As you know, I buried my mother a few months ago. Thursday, she would have been 80 years old had she lived. And I buried her without hope. My mom lived and died holding to a profession of faith, made this little girl that had no reality in scripture. As Norma's dad was dying the other night, I said to her family, it is a blessed, blessed thing to see a believer leave this world, freed from suffering and sorrow. But to see one leave for whom you have no hope, then the only comfort you can find is to fall back on the purpose of God.

One of them said, we just have to do that. And I didn't mean to rebuke. I said, we get to. We get to. Oh, we get to fall back on his purpose, fall back on his word, fall back on his goodness. And here is the solace of our souls. Now, tonight, I want us to look in Second Samuel, Chapter 23. This is where I go for comfort. This is where I direct you for comfort. This is where I go to sustain my soul when I'm faced with difficulty and trouble. This is where I direct you to sustain your soul in the face of difficulty and trouble.

David the king, the sweet psalmist of Israel, the man after God's own heart, is laying on his deathbed. The cold sweat of death is on his brow. His palms are clammy, his pulse is weak. The old man is dying after 40 years of faithful service as king in Israel.

For 40 years he reigned over the nation and it was a marvelous reign. There'd never been a man like David before. or since to set upon any throne anywhere in the world. Blessed, blessed, blessed people are those who have such a man to reign over them. David led Israel in battle after battle, from conquest to conquest. He ruled for 40 years with righteousness and injustice and in the fear of God. For 40 years, He led the people of Israel both in civil righteousness and in spiritual devotion in the worship of God.

He had been both God's king and God's prophet, but now he's dying. What would become of the kingdom now? The king is about to leave. David had led the people of Israel and spoken to them in the name of God for 40 years. Now who's going to speak to them? Now who's going to lead them? His family and friends were gathered around his bedside, anxious to hear his last word. The people, I'm sure, all through the palace and all through the city were anxious to have any report of any word from David the king. Now, in verse 1 of our text, listen to this. Now these be the last words of David. The last words of David, that's my subject this evening.

David, the son of Jesse, the man after God's own heart, looking back over his life, all these years, all his experiences, now looking into eternity, what will this man after God's own heart have to say? He describes himself, David, the son of Jesse. His name means beloved. His father had named him well. But David speaks of himself only in his humiliation. He said, I'm just the son of Jesse, just a man, a plain, ordinary shepherd boy, the son of a man who was just a plain, ordinary shepherd boy.

When God told David he was going to make him a king and sent him over his throne forever, David said, who am I and what is my house? Oh my God, that you should treat me so. David, the son of Jesse, the man who was raised up on high, the anointing of the God of Jacob. What on earth is he talking about? He says, I am David, this man that This man that was nothing and nobody but God chosen. And God anointed him and God set him on his throne. God lifted him from nothing to set him on high. This is David, the son of Jesse. You see, David never got over the wonder of God's distinguishing love and his electing grace. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee.

When David leaped and danced before the ark of God, what a privilege. Here I am bringing the ark of God up to the place where God is appointed for his worship and his name, where God will set himself and show himself. And David is leaping and dancing before the ark.

And his wife, Michael, looked out the door as David made himself vile in her eyes and before the people, and she despised it. And he came into the house and She said, what are you doing out there dancing, making yourself so vile, so humble, so ordinary before the people? And David said, your problem, honey, is you don't know God. God chose me before your father, and I will leap and dance and make myself vile before the people as I honor him, David, the son of Jesse, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the God of all grace, the sweet psalmist of Israel.

I've told you this many times, you go visit an old saint, somebody been around a while, and they've been carrying the same Bible for a long time, the book gets real thick in Psalms. Those pages are soiled. How come? Because this man, the Psalmist of Israel, penned the Psalms for us, and there, in the Psalms, we have the privilege. We have the privilege. I'm not much for reading journals and things like that. The most honest men flatter themselves too much. I'm not much for reading what men write without inspiration with regard to themselves. But here is David, the man after God's own heart. And we're allowed to go with him into his closet as he pours out his heart to God.

I'll tell you why the Psalms are so meaningful to every one of us, because there we can read and hear a man say to God what we feel in our hearts. But Gary, we wouldn't dare think about saying it. We wouldn't dare open our mouths and say things David said, but there David says them for us, and we can identify with it. Then he describes his Psalms and his prophecies. Look at verse two.

The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me. His word was in my tongue. Oh, what a way for a prophet to die. The Spirit of God spoke by me. As I spoke to you these 40 years, God's word was in my tongue. and God spoke by me. He spoke certainly as he penned the scriptures and penned the Word of God, spoke by divine inspiration. Holy men of old spoke as they were moved, carried along by the Spirit of God, so that the Word that he wrote was given to us as the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God. But also, he says, as I spoke as God's prophet, the Word of God was in my tongue. It has been my prayer for better than 30 years, as I stand up to speak, God, either speak by me or don't let me speak. What a way for a prophet to die. Then he describes his rule. What a way for a king to die.

Look at verse three. The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake unto me. Now notice In verses two and three, David gives a declaration of the triunity of our God. The doctrine of the Trinity is not just something that was taught in the latter stages of the New Testament. It's taught throughout the scriptures. Here, David speaks of God, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Lord spoke by me.

He speaks of God, the Father, the God of Israel. And he speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Rock of Israel. Now listen to what he says. This is how God spoke to me. When God lifted me up and set me on high, when God anointed me and made me king in Israel, this is what he said to me.

He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And such a ruler, oh, what would you give to have such a ruler? Such a ruler. Such a ruler shall be as the light of the morning when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds, as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining after the rain."

Read in the present tense, David is describing himself. And what he's doing is he is, without pointing a finger to himself, saying exactly the same thing the Apostle Paul said. as he faced the end of his pilgrimage. He says, I fought a good fight. I finished my course. I've kept the faith.

And that was an honest assessment of his life. God demanded of me as king that I be just, ruling in the fear of God. and being fully aware of the errors he had made, being fully aware of his sins and his offenses, David looked over 40 years, and he said, now, in these 40 years, I have ruled you in the fear of God. I've ruled you with justice. I've ruled you with righteousness. This has been the tenor of my kingdom.

But these words certainly could not have their ultimate, absolute fulfillment in David. They must then be read in the future tense and read in the future tense their description of Jesus Christ, the Lord, of whom David was just a type. Read the verse like this and understand that our Lord Jesus Christ, that one who is anointed of God, truly set on high to be king over all things, to be king in Zion. He rules justly. He rules all things in the fear of God with reverence for God and he is indeed as the light of the morning When the sun rises he is indeed a morning without clouds a tender grass springing up out of the earth And then we look at verse 5 now just hold your bibles here Here david declares his dying hope Although my house be not so with God.

You read that and it seems to be incomplete, doesn't it? What does he mean? He said, my house is not like I want it to be. My house is not as nature desires it to be. My house is not as I would have planned it to be. My house is not as I had hoped it would be. My house is not such as a man could look at and say, now, I'm satisfied with my house.

Although my house be not so with God, yet he 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. When David lay on his bed dying, when he was about to leave this world, when he looked at his house and he looked at his life, he found his consolation, his comfort and his strength in the covenant of God's grace. And I'm telling you, you will never find comfort for your soul in the midst of difficulty and until you are able to lay your head upon the pillow of covenant grace and be at peace with God.

Religion won't do it. A religious notion won't do it. Saying, well, the Lord's going to do all right. That won't do it. That won't do it. Well, God's in control. That won't do it. That won't do it. But when you fall back on this, God Almighty is right now doing exactly what He purposed to do from eternity. because he made a covenant with me. That's good enough. That's good enough. This is right, and this is good. All right, let me show you three or four things here.

First, here is David's great sorrow. Although my house be not so with God, what a sigh! As he lay on his deathbed looking within himself and looking around himself, looking upon his family and friends, David remembered a lot of things which caused him great sorrow. Any man would. Unlike most, David Murrow was an honest man. And honesty is going to hurt a lot of times. Honesty causes you a lot of pain. I'm not talking about being honest with other folks. I'm talking about being honest with yourself. Man's honest with himself. He's got lots of reason to win. David's heart was heavy because many in his household, in fact, most in his household, neither knew nor worshiped his God. Michael, as I've already shown you, despised him and his God.

Amnon raped his sister Tamar. Absalom killed his brother Amnon for raping his sister Tamar. Absalom then was expelled from the kingdom for three years, not allowed to walk in the palace of the king for three years. David loved that boy Absalom, but he said, don't you let him see my face, I'll kill him. Don't let him see my face. And then when Absalom was finally restored somewhat to David's favor, that wretched excuse for a son, led his father's servants in a revolt against his father. He paraded David's own wives and concubines before all Israel to humiliate his father and would have killed him if he could have. And then Absalom died.

There are a lot of things we learn here. Learn this for sure. Grace doesn't run in bloodlines, only corruption. We can't give our sons and daughters the grace of God. I know these legalist Pharisees, they say, well, you raise your children right and God will save them. No, that's not what Proverbs teaches. Proverbs teaches that in a general course of things, you train a child in ways he should go, and when he's old, he'll not depart from it. It doesn't teach salvation in the household if you do right. That's not what it teaches.

David was a man after God's own heart. There's not a man in this congregation to compare to him. Not one. And I admire the men of this congregation. They're as fine as any I know. David walked with God. But David had a house full of rebels. A house full of rebels. It seemed that they took great pleasure in bringing their father's name to shame. They seemed to take great pleasure in doing whatever they could contrary to what their father had taught them and the example he set before them.

Salvation does not come to those men and women who are the sons and daughters of godly parents because they have godly parents. It comes to chosen sinners. because we have a gracious God and that's all. Your sons and daughters and mine deserve the wrath of God. Your parents and mine deserve the wrath of God. You and I deserve the wrath of God. Hell is exactly the portion of our cup forever unless God intervenes. Learn this also.

David's house was not as he wished while he lived and as he looked in the future. He said, be honest with you fellas, doesn't look to me like things are going to get any better. I don't see any prospect for the future. I've got a house full of rebels and it looks like it's going to stay that way.

It seems that the only one in his house that comes to my mind who knew God was the one constant reminder of his horrible sin, Solomon. The one man upon whom God had grace in David's house was that one man who was the constant reminder of David's murder of his friend, Uriah. David's house was not only his physical house, but it represented the church and kingdom of God as well. For David was a king and he was a prophet.

My house extends beyond dawn and shall be in doven faith and audrey grace. This is my house. This is my house. God has made me his servant to proclaim his word in this, his house, to leave this house in his worship. And David says, as I look at God's kingdom, man, things sure look bad. I had the privilege of traveling all over the world And I want to tell you something. Things look bad.

Everywhere. Everywhere. The whole world seems to be engulfed in Arminian free will works religion. Even most people who claim to believe in salvation by grace mix works everywhere you go. Everywhere. The whole world seems to be engulfed and given over to satanic delusion.

David's heart was, I am sure, also made to be heavy by the remembrance of his own sin. He was a gracious man. When he lay dying, he didn't remember what others had done against him. He remembered what he had done. I expect David lay there and thought about his vengeance against Nabal, how he behaved like an insane man for fear of his life before Achish.

What an embarrassment. matter of Uriah the Hittite. His terrible mourning over his son Absalom. He mourned over Absalom and gave indication to his servants who were faithful. He had rather they had died than Absalom had died. And then he numbered Israel.

Even Joab had better sense than that. Joab said, David, these are God's people. He'll take care of them. But David was a man of absolute power. And I want to tell you something. Absolute power is a dangerous thing. David said, I want to know how many we got.

And he found out, and then God killed 70,000 of them. But David looked at his family, and he said, there's no company. my soul in my whole house." And he looked at himself and he said, there's no comfort for my soul in anything I've done, not in anything I've written, not in anything I've said, not in anything I've done, not in any conquest I've made. Nothing gave him reason for joy, but only sorrow. And then look at the next word.

Circle this thing and write it out in your minds emblazoned it in capital letters a foot tall Yet He hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things Now here is David Solis In time of trouble and sorrow There is no pillow for our aching heads, no balm for our breaking hearts, no solace for our sorrowful souls like covenant grace.

All children of God, here are old paths wherein we find rest as we walk in them. Here are the still waters beside which the good shepherd causes his sheep to lie down and be still. Here are the tall green pastures wherein the Son of God feeds our souls.

David knew something about covenant mercy. He, uh, you remember he, he had a covenant with Jonathan and it was a picture of this covenant here. Jonathan and David pledged themselves to one another. And Jonathan said, now, David, I know God's going to kill me and make you king. But you promised me now that you won't destroy my house, that you'll save my house. And David said, brother, I'll do it.

And every time he looked at old lame crippled Mephibosheth, he thought about Jonathan. All he saw was Jonathan. Paul went, oh, listen to me. Every time God Almighty looks down on you, all he sees is his Jonathan, Christ Jesus. That's all. When he looks on me, all he sees is his Jonathan, Christ with whom he made a covenant, and he swore that he would do good.

When John Gill lay on his deathbed, he wrote a letter to his nephew. He said, I depend for my whole salvation, not upon any works done by me or done by me through the assistance of the Holy Spirit, but upon God's free and everlasting covenant of grace. This is what I've lived by, and this is what I shall die by. Let me tell you about this covenant.

It's a covenant of pure grace. Pure grace. Just grace. Grace, grace. Oh, how I love grace. Free, free, free grace. Unconditional grace. This grace was given us Christ Jesus, our covenant head and surety before the world began. What Paul said in 2 Timothy 1.9. This covenant is an everlasting covenant. Everlasting. That means it's everlasting both ways. From old eternity to all the ages of time and all the difficulties and sorrows of this present world until everlasting. This covenant of grace that's everlasting is a covenant ordered in all things, David says.

What on earth does that mean? Some of you fellows have sat down and made out wheels, and you make them out, and then you, no, that's not quite right. You go back and readjust this and readjust that, and you, no, readjust this and readjust that until you get everything ordered just the way you want it, just the way you want it. Now listen to me.

God didn't have to make any readjustments, but he ordered his will exactly the way he wanted it for your soul, buddy Darty, and he's doing it. This covenant, no mistakes, no mistakes, no errors, no corrections to be made, a covenant ordered in all things. The Apostle Paul tells us God, from eternity, has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world. He tells us that God gave us grace and salvation in Christ before the world began, and He came in time and made manifest His grace to us.

This covenant is ordered in all things, and it's sure. It's sure. What do you mean? I mean everything ordered in the covenant is absolutely certain. Absolutely certain. How sure? As sure as the oath of God. As sure as the word of God. As sure as the throne of the Almighty. As sure as the very being of God himself. All that's in the covenant will be performed. All the blessings of the covenant are sure to all who believe.

Isaiah says as he speaks for God, he's now come to me Come to me believe on me and I will give you listen now. I will give you the sure This was told that sure mercy it's ordered in all things and sure and then David says This is all my salvation Turn to Jeremiah 32 for just a moment All my salvation. You see, the Lord God spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ in Isaiah chapter 48. We won't read that now. Chapter 49, rather, verses 6 and 8.

And he said, I'll give you for salvation to the ends of the earth. And then he said, I will give you for a covenant of the people. This covenant is itself that which Jesus Christ carries and brings to pass and perform. He's the surety of the covenant. So the covenant is indeed our salvation. Here in Jeremiah 32, the Lord God is speaking of that same covenant that he described in chapter 31. And he says in verse 38, they shall.

Don't you love that? They shall be my people. And I will be their God. And I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them and of their children after them. Not physical children. David knew that. But they're spiritual children for the good of this generation of God's saints and the good of that generation to come. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them. Look at this now. And I will not turn away from them.

How many times have you looked into heaven and you said, God, why have you forsaken me? Lord, where are you? God, what are you doing? Hear him. Hear him. Hey, this is what he's saying. He's, I'm doing you good. I'm doing you good. I will put my fear in their hearts, and I'm going to fix it so they will not turn from me. Thank God for covenant grace. This is all my desire. What do you mean? Well, if God has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, if this covenant is all my salvation, then I want nothing but what he has ordered in the covenant.

This is what's going to glorify him, and this is what's going to save my soul, and this is what's going to save his people, his house, his kingdom. This is all my salvation, and this is all my desire, even when I can't see what he's doing, although he makes Hey.