Turn, if you would, to 2 Samuel
chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7, we'll read
David's prayer of gratitude in the Lord having David build a
tabernacle, a house for the Lord. Now the setting of this prayer
is a prayer of gratitude. David in his zeal for God's honor
and glory desires to build a house for the Lord. So he goes and
speaks to Nathan the prophet about this subject. And the Lord
at night reveals his will to Nathan, the prophet, on this
occasion and commands him to communicate what he says to David. We see this in verses four and
five. Now, the name of this message is this, none like God. None like God. Now, there's a
lot of people out there who worship false gods, little g's. False
gods. Gods of stone, pictures, all kinds of wood, gold, statues. My oh my. But they're not gods. They're just pieces of stone,
pieces of metal, pictures in a frame. And there is none like
the God of the Bible. There are none like Him. Look at verses 4 and 5, and it
says, And it came to pass that night that the word of the Lord
came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, Thus
saith the Lord, Shalt thou build a house for me to dwell in? The one who's speaking here is
not a false god at man's whim and at the control of man. The one speaking here is the
one true God who there is none like him. There is none like
him. He is the true and living God
as opposed to false gods who are nothing but dead idols. who
have hands that cannot help, mouths that cannot speak, eyes
that cannot see, and ears that cannot hear. But our God, oh,
he hears the prayers of the saints, don't he, Brother Zane? Oh, and
he moves, doesn't he, in our lives, and takes care of us,
and guides us, and directs us, watches over us. Hey, sister,
like a shepherd watches over his sheep, caring for us. Just as we took care of our children.
Sister and brother, just as we took care of our children. God
takes care of his children, don't he? But even better. Even better. We supplied physical
needs for our children, but we could never supply spiritual
needs. And God, loving his people from
everlasting, from eternity, sends his son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
to bleed and die in our ruined place, to ransom our eternal
souls with his precious, precious blood, to save us, to save us
from our sins. We say hallelujah, don't we?
What a savior, what a redeemer is Jesus Christ, our Lord. The Lord says to David, shall
thou build a house for me to dwell in? The scripture says
the heavens can't even contain him. All the heavens. We don't even
know all the heavens. As I've said many times in the
messages, I've watched the videos and they say, well this is as
far as we can go, but we know there's even more out in space. But this is as far as we can
get. And the scripture says the heavens
can't contain him? My, that's our savior. Do you think that the one who
the heavens can't contain, do you think he can save sinners?
Amen, brother. Do you think he can keep them?
Amen! He can keep them. I was thinking
about this this morning. I got a friend of mine who hates
the doctrines of election. And I didn't pose this question
to him, but I'm going to pose this question to him. The coming up election, right?
In our country. Going to be for the president.
We're going to go, I can't, but you guys are going to go cast
votes. And your vote isn't, your vote isn't to say, well, if you
want to become president, I'm going to give you the opportunity
to do that. Is it? Your vote is to choose
him to be president. God chooses the people. He doesn't
give us an opportunity to be saved. We'd never be saved if
there's an opportunity to be saved. He saves us. He chose
us. Just like when people go to the
election and they choose who they want to be president, prime
minister, or whatever leader, God chose his people. And his
love is set upon them. Oh, my. And David here is gonna
be reminded, just like every child of God, this is why I say,
look back on your life and see what the Lord's delivered you
from. We already know our sin, but God's forgiven us and pardoned
us from all that. But look at the various times,
even before you were saved, when the Lord delivered you and took
care of you. And we see it more and more as we talk. I know,
because I've talked with you all. And we talk, my Lord saved
me back, took care of me. I could have died there. Wasn't
my time. Wasn't my time. Oh, my. Now, there's an appointed time,
and no one's going to escape that. But this God, think of
this, too. This God spoken of who says,
will you build a house for me? He knows all things. Do you know
he already knows who's going to be president? He already knows. And if he tarries,
he already knows the next president, too, after that, and the next
one after that, and the next one after that, if we have them. Why do we get so worked up? Because we're the flash, right? Oh, my. Take note here also of
verses 8 and 9 here. David again is reminded of the
great things the Lord has done for him. His history is traced
back to the sheep coats. Look at this. Back to where the
Lord found him. Where did the Lord find you and
I? He found me dead in trespasses
and sins. Is that where he found you? Yeah,
dead. We were either religiously dead
or just dead. Dead sinners, either way. A sinner's
either dead spiritually or alive spiritually. And the only one
who makes us to differ is God by his regenerating power. So
look at this. The Lord's going to take them
all the way back to the sheepfold. Ah, to his victories. This is
where the Lord found him, and then he took him to all his victories.
Think of that. Where did the Lord originally
find him? Well, look at this. And he even knew he was there.
He knew he was there. Look at verses eight and nine.
Now, therefore, so shall thou say unto my servant David, Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheep coat, from
following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel.
Who put him in power? God did. Who puts our leaders
in power? God does, doesn't he? Look at
that. Didn't he say to Pharaoh, for
this very reason I raised you up? Right? That his power might be manifested. And what did he do to Pharaoh
and his armies? Destroyed them in the Red Sea, didn't he? Oh
my, wasted, wasted Egypt. They gave away all their riches
to the Israelites. Oh my. What do you think they
got all that gold to make all that golden stuff in a temple
in the wilderness? That's all Egyptian gold, beloved.
Isn't that amazing? Oh my. Look at this. And I was
with thee, witness whoever thou witnest, and have cut off all
thine enemies. Who delivered him from his enemies? God did. He tells us here, and have cut
off all thine enemies out of thy sight. They're gone. They're
not gonna bother you anymore, David. And has made thee a great name,
like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. David owed everything to the
Lord. Brother Brian, we owe everything
to the Lord, don't we? Sister Linda, everything we know, everything
we have, we owe it to him. Everything. Our family. Our church
family. Everything we have. Our homes. Anything we have. We owe it all
to him. All to him. And then the blessings that he
now enjoyed. And the blessings opening before
him. Also the blessings in his family. And in his people. And in his kingdom, we see in
verses 13 to 17, let's go down a little bit more. Look at, Nath
did what he was commanded to do. He shall build a house for
my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Look at that. So not only is
God putting him in power, but he's gonna establish his kingdom,
isn't he? My oh my. This is amazing. I will be his father. I will
be his father. And he shall be my son. Is God
our father? Oh, yeah. He sent the spirit
of his son into his born-again, blood-washed children, didn't
he? Whereby we now cry what? Somebody tell me. I have a father. That's it. Amen, sister. I have a father. That's what
we cry now. My, oh my. If he commit iniquity,
I will chasten him with the rod of man and with the stripes of
the children of men, but my mercy shall not depart away from him. God chastens his people, doesn't
he? But it's always in love. It's not like our human fathers. It's always in love. Always in
love. I had to learn that. I had to
learn that God didn't chasten me, doesn't chasten me like my
father chastened me. Norm Wells told me that one time.
He said, Wayne, we're always chastened in love. My, oh, my. Sometimes I got chastened in
anger. Did you? Sometimes we did, didn't we?
My, oh, my. But God shows mercy. Look at
this, I love verse 15, but my mercy shall not depart. There's
that little word again. Shall not depart away from him. God's mercy will never leave
us, beloved. It's in Christ. It's in Christ. As I took it
from Saul, whom I put away before thee. In thine house and thy
kingdom shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne
shall be established forever. Now that can't be speaking to
David, because David's throne was not forever, was it? He died,
Solomon took over. You know who this is talking
about? Amen, brother. This is talking about the Lord
Jesus Christ. His throne, his kingdom is established
forever, beloved, forever. My, according to all these words
and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David.
Now look at verse, look at verse 16. Again, spiritually speaking,
thy throne shall be established forever. These words speak of
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Never, again, it could
never be said in reference to David because the son of Jesse,
his throne, that his throne should be established forever because
he died and then Solomon took over. So we see here in the Old Testament
is a reference to our Lord Jesus Christ, to his kingdom. His kingdom
is established forever. He's still adding to his kingdom
as his lost sheep are born again and bought into the fold. Oh my, but remember it was the
Lord Jesus Christ who was according to the flesh, was of the seed
of David. And what does it say? Listen
to this in Daniel. Listen to this, Daniel chapter
2, verse 44. And in those days of these kings
shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom. Oh, God himself set up a kingdom,
which shall never be destroyed. Remember he said the gates of
hell shall not prevail against it, the church? Many men and
women have come against the church in all the years and have been
ground to powder. My, oh my. shall never be destroyed,
and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it
shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall
stand forever." Now, these kingdoms that started, remember, there
was the Persian Ottoman Kingdom, there was the Medes Kingdom,
there was the Roman Empires, there was all these great empires,
Alexander the Great with the Greek Empire. What happened?
They're all gone, aren't they? Amen, right, brother? They're
all gone. But the kingdom of God is still here. It is being
added to. And it shall be forever. Forever. It's amazing. The kingdom of
the Lord is an everlasting kingdom. It knows no end. It has no end. It'll never be destroyed. It'll
never be left to other people. The other kingdoms, people come
in and they take over that kingdom. The kingdom of God, that'll never
happen. Number one, Christ will never abdicate his throne, will
he? And number two, no one will ever prevail against Christ.
He's God. He's the God who said, can you
build me a house, David? Mine, the heavens won't even
contain him. And think of this, it's the Lord
Jesus Christ who the angel in his salutation to Mary declared
that he should be great. That he should be great, and
that he should be called the son of the highest. God in the
flesh, and it is Christ to whom God the Father has given unto
him the throne of David. And it is Christ who shall reign
over the house of Jacob forever. and of his kingdom, praise be
to God, there shall be no end. No end. Brother Zane, that means
we're going to be in eternity forever with Christ and it won't
end. Isn't that wonderful? And it
ain't based on anything we've done. It's all based upon what
Christ has done. You see why now I said I hope
we can leave here rejoicing? in these wonderful truths we're
looking at, and praise be to God, how sweet and refreshing
to the believer's soul, amidst all the circumstances of this
world, all the governments that are here, let this blessed thought
comfort us, that the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, there
shall be no end. There shall be no end, because
it is based upon he who is the seed of David, and it is he,
God, who orders it and has established it. Can anyone prevail over the Lord?
No one. He crushed Satan's head at the
cross, didn't he? He bruised his humanity, his
heel, but he crushed the head of the serpent. He can't do anything
unless God allows. Now we're no match for him. We
call our elder brother, don't we? That's why we call on our King.
Oh, my. My, oh, my. Now, upon receiving
this message from Nathan, we see that David goes in before
the Lord and offers a prayer of gratitude. Let's read from
verses 18 to 29 of 2 Samuel, chapter 7. 2 Samuel, chapter
7, verses 18 to 29. Then came David in and sat before
the Lord. Look at that, he sat before.
That's a good place for us to be, right? Sit before the Lord.
Just sit. Just rest. And he said, Who am
I, O Lord God, and what is my house that thou hast bought me
hithero? And this is yet And this was yet a small thing in
thy sight, O Lord God, O Lord Elohim. But thou hast spoken
also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is
this the manner of man, O Lord God? And what can David say more
than unto thee? For thou, O Lord God, knowest
thy servant. He knows everything about us,
doesn't he? He knows everything about us. For thy word's sake,
and according to thine heart, hast thou done all these great
things to make thy servant know them. You ever think of this?
I just thought of this as I was reading that next verse. It says
there in verse 20, for thou, O God, knowest thy servant. He
knows us, he knows our sinfulness, and yet his love for us never
changes. That's incredible. He sees us
in Christ, brother. Isn't that amazing? It's wonderful. Let's read verse 21 again. For
thy word's sake and according to thine heart hast thou done
all these great things to make thy servant know them. See? To
make thy servant know them. We don't know anything about
God unless he reveals it to us. It's wonderful. This is wonderful.
Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God. And this is where I got
the text from. For there is none like thee.
Neither is there any God beside thee. So there's none like him,
and there ain't no other God. No matter what people said, no
matter what people say, no matter how sincere they are in religion,
or how sincere they are in their worship of the false god, there's
no other gods but our God. He's the one true living God. My oh my. Let's read that again. Wherefore, thou art great, O
Lord God, for there is none like thee, neither is there any God
beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. In what one nation in the earth
is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem
for a people to himself and to make him a name? and to do for
you great things and terrible for thy land before thy people,
which thou redeemest to thee from Egypt, from the nations
and their gods. Now, Egypt's a type of the world. Israel in the Old Testament is
a picture of the church. He's redeemed us, beloved, from
the world, from our sins and from the world. He's separated
us. We're an ekklesia, which means a called out assembly.
Just as Israel was set apart by God in the Old Testament,
then the church, all the elect of all the ages, New Testament
and Old Testament saints are the bride of Christ. Now you
say that to some folks and they start freaking out saying, oh,
only the New Testament church is the bride of Christ. No, they're
not. All the elect of all the ages is the bride of Christ.
That's who. He's the Messiah. Remember, they
look to the Messiah. He's coming. We look back to
the cross, where the Messiah died for us, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yeah. Oh my. For thou hast confirmed
to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee forever,
and thou, Lord, art become their God. See, There was a time when
I worshipped gods in my own imagination. I was a Catholic and I worshipped
Mary and all those saints and all that other junk. And thought
I was right. Until the one true living God
revealed himself to me. And I found out woe is me. And
there's only one God and one mediator between God and man,
the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all. And
praise God he saved me out of that. delivered me. And now, O Lord God, the word
which thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, verse 25, and concerning
his house, establish it forever, and do as thou hast said. And
let thy name be magnified forever, and it is being magnified forever,
isn't it? Saying, the Lord of hosts is
God over Israel, and let the house of thy servant, David,
be established before thee. For thou, O Lord of hosts, God
of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build
thee a house. Therefore hath thy servant found
in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, O Lord, thou
art God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness
unto thy servant. Therefore now let it please thee
to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever
before thee, For thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it. And with
thy blessing, let the house of thy servant be blessed forever.
Oh my. And take note that David, after
Nathan had given him the news, he didn't send Nathan back to
give grateful prayer to the Lord. Remember how we saw on Sunday,
Simon Magnus? And he said, he said, Peter,
pray for me. He should have went himself,
right? Oh my. No, he didn't let Nathan
take back the word of praise. He, he, that would be robbing
God of his honor, right? Because David should be the one
giving him praise, right? That's why we give him praise.
Now you give him praise, I give him praise, Sister Dee and Sister
Lynn and Brother Brian, we all give him praise, don't we? But
the praise is for redeeming us. Oh my, and then we praise God
for the other saints too, don't we? For what he's done. But David, his own soul is filled
with great joy. His soul is filled with rejoicing.
He doesn't say, well Nathan, you go and praise God for me.
You can't keep his mouth shut. He goes and praises God himself,
right? Oh my, he comes before the Lord
God and praises him. Praises him for his goodness
and his greatness. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
chapter 13. We're gonna read one verse over there. One verse
over there. You know, beloved of God, you
and I have a man. The God-man, the man Christ Jesus,
who is our precious mediator. He mediates for us all the time. And there's only one mediator.
I've told you the story, but someone asked me, why do you
go to the priest? I didn't have an answer, and he gave me that
verse. There's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus,
who gave himself a ransom for all. There's only one mediator,
beloved. There's only one mediator for sinners. between God and
the sinner, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ, the sinless, perfect,
spotless Lamb of God. The one who knew no sin. Oh my,
and the one who our sins were imputed to Him, and He's still
sinless, beloved. Oh my, isn't that amazing? Oh
my. My, look at this in Hebrews 13,
15, look at this. No wonder we give praise to our
mediator. No wonder we give praise to our
great God. No wonder we praise the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at
this. By him, that's Christ. Therefore, let us offer the sacrifice
of praise to God. So we praise God through Christ,
don't we? Continually, that is the fruit
of our lips, giving thanks to his name. Glory be to God. Glory be to Jehovah. Glory be to the Father, Son,
and the Holy Spirit. In God's people, we've been made
priests, haven't we? We've been made priests before God, by Christ,
in and through Christ. In all legal, typical sacrifices,
having been fulfilled and abolished by Christ, our high priest, Paul
points out what sacrifice we are to offer to God. It's the
sacrifice of praise. in Thanksgiving. That's what
David was doing. He was offering praise to our
great God for what he's done. See, God reminded him, I took
you from that sheepfold. You were watching over sheep.
I made you king. He did it. God did it. David
didn't do nothing, did he? He was still in the fields when
Samuel thought, well surely it's this one. And the Lord said,
there's still one more. And David's father said, he's
the youngest, he's just a, he's out, bring him here. This is
the man. My oh my. Think of this, God
chose him out of all his brethren. But Brian, God chose you out
of all the people in this world. And me, and all the elect of
all the ages. Isn't that amazing? We may be
the only ones in our family who the Lord saved. I think all of us here, that's
how it is. Isn't that amazing? that God
would choose us? Why did he choose us? My brother's
a lot stronger than I am. My middle brother, he's a great
big guy, strong, successful. And here I am, the one who was
sick all the time, the one who mom had to always be with because
I was in and out of the hospitals. See, it's not based upon us.
It's not. What's that, brother? His good
pleasure. Amen. Right there. We're saved
and chosen because of his good pleasure. That's why we praise
his name. Because we know we're not worthy,
are we? We're not worthy at all. Oh, and he's the only one worthy
of our praise, isn't he? He's the only one worthy of our
praise. Oh, my. So let us ask these questions.
Do we give thanks to our great God for what he's done for us?
Do we thank him? Let's ponder that question and
let us be more thankful for him, for what he's done for us. May
this, and I'm not talking about no works or nothing like that,
I'm just saying just praise, just thankful to God for what
he's done for us. Do we give thanks to our great
God that we can come to a place and hear the gospel? I know several
people, there's no church in their area they can even go to
that's preaching the gospel. Even my old buddy, who is a fundamental
guy, he said, there ain't no churches hardly at all around
anymore that are preaching the gospel. Oh yeah, you're right. Praise God for David out in the
jungles there, preaching out there. My, oh my, he's preaching
the gospel. Praise God for Jean-Claude, goes
to French speaking places, preaching the gospel. Lance Heller in Papua New Guinea
preaching the gospel. And there's others, I'll tell
you what, there's many others we don't even know. We're not
an island. There's many others, we just
don't know them all, preaching the gospel. Oh my. And do we give thanks to God
for giving us spiritual eyes to see and to hear Christ? and
to understand his word. Because without him revealing
himself to us and giving us an understanding, we wouldn't know
nothing. We wouldn't even see Christ. It's amazing. If you look in your life, over
here, I was dead in sins. I didn't even see Christ. The
Lord regenerates me and born again, given faith to believe.
And now, is he not the only one we want to look to? I heard this statement and I
think I've mentioned this many times and I'm going to say it
again, this is just me. I hate that statement about being too
heavenly minded that you're no earthly good. And you know when
I started hating that statement? Is in Colossians chapter 3 when
Paul says, set your mind on things above. Can we ever look to Christ too
much? No. No. I don't look to him enough, do
you? My, oh my. Oh my. And then do we give thanks
for God sending us a preacher of the gospel? Well, you folks,
the saints here let me know, you guys are wonderful. You always
let me know that you're very thankful that I'm here and that
I'm sent. But I'm sent by God, plain and
simple. I'm sent by God to preach the
gospel. And I'm so thankful that God's given you a love in me,
a love for the gospel. And given us, he's knit our hearts
together. My oh my. It's wonderful. And then do we give thanks to
God for the sweet fellowship we have. What we have here is
very rare. Zane can testify going to different
churches. What we have here is really special.
It really is. It's a real blessing. Because
we've been through a few things together. We went through the
trenches together as they used to say. We've been through some
battles. And the Lord took us right through
them all, didn't he? Isn't it wonderful? Isn't he
so good? We can't take no glory. We'd
all fallen if it was up to us. But he just keeps us going, doesn't
he? Isn't it wonderful? God's so good to us, beloved.
And don't get me wrong, I can get discouraged just like everybody
else. We preachers, we can get discouraged real easy. We're
just as acceptable to sin as anyone else. But I'll tell you
what helps me is just to keep looking to Christ. The same thing
I preach to you is the same thing I preach to myself. Just keep
looking to Christ. He'll never let you down. He'll
never abandon you. He'll never leave you. He's always
with you. In those words, that's been my
life verse in Hebrews 13, 5. Let your conversation and conversation
there is lifestyle. Let your lifestyle be without
covenants. For he has said, I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee. And in the Greek, that word never
is never, no, not ever, in the triple negative. I'll tell you why. God's saying
that, you can't get any more sure than that, can you? Oh my. It's wonderful. So let us, by
God's grace, give thanks to our great King for each other. For each other, beloved. As well,
praise for him taking care of us and giving us sweet fellowship
with the saints of God. And glory be to God for him knitting
our hearts together in love. You know, it's He that's done
that love that we feel for one another. He's knit us together
like that. It's the Holy Spirit of God working
that in us, beloved. You know, Brian, you said you
haven't seen this place like this in 50 years. That's the
Lord working. That's the Holy Spirit of God
working. That's Him knitting God's people
together in love. And I've told you this, and I'm
going to say this. I heard one of our preachers say this this
week, and I thought this was excellent. He said, I have no authority
over you. I'm a servant just like you. We're servants of the Lord, aren't
we? Now, I'm called here to be a pastor, but I'm not called
here to lord over anyone. I'm a servant just like you.
David was a servant just like us. Isn't that wonderful? David doesn't
say to Nathan, go and praise God for me. He says, I'm going
to go praise God. I'm going to praise his mighty
name. Oh my. And think of this too. This is
true. There's no coming to God except through Christ. There's
no other way. It's not through Buddha. It's
not through Mohammed. It's not through Mary. It's not
through Hindu gods. It's, or false gods. It's not
through Buddha. It's not through any of those
things. You can put anything in there that man worships. It's
no, there's no coming to God through that. There's only, the
only way we can come to God, the only way we can have peace
with God is through the Lord Jesus Christ in his precious
shed blood. That's the only way. There is
no other way. Now people say, well that was
me the wrong way. Well, I'm not going to apologize
for that because that's how it is. Right? That's the truth. Christ himself,
God in the flesh said, I am the way. He didn't say I'm one of
the ways. Did he? He said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father,
but by me." There's no other way. So if you
love Christ, if you're born again, rejoice, beloved. That's a gift
of God. If you've been given eyes to
see and ears to hear, rejoice. That's a gift of God. And may
we who are redeemed of the Lord continually give thanks to our
great God. And continually in the scripture
just means in all situations. So whatever situation we find
ourselves in, let us give praise to God. Let us give praise to
Him. And I'm preaching to myself here,
I'll tell you what. Last few weeks have been a little
rough for me. I'm preaching to myself here. Oh my. And our praise and our thanksgiving
are only acceptable to God on account of Christ, as you said,
Brother Zane, only because of Christ and only through Christ. Now, can a believer ever be guilty
of giving God too much praise? I love that, Zane, you're laughing.
No, we can't. Can a believer ever be accused
of giving God too much honor? Can a believer ever be accused
of giving God too much glory? No. Give him all the glory, beloved,
for everything, I'll tell you. Because again, as I said earlier,
he alone is worthy of our praise. Here's King David, and he's going
in, the king himself, going in and praising God, giving him
all the glory. My, oh, my. And now when we come to our great
God and petition him, we approach the throne of grace. And we do
that as born again, blood washed believers, knowing that our entire
dependence is upon Christ. Our entire dependence is upon
Christ. And we are assured in the scripture
that our great God will help us, Sister Dee, in time of need.
That's comforting, isn't it? He doesn't just say, well, I'm
too busy right now. I've got the world affairs going on here.
I've got to take care of it. He listens to every one of his
sheep. Isn't that amazing? Oh, my. This is the king. This is the king. This is the
god like no other little g-god. He's the one true living god.
There's none like him, is there? Now you see where I got the text
from. None like him. There's no one like him. And, you know,
our thoughts are not his thoughts, and our ways are not his ways. My, oh, my. And let us give glory to God
for giving us a heart of thankfulness. It's easy for us to gripe, isn't
it? Let's be honest. It's real easy for us to gripe.
It's real easy, as Brother Henry said, to get down in the mouth.
It is! It's not hard! I beat myself
up all the time, do you? But let us give praise to God.
Let us give praise to our great and glorious God for this wondrous
salvation that we have in and through the Lord Jesus Christ.
And let us be thankful that he doesn't deal with us according
to our iniquity. but that all our sin and iniquity
is pardoned by the precious blood of Christ. What a Savior. Now, a common question asked
by those in religion and outright unbelievers, you ever had this
question? If God controls all things by
his sovereign will, well, why pray? I've had that asked to
me so many times, it's not funny. Why pray? That question actually
reveals the ignorance of the person asking you that, especially
if they claim to be a believer. Because God commands us to pray,
doesn't he? Right? And we don't just pray,
well, we pray because he commands us to pray, but that's not just
the only reason. We pray because he's given us thankful hearts
and grateful hearts to rejoice in this wondrous salvation we
have in Christ. Oh, and think of this. Our belief
in the fact, the fact that God predestinated the things to come
does not hinder us from praying, does it? We still pray for our
country, even though he knows what's going to happen. We still
pray for the world, for God to draw on his lost sheep, even
though we know what's going to happen. He's not going to lose
one of them, he said. We still pray for them, don't
we? We don't know who they are. You know, we pray for our family,
our friends, people we run into in the stores all the time. You
ever been walking through something, and I had this happen so many
times, and tell me if it's happened to you sometime. I'll be walking
through a store, and I'll just meet someone, and then I'll just
pray, Lord, if it be your will, please save them. I'll never
see that person again, probably. If it be your will, Lord, please
save them. My, oh, my. Or you ever been
sitting in an airport and wonder, I wonder how many of the Lord's
people are in here? It's true, isn't it? You'd be
sitting there going, I wonder how many people are the Lord's.
Because we don't know. We don't know. We could be sitting
by a whole bunch of the Lord's people and not even know it.
My, oh, my. Isn't it wonderful? It's just
amazing. People are scattered all over,
beloved. I'll tell you what. My oh my. Now look at verse 18, look at
this verse 18 of 2 Samuel chapter 7. Then went King David in and
sat before the Lord and he said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what
is my house that thou hast bought me hither? In verse 18 we see
David here in our text comes before the Lord And God's told him through Nathan
the prophet that he will not build God's house. But God will build his house
and make his name great in perpetuity. And this is a promise to David
from God. Therefore, it's a guarantee,
isn't it? It's as sure as the sun setting
tonight. Right? My oh my. That these things will come to
pass. And think of this, God has predetermined and predestinated
all things. He already knows what's going
to happen. He already knows. The scripture says he knows the
end from the beginning. We only know from when we're
born till our end, right? And you know, that's just one
day to the Lord is like a thousand years, so our life is a millisecond,
if that. Isn't that amazing? In God's
outside time and space, He invented time for us and so that his son
could come into time and space to redeem us. As we talked about,
brother, that which was purposed and planned had to be executed.
So he comes into this world and dies on Calvary's cross for us,
redeems our eternal souls, and goes back outside time and space. Isn't that amazing? Where is
he right now? He's in heaven outside time and space. And our dear sister and brother,
they're outside of time and space and glory. Isn't that amazing? Worshiping the king, praising
his mighty name, and that'll be forever. It'll never end. Remember his kingdom? Shall never
end. And David believes what God says,
doesn't he? He believes what God says. He is therefore assured
that what God has promised, he will also perform, because we
know God will do that. If he says something's gonna
come to pass, it's gonna come to pass. He's gonna come again,
isn't he? Oh yes, he will. And David doesn't doubt God,
he praises God, knowing that he has absolute assurance from
God that it will come to pass. Now, we may lose some assurance,
but when we start to lose some assurance, remember this, I'll
never leave you nor forsake you, and I'll in no wise cast you
out. If you're in the Lord's hands, you're there forever. You got the grip of God. If God's
got a hold of us, we're not going nowhere, are we? Now, if it was
dependent upon us, we'd be in trouble, wouldn't we? But it
ain't dependent upon us, beloved. He who holds us holds the stars
in place. He who holds us spoke this world
and all the stars and everything we see into existence out of
nothing. We need things to build things.
He spoke it out of nothing. Oh my. Can he keep us brothers
in? Amen. Amen. Oh my. And I ask you this, beloved
God, could it be that true prayer is born of the understanding
of God's absolute sovereignty? Does not true prayer count on
the fact that God is absolutely sovereign? Nevertheless, not
my will. Even the Lord said, nevertheless,
not my will, but thy will be done. And what do we pray? Lord,
if it be your will. Lord, if it be your will. So for those who ask why pray,
well, we should ask those in religion who do not believe that
God has control, why pray to him if he's not in absolute control? If they don't believe in the
absolute sovereignty of God, why are they praying to him then?
Are they trying to twist his arm or get a bunch of people
to? I remember when I was in religion, they tried to gang
up on God. If we get 100 people praying,
surely God will answer that. I'm not kidding you. Stuff happened
when I was in religion. That's called ganging up on God. That's not the way God operates. Oh my. God answers prayer according
to His will and purpose. Right? My oh my. Let's read verses 18 to 22 now
of 2 Samuel chapter 7. It says, Then went King David
in and sat before the Lord, and he said, Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house, that Thou
hast bought me hitherto? And this was yet a small thing
in thy sight, O Lord God, but thou hast spoken also of thy
servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner
of man, O Lord God? And what can David say more unto
thee? For thou, Lord God, knowest thy
servant. For thy word's sake, and according
to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things to
make thy servant know them, Wherefore, thou art great, O Lord God, for
there is none like thee. Look at that. There's none like
him. Back to our title. There's none like our God. There's
none like the Lord God. Oh, and that's Jehovah Elohim
there. The preexisting one, the one
who exists on his own, needs no help, and Elohim, which means
he's strength. He's mighty, mighty God. Neither
is there any God beside thee. Look at that. There's no other
God. Only the Lord God. According to all that we have
heard with our ears. So David sits in the temple of
God and prays and rejoices in his heart because of the multitudes
of grace and mercy revealed and experienced in his life. He says,
who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that thou
hast bought me hithero? Verse 18. Who am I? Who am I
that you save me, Lord? I'm just animated dust. That's
all I am. And yet he's had mercy on us,
hasn't he? Wonder of wonders. And truly every believer can
identify with David when we consider who we are. Sinners by birth,
by nature, by choice, and by practice. And by practice. And when we consider who God
is, he's holy, he's just, he's almighty. The total opposite
of us. And it's amazing and astounding
that he would show mercy to any save sinners such as we. It's amazing. That's why grace
is amazing grace, isn't it? God's unmerited favor showing
to sinners in Christ. And every believer can say this,
thou art great, O Lord, thou art great, for there is none
like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to
all that we have heard with our ears. So we rejoice now as believers
in the fact that we can't save ourselves and that it's God who
saved us because we've been taught that we can't save ourselves. And we've been taught that God
himself sent his son to save us from our sins. That's amazing. That's incredible. How? By the shedding of his blood,
the giving of his life, and the shedding of his blood to redeem
our eternal souls, having obtained eternal redemption for us. That's
what he did. How did he do it? By the shedding of his blood
as a ransom. The price that God demanded was the blood of Christ. And
remember, he was sent to save us from our sins, and he did
it. He did it. How do we know? It is finished. It's done. It's done. We rejoice for that, don't we,
Brother Brian? Oh my, it's done. It's finished. What's finished
mean? Finished means it's finished. It means it's come to an end.
Right? My, oh my. And we see here in
2 Samuel, Chapter 7, verse 22, let's read that again. Wherefore
thou art great, O Lord God, for there is none like thee, neither
is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have
heard with our ears. Now I'm going to give us five
scriptures, five scriptures to consider with what we just read. in 2 Samuel 7.22. If you want
to write them down, you can. Exodus. The first one is Exodus
15.11. It says, Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in
holiness? Exodus 15.11. I'll read that
again. Who is like unto thee, O Lord,
among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in
holiness? Exodus 15.11. The second one
is, Who is a God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity? He's
pardoned the iniquity of all his people, hasn't he? By the
precious blood of Christ. And passes by the transgressions
of the remnant of his heritage. When I see the blood a lot. Amen. Pass over you. Passes by the
transgression of the remnant of his heritage, he retaineth
not his anger forever because he delighteth in mercy. That's
Micah chapter 7 verse 18. I'll read it again. Who is a
God like unto thee that pardoneth iniquity and passes by the transgression
of the remnant of his heritage, he retaineth not his anger forever
because he delighteth in mercy. Brother Brian, the God who saved
us, delights in mercy. The one true living God delights
in mercy. We're proof of that, aren't we?
Oh my. And then the third one, third
scripture is Psalm 89 verses 8 and 9. And it says this, O
Lord God of hosts, who is strong, Lord, like unto thee? or to thy
faithfulness round about thee. Thou rulest the raging of the
sea. When the waves thereof arise,
thou stillest them. Remember what Christ did? And
they are caught up in that storm, and he said, Peace be still. I'll read that again. Psalm 89,
verses 8 to 9. O Lord God of hosts, who is a
strong Lord like unto thee, or to thy faithfulness round about
thee, thou rulest the raging of the sea, when the waves thereof
arise, and thou stillest them. And in this one here, Psalm 86
verses 8 to 10, notice they all correlate with the name of our
message, too. Who is a god like unto thee?
There's none like God. Here it is, Psalm 86, verses
8 to 10. Among the gods, little G, there
is none like unto thee, O Lord. Neither are there any works like
unto thy works. All nations whom thou hast made
shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify
thy name. For thou art great, and dost
wondrous things. Thou art God alone. This is our Savior. This is our
God. And then the last one to correlate,
the fifth scripture, is 1 Kings chapter 8 verses 22 and 23. 1
Kings chapter 8 verses 22 to 23. And Solomon stood before the
altar of the Lord in the presence of all the congregation of Israel,
and spread forth his hands toward heaven. And he said, Lord God
of Israel, there is no God like thee. We're seeing a pattern
here, aren't we? There's no God like thee in heaven
above or on the earth. Nothing. No. All those gods on
the earth, just little g's. Nothing. False gods. Right? the earth beneath, who keepeth
covenant and mercy with thy servants, and walk before thee with all
their heart." I'm going to read that again. 1 Kings chapter 8
verses 22 to 23. And Solomon stood before the
altar of the Lord in the presence of the congregation of Israel,
and spread forth his hands toward heaven. And he said, Lord God
of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven above or on the
earth beneath, who keepeth covenant and mercy with thy servants,
that walk before thee with all their heart. So beloved of God,
there's none like our God. There's no other gods. All the
other gods in this world, little g's, are false gods. There's
no god like our God, and there's no other god. There's God the
Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and those three are one.
One in will, one in purpose, one in planning, one in execution. My, our God is the true and living
God, as opposed to false gods, dead idols. So marvel at this,
we who are the redeemed of the Lord. He's revealed himself to
us. He's revealed himself to us through
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And by the power of God,
the Holy Spirit, he's regenerated us, given us faith to believe,
and we are saved. by Christ and Christ alone. It's
wonderful. It's wonderful. And all this
is done according to his almighty will and purpose. And what do
we say? Amen and amen. Gracious heavenly father, we
thank thee for allowing us to be here tonight, allowing us
to look into thy word and Lord, we marvel as your people, That
we, by revelation from Thee, by You revealing Yourself to
us, by the power of God, the Holy Spirit, now we know, as
David said, there's none like unto Thee. There's no God, no
other God but Thee. And there's none like You. Praise You, Lord Jesus, for saving
our souls. Oh my Lord, we thank Thee. Let
us leave here rejoicing and let us meditate and think upon these
wonderful truths that we've looked at tonight. And may we be quick
to give you all the glory and honor and praise. Thank you,
Lord Jesus, for shedding your blood. Thank you for redeeming
our souls. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for regenerating
us. And thank you, Father, for planning
and executing the plan of salvation. My, oh my, we give you glory
and honor and praise, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in Jesus'
name, amen.