2 Samuel chapter 7. Let's look
at the first three verses to start with. And it came to pass
when the king, this is King David, sat in his house, and the Lord
had given him rest round about from all his enemies, that the
king said unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of
cedar, But the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. And Nathan said
to the king, Go, do all that is in thine heart, for the Lord
is with thee." Now this gives us an interesting glimpse of
King David. We've seen David the warrior,
haven't we, fighting Goliath and ferocious in battle after
that. When he fought Goliath, he slung
one stone and killed him. They cried out and sang his name
and praises and said, David hath slain his ten thousands. He was a ferocious and mighty
warrior. And we know that about him. We
know that he was a great king in some senses. The Lord called
him a man after my own heart. The Lord gives sinners a heart
like that, doesn't he? That's true of all of his people
because We have that new nature that he bestows. He said, I'll
give you a new heart. And he does. And it is after
him, after the very heart of God. But here's David sitting
in his house. This is an interesting perspective,
isn't it? What do you think about then
when nobody else is around? Or maybe just you and your family,
and you're sitting in your house. What are you like then? That's
important to think about, isn't it? what's important to you when
you're just sitting in your house. There's no wars to fight. There
were no immediate urgent issues for David to deal with. There
was another time when there was a battle to be fought and David
sent Joab to lead the battle and stayed home and was sitting
in his house and walked upon the roof of his house and he
saw a woman that was beautiful to look upon. And he fell into
grievous sin. But here in our text, David had
other things on his mind. He was sitting in his house.
And the thought occurred to him, it's inappropriate that I should
live in a fine house. The cedars of Lebanon were renowned
in that day for their quality. And he said, I live in a house
of cedar. I live in the finest house that you can build. But God, the Ark of God, dwells just
in a tent of curtains. Now, we know that there were
some things that David needed to learn in this. We know from
the rest of this chapter, and we'll see in a minute, that David's
thinking here wasn't altogether commendable. But Nathan tells
him here to go ahead and do what's in his heart to do. Why is that? Why did Nathan, why did it happen
that way? And I think there's some answers to that question
from the scripture that are instructive. First of all, Nathan here may
not have known the way that God would eventually have this played
out either. God's prophets were not infallible.
They had light from God, and at times they had specific messages
from God to deliver to the people, but not all the time. And they
didn't always have all the details. You know that Samuel, in 16.6
of 1 Samuel, he looked at Jesse's most impressive son and he said,
there's a liable over there. He's a good looking fella. Surely
the Lord's anointed is before him. But Samuel was wrong about
that, wasn't he? And God said to his prophet,
don't look on the outward appearance. God gives light. In different
measures, doesn't he? He gives more light to some than
others. He gives different light at different times. And different
light on different things, different truths. And he does it when and
how it pleases him to do that. And we learn that lesson here,
don't we? Pray for wisdom. He said if anybody lacks wisdom,
let him ask. We don't have it recorded here
that either David or Nathan asked about this. And I think that
might be significant. You see what you think as we
read the rest of this chapter. But what makes a prophet a prophet
is not that he knows everything or is all wise somehow. And David
was a prophet too, by the way. And neither one of them knew
what would happen here. They just didn't have light from
God on it. But what makes a prophet a prophet is that he has a message
from God and he delivers it boldly and faithfully. without compromise. And though this was not going
to happen the way either one of them perhaps thought it would,
God, through his prophets, said, go ahead and do what's in your
heart to do. He gave him the green light, so to speak. And
though David, secondly about this, though David wouldn't be
the one that built the temple, he was going to be the one that
made provision for the building of the temple. You remember,
David is the one that Organized the gathering of all the materials
and financing for the temple for the for the Temple of God
and then Solomon ended up using those things to build it with
so really there wasn't any reason yet for David to know That he
wasn't going to be the one to build it was there Everything
that he would have done in preparation to build it himself is what he
needed to do in Preparation for Solomon to build it so he didn't
need to know that God doesn't always tell us what's going to
happen. We don't always have all the details, but we do have
direction from God in some things, don't we? And David did too. And it was good direction, wasn't
it? Because what he did, though he didn't build, what he did
was necessary. When the prophet said, go and
do what's all in your heart, everything he did, in preparation. Preparation was used of God.
So it wasn't necessary for him to know the details or exactly
what would take place. And it's not necessary for us
to know. We want to know everything, don't we? We don't. We're not
going to. But we have direction from God, don't we? Go and preach. We know what our business is.
It's not complicated. It's very simple. That's the
difficulty in it, is keeping it simple. The simplicity of
this. Proverbs 16, nine says this,
a man's heart deviseth his way, but the Lord directeth his steps.
David said, I'm going to build God a house. Well, the Lord's
going to direct this thing, not us, not David. Proverbs 19, 21,
listen to this verse. There are many devices in a man's
heart. I'm going to do this. I'm going
to do that. Nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord, that shall
stand. Aren't you glad that we don't
get to do everything we want to do? And it doesn't turn out
always the way we think it's going to. God's on the throne. He's doing what he's going to
do, what he's purposed from eternity to do, and he doeth all things
well. I don't, you don't, but he does. Isn't that comforting?
We can rest there, can't we? We have this comfort, this confidence,
being the servants of the sovereign God, that whatever is in our
hearts to do, that's not according to His purpose, He will overrule. And He'll do it right. He'll
do it for our good, and He'll do it for His glory. And so that's
why Paul said, we don't even know what to pray for as we ought.
In Romans 8, he said that. And we don't, but we pray. He
said, pray. Let your supplications be made. Let your requests be made known
unto God. But then say this, Lord, have
thy way. Not my will, but your will be
done. We have a pretty good example
in that, don't we? Your will be done. He's all wise. He's
all powerful. He'll do what he wants to do,
and he ought to. That's what it means to be God.
You do what you want to do. And I bow. I bow. by his grace. Now, that there was some error
involved here on the part of David for sure, and perhaps the
prophet as well, is evident from the following word that we have
from God on this matter. But understand this from the
scripture, God sometimes allows us to err in order to teach us.
When Peter needed to learn not to boast about what he's gonna
do, And that's what he needed to learn, wasn't it? He said,
I won't deny you. And he needed to learn something.
What better way for him to learn that than for Peter to find out
what his true will was? We say, I will. And what Peter's
true will was was to take care of Peter and forget about everybody
else. And the Lord revealed that to
him, wasn't it? He denied his Lord to save his own skin. That's
man's will. There's nothing to us. Do we
understand that? We're wretched and vile. That's
why Christ came to save us. We're not bold. We're not righteous. We're not better than anybody
else like Peter presumed to be. We're vile. We're cowardly. We're
foolish. We're ignorant. And we're sinful. That's what
we are. And the Lord's pretty good at
reminding us of that every once in a while, isn't He? He's real
good at it. And sometimes we have to mess
up in order to learn that. Not always. Not always. Peter's motive wasn't altogether
evil, was it? I'm sure that Peter, in his heart,
he knew the Lord and he didn't want to deny Him. He wanted to
be bold, didn't he? But he needed to learn something.
And I'm not sure David's motive here is altogether evil, is it? It's a shame. I live in a
fine house and we can't do better than that for the ark of God. Not an altogether evil motive,
but he needed to learn some things. Let's look at what they are.
Verse 4. 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. Now, David had something to say
and Nathan had something to say. Now God's gonna say something. Here's what I'm gonna say, God
said, Shalt thou build me a house for me to dwell in? And you can
see right off the bat what he's saying, can't you? Because what
if he had just said, shalt thou build me a house? And stopped
right there. That would have been informative. No additional information is
needed there, is it for me to dwell in? That's kind of obvious.
But you see what he's saying, why he added that, for me to
dwell in? For me? You think God lives in a house
like you do? David said, I live in a house
of cedar. Let's build one like that for God, you know. He don't
live in a tent or a house. And David needed to learn that,
didn't he? And we do too. We do too. And he said, you tell
my servant, David, and ask him this question, are you going
to build God a house? Are you man enough to do that?
Whereas I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought
up the children of Israel out of Egypt, I saved you without
having a house. I got by without you so far,
David. You see how? Even to this day, but I've walked
in a tent and in a tabernacle and in all the places wherein
I've walked with all the children of Israel, spake I a word with
any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed my people
Israel, saying, why build ye not me in house of cedar? You
think God can't give you direction in that, if that's what he wants?
Now the first lesson from God is this. You're smaller than
you think you are, and he's a lot bigger than you think he is.
David, are you gonna build God a house? Really? Turn to 2 Chronicles 2. 2 Chronicles
2 verse 3. Solomon sent to Huram the king
of Tyre saying, as thou didst deal with David my father and
didst send him cedars to build him a house to dwell therein,
even so deal with me. You see what's happening here?
This is the fellow that provided David with the cedars of Lebanon
to build his house with. And Solomon knew that and he
said, you gave, you sold my father some wood, I need some more. We're going to build something
else. But look at the way he talks here. Behold, I build an
house to the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to him. Not for him to live in, but it's
to his name. And notice the wording now. It's significant. You can see
what he's saying. We're building this to his name, to dedicate
it unto him, and to burn before him sweet incense. and for the
continual showbread and for the burnt offerings, morning and
evening on the Sabbath. This is what it's for. The house
is not for God to live in. That's what David was saying.
How do you know that's not what he said? He said, I'm going to
put the ark of God in it. But God knew what it was in his
heart. And God said, are you going to build me a house to
live in? That's what was in David's heart. He said, God's going to
have as good a house as me. Come on now. But Solomon learned the lesson
from David, I believe, don't you think? David learned the
lesson the hard way, by being wrong before God and getting
rebuked and instructed. But that's okay too, isn't it?
However God teaches us, it'll be okay. But Solomon knew what
this was for. He said this house is to worship
him in. It's to bring the burnt offering.
That's what we do here. We don't bring bulls and goats
and sheep in here to offer. Christ is our sacrifice. But
we're doing the same thing they did exactly. We're worshiping
the Son. We're honoring the Son and thereby
honoring the Father. We're owning Christ as our offering
before God, as our righteousness before God. We're worshiping
Him like they did. Exactly the same thing they're
doing. And that's what this house is
for. Not for God to live in. I passed a place yesterday in
Spring Hill. I bet you some of y'all know
about it. It's a little building, and it says on it, his house. I tell you, whatever God lives
there ain't much of a God, because it's not much of a house. That's
not what it's about. It's a place to worship Him.
He said, burnt offerings morning and evening, the middle of verse
four there, on the Sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn
feasts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance forever
to Israel. We gotta have a place to worship God. There's always
been an appointed time and an appointed place to worship God.
And the house which I build is great, for great is our God.
Let's do the best we can, you reckon? Because He's God after
all. Let's don't worship in a little
run down barn somewhere. We don't have to gold plate everything
and put religious symbols everywhere and stained glass. But let's
build the best we can build. It's God after all. Has that
changed? But, you look at verse 6 now.
Here's the big difference. But who is able to build him
a house? You're going to put his house
on the front of it? No, it's not. He owns it. It's for him. But I think I know what they're talking
about, don't you? Just like God called David on it. You're going
to build a house for me to dwell in? You? Who is able to build him a house?
See, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him. Solomon
said it right, didn't he? God's too big to live in this
house or any house. He doesn't dwell in a tent, David.
That's just the manifestation of his presence among you because
Christ came as a root out of dry ground. And there was no
beauty about him that we should desire him. And so his little
tabernacle was nothing Nothing fancy? Most people would look
at it and think nothing of it. Most people looked at the Son
of God and thought nothing of Him. But the glory of God was
on the inside of that tabernacle. And Christ was God with us. God
does things for a reason, doesn't He? He had them build that tent
and that tabernacle exactly the way He told them to build it.
Why would David question that? Not a bad motive necessarily,
but let's learn something from God here. Who in the world can build God
a house? Who am I then that I should build
Him a house? Save only. That's what this place
is for. Now, this is not God's house
in the sense that God lived in a house built with men's hands.
But we're going to burn some sacrifice before Him here. That's
what it's for. And we're going to worship God
here. He said, my house will be called
a house of prayer. We're going to worship him here.
That's what it's for. And he said, send me now therefore
a man cunning to work and go. Let's don't do a shabby job of
it, shall we? Let's do a good job of it. Let's
put our hearts into it and our effort into it and say, when
we're done, look what God did. And he gave us everything. who can build him a house. And so that's the first lesson
that the Lord taught David here. Now look at verse 8 back in our
text, chapter 7. I want to get to a certain verse,
and I don't want to be too long. But look at verse 8. Now therefore,
so shalt thou say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of
hosts, I took you from the sheep coat. Now you listen to this language
and see what God is saying to David here. I took you from the
sheep coat from following the sheep to be ruler over my people
over Israel. We talked about that last time
David went from a little shepherd boy to the king of Israel in
a day. And verse 9, I was with you whithersoever
thou winnest, and have cut off all thine enemies out of thy
sight. have made thee a great name like
unto the name of the great men that are in the earth moreover
i will appoint a place for my people israel and will plant
them scripture says the righteous are like a tree planted by the
rivers of waters planted by god that they may
dwell in a place of their own and move no more. Neither shall
the children of wickedness afflict them any more as before time.
And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel,
and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. And by
the way, David, also, let me just add this. I'm gonna build
you a house, not you build me a house. Oh my. Let's be clear about who
did what for whom in this matter, shall we? Have you ever, ever,
ever done anything for God? Be honest now before God with
me tonight. Have you ever, are you ever gonna? And that's always the thing to
be remembered. No matter what you do in service
to God, Remember, if you ever think that you've done or will
do anything worth doing, it's He that has done for thee. And it's still Him doing for you
and me. When I preach, is that me doing
something for God? Or God doing something for me? When you clean this building
or keep the nursery Do anything, support this ministry. Is that
you doing something for God? Or God doing something for you?
You be honest now. Listen to this Psalm, this passage
in Psalm 116, verses 12 and 13. Listen to the language of this.
What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward
me? What will his answer be to that?
What's he gonna say next? What will I render unto God for
all he's done for me? Next verse, I will take. I'm
not gonna give God anything. I never have. I can't now, and
I'm not going to. What does he want from me? My
Lord Jesus Christ stood in my stead and did everything necessary
to honor God, to exalt God. What am I gonna add to that?
What shall I render unto God for all of his benefits unto
me? I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.
How about you? I'm going to do what I've always
done from God. I'm going to take from Him. And that's what glorifies
Him. Not you doing something for Him.
Him doing something for you. That's His greatest glory. And if He enables you, in some
sense of the word, to do something for Him, in some sense, thank
Him for it. Because the truth of it is, He
did something for you. He could have had somebody else
do it. He told one group of people, I could raise up the rocks to
do it and leave you in darkness if that's what I wanted to do. What grace that He includes us. What mercy that He lets us in
on it. Look at verse 12 back in 2 Samuel
chapter 7, And when thy days be fulfilled, And thou shalt
sleep with thy fathers. When are you going to die? Exactly
when your days are fulfilled. It is appointed unto men once
to die. Isn't that comforting to you?
That God already knows when I'm going to die, where I'm going
to die, how I'm going to die, under what circumstances, what
I'm going to say and do when I'm dying. Maybe it'll be sudden,
maybe not, I don't know. It's in His hands where it belongs. And I'm comforted by that. I
will set up thy seed after thee, David. He's already established
now. You're talking about doing something
for me? I've done for you from the beginning. Before there ever was any sheep
that you kept or a sheep coat that you kept them in, I delivered
Israel. And he mentions that here. And there wouldn't be an Israel
for you to be king of if I hadn't done that. Before you ever were
born, I was doing for you, David. And not only have I done for
you, but I'm going to do for you. I'm going to set up your
seed after you, which shall proceed out of your bowels and I will
establish his kingdom and he shall build a house for my name.
Don't miss the spiritual here. Yes, he's talking about Solomon.
No doubt about it. Solomon did build the temple.
David organized and gathered all the material and Solomon
built it. And he's talking about Solomon here, but he's also talking
about of greater than Solomon. You notice that word seed? Paul
said that when God gave the Abrahamic covenant to Abraham and he said
seed, he said that because that's not seeds, that's not Israel,
that's Christ. He shall build a house for my
name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
Who do you think that's talking about? And I will be his father
and he shall be my son. Do you know that Paul quoted
that very verse in the book of Hebrews? And you know who he
was making reference to when he quoted it? Under which of
the angels did he say at any time, I'll be your father and
you'll be my son? He only said that to one person,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And now he's talking about Solomon
here, no doubt. And he adds some things here.
My mercy, I'll be his father. And if he committed iniquity,
I'll chasten him with the rod of men. Of course, we know Christ
couldn't sin. He was immaculate. He not only
did not sin, he could not sin. Impossible for the holy one to
sin. But think about this. If he had,
we're doomed. We're doomed. And that's worth
thinking about. Because it honors Him to know
that in every jot and tittle, and to acknowledge it and to
praise Him for it, that He honored the Father with every step. He
said, I do always those things that please the Father. Otherwise,
He'd have to be punished with us. The grave would still hold
Him. But no, death has no hold upon
Him because He's without sin. He put away our sin by the sacrifice
of Himself. But he said, my mercy shall not
depart away from him as I took it from Saul. It's not by accident
that God reminds David here that I have mercy on whom I will.
He rejected Saul and he mentions it specifically. I won't take
my mercy from him or your house or you, David, like I did from
Saul. God said, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. He gives
mercy, He withholds mercy as it pleases Him. And thine house
and thy kingdom, verse 16, shall be established forever before
thee. Thy throne shall be established forever. Solomon's throne, David's
earthly throne, where is it now? There's no trace of it. But he's
talking about the seed, isn't he? Talking about the house of
David. He's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ, whose kingdom endureth forever. According to all these
words and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto
David. Now, of course, as we've already
mentioned, these words are temporarily true of Solomon in a sense, but
understand God's house is Christ and his people. That's the house
of God. Wherever his people meet, that's
God's house. He dwells in people, not buildings.
He dwells in hearts. And that's that in Hebrews 1.5,
that's the reference where Paul quoted this verse concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. The eternal kingdom of God is
Christ the King and his subjects, us, his people, those who know
him. Verse 18 in our text. Then went
King David in and sat before the Lord. And he said, who am I? Oh, Lord God. And what is my
house? That thou has brought me. Hitherto. David spoke. As a man here. Who has experienced the grace
of God? This is how everybody talks.
When they experience the grace of God in their heart. You remember
what Mephibosheth said? Who am I that thou shouldest
look upon such a dead dog as I am? Who am I? But now here
David is saying the same thing. Who am I that you would reject
Saul and choose me? Was Saul a more evil man than David? Or Solomon? You don't have to
read far into the account of David or Solomon to find out
that's not the case. You know the difference between
Saul and David? Between Saul and Solomon? Grace. Grace. Grace. Free, sovereign,
distinguishing grace. And that's the only kind of grace
there is. They're just one kind of grace. You know why we have
to use adjectives like free? Because people use the word grace,
they misuse the word grace. They use it wrongly. And so we
have to be careful. We're not talking about the kind
of grace they're talking about when they say God giving us a
second chance. That's not grace. That's hell
for all of us is what that is. Grace is God coming where we
are and doing for us what we can't do for ourselves. Grace
is God sending his son down here to do what the law could not
do and that it was weak through our flesh. We couldn't measure
up. And so God would have to either put us all in hell or
send his son. And you know what he did? He
sent his son. That's grace. And he came down here and saved
somebody deliberately, fully, completely, and eternally. saved
somebody. I shall call his name Jesus because
he's going to save his people. He's not giving anybody a second
chance. He's coming to save somebody. That's the grace we're talking
about. Free grace. Grace that sees two thieves hanging
on two crosses. Both of them wasted lives, wretched,
sinful, godless, wretched, vile before God. But grace looks upon
him and says, that one's mine. I'll have mercy on him, I'll
have mercy. Today, shalt thou be with me
in paradise. That's grace. No difference. Paul said, you were the children
of wrath, even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
even as others, there's no difference. Out of the same lump, he makes
one vessel into honor and another into dishonor because it pleases
him to do that. That's grace I'm talking about. And David saw himself, he said,
you rejected Saul and chose me. Who in the world am I? He already
knew the answer to that, didn't he? Nobody, nobody. But I'm your nobody. I'm yours. And look at verse 19, he said,
And this was yet a small thing in your sight, O Lord God. It was great to me, but it was
small to you. 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? Is God anything like anybody
you know? And what can David say more unto
thee? This is the title of the message
tonight. What can we say? Have you ever been speechless
before God? We celebrate this time every
year something we call Thanksgiving. If we had any idea even a glimmer of what we have
to be thankful for. We'd be like David here, what
can we say? For thou, Lord God, knowest. He was speechless for a time
before God. He continues later in the chapter,
and we'll look at that maybe sometime, But for a while he
sat there before God and said, I don't know what to say. Have
you ever been there? Have you ever prayed? Do you
know why in Romans 8 there it says, we don't know what we should
pray for as we ought, but the spirit with groanings that cannot
be uttered maketh intercession for us. Have you ever just bowed
before God and were speechless? Job was speechless after he met
God. You remember that? In Job 40
verse 4, he said, Behold, I am vile. What shall I answer thee?
I will lay my hand upon my mouth. When he saw his wretchedness
before God, he said, Behold, I'm vile. And he had nothing
to say. If you ever see what you are
by nature before God. What are you going to say about
that? What are you going to say? Sorry? If you run over my mailbox on
your way in one night, come over and apologize to me, you know,
so I'll pay for that. You know, I'm sorry I did that.
I'll accept that. That's all right. I understand.
Appreciate you. If you get drunk and run over
one of my children when you come in one night, sorry, don't touch that. And that don't even compare. With our crimes before God. They don't even compare. How
do you say sorry I murdered your son? You understand why Job said,
what shall I answer? You know why they said what they
said now in Acts? When Peter preached to them,
they said, what are we going to do? We've killed the Prince
of Life. What do you say to that? How do you respond? And here David bows before the
sovereign, gracious, glorious God of all mercy. and sees how
God has dealt with him in tenderness, and love, and sovereign mercy,
and says, I don't know what to say. In 2 Corinthians 9, 15, Paul
said, thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. What adjective would you replace
that with? unspeakable. This gift can't
be described. It can't be done justice. If you ever see the Son of God
come into this sinful earth for you, to save you, if you ever
see Him living and dying for you, you'll be speechless. And I will too. How do you say
thank you for that? How do you say thank you? For
him coming and taking my place on Calvary. In this world for living for
me. For being despised and rejected of men for me. For being spit
on for me. For being misunderstood and hated
and hounded for me. and giving His soul an offering
for my sin. The chastisement of my peace
was on Him. How do you say thank you for
that? You know what you do? You say like David, I don't know
what to say. In 1 Peter 1.8, Peter says, Whom
having not seen, you love. In whom though now you see Him
not, yet believing, You rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving
the end of your faith. You know why it's unspeakable?
Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your soul. When you think about Him saving
my soul, we rejoice with joy unspeakable. Because you can't describe that.
Words can't describe what he did for me when he saved my wretched
soul. He took my place under God's
wrath. He was forsaken of the father
for me. If we ever see what he did, who
he is and what he did for us. And this Thanksgiving, I want
you to think about that. And I pray the Lord will give
me grace to think about it. Think about what God has done
for you and sit before the Lord like he did. It's great to be
with family. Good to spend time and have some
downtime and not have to go to work for a couple of days and
just watch TV and eat. We're going to do some serious
eating. There's not a thing in the world
wrong with that. Sometime during the weekend, sit before the Lord. The question came up whether
we'd have service tonight. If the worship of God gets in
the way of thanksgiving, then what in the world is thanksgiving? He sat before the Lord and he
was thankful. He praised Him. for his mercy
and his grace. And may we have a little time
this weekend to do that, to sit before God and from our heart,
in our words, like David did from his heart. And perhaps words will fail us
as they did for David, but we can try, can't we? From our heart
to praise him. He said, did you reject Saul
and choose me? Who am I? Did God perhaps reject
a brother, a parent, a friend of yours, and have mercy on you? What will you say to Him for
that? You see, God's not up for acceptance
or rejection, but sinners are, and He accepted you. He received you. He rejected
Saul. He rejected Esau. He rejected
10,000 and came where you were and saved you. If he rejected every one of us,
he'd have been right. Thankful unto God for that unspeakable
gift. Thanks be unto Him. Whether there's words or not,
from the heart, thanks be unto Him. Did God give you a place
to worship Him this year? A place of fellowship? A place
to learn of Him? A place to serve Him? quietly, comfortably, peaceably,
worship Him. Thanks unto Him. Thanks be unto
Him. Did He give you a family? It's good to have family in this
world, isn't it? Thank God for my father and my
mother and my family. But think about the family of
God that He's given us. brothers and sisters in Christ
to worship Him with. He picked them out like He picked
me out and He put us together to praise Him together, to learn
of Him together, to worship Him together, to be grateful unto
Him together. Well, I'll close just by saying
may God grant that we do that. It's so easy to forget, isn't
it? We'll get caught up in the in the holiday, you know. May he give us grace to sit before
him and to thank him for his mercy. Thank him for his son
as our brother did. When he prays, he always thanks
God for his precious son. Let's bow in prayer.