2 Samuel chapter 23. I titled
the message, Hope in God's Covenant. And I want to look at this familiar
passage in two different ways this morning. I believe both
of them will be a blessing to us all. First, and this is obviously
the preeminent meaning of the text, is to see David here as
a picture of Christ. And I want us to see this picture
of the Redeemer. and gain some confidence, gain
some assurance in salvation from seeing Christ the covenant, from
seeing Christ the surety of God's covenant of grace, and from seeing
Christ as all of our salvation. We will be blessed if God in
his mercy enables us to see the Lord Jesus Christ as all of our
salvation. That's the first way I want to
look at these verses. 2 Samuel 23, beginning in verse
one. Now these be the last words of
David. David, the son of Jesse said, and a man who was raised
up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist
of Israel said, the spirit of the Lord spake by me and his
word was in my tongue. Now David began his life as a
nobody. He was the son of Jesse, the
youngest son of Jesse, a nobody from nowhere. But you know David's
story. God chose that nobody from nowhere
to be king of Israel, to be king of God's people. God sent the
mighty prophet Samuel to Jesse's house to anoint David as king. And in an afternoon, this boy
out here keeping the sheep was raised to be king of Israel. God made, eventually he made
David the mightiest man on earth. and even greater than that. God didn't just speak to David,
God spoke to us by David. God, the Holy Spirit, moved David
to write the very words of God. Now you think of that, you think
of David and these prophets, I try to imagine what that was
like, that the Spirit moved him, inspired him to write, not their
words, but the word of God. And I'm so thankful he did. I'm
so thankful that God spoke by David. You think of those Psalms
that David wrote, the different circumstances of his life that
he wrote all those different Psalms. And what a blessing those
Psalms have been to the church through the ages, just through
ages and ages. What a blessing of many dark
hours those Psalms have been to so many of us. David here
obviously is a type of Christ our King. People thought Jesus
of Nazareth. They thought he's a nobody from
nowhere. They said, look, who is this
guy think he is? We know him. We know his father
and mother. He's the carpenter's son. What's
he doing going around teaching? He hadn't learned letters in
our schools. How can he teach? He hadn't been indoctrinated
by our professors yet. And look where he's from. No
good thing's gonna come out of Nazareth. He's a nobody from
nowhere. Who's gonna listen to him? Well,
you know, all that was true, humanly speaking. I mean, you
know, he grew up in a carpenter shop. His foster father was a
carpenter. He didn't come from Nazareth.
He was born in Bethlehem, the city of David, but he was raised
in Nazareth. He didn't go to their schools, and they're all
right about that. But this man is God. He's God in human flesh. God chose his son to be the savior
of his people. Christ, God's son, He's God's
chosen, elect, appointed prophet, priest, and king of His people. And the Lord Jesus came to this
earth, and He did exactly what the Father sent Him to do. He
accomplished all that the Father gave Him to do. He accomplished
all the salvation of His people. He washed His people free from
their sin in His blood. He made them righteous in Him.
And wherefore? Because He did what the Father
sent Him to do, Father's highly exalted him, given him a name
which is above every name, lifted him up above all, put everything
under his feet. You think God lifted David up?
Look how he's lifted up his son. And God says, David spoke by
me. And that was true. The Holy Spirit moved David to
write the very word of God. But the Lord Jesus Christ is
the word of God. He is the word of God in human
flesh. He had the Spirit without measure.
And you think people have been blessed by the writings of David?
Generations of people have been blessed by the Lord Jesus Christ. I tell you this all the time.
I love these Old Testament pictures of Christ, but Christ is always
better. Israel was blessed by David,
weren't they? How they were blessed to have David as their king.
Every nation on earth has been blessed by Christ our King. He's
got people from every nation, every tongue, every language.
In verse three, David goes on, he says, the God of Israel said,
the rock of Israel spake to me. He that ruleth over man must
be just, ruling in the fear of God. Now the Lord Jesus Christ
rules over man. He sits on the throne of God
in absolute sovereignty. absolute righteousness. And I
wish people would understand that. If we'd ever understand
the kingship of Christ, we quit thinking that the king is begging
us to do something, begging us to accept him and just how he
needs us. No, he doesn't need us. He's
the king. He's not begging us to do anything.
We're mercy beggars at his feet. Christ rules. And God said, the
man who rules over men must be just. He must be righteous. Well,
that's a good thing. That makes me so glad that Christ
reigns. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only righteous man to ever live. He's the only one who can rule
in righteousness. And he rules not just in a righteous
manner. He rules in righteousness. He rules by making his people
righteous. And that's the comfort of a believer's
heart. Christ is all my righteousness
and He rules in righteousness. Those two things being true,
that He makes His people righteous. He's all my righteousness and
He rules in righteousness. I can never lose my salvation.
That's the comfort of a believer's heart. And as a man, everything
the Lord Jesus did was in the fear of God. He says here that
the ruler must rule in the fear of God. He must rule in the reverence
of God. He must rule doing what pleases
God. Isn't that what the Lord Jesus
did? He said, John 8, 29, I do always those things that please
him. Everything he did pleased his
father. Now that's the comfort of a believer's
heart. Christ is the covenant and everything
he did as a representative of his people pleased his father. Or that means God's pleased with
me and he. What comfort there is in that.
Boy, you can lay on your deathbed in comfort in this like David
is. That's our comfort to know that Christ pleased the father
as my representative. I'm free from fear in him. In
verse four, David goes on, he says, 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. Our savior is the light of the
morning. He's the son of righteousness
that's risen. He's the light of the world.
And light lets us see things. You know, if the lights weren't
on, we couldn't see each other. But when the lights are on, we
see everything as it is. But more than just letting us
see, light is glorious. Now last Thursday night after
the service at Katie Baptist Church, we sat out on Marvin
and Glenda Stoniker's front porch. We sat there talking and just
enjoying a time of fellowship. Well, it was dark and we finally
went to bed and the next morning we got up. Marv and I went out
and sat in the exact same spot drinking our coffee. But it was
in the morning light and everything was so much more beautiful than
it was the night before. Everything was so glorious and
crisp. What was the difference? Light. The sun had risen. You could
see everything as it is. Well, you know, we might think
we understand something about God. We might think we understand
something about God's word. We might think we understand
something about God's gospel. You may be able to quote some
of it. You might be able to recite some of the finer points of the
gospel, you know, see and understand these things, but not see the
glory of it. Marvin and I were talking about
the book of Proverbs. He said, you know, if you read
the book of Proverbs, and he said, there's good advice for
us there. But if all you see in the book of Proverbs is good
advice, you missed the glory of it. Because Proverbs, just
like all the rest of the Bible, Solomon wrote of Christ. And
if you don't see Christ in Proverbs, you've missed the glory of it.
But if you see him, you see the glory of it. It's like our children,
you know, so many of them, they grow up right now, they're in
their classes, being taught the scripture, being taught the gospel.
You know, by the time they get to a certain age, they understand
what the gospel is, they understand the ABCs of it, you know, and
they can tell you about it, you know. They don't see the glory
of it right now. But when God in His grace allows
you to see Christ when Christ is formed in the heart. Oh, now I see. Then only when
you see Christ, when Christ and his light is shed forth in your
heart, now I see the glory of God's word. Now I see the glory
of God's gospel. You think about Israel, all those
thousands of years they spent under the Mosaic law. I'm sure
they thought they saw some glory in these things. They saw some
glory in the law. They thought they saw some glory
in the ceremonies and the priesthood, you know. For thousands of years
it went on like that. But then Christ came. The Son
of Righteousness arose. Simeon said, I'm departing peace
now. He's holding that baby eight
days old. He said, I've seen your salvation. Now I see, now I see how God's
gonna save sinners. The sun arose, the clouds of
the law and the ceremonies were removed and now people saw the
real glory of that law. Now they saw the real glory of
all those ceremonies, all the lambs and the washings and the
priesthood, they saw the glory of it because the light had appeared. And that's what David's talking
about here, morning without clouds. When Christ came in His glory,
all those clouds and shadows of the Old Testament law and
the ceremonies and the types and the pictures, the shadows
were all removed. The clouds were all removed.
And we saw the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ with
nothing between, nothing between. And we see that glory in the
face of a real man. That's what David means when
he talks about the tender grass springing out of the earth. He's
talking about Christ there, the root of Jesse. That root out
of dry ground is the true glory of God seen in a man, in God's
wisdom, saving sinful men through the sacrifice of a sinless man. And David knew he's coming. God
promised him he was. David and all the other prophets
kept prophesying Christ is coming, Christ is coming, Christ is coming.
When our Lord met that Samaritan woman, she said, well, I understand
everything you're saying, but when the Messiah comes, well,
he'll make everything clear. We'll understand then. They just
kept waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting. Thousands
of years they waited, much like you and I keep waiting for the
return of Christ. We keep thinking, could today
be the day? Could this year be the year?
Might he come? And maybe after waiting so long, people gave
up hope. Don't give up hope. He's coming,
he said he would. Look here at verse five. David
says, although my house be not so with God, yet hath he 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. I would imagine By the time,
well, not imagine, I know this is so. By the time Mary and Joseph,
Mary great with child, by the time they arrived in Bethlehem
to be taxed, David's lineage, his house, didn't look like much. David thought it wasn't anything.
Now, wait, you just wait. Till right before Christ comes,
his house is gonna look like nothing. Just a dead stick sticking
up out of the ground. That's what it would look like.
Yet, as hopeless as the situation might look in David's house,
the Savior's coming. And he's coming through David's
house, through David's lineage, because God promised it. And
he's gonna do it. He's gonna do exactly what he
promised. And sure enough, the Savior came through the lineage,
through the house of David. And he came that way because
this is the everlasting covenant made not with David, but between
the father and the son, between the father and the son of David,
it was made before the world was created. And this covenant
is David's hope, this God's promise, that's David's hope. And David
says, it didn't look like much now, but this covenant, the covenant
of God's grace is ordered in all things and it's sure. It's
sure because it all hangs upon the Lord Jesus Christ. and he's
gonna come and fulfill everything that's required of him. He came
and he established righteousness for his people by obeying the
law for them as their representative. He came and he satisfied God's
justice for them. He died as a sacrifice for their
sin. He died putting their sin away. And that salvation in Christ
is sure. It's sure because of who promised
it, God promised it. It's sure because of who accomplished
it. God the Son accomplished it.
It's sure because of who applies it. God the Holy Spirit. It's
sure because it all depends upon Christ. And that is the comfort
of the heart of every believer. That will comfort, looking to
Christ, it'll comfort your heart right now. I don't care what
it is you're going through. You look to Christ. He'll comfort
you. And when that day comes, we're
like David, and we're on our deathbed, Let's pray God give us the grace
to die looking to Christ. This gospel, the gospel of Christ,
is good enough to live by, and it's good enough to die by. He's
the sure Savior. Now here's the second way I want
to look at that text. You see how this is a picture
of Christ, don't you? But now here's another way I
want us to look at this text. I want us to look at this text
in the light of David, the man David as he lay there dying.
Every believer does look to Christ. God gives us faith to look to
and believe Christ, and we look to him. Our hope, our confidence,
and our assurance is all in Christ. And on his deathbed, that's what
David's talking about. That's what's on his mind and
on his heart. These are the last words of David.
We put a lot of stock in a man's last words, don't we? You know,
man gets down to the, These are the last words I'll be able to
speak. He's not going to waste them. He's not going to talk
about frivolous things. He's not going to waste his time
trying to gloss over the truth. He's going to tell you the truth.
And people David loved, they gather around his deathbed. There's
his family, those that he loved. There's people from the nation,
the people who are close to David and ruling the nation. And David's
got a word for him. David's got a word for his family.
going to go on after he's gone. David's got a word for the men
who are going to lead his nation after he's gone, this nation
that David loved. And I want you to listen to David's
last message to the people that he loved. Verse one. Now these
be the last words of David. David, the son of Jesse said,
and a man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God
of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel said, the spirit of
the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue. Now the
subject of David's last message is Christ, just like the subject
of all David's messages. And David's telling his loved
ones, now I'm leaving. It's time for me to leave this
world. And when I'm gone, don't you make me out to be something
that I'm not. He's saying, don't look to me
as anything more than what I am. All I am is a sinner saved by
grace. I'm the son of Jesse, just a
man that God raised up on high. Don't put any confidence in me.
Put your confidence, all your hope of salvation in Christ and
don't you look for another one of me. You look for Christ, you
look to him and you look for him. David's telling his loved
ones, now I'm going, I'm going home. and he's committing them
to the word of God. This is what he wants for them.
Don't look at my words and the things that I've said, these
things that I've written as my words, because they're not my
words. God spoke through them to write his word, and I'm commending
you to the word of God. Now look over in Acts chapter
20. I think a man who cares anything about people, The people that
he loves, the people that will listen to him preach will do
exactly what David did. That's what the Apostle Paul
did. These are his last words to those Ephesian elders. I want
you to look what he tells them. He does the same thing that David
did in verse 32, Acts chapter 20. And now brethren, I commend
you to God and to his word. to the Word of His grace, which
is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all
them which are sanctified. I commend you to the Word of
God." And that's what David's doing. He's commending those
that he cares about, those that he loves after the flesh. He's
commending them to the Word of God. Because the Word of God
is the foundation of faith to every believer. Our faith's not
in men. It's not in what men say about
the word. It's not their doctrines that
they've come up with from reading the word. Our faith is in the
word of God. And in his word, God has promised
to save sinners. David said, sinners just like
me, just like you. He's saying, I was nothing but
a beggar on a dunghill. I was just a shepherd boy. God
came where I was, he sent his prophet where I was, and he lifted
me off the dunghill, lifted me up on high, and sat me down at
the king's table. God did that. He did that by
his grace. He did that for just a common,
ordinary, nobody from nowhere. Now, you look to Christ. He's able to do the same thing
for you that He did for me. You look to Him, you call on
Him, you depend upon Him, His grace, His power, His covenant,
just like I did. He commends those that He cares
about, those that He loves to the Word of God. And I commend
you to the Word of God. You get in God's Word. You see what God has to say.
And God gives His people instruction in His Word. He does it through
pastors and teachers. Look at verse three. The God
of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake to me. He that ruleth over
man must be just, ruling in the fear of God. Now this is the
character of God's pastors. God's pastors are just, honest
men. They'll deal honestly with you.
They'll deal honestly with you from God's word. They're not
trying to get something from. God's servant is not trying to
get something from Him. They're not trying to get rich
from what they can get out of the sheep. They're not trying
to get protection by hiding behind the sheep. The Apostle Paul,
in his last words to those Ephesian elders, he told them, I've coveted
no man's silver or gold. He dealt with men justly and
honestly. Paul said in every situation,
whether it was publicly or privately, he said, you know this is true.
I only preached Christ to you. Didn't care what it cost me because
I was gonna deal justly and honestly with you. I dealt with you honestly
in the word of God. And I did it because I care about
your soul. I'm gonna deal justly with you.
And I did it because I care about the glory of God who put me in
the ministry. That's ruling in the fear of
God, ruling in the reverence of God. We care about God's glory. We care about the good of men's
souls, so we preach the gospel to them. We deal honestly with
them. And those pastors who have been enabled by God to be that
kind of leader, and David here talks about those that rule over
men, that's the leader of the church. If the sheep can find
that man, that's the man, that's the kind of man they want to
be their pastor, to be their leader. Because those kinds of
men are useful to God's sheep. Because they teach them God's
word. They lead them to the green pastures. And the only agenda
that they have is for you to know Christ. That's their agenda. Now that's the character of God's
servant. And they do it through God's message. Verse four shows
us the message of God's servant. He should be as the light of
the morning when the sun rises, even a morning without clouds
as the tender grass bringing out of the earth by clear shining
after rain. God's pastors have a very clear
message. God's pastors don't cloud the
issue. Now, So if you talk to a man
and you leave from hearing him preach, you leave from talking
to him, and you're more confused than you were when you first
came to hear him, that's not God's preacher. God's preacher
doesn't cloud dish you, he removes the clouds. God's preacher has
a singular desire. His desire is for you to know
Christ. So as best that he can, he's
gonna remove the clouds. He's gonna remove every obstacle
so that you can see Christ with nothing between. God's pastors
aren't gonna throw up smoke screens so you'll be impressed with them
and you'll be dependent upon them when you have to follow
them. God's preacher is not trying to get a following for himself.
His agenda is for you to know Christ and you to follow Christ
and you to depend upon Christ. He's gonna clearly and simply
preach Christ so you run to him. And God's pastors will always
take you to the green pastures of God's word. This tender grass
springing up out of the earth. That's where God's pastor is
going to take the sheep, to the tender grass, the sweet grass
of God's word. And we're blessed if God will
send us a faithful pastor like that. I just, I love what brother
Todd Nyberg says about Henry. He said, I always appreciate
it. He cared more that I knew the name of Christ than I knew
his name. That pretty well sums it up,
doesn't it? That's God's faithful pastor. He's gonna preach Christ
and get out of the way. So you come to Christ with nothing
between you. Not him, not his issue. No, you
come to Christ with nothing between. So you have no hope, no plea
other than Christ alone. And that's the Savior that every
believer comes to. Verse five. 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. All the
faith of a believer is in Christ. The foundation of our faith is
Christ. It's the word of God, both the
written word and the incarnate word. And that's what David's
talking about as he lay dying. Now, it's just natural for a
person. As they lay dying, it's just natural to think back over
your life. And as we lay there, we'll think
back. Boy, it went so fast. Oh, how fast it went. And there's
no doubt that's what David was thinking about. He's thinking
about his life. He was thinking about what's next. He's getting
ready to step into eternity. He's getting ready to step away
from this life. Ready to step into eternity.
He's ready to leave here. He's going to step away from
looking to Christ by faith and seeing him face to face. And
he's thinking about I gotta have a hope. Now I need a hope. He's
thinking about his hope of eternal life. He's thinking, what's the
hope of the forgiveness of my sin? What's the hope that I'd
be accepted by God? And those things went through
his mind. Poor old David. I had no doubt. Bathsheba crossed
his mind. Bathsheba was probably one of
the ones there around his bed listening to his dying words.
And he thought about what he'd done wrong with Bathsheba. He
thought about the time he numbered Israel. Joab told him, David,
don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it. And
David did it anyway. He did it out of the pride of
his own heart. He just wanted to see how big a kingdom he had.
He didn't count the people without the atonement money. And all
the suffering David's mistakes caused. It cost him. It cost
his family and all of Israel. It cost him so much. And if we're conscious on our
deathbed, you and I will think the same thing. Now we're going
to think the exact same thing. And I want you to listen to me.
I'm going to give you something here and there. It helped me. It'll
give you a lot of confidence and assurance. David's just a
man. He's just like you. He's just
a man. He's son of Jesse, just like we're the son of Adam. And
this man who committed adultery by Sheba is the exact same man,
God said, this is a man from my own heart. The man who numbered
Israel in his pride is the exact same man who says, Lord, my shepherd,
I shall not want. You see, David is laying here
dying with two natures, isn't he? The nature of his flesh is
dying. The flesh is good for nothing
but dying and putting in the ground. But that new man, that
new nature that's been born of God is going to leave this place. He's going to be set free from
this flesh and he's going to go be with the Lord. And that
new man is going to go be with the Lord because of the everlasting
covenant of God's grace that's ordered in all things and sure.
And this is what David's telling us in his last message. He said,
my hope to be forgiven of what I am in Adam and my hope of being
forgiven and washed free from all these horrible mistakes that
I've made is in the promise, God's promise of grace, God's
promise of righteousness, God's promise of forgiveness in the
Lord Jesus Christ, my substitute. This covenant is ordered in all
things and sure. David said, I've got a good hope.
And he's telling us that so we'll look to Christ. We'll have the
same good hope. I have a good hope because of
who the surety of the covenant is. Christ is all my salvation. It's not me and Jesus. Christ
is all my salvation. Christ is all my desire. Christ
is all. So there's not room for me to
desire anything else. Christ is all, so there's not
room for me to add something to my salvation. Now, in this
last sigh, this last words of David, I can see him kind of
making it with a sigh. Although we make it not to grow.
Now I'm gonna see if I can give you something here to help you.
David's not saying. God didn't do something he promised
he'd do. What David's saying is this at this last moment. I don't see any earthly evidence. Right around me. That God's doing
anything. I don't see one. When I look
at my house, I look at the body, my body, this house of flesh.
Well, I don't see near as much growth and grace I wish I saw.
I don't see near as much growth and grace as there ought to be.
When I look at my house, I don't see near as much faith as I should
see. I see a lot of too much doubt. When I look at this house
of flesh, I don't see as much love for God or love for His
people as I ought to have. I see way too much self. I see
a lot of self-love, but not much love for Christ or love for His
people. When I look at the house of my flesh, I don't see near
as much peace as I should see. I see way too much turmoil. When I look at myself, I don't
see any righteousness at all in the house of this flesh. All
I see in me is sin. All that's true, yet I'm confident. Even though I see all those things
that are true in this house, I'm confident because the salvation
of my soul doesn't depend on anything that I've done. Salvation
is in Christ. It's not my doing, it's His doing
and His dying alone. Salvation's not based on me at
all. It's all dependent, all the covenant of God's grace is
dependent upon Christ. Now that's a good hope. And then
when I look at my house, I look at my family, those around me,
I don't see as many people saved as I wish I saw. I don't see
as many people looking to Christ as I would like. David is saying
my family's a mess. My children, they're killing
each other, they've committed incest, they're fighting over
the throne and over the inheritance, and they're just, they've shamed
me. My family's shamed me. And you
know what? David's house is gonna sink a
whole lot lower before this thing's over. Before Christ comes, his
house is gonna sink down to just nothing. But now listen to me. That does not mean that Christ,
that God is not keeping his promise and fulfilling this covenant
in Christ. Just because I don't see any evidence of God's mercy
and God's grace and God keeping his promise in the little circle
that's right around me does not mean God's not faithful to his
promise to do what he said he'd do. God's faithfulness is not
seen in evidences that we see fleshly speaking around us. God's
faithfulness is seen in His Word. God's faithfulness is seen in
His person. Look at Hebrews chapter 11. I've got to quit, but I want
to give you this. Hebrews 11. God's doing exactly what He promised
He'd do, whether we see it or not. Look at verse 39. And these all, having obtained
a good report through faith, receive not the promise, God
having provided some better thing for us, that they without us
should not be made perfect. Just because Abraham never saw
that city on the earth that he looked for, doesn't mean God's
not faithful to his promise, does he? I wanna give you a quick
illustration. I've given this to you before,
but it bears repeating. You all know, I speak of him
often, Jim Meadows was one of the dearest friends I ever had,
ever will have. Jim has a son, Charles. How he
worried about that boy, that boy of mine. He had no interest
in the gospel at all. And how Jim prayed for him every
day. Oh, it just grieved his soul. And I was there right after Jim
died on his deathbed. And Charles was right there.
Jim died, the son of a rebel. Some years later, I was speaking
to a young man from Danville, Kentucky. And I told him, I said,
do I cross from my house? He said, house, that's where
Jim Meadows lived. I said, that's Vicki's dad. He
said, you go to church with Vicki. He said, yeah, I know Vicki.
I said, yeah. I said, Jim, he said, he had
a son. Oh, he worried about that boy, just how he, Jim loved the
Lord. He wanted his children to know
the Lord. Oh, he worried about that son.
He said, you mean Charlie? I said, yeah, Charles was his
name. And he said, well, Don baptized him just a couple of
years ago. He never missed his service. Just because Jim never saw it
doesn't mean God's not faithful to his covenant. God had a child. He's going to save him. He's
going to reveal Christ to him, whether Jim's alive to see it
or not. Let's keep praying. We pray for
our children. We pray, don't ever stop praying. Marvin told me this week, he
said, Brother Scott told him, he said, as long as there's breath
in someone, you pray for them. Our grace might yet come. All
right. Well, I hope the Lord bless that
too.