Turn with me, if you will, to
the book of 1 Kings. I want to begin this message
with a word from the wisest man who ever walked on earth other
than the Son of God, our Savior. And I will end it with that same
word. with all diligence. Keep thy heart with all diligence. How many, how many, how many
fail miserably and bring great misery to themselves and others
because they fail to diligently keep their hearts. Keep your
hearts in love with Christ, in love with his people, in love
with his glory, with his gospel. Keep your hearts fixed upon things
above. God give me grace to heed the
admonition. I fully realize that our obedience
to God's commands, to his word, And our disobedience has absolutely
nothing to do with our being saved by his grace. Nothing,
whatever. And being saved by his grace,
thank God, our disobedience, inward and outward, will never
in any way cause the Lord God to turn upon us in anger and
wrath, to punish us for sin. That's enough if you can get
that. That's enough if you can get that. But hear this. Because our works, good or bad,
do not in any way affect our standing before God, don't ever
imagine that obedience or disobedience are matters of insignificance
and indifference. The Lord God sought to kill Moses
in Exodus chapter 4 because of his disobedience. David lost
his son and lost his family because of his disobedience. How foolish
and selfish we are when we think that we live all together to
ourselves. None of us is an island. We influence
everyone around us, either for good or for evil, by every word
we speak and every deed we perform, be it good or bad. And we're
responsible for our influence on others. We are indeed, all
of us, our brother's keepers. Those whom God has providentially
given positions of authority over others are immeasurably
more responsible to lead those who are under their influence
by example and by word. Not by word only, but by example
and by word. Paul told Timothy, be thou an
example to the flock. Be an example to the flock. Political
figures have great influence over the nation. A nation is
morally elevated or debased in great measure by the moral character
of its president and national leaders. We certainly saw that
displayed clearly in the previous presidency. A local church usually
follows the example of its pastor in doctrine, in behavior, and
in faithfulness. If they're gods, they'll be steadfast
anyway. I can't tell you the number of
congregations I can point you to in history and in my lifetime
who have been under the influence of faithful, faithful men, who
have directed them by example and by word in the truth of God,
who when that man was dead had called somebody else It got them
a pastor, kind of like the children of Israel wanted a king like
Saul, a pastor that they could brag on a good bit. And it followed
them to destruction. Teachers. Children are to a great
degree affected for life by their teachers. And parents, or you
mothers and fathers, And us who are now grandparents, we mold
the lives of our children forever in God's good providence. By
word, by example. By our temper, by our behavior,
by our speech. Some years ago I had a Young
man, had a young family, visited here a few times, came by the
office one day and was condescending to consider maybe casting his
lot with us, you know. The way he expressed it didn't
come off real well to me anyway, but I kind of bit my tongue and
tried to help him. We talked a little bit and answered
some of his questions, and I knew his family. I said to him, don't
make the mistake your dad's made. Don't do it. Your dad has moved
his family here and there, this place and that, gone from one
thing to another, never submitted to any kind of ministry, never
planted his family in any local church, never contributed one
thing to the cause of Christ and the building of God's kingdom.
You find a place where you can worship God with your family
and devote yourself to the building of God's kingdom in that place,
whether it's here or somewhere else. And he came back a time
or two, but we didn't offer what was right for him. Last time
I saw him, down in Amish country, he joined up with the folks of
the most base form of work religion, decided that was the way for
him to go. And took his wife and his children to lead them
to hell. Some years ago, Shelby and I had a very dear friend,
a young girl, from the time she was just a shaper, She was a
teenager. She was with us all the time. Just incessantly. Just incessantly.
Loved us to death. I was her pastor. And she got
in trouble. And her parents got embarrassed.
I never said a word to anyone about it. Not even to her. Not
to them. But they got embarrassed and
they're yacking. They became enemies to me, to
the message I preached, to my family. And she is to this day. Last time I saw her, that girl
who used to hug my neck, used to take every opportunity she
could to sit on my lap. But I won't share with you what
she said and did. The importance of our influence
upon those around us could not be set forth more clearly than
it is here in the book of 1 Kings. In chapters 1 through 11, we
see a picture of Solomon's greatness. and his glory as king over all
Israel. Then in chapters 12 through 22,
the Holy Spirit displays for us the horrible consequences
of his disobedience for 80 years after his death. These chapters
set before us the first 80 years of a divided kingdom, a kingdom
divided because of the influence of Saul's wicked disobedience. The key to the book is found
in chapter 11, verse 11. Turn over there if you will. The Lord God speaks by his prophet
and says to Solomon, verse 11. For as much as this is done of
thee, because you have behaved in such wickedness, because you
have multiplied horses Because you've gone down to Pharaoh,
because you've taken Pharaoh's daughter to be your wife and
multiplied wives to yourself, because you have given yourself
to your sensual lust, because you have been turned away from
me by your wives. Therefore, therefore, for as
much as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant
and my statutes, which I have commanded thee. I will surely
rend the kingdom from thee, and I will give it to your servant."
Now, having said that, I want you to see clearly that the past
message of 1 Kings is a better message than that, though it
contains warnings such as I have given. The message of 1 Kings
is of Christ, of whom Solomon was a type, an imminent type.
The New Testament tells us so plainly. We read Psalm 72 earlier
is a psalm for Solomon. But as you read the psalm, you
immediately see that things expressed in that psalm must find their
ultimate fulfillment in someone other than a mere man. They find
their fulfillment not in Solomon, whose name means peace, but they
find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ, who is our peace, the
Prince of Peace. Now, 1 Kings begins with David
still on the throne, but he's an old, old man. He's laying
on his bed, he's dying, and everybody knows it. And Solomon's brother
Adonijah tried to seize the kingdom for himself. He got Joab and
Abiathar, the priests, David's companions who had served him
so well, to follow his lead, and they anointed him and proclaimed
him to be king. But God's prophets came to Bathsheba
and said, You know what's going on? He said, You go tell David
what he promised. And I'll come in behind you,
and I'll say, How is it that Adonijah is the king? I thought
Solomon was supposed to be king. Well, Adonijah's plans were foiled,
for the time at least. And David proclaimed Solomon
as king, said, This is the man who will be my successor, exactly
as God had ordained even back when Solomon was born. But Adonijah's
plans weren't over. There are a couple of things
I want you to see here. First, see this clearly. David's family suffered the consequence
of his sin in the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba until the day of
his death, and even beyond his death, just as Nathan said they
would. Now, please, please understand
this. David was a faithful, godly,
God-honoring man in all the tenor of his life. But for the gratification
of his lust, he looked out and saw Bathsheba. He said, shoot,
I'm the king. There's nobody around. Go fetch
Bathsheba for me. And he never thought what the
consequences would be. But he never forgot what they
were. He never forgot. There's something else connected
with this first chapter and second chapter of 1 Kings. When David's
servants saw he was dying, they sent and fetched a young woman.
And this beautiful young woman they brought to lay in his bed
and to nourish him. That's a real mild way of putting
it. hoping that she might rouse his physical passions and thereby
their great beloved king might recover. Needless to say, that
incident has raised a lot of eyebrows. Folks looked at them
and thought, what was that? But the situation is not, or
was not, as it might appear. There is no record that Bathsheba
in any way resented this or said anything about it. There is no
record that the Lord God Almighty showed any disapproval for this
thing, not any disapproval of any kind. This was not the perverse
devices of perverse men by which they hoped, through their carnal
influence, to accomplish something that God didn't want. That wasn't
the case at all. This young lady, a bishag, married
David on his deathbed. What a gracious thing for her
to do, because the king needed help. And on his deathbed, this
young, beautiful lady marries this old, old man. You say, Pastor,
how do you know that? But if you read carefully in
chapter 22, after Solomon had spared Adonijah's wife, his rebel
brother, he said, Now, I don't want to hear any more about this.
You go down there, you stay, you stay down where I put you,
and I'll leave you alone. But don't, if I hear any more
about this, you're dead, man." Well, Adonijah called Bathsheba,
Solomon's mother, and said, Do one thing for me. Go to your
son Solomon, our king, and ask him to give me a bishag to wife. Now Bathsheba didn't see through
the ruse. But Solomon did. She went in to Solomon and she
said, she said, my son, O king, give your brother Adonijah a
bishag to wife. Well, Solomon saw immediately
what he was doing. If Adonijah was married to Abishag, then
Adonijah would have right to the throne as being one married
to the Queen, married to David Wright. And so Solomon responds
and says, why don't you ask me to give him the kingdom? That's
what this is all about. And so this thing that happened
here in the first chapter was not some immoral, licentious
thing at all, but rather it was simply a picture of a woman who
in the grace of God comes and weds herself to the king, God's
king, to preserve God's king over God's Israel. What a great,
great picture it is. Now, the book from there out
gives us The reign of Solomon carries us through his 40 years
as king in Israel. Then, beginning in chapter 12,
the kingdom is divided. Solomon is dead, and the king
is divided under his son Rehoboam and his servant, that man who
was once his servant. And the kingdom is constantly,
constantly degenerating. Constantly, constantly brought
from one form of debauchery to another. Brought into one form
of idolatry to another form of idolatry to another form of idolatry.
And that, by Solomon's example, whose heart was led away to worship
many strange gods by his strange wife, or his strange wives. But
the focus, all the way through these 22 chapters, is never on
the people. I'll read them carefully again
today. The focus is never on the individual people in Israel
or in Judah. The focus is always on the King,
whether the King is on the throne in the northern tribe of Israel
or in the southern tribe of Judah. The focus is always on the King.
As the king worshiped and obeyed and served God and led the people
in the worship of God, God's blessings attended the people.
The rains came when they were supposed to, the crops were bountiful,
their enemies were either silent before them or they prevailed
over their enemies. But when the kings walked in
wickedness and led the people in idolatry, and led the people
in debauchery. And what debauchery is described
here is unbelievable. At last they even had male prostitutes
hired out in what's called the worship of God. But as the kings
led the people in wickedness, famine came, and pestilence,
and judgment, and droughts. And enemy after enemy prevailed
over them. And yet, There is a constant
overriding picture of God's great faithfulness. He still preserved
his kingdom. He still kept fast his covenant
with David. He still retained David's seed
for David's throne for the saving of his people and the building
of his spiritual temple and his spiritual kingdom. Now first
let's look at Solomon. Turn over to 1 Chronicles 22. Solomon was, as I said, in many
ways a magnificent type of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Prince
of Peace. His kingdom was a kingdom marked with peace. But in verse
9, Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of
rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about
him. For his name shall be Solomon,
his name shall be peace, or peaceable. And I will give peace and quietness
to Israel in his days. What a picture he is of Christ! Solomon's peaceable kingdom,
the reign that he exercised, and the peace that Israel enjoyed
under his reign for forty years, was the result of David's mighty
conquest as king before him. And all the peace we have as
believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Peace we have through his blood
and righteousness. All the peace we have is because
of his mighty conquest over all our enemies as our king and as
our substitute. And now being ruled by his grace,
being subjects of the Prince of Peace, all who are born of
God live before God in peace. In peace. You showed me a house
where men and women are fussing and fighting and feuding all
the time where they can't get along. I want to show you somebody
who doesn't know anything about the Prince of Peace. You showed
me a house where folks get along, live together in peace and harmony.
I'll show you some folks who know the Prince of Peace. Folks
who are ruled by the prince of peace live in peace. Jesus Christ
has made peace for us through his blood, and he is our peace. That's how he describes it in
Ephesians 2. Here are the Jew and the Gentile. The Gentiles
didn't want anything to do with the Jews. The Jews didn't want
anything to do with the Gentiles. But God, by his grace, comes
in the conquering power of his grace, and breaks down every
wall of partition that separates them. And Jew and Gentile are
wed together in Jesus Christ, and they are at peace, because
Christ is our peace. Believers live together in peace. Christ gives us peace, for the
kingdom of God is not in meat and drink. Folks, imagine it
is. They imagine the kingdom of God
has something to do with outward stuff. You know, you quit this
and you start that, and you wear this and you don't wear that.
The kingdom of God is not in outward things, but rather it
is in righteousness imputed, freely given, and in peace. Peace bestowed by the grace of
God and in joy in the Holy Ghost. Solomon was also a king to whom
the Lord God gave great wisdom. Wisdom beyond measure is wisdom
as the king of Israel, also foreshadowed Christ, who of God has made unto
us wisdom. Christ who is the wisdom of God,
in whom are yet all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Psalm
72 describes the glory of Solomon and the glory of his kingdom.
But that psalm, as I said already, finds its ultimate fulfillment
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and can find it only in him. Like
Solomon, our mediator was given a kingdom by his father. Given
the kingdom because the Lord God finds pleasure in his obedience. He said to him in covenant mercy,
you go and obey all that you've agreed to, and ask of me and
I'll give you the heathen for your inheritance. And when the
Lord Jesus had finished his work, He said, I've finished the work,
now Father give me the kingdom, give me power over all flesh.
Turn over to that 72nd Psalm. In 1 Kings 5 we read that the
Lord God had given Solomon rest on every side, so that there
is neither adversary nor evil concurrent. What a statement. He says, God's given me rest.
I don't have an adversary anywhere in the world. They've all been
conquered. There's no evil concurrent, no evil occurrent with me. Here
in Psalm 72, look at verse 9. In his days shall the righteous
flourish, and abundance of peace, now watch this, so long as the
moon endureth. What? He gives, Psalm 72, I may
give you your own passage, he gives righteousness and peace
that flourishes and continues as long as the moon endures.
Well, the moon is still here and Solomon has been dead a long
time. He's not talking about Solomon, he's talking about Christ
the Lord. Read on, verse 8. He shall have dominion also from
sea to sea and from the river, now Solomon can't quite qualify,
to the ends of the earth. Verse 9. Those that dwell in
the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick
the dust before him. The Lord Jesus Christ goes forth
and conquers his enemies around the world and brings them to
lick the dust before his throne, either in mercy or in judgment. But all enemies fall before him.
Look at verse 11. Yea, all kings shall fall down
before him, all nations shall serve him. The Lord Jesus Christ
is that King who is represented in Solomon and his greatness.
Now, let's consider Solomon's greatest work. Stop and think
about Solomon for a minute. What do you think of when you
think of Solomon? If you're familiar with 1 Kings
and the history of Solomon, the very first thing that's got to
come to your mind is the temple of God. David wanted to build
a temple, and God said, No, you can't do it. But your son Solomon,
I'm going to raise him up. I'm going to give you a son.
I'm going to raise one up of your loins, your seed, who will
sit on your throne. He'll build my house. He'll build
a house for me." And that was the thing Solomon devoted himself
to as soon as he was established on the throne. As soon as God
set him on high, he said, I'm going to build that house. And
he started working on it. And the Lord Jesus Christ, as
soon as he ascended up into heaven, began building that temple of
which this temple was but a type. Solomon's most significant work
was something for which he was specifically raised up by God. Now this temple was costly as
it was glorious. You read of what's described
in the 8th chapter concerning this temple. Unlike the tabernacle,
it was twice the size of the tabernacle. And the tabernacle
was glorious within. If you went in and saw those
brazen furnishings that were inside the tabernacle, But Solomon
made this whole thing overlaid with pure gold. There wasn't
any brass in it. Pure gold. The glory of this
temple far exceeded the tabernacle. But still the beauty and the
glory and the grandeur of the temple was not seen in the porches
and in the doors that folks looked at. Those things impressed men.
But the beauty and the glory and the grandeur of it was seen
from the inside out. beholding all the furnishings
and what they signify, and beholding the richness and the splendor
and the magnitude of it. This temple, of course, typified
these things. In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, you
remember when Paul was writing to the Corinthians and he's dealing
with the strife and division among them. Strife and division,
just like was going on in the kingdom after Solomon had died.
He said, don't you know, you're the temple of God? the Spirit
of God dwells in you. He's talking about the Church
of God. This is God's temple, and God comes into his temple
and takes up permanent residence, even as he did in Solomon's temple.
This temple is also set before us throughout the book of Hebrews
as a picture of our Savior's great work of redemption. Solomon
finished the work in seven years. A time of grace, a time of perfection,
a time of completion. And at the appointed time, the
Lord Jesus finished his work of redemption. And with his own
blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained
eternal redemption for us. And he sat there from henceforth
expecting until his enemy be made his footstool. And when
it was finished, if you want to read chapter 8 verses 10 and
11 at your leisure, you're familiar with it. Solomon finished the
temple, and the priest took the staves and carried the Ark of
God into the temple, carried it into the holy place, and carried
it into the Holy of Holies. And they set it down, and they
pulled out the staves, and you'll never read anything about them
again. There was no need for them anymore. That Ark was in
its place. And when they poured out the staves, a cloud filled
the room, and the glory of God was so brilliantly manifest that
the priest could no longer do any service, because the ark
of God was in its place and the temple of God was complete. Oh,
there is a day coming when you and I will no longer serve in
this capacity. when we will no longer be needed
in this capacity, when we will no longer have any function in
this capacity. Oh, we will serve him for every
day and night, but that will be in the holy place when we
are adapted to the very glory of God. Here we serve him in
our stumbling, stammering way, seeking to do that which honors
him. But there is a day coming when
our service in this capacity shall end. And the temple of
God shall be finished, when Christ Jesus shall have established
his temple in his creation over all the earth, ruling in righteousness
and in peace. And then we get to chapter 10.
You have one of the most beautiful pictures recorded in all scripture. It's about the Queen of Sheba.
I looked it up today, where Sheba, our sabbath, was located. It
was way down, far away from Jerusalem, down there by the far end of
the Red Sea, way down there. Somehow or another, this queen
from this rich city heard of Solomon's fame. Oh, thank God for his matchless
grace in sending somebody to tell you of the fame of him who
is infinitely greater than Solomon. Last week a young lady and her
family drove three and a half hours one way when I was preaching
over in Wichita Falls to hear the gospel. I saw her down in
Houston the week before, and I knew of the family and had
some correspondence with them, but I didn't know them. And she
told me when she was a little girl, her dad was in the military.
She said, the first time I heard anything about God's sovereign
grace was down there. She was talking about St. Mary's,
Georgia. I went down there two or three times. I said, no David
and Celeste Peterson? Yeah. I said, they're in Dainville. I knew they'd been down to St.
Mary's. She said, that's the first person from whom I'd ever
heard anything about the gospel of God's grace. She heard the fame of Solomon. She said, I've got to know this
man. I've got to know this king. I've got to find out who, I've
got to see if this is true. The report had to be an exaggeration.
There's no man like that! There's no king like that! And
so she brings a long train with her and makes her way all the
way up to Jerusalem. She came to where Solomon was,
sitting on his throne. And having heard of his wisdom,
she comes from afar, her country, just like you and I, who sometime
were far off. Oh, how far off! But now I'm
made nigh by the blood of Christ. And this is what she did when
she came to Solomon. She comes to him with gifts, bringing back
what represents all that she is in her royal dignity and power,
and she comes in humility. And the scripture says, she communed
with Solomon of all that was in her heart. and proved him
by many questions. She came to Solomon and asked
him about all the things that were confusing to her. Oh, hear
me, children of God, this is the way to deal with the King.
Go to him, David, and commune with him of all that's in your
heart, all the desperation of your wickedness, and all the
great need of your soul. I have nothing. Any questions? Go to him. Go to him. Anything
confusing? Take it to him. Any problems
arise, take it to him. And I'm going to promise you
something. I'm going to promise you something. Now I know this
is out of step with our society and out of step with the world
around us. Take it to him, don't have to take it to anybody else. Take it to him, you don't need
a doctor to put you on something so you live. Take it to him,
you don't need somebody to give you their counsel. I promise
you, you seek somebody else's counsel, you won't seek his.
Seek his, you don't need somebody else's. She communed with him
of all that was in her heart. And Solomon told her everything
she wanted to know. He hid nothing from her. Answered
all her questions. And then the scripture says,
he gave her all her desire. When I read that 7th and 2nd
Psalm to you a little while ago, I got to verse 22, something
that's told of me I've never seen before, just as I was reading
it. In verse 22, and all the prayers
of David, the servant of God, were heeded. Now I realize that
is a division of the book, and there are other places, two more
of them, where the Psalms are divided up. But he's speaking
about the great glory of Jesus Christ the King sitting on his
throne, and his everlasting blessedness and his everlasting praise. And
he writes down, that's all I want. That's what I've been wanting.
That's my desire. Missed all the confusion. Missed
all the conflict. Missed all the struggle in my
soul. Missed all my failures. Missed
all my stumbling. Missed all my errors. Missed
all my mistakes. Oh my God! This is all I want. Your glory forever. Solomon gave to the Queen everything
she desired. And I'm going to tell you something. Before he gets done, our Savior is going to give you
everything you desire, if you're his. If you're his. Now, folks say, well, that's
what these prosperity preachers are preaching. Oh, no, no, no.
They're preaching he'll give you everything you must after.
There's a huge difference. Believers seek the glory of God,
the will of God, the increase of his kingdom, and his everlasting
praise. That's what we want. That's what
we want. And then the scripture tells
us that Solomon gave her all her desire, listen to this, according
to his royal bounty. Man, what a gift! This is the
richest king on earth. And he gives her all her desire. And he gave to her out of his
treasury. Not out of his treasury, but
according to his treasury. There's a huge difference. There's
a huge difference. My buddy Josh here were to be
with me, we were traveling somewhere, he expresses a need, and I were
to give to him according to all my wealth. We'd both put our
money together and get him back. That's best to God. But if I
happen to have the name of Kennedy or Rockefeller, and we're traveling
together and my buddy's in need, then I give him according to
all my wealth. Well, we can both buy two Americas! There's a difference. Our God,
listen to this, this is what Paul said, shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Oh, what bounty! What bounty
of grace, what bounty of mercy, what bounty of worth and spirit
is found at the throne of our God, and it's ours forever. And when he did all this, the
scripture says, there was no more spirit in her. To this man will I look, to him
that is poor. and of a broken and contrite
spirit, him that trembleth at my word." Now, look at 1 Kings
10. She heard about Solomon. She
came and communed with him of all that was in her heart. God
graciously met all of her needs in Solomon. Then we read in verse
7, She said, I heard the report
when I was in my land, howbeit I believed not the words until
I came, and mine eyes had seen it. I'm going to tell you something. I picked up a book the other
day. I was moving something through. I hadn't seen it in years. A
fellow wrote a book on coming to faith in Christ. That's not it. Folks talk about
coming to faith in Christ? No, no. You come to Christ and
get faith. You come to Christ, and this
lady came. She said, I heard about it, I
didn't believe it until I came. And when I came, I saw for myself. And now, she says, The half was
not told me of thy wisdom and prosperity and exceeding fame,
which I heard. Happy are thy men, happy are
these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and
that hear thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God,
which delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel."
Now watch this. Are these men who belong to you,
O Christ? Happy are these who serve you,
O God, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom.
Blessed be the Lord God, which delighted in you, O Savior, to
set you on the throne of Israel. Was it because the Lord loved
Israel forever? Therefore he made you their king. Why is Christ sitting on his
own? Because God loved you forever. And he made him to be your king,
to rule in justice and in judgment. And then, the book of God being
faithful and true, sets before us Solomon's great failures. And great they were. was a beautiful, imminent type
of Christ. He was a man upon whom God bestowed
wisdom like no other. But he was just a man, no more. He was a man saved by God's grace,
a man on whom and in whom God had put his Spirit. But he was
still a sinner. He went down to Egypt for help,
and he made a league with Pharaoh And he came home with a pagan
Egyptian woman to be his wife. He multiplied horses to himself,
and multiplied wives to himself, and went to Egypt for help. Three
things God specifically told the kings of Israel never to
do. And when he was old, his wives turned to his heart to
serve other gods. I'll be honest with you, I read
those, I read how Solomon built altars on high places and went
with his wives to worship Moloch and Asherah, the gods and pagans,
just one after the other. Explain that to me. No, I can't
explain that to you, except that flesh is just flesh. Or you reckon
Solomon's in hell? Oh, no. Because God's gracious. He never utterly forsook the
Lord. And yet, his wives led him away
little by little into apostasy. You see, Bobby Hestus, there's
nothing You won't do, and me too, if
God'll let us. Nothing. Nothing. Keep thy heart with all diligence,
for out of it are the issues of life. Keep your heart. Keep your heart. Keep your heart. But our God is faithful still. He said, now because of what
you did, I'm going to tear this kingdom apart. But I won't do
it while you're alive. And for my servant David's sake,
I'm going to still preserve it. Thank God for that forgiveness
of sin through the blood of our darling Savior. which can never be destroyed
or even diminished. Because our God changes not. His covenant stands fast forever. He gives eternal life. And those
to whom he gives eternal life shall never perish. No matter what.