this passage by reading verse
5, and then we'll come back and look at the rest of them in whole.
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. Now, at
the time of David's death, his life was a wreck. His children
had been rebels. They've done unspeakable things. They've been guilty of incest
and rape, murder, insurrection, treason, and the list just goes
on and on. And David had too. David was
guilty of adultery, murder. He failed as a father. Still
yet, this late in his lifetime, this late in his reign when he
should have learned some things, David's still yet going to fail
Israel as their king. I mean, his life is just a mess. So why is David so confident? That's verse five. That's a confident
man speaking, isn't it? Why is he so confident? Because
of the covenant of God that was ratified in the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, these are not actually the
last physical words of David, at least they're not his last
recorded words. David is still yet going to live
a while after this chapter. Some people say David did repeat
these words on his deathbed, but they're not his last recorded
words in 1 Kings. But we do know these are the
last inspired words of David. These are the last words of David
that are God-breathed by the Holy Ghost moving him to write
the very Word of God. Now, we usually give extra weight
to a person's words that are last words that are spoken on
their deathbed. I believe that the Words of a
person on their deathbed are admissible in court. According
to the law decree that I have that came from watching Law and
Order on television, a person's last words spoken on his deathbed,
those are admissible in court. And we pay close attention to
those words because at that moment, a person is without pretense.
They're normally going to tell you the truth. And these words
of David tell us where confidence for a dying sinner is found. And that's what I want. I want
that for you and I want that for me. For us dying sinners
to have confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. And David tells
us here where that confidence is found. Now verse 1, 2 Samuel
23. Now these be the last words of
David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who is raised
up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob. Now, first, David
tells us he's a son. David's just a common, ordinary
man. He's a son of Jesse. He was a
son. He was a husband. He was a brother.
He was an uncle. He was a man, just like you and
I are. Yet God did extraordinary things for David, didn't he?
God raised David up on high. God made this shepherd boy to
be king over Israel, to be king over God's people. He made this
shepherd a rich man. And David knew everything he
had. God gave him all of it. David
didn't earn any of this by himself. Everything he had, God gave him.
It could be God in his mercy would raise us up on high. If
he does, it's because of his mercy. Maybe he'd raise us up
on high, make us spiritual kings and priests. Let us sit at his
table as one of his sons. God did that for David, and he's
going to do that for other sinners, too. And it's my prayer. Maybe he'd do it for someone
here. That's my prayer. He goes on, verse one. He says
he's a sweet psalmist of Israel. The Lord made David the sweet
psalmist of Israel. What a blessing has that been
to God's church throughout the ages? The Psalms have been a
blessing to God's people over the ages. You look someday at
the Bible of an old believer. Somebody's been at this a long
time. Those pages that are crinkled and swelled up the most are almost
always the Psalms. They're just such a blessing
to God's people. God didn't just give that blessing
to David. He gave it to his people, that
he made David the sweet psalmist of Israel and moved David, the
Holy Spirit moved David to write the very words of God. These
are not just the psalms, they're not just the musings of some
artistic man who had some gift with poetry and things. That's
the word of God. Look here at verse two, the spirit
of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue. Now look
over at second Peter chapter one. I'll show you what I'm talking
about here. These are the words of God. That's not David's word.
This is the very word of God. The second Peter 1. Verse 20. Knowing this first,
the no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation,
for the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man.
But holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. What these men wrote is the very
word of God. And it's always interesting to
me, you look at the writings, especially of the apostles, but
even in the Old Testament, the prophets, you just read those. Now, that's the word of God,
the inerrant, that is the exact word of God. But you read Paul
and you read Peter, You read Paul and you read John. Very
different men. You can see their personality
in their writings. But this is the word of God.
Only God could do that. This is the inerrant. You read
those Psalms. That's the inerrant word of God,
because God moved David to write his word. Now, God's not going
to do that for you and me. His words complete. We don't
need any other revelation. God's words complete. But could
be the Lord would anoint us to sing his praises. Maybe the Lord
would anoint us to preach his gospel. Maybe the Lord would
anoint us to praise his holy name. That'd be a blessing, wouldn't
it? God raised David up on high. Now, what do you think David
thought was the highest honor God gave him? What was the highest
office that God called David to? Was it king or was it prophet? Was it the mighty warrior that
defeated all those enemies? Or is it the sweet psalmist of
Israel? We'll look in Ecclesiastes chapter one. David thought the
highest honor God called him to was prophet. And he taught
his son Solomon this lesson. In Ecclesiastes chapter one. The words of the preacher. the
son of David, king in Jerusalem. Solomon listed last king. The highest honor was he's the
preacher. And he says it again in verse
12, I the preacher was king over Israel and Jerusalem. God's greatest,
highest calling to a man is to preach the gospel and to hear
the gospel, the gospel of his dear son. David understood that
full well. His highest calling was not king,
it was prophet, the sweet psalmist of Israel. He says in verse 3,
The God of Israel said, The rock of Israel spake to me, He that
ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And
he should be as the light of the morning when the sun rises,
even a morning without clouds, as the tender grass springing
out of the earth by clear shining after rain. Now, people wonder
a lot of times, what do these Old Testament believers know
about certain things? Well, at least some of them knew
a whole lot more than what we might think. David knew about
the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That's what he's
referring to here. When he talks about the God of
Israel, that's different from the rock of Israel. The God of
Israel, he's talking about God the Father. He knew God the Father. And then when he talks about
the rock of Israel, that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Scripture
frequently refers to Christ as the rock. And David already talked
about the Holy Spirit putting God's word in his mouth, on his
tongue. This is where a dying sinner
finds confidence. A dying sinner has confidence
in salvation that was purposed and accomplished by the triune
God. That's our confidence. Verse
2, David said that the Lord spake by me, but verse 3 said the Lord
spake to me. First he says by me, then he
said he spake to me. Before anyone can speak for God,
God must speak to that man. You can't speak for God before
God speaks to you. The Lord taught David how to
reign. Then the Lord spake by David.
The Lord spoke to David. and told David, be just, be honest,
don't use your power for your own good and use it on your own
self or your own gain. You rule for the good of men
and you rule in a fear of God. And for the most part, that's
how David reigned. Our country sure could use more
rulers like that, couldn't it? A person who rules like this
would be a breath of fresh air. I don't hold out much confidence
we're going to get very many rulers like that in this life.
But this is a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is
a breath of fresh air because he's the breath of life itself.
And when David writes here in verse four, he's describing the
Lord Jesus Christ. He shall be as the light of the
morning when the sun rises. Christ is a morning without clouds. Christ is the tender grass springing
out of the earth by clear shining after rain. The rule of Christ
is sweet. The rule of grace is so sweet,
especially when you compare it to the oppressive rule of the
law. The law is a whole lot, it's
bitter and it's harsh. David's rule was so much sweeter
than the rule of Solomon. Just like the rule of Christ
and the rule of grace is so much sweeter than the rule of the
law. And this is David's confidence. He saw Christ. He was looking
for the Lord Jesus Christ. But all is not well with David's
family and with David's country as David lay dying. Verse five,
he says, although my house be not so with God. David's family
and David's nation was not right with God. Now this shows us the
total depravity of man that came from the fall of Adam. This statement
clearly shows us how lost we are in Adam and how utterly dependent
we are on the Lord Jesus Christ. If the children after the man
of God's own heart are lost in Adam, surely you and me are lost
in Adam. Surely we are. There is sin in
the house. of my earthly tabernacle. In
this flesh, I was not born so with God. This earthly tabernacle
cannot be so with God. And I pass it on to my children.
I need mercy. My children need mercy because
we're lost in Adam. We're not born so with God. And
we go the wrong way all our life long unless God stops us in our
tracks. and draws us to Christ. There's
sin in the house of my earthly tabernacle. That's what David's
saying. That's the way it is with my
nation. That's the way it is with my family. That's the way
it is with me. Yet, yet, I love the buts of Scripture. But God,
yet, he hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Everything
about me and mine is wrong. But David's hope and our hope,
the believers hope today, it's not in our doing. David's hope
was not in all the military victories that he won. David won many mighty
battles, but that wasn't David's hope. David knew that God gave
him every victory he ever enjoyed. David's hope wasn't in how honest
and upright he was, how he ruled just. No, because he notably
failed there many times. David's hope was in all the materials
that he'd amassed for the temple that Solomon would build. None
of David's hope is in what he had done for God. David's hope
was in the covenant of grace. That covenant that was between
God the Father and God the Son. That covenant that concerned
David. Now I'll show you this in a minute. David is not saying
that God made a covenant with him. God made a covenant. made a covenant with the Son.
He made a covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David,
and that covenant concerned David, just like there was a covenant
between Jonathan and David. David did not have the covenant
with Mephibosheth sitting down there all lame in the house of
Lodabar. David didn't have a covenant
with him. David had a covenant with Jonathan. It concerned Mephibosheth,
and we'll come back to this in a minute. I'll show you that.
But David's hope is in this covenant, the covenant of grace, and it's
an everlasting covenant. It's an eternal covenant of grace. It's always existed. There's
no end to it. There's no beginning to it. It's
eternal both ways. Before what we call time began,
the father and the son struck hands. They agreed the son would
be the surety for God's elect, that he would redeem God's elect,
that he would save all those that the Father had chosen out
of the lump of fallen humanity. That's an everlasting covenant.
And David says this covenant of grace is ordered. It's not random. It's ordered. I like order, don't I? I like
things to be so. That's the way I understand things.
I think in a straight line, so I like things to be ordered.
This covenant is ordered so that Christ gets all the glory. It's ordered. Every detail is
taken care of. God chose a people who were worthless
sinners. God didn't choose those people
because he looked down through the telescope of time and saw
they choose him. He knew better than that. He
knew they'd never choose him. God didn't choose the people
because there was any good in them. God knows better than that.
He knows the heart is desperately wicked. He knows there's no good
in any son of Adam. God chose those people. Just
because he would. Just out of his love, his grace
and his mercy. He chose those people. That's
so wonderful to me. I'll never, ever get tired of
thinking about that. The wonder that God would choose
me. The only reason for it is grace,
His covenant of grace, His sovereign grace. And the Son agreed to
suffer for the sins of those people. He agreed to be their
surety. He agreed to suffer the full
penalty of the law for the sins of those people. He agreed to
exchange His righteousness for their sins so that they would
be accepted by the Father in Him. This covenant is ordered,
you see that? It's ordered in all things for
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. God set this whole creation in
motion for one reason. The glory of his son. That's
the purpose of this covenant. It's the glory of Christ. It's
ordered and David says it's sure. I love a sure thing. I don't
like doubt. wonder if this is going to happen
or not. I like a sure thing. This covenant is sure because
it's between God the Father and God the Son. No one's defaulting
on this covenant because both parties are perfect. They'll
never default. They'll always hold up their
end of the bargain. Secondly, this covenant is sure
because it's sealed by the blood of God's own Son. Now, it's sure. This covenant is sure. Thirdly,
because Christ, the great shepherd of the sheep. Now, he's not going
to fail. He will not lose one sheep for
whom he died. He'll have them all and present
them before the Father. He'll have every one of them.
That's why David is so confident. Because all of his comfort And
all of his confidence lies in this covenant, this eternal covenant
of grace that's ordered in all things and sure. And David says,
for this is all of my salvation. Every believer can say that with
David. My salvation is not a joint effort between me and Jesus.
This covenant is all of my salvation. I'm not saved unless the Father
chose me. The Son died for me, he shed
his blood to pay for my sins and the Spirit came and applied
that blood and gave me life. I'm not saved if that didn't
happen. This is all my salvation. I did all the sinning and Christ
did all the saving or I'm not saved. Christ fulfilling this
covenant is all my salvation. Now a dying sinner can have confidence
in salvation. That is a result of this covenant.
We can be confident in that. And this covenant is all my desire. If David was reading this to
me for the first time, I'd amen that. This covenant is all my
desire. That's what I desire the most.
That this covenant be fulfilled. I want to be saved this way. I do. I don't want to be saved
because I did something good. Because I'm telling you, I'll
lose it. Salvation by grace. Salvation that's based on this
covenant. The doing and the dying of the
Lord Jesus Christ is so glorious. I want to be saved this way.
If I was saved by something I did, there'd be no glory in that.
It'd just be something I earned. There'd be no glory in that.
But salvation by grace. Salvation by Christ agreeing
to be my substitute. Suffering all the hell, all the
penalty of my sin, that's glorious. I love that. Not only do I want
to be saved this way, I love salvation this way. This covenant is all my desire. I don't want anything else. This is it. It's all Christ.
Now, although, David says, he'd make it not to grow. And I love
this covenant. I love salvation by grace. I love imputed righteousness. I love it. I don't see much evidence of
it in me. If I just look in me, I don't see much evidence of
it there. But that's all right. If I'm
looking for evidence of salvation, If I'm looking for evidence of
God's grace, if I'm looking for evidence of growth in grace and
growth in holiness by looking at myself, I'll despair of all
hope. That's not where you find hope.
That's not where you find confidence. I don't see much grace in me,
but I know my salvation is sure because I'm sure of Christ. Not
any confidence in me. I'm sure of my salvation because
I'm sure of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm persuaded that He's able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. And
I'm telling you, I've committed my all to Him. This is all my
salvation. I've committed all to Him. I want you to look over Habakkuk
chapter 3. If you've got the authorized
version, that's page 1163. If it helps you, this is between
Nahum and Zephaniah. Habakkuk chapter 3, the last
verses of this book. Verse 17, Habakkuk 3. Although
the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the
vines. The labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall
yield no meat. The flock shall be cut off from
the fold. And there shall be no herd in the stalls." There's
no evidence of grace in that, is there? No evidence of life,
no evidence of hope. Verse 18, yet, yet, I will rejoice
in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength.
It's not the fields full of fruit and full of harvest and the olive
trees full of olives and the flock all being in the fold.
That's not my hope. That's not my strength. The Lord
God is my strength and he will make my feet like Heinz feet.
He'll make me to walk upon mine high places. I don't may not
see it. I don't understand it, but now
God's going to do that. That's my strength. I don't know
how it's going to happen, but he's going to make me walk upon
mine high places. Now sing that he says to the
chief singer of my stringed instruments. You sing that that the Lord God
is all my strength. He's all. of my salvation. And knowing that keeps us dependent. That's a good thing. It's a great
blessing to know we are dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ. We
raise our children to be independent. And then we're kind of sad when
they are. We raise them to be independent. It's just a good
thing that your child grows up and they learn how to feed themselves
and how to clothe themselves and things. God has no independent
children. God raises his children to be
dependent, and we don't grow to be independent. We grow more
and more and more dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ. We never
learn to dress ourselves. We're dressed in his righteousness.
We never learn to feed ourselves. He feeds us. He's the shepherd
that leads us to the green grass, all those green pastures, and
he's the pasture. He's the green grass. We're always
more and more and more dependent on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
growing in grace. Now, in closing, I want to give
you this. The real confidence, the real blessing for a believer
here is this is Christ speaking. This is not David speaking. This
is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking to his father. an intercession
for his people. Just like David, the Lord Jesus
is a son. He's the son of God and he's
the son of Mary. The son of God and the son of
man. And just like David, our Lord began his earthly ministry
very humbly. He began in a barn to a lineage
that was practically extinct. Yet, he was raised up on high. Can any good thing come out of
Nazareth? I know one that did. I know one. He was raised up on high, given
a name that's exalted above every other name. David was anointed
king. Christ is the anointed of God. The Father anointed him to be
prophet, priest, and king. And as God, he rules over all. David was king over Israel. Christ
is king of kings. All kings rule at His pleasure.
The Spirit is faked by David. Christ had the Spirit without
measure because He's God. He's one with the Father and
the Spirit. Christ is the light that shines
in darkness. After you had a bad night, you're
up with a child, sick all night, and we're so glad to see the
sun come up in the morning. I'm telling you, if God ever
gives you eyes to see the darkness of your sin, and unbelief, how
happy you'll be to see the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
is that beautiful morning without clouds. Christ is the tender
grass that feeds God's sheep. Christ is Isaiah's tender plant.
Christ is Jeremiah's righteous branch of David. I mean, he's
so glorious. You see the glory of Christ that
David is describing here. This is Christ speaking. Yet
when he came, Israel God's chosen nation rejected him. He said, Father, my house is
not so with God. That's true of national Israel,
and that's especially true of spiritual Israel. My house is
not so with God. By nature, none of us are so
with God. And the Lord Jesus Christ intercedes
for his people. He's pleading this covenant.
He's pleading his blood that ratified this covenant. He says,
Father, your people have sinned. Your elect have sinned. Yet God's
eternal covenant of grace stands sure because this covenant is
between the Father and the Son. Now, it's not going to fail.
Both of them will perfectly carry out their end of this covenant.
And this covenant is ratified. is sealed in the blood of God's
own Son that was shed on Calvary's tree. That blood wasn't offered
to you and me. That blood was offered before
God, offered to the Father as payment for the sins of His people,
offered to the Father to ratify and seal this covenant. If this
covenant is sealed in the blood of God's Son, brethren, it's
sure. Now, what higher payment, what
higher ratification can there be? other than the blood of God's
only begotten Son. None. So it's sure. And this
is the covenant that Christ pleads to the Father as the forgiveness
of the sins of His people. And this forgiveness is sure.
You can just be so confident. God's going to accept the blood
of His Son as payment for those sins. And God's going to say
they're forgiven because of this covenant. It's so sure. God maketh it not to grow. Did
you know God's church is not growing? Never has and never
will. God's church is a fixed, exact
number of people and it hasn't wavered by even one for all the
ages. Now the church on earth is added
to daily, such as should be said. But those people were always
in the church. They just didn't know it. until God gave them
saving faith. Then they learned it, but they've
always been in God's church. Now, you can be confident in
that. This is not going to grow and it's not going to shrink.
All of God's elect shall be saved. You call his name Jesus. For
he shall, without a doubt, save his people from their sins. He'll
not lose one. Now, verse six, let me give you
this in closing. God's covenant of grace, the
blood of Christ, doesn't apply to everyone. Look at verse 6.
But the sons of Belial shall be all of them as thorns thrust
away, because they cannot be taken with hands. But the man
that shall touch them must be fenced with iron and the staff
of a sphere, and they shall be utterly burned with fire in the
same place. This covenant of grace doesn't
apply to everyone. Those who are under the curse
of the law, and that's what these thorns represent. It's the curse
of the law. When Adam sinned, what did God
tell Adam? He said that the ground is cursed
for your sake. It's going to bring forth thorns.
These thorns are the curse of the law and everyone under the
curse of the law is going to be thrust away. They're going
to be thrust away. We'll throw them away. God's
going to throw them away just like we throw away thorn bushes.
You don't wonder, well, should I throw that away or not? No,
I don't want it. I don't have any use for it.
That's the way God's going to do with those who are under the
curse of the law. He'll thrust them out of his presence, just
like he thrust Adam out of his presence. And the believer's
confidence is we won't be thrust away from God. We won't suffer
eternally in hell because the Lord Jesus Christ, our surety,
kept His end of this agreement, this covenant between Him and
the Father. And He was thrust away for the
sins of His people. He already suffered the hell
that His people, their sins, deserve. So there'll be no hell
for His people. There'll be no condemnation for
His people because Christ, our substitute, already suffered. And it's this covenant, this
covenant of grace that determined to save God's people from their
sins has been ratified in the blood of God's own Son. Now you take that to your deathbed.
Be confident in that. Confident in the Lord Jesus Christ. All right. Well, the Lord bless
you.