was
a satisfaction to God's law and justice. And David, King David,
the sure mercies of David, he saw that. He says in verse two,
look at it again, hearken diligently unto me and eat ye that which
is good. Now, what is that which is good?
That's the gospel of God's grace, salvation, conditioned not on
you, not on me, but conditioned on Christ, who is the only good. You see, there's none good, no
not one. Talking about a right relationship
with God. All right, well, where am I gonna
find goodness? One place, Christ. Jesus Christ,
the God-man, who came to this earth and stood in my place and
died for my sins, charged, accounted, imputed to Him. And in Him, I
have goodness. In Him, I have righteousness.
His righteousness is imputed, charged, accounted to me. Let
me ask you a question. Picture yourself standing before
God at the judgment. What are you going to plead as
the ground of your salvation? Your decision, you say, oh, when
I was 12, I walked and I made it. My friend, you're laboring
for things that will not satisfy. Plead Christ and his righteousness. God said this, the father said,
this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. Hear ye him. And he says, let your soul delight
itself in fatness. Now, fatness in the scripture,
when it talks about salvation, means health, well-being. It means nourishment. It doesn't
mean what we think it means in our day. Fatness means unhealthy. No, fatness means health, well-being. You're not sick. You're healthy
spiritually. And in Christ we are. Now look
at verse three of Isaiah 55. Incline your ear, which means
listen, and come unto me. That means come to Christ by
faith. Hear and your soul shall live. This hearing is the gift of God. You remember Christ told the
disciples in Matthew 13 about it. He said, blessed are your
ears for they hear. Blessed are your eyes for they
see. In John chapter 3, when he told Nicodemus, you must be
born again or you cannot see the kingdom of God. It means
you cannot see the glory of it, the truth of it, how you need
it. You cannot enter the kingdom
of God. Man by nature does not hear. Hearing they hear not. And that's not just because they're
worse than me. I would be, by nature, I don't
hear either, but God gives spiritual ears and he says, hear and your
soul shall live. Now the living is not the result
or the reward of hearing. The hearing is the evidence of
one who lives spiritually. And he says, and I will make
an everlasting covenant with you. Now here's where we get
to the sure mercies of David. He says, I will make an everlasting
covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Well, what
is he talking about? An everlasting covenant. We'll
turn back to 2 Samuel chapter 23. It's the book of 2 Samuel
chapter 23. And I want you to look at this
with me. Now I've spoken about the covenants
of the Bible on this program before. But here he says an everlasting
covenant, alright? And he says the sure mercies
of David. Well, back in 2 Samuel chapter
23, listen to this. It says in verse 1, it says,
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. So there's no doubt
who he's talking about. He's talking about King David.
And he says in verse two, the spirit of the Lord spake by me
and his word was in my tongue. So what David is saying here
is not just David's words, this is the word of God. This is God
speaking through David. And he says in this, listen to
it very carefully here. He says in verse three, 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. Now he says the
rock of Israel. Who do you suppose that is? Well,
I'll tell you who it is. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the rock of Israel. He's the rock of salvation. Remember
he told Peter and the apostles, the other apostles, he said,
upon this rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell
will not prevail against it. Well, there's some denominations
say that rock was Peter. Oh no, it wasn't Peter. That
rock is Christ. He is the rock. We who are saved
stand upon the rock, Christ Jesus. And he says in verse 4, David
said, And he shall be as the light of the morning when the
sun riseth, even a morning without clouds, as the tender grass springing
out of the earth by clear shining after rain. See, this is what
comes with Christ spiritually and eternally. It's salvation. It's the light of truth. It's
the prosperity. of a sinner saved by grace based
on the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now
listen to verse 5. He says, although my house be
not so with God. His house is his family, his
kingdom. You see, David was a sinner. He said that. We know the life
of David. We know the good times and the
bad times. The sweet psalmist of Israel.
He was also the adulterer and the murderer. He messed up with
his family. His son Absalom tried to take
over the kingdom and was killed as a result of it. So David said,
my house, my family, my kingdom is in shambles. Yet, he says
in verse five, he, that is God, hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. For this is all my
salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.
Now I'm going to start with that next week. But what David is
talking about is the everlasting covenant of grace that would
be fulfilled and established upon David's greater son, who
is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. He was made, Paul wrote
in Romans chapter one that Christ was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. That's his humanity without sin.
You see, Jesus Christ is God and man in one person. He's Emmanuel,
God with us. And his humanity, his sinless
holy humanity was made of the seed of David according to the
flesh. He came through the tribe of Judah, David's tribe. He was
conceived in the womb of the virgin by the Holy Spirit, without
the aid of man. But Mary was of that tribe too,
and he was made of the seed of David according to the flesh."
And what David is saying is this. My salvation is ordered and sure
in all things. because of Jesus Christ, the
Lord of glory, who would come and fulfill all conditions of
that salvation. My friend, the sure mercies of
David is the mercy of God to his chosen people. that is brought
through and brought about in the Lord Jesus Christ, the mercy
seed, the one in whom all mercy. And that's what I tell people
all the time. You know, this thing about, you know, just going
out and generally telling people, oh, smile, God loves you, everything's
okay, you know, God feels so sorry for you, and just do this,
do that, and you'll be all, that is not the gospel, that's Satan's
deception. Here's what I'm gonna tell you.
God is love. God is grace. God is mercy to
sinners, the worst of sinners. But all of His love, all of His
grace, all of His mercy can only be found in Jesus Christ, outside
of Christ. Without His blood to wash away
my sins, without His righteousness to justify me, there's no love
or mercy or grace from God. There's only justice. The soul
that sinneth must surely die. The wages of sin is death. Now,
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
If you come to God seeking what you can earn or deserve, No matter
how you earn it or deserve it, whether it's by works or religion
or your will. Some people say, well, I made
the decision and therefore God responds. No. If left to yourself,
you wouldn't decide for Christ. I wouldn't decide for Christ.
It's not based on my work. It's not based on my religion.
It's not based on my will. It's based upon what Christ totally
accomplished on the cross of Calvary. He is the sure mercies
of David. And that's what David is saying
here. It's a covenant. That's the covenant of grace.
That's the everlasting covenant. is the preaching of the terms
of that covenant. And it's ordered in all things.
Now it's certainly not ordered by any man, because David said
he's a sinner. He said, my house is not so with
God. But who ordered it? God ordered
it before the foundation of the world in the everlasting covenant
of grace. It's all purposed out. And it's
sure. Why is it sure? Certainly not
because of anything David did. It's certainly not because of
anything I do or you do. It's sure because Christ is the
surety of that covenant. All of the responsibility of
the salvation of the true people of God is put upon Christ's shoulders,
conditioned on Him. and he was made accountable by
the sins of his people imputed to him. And so Christ is the
surety. And David says this, he says,
this is all my salvation, not just part of it. It's not part
of it. I'm a sinner. If any part of
it were conditioned on me, it would be a failure. So this covenant
ordered in all things and sure, the sure mercies of David in
Jesus Christ, that's all, that's my whole salvation. And therefore,
it be my whole salvation, it's all my desire, although he make
it not to grow." I hope you enjoyed this message. I hope you will
be with 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
a copy of today's program or to learn more about Reign of
Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
at 1-1-0-2 Eager Drive, Albany, Georgia, 3-1-7-0-7. contact us by phone at 229-432-6969
or email us through our website at www.theletterofgrace.com. Thank you again for listening
today and may the Lord be with you.