Would you turn back to 2 Samuel
chapter 7? I have entitled this message,
What Saving Faith Asks For. Now, the reason I said what saving
faith asks for is there are other types of faith that are not saving
faith. You know, the Scripture says
the devils believe and tremble. They have a type of faith. I
have faith that Lynn is going to be faithful to me. That's
a faith. I believe that. I rely on her. We use all kinds of different
faiths. We live with faith, don't we?
I mean, faith in people, faith in things. But saving faith. What is it that saving faith
asks for? You see, faith is an asking grace. It asks for things, and it receives
things. So what is it that saving faith
asks for? Now, David says in verse 25, And now, O Lord God, 2 Samuel 7, 25, And now, O Lord
God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant
and concerning his house, establish it forever, and do as thou hast
said. Now that is what faith asks for. Do as thou hast said. The grounds of faith is what
God has said. Faith is not blind, not saving
faith. Faith does not speculate. Faith does not act on an impression
or an implication or an inclination or a feeling. Faith is grounded
upon what God has actually said. Turn with me for a moment to
Romans chapter 10. Hold your finger there because we're going
to look at this entire chapter, but turn to Romans chapter 10. Verse 13. For whosoever shall call upon
the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call
on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they
hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except
they be sent As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings
of good things, but they have not all obeyed the gospel. For
Isaiah saith, Lord, who hath believed our report, so then
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by what? The word of
God. Hence the importance of finding
out what God has said. Do what you said. The word which you've spoken,
do it. Now, this is true prayer. Do
as thou said. This is something I have a right
to ask Him to do and expect Him to answer. Do as thou hast said. You said it. I didn't say it.
You said it. I'm relying on you to do as you
have said. Now, look at the first of this
chapter, 2 Samuel, chapter seven. And it came to pass. When the
king sat in his house, David had gone through so many trials.
The man after God's own heart, 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. I live in
this big house, but the ark of God dwells within curtains. Something's
wrong with this. Something's wrong with this.
Here I am in this spacious house, and God dwells in a tent. And
Nathan, verse 3, God's prophet, said to the king, Go, do all
that is in thine heart. For the Lord is with thee. Now,
when Nathan said this to him, this is not what God said. Look
in verse 4. And it came to pass that night
that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying, Go and tell
my servant David. Now, remember, David wanted to
build him a house. That's what his desire was. Here I'm living
in this big house, and the ark of God is in a tent. I want to
build him a big house. That's the way it ought to be.
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, Shalt thou build me a house for to dwell in? Isaiah 66, 1,
God says, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house you build
me? You see, the Most High dwelleth
not in temples made with hands, nor is worship with men's hands,
as though he needed anything. David, you build me a house. He says in verses 6 and 7, Whereas
I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought
up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but
have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle, and all the places
wherein I have 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 a house
of cedar? God doesn't dwell in houses.
You see, God dwells in omnipresence. God dwells in omnipresence. You can't go anywhere where He
is not. God is spirit, and He dwells
in omnipresence. David went so far as to say,
if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. You know, I've
heard people call hell absolute separation from God. Well, it's
fueled by the fires of His justice. God is everywhere. Verse 8, Now
therefore, so shalt thou say unto my servant David, thus saith
the Lord of hosts, I took thee from the sheep goat, from following
the sheep to be a ruler over my people, over Israel. And I
was with thee, whethersoever thou winnest, and have cut off
thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name,
like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. Moreover,
now look at these promises God says that he's going to do. He
says, Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel.
I will plant them 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
that time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel and
cause thee to rest from all thine enemies, also the Lord tell thee
that he'll make thee a house. You're not going to make me a
house. I'll make you a house. And when, verse 12, and when
thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers
when you die, I will set up thy seat after thee, which shall
proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. Now, we know that he's talking
about Solomon, but who's he really talking about? He's talking about
the son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ, who he's going to set
up eternally. Verse 13, he shall build a house for my name. And
is that not exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ did? He bought
the church. He built the church. He's the
one who builds the house of God. And I will establish the throne
of his kingdom forever. Now, remember, Solomon fell. Solomon died in a shameful way. So while Solomon was preserved
as a believer, yet this is primarily talking about the Son of David,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 14, I will be
his father and he shall be my son. Now, if he commit iniquity,
I'll chasten him with the rod of men and with the stripes of
the children of men. Now, how can that refer to the
Lord Jesus Christ? Because he never sinned. Well,
he did never sin. And I can see where somebody
can say, well, look at the way Solomon died. Solomon, to me,
is one of the scariest characters in the Bible. He's the wisest
man to ever live, and yet he dies in utter shame, worshiping
the gods of his wives. And he committed iniquity. So
I can see where the Lord says, even if he commits iniquity,
verse 15, my mercy shall not depart from him as I took it
from Saul when I put whom I put away from thee, he says, I'm
not going to remove my mercy from him, Solomon, even though
he's going to do these things. Aren't you thankful the Lord
doesn't remove his mercy? What if he did? Where would that
leave you? Where would that leave me? But
this is referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. And what this does,
it shows us the reality of the cross. It shows what actually
took place on the cross. My sin became his sin. Now I want you to chew on that.
My sin became his sin, so that it says, if he commit iniquity,
that's how truly my sin became his sin. Now let me show you
this in the scripture. Hold your finger there and turn to Psalm 40. Psalm 40. Look at the way the Lord talks
about sin. Now, we know from. Verse six and seven. These are
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is quoted in Hebrews chapter
10 as being the direct words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sacrifice
and offering thou didst not desire, mine ears hast thou opened. Burn
offering and sin offering hast thou not required. Them said
I, lo, I come in the volume of the book, it's written of me,
I delight to do thy will. O God, yea, thy law is within
my heart. That's the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now look what he says, verse 12. For innumerable
evils have compassed me about, mine iniquities, not Todd's iniquities
that were imputed to me and charged to my account, but mine iniquities
have taken hold upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They're
more than the hairs of my head. Therefore, my heart faileth me."
Now, those are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. My sin truly
became his when he was punished for sin. He deserved to be punished
because my sin became his. It wasn't role playing going
on right here. He actually was made sin. Turn
to Psalm 69. And you know, I get such comfort
from this because God's just. God's just. We're not granted
immunity. We're not exempt. My sin became
him to where he was punished for it, and his righteousness
is mine. This is all according to justice.
This is what was going on on the cross. Look in Psalm 69,
verse 21. We'll see who's speaking. They
gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me
vinegar to drink. Is this the Lord Jesus? You know
it is. This is what he said from the cross. Now, look at verse
5. Oh God, this is Christ speaking.
Oh God, Thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from
thee." Those are the words of Christ.
Isn't that amazing that the Lord so much took my sin that it became
His sin? Back to our text, 2 Samuel 7. I will be to him a father, and
he shall be to me a son. If he commit iniquity, I will
chasten him with the rod of men, and oh, how he was chastened
on the cross, and with the stripes of the children of men by his
stripes were healed. But my mercy shall not depart
from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee,
and thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever
before thee." Thy throne shall be established forever." Now,
this is beyond understanding, but according to verse 17, according
to all these words and according to all this vision, did Nathan
speak unto David? He makes all these promises regarding
what he's going to do for his kingdom and his descendants.
And it's a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, the son of David.
His kingdom is the one that's going to be established forever. Now, verse 18. Then went King David in and sat
before the Lord. Don't you love to picture this?
He goes into that tent where the presence of the Lord was
in the tabernacle, not into the Holy of Holies, but he just comes
in and he sits down before the Lord. Isn't that what we're doing
right now? Sitting down before the Lord.
hearing his word. Then went King David in and sat
before the Lord, and he said, Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that thou
hast brought me hitherto? Now, David doesn't get mad or
have his feelings hurt because God said, You're not going to
build me a house. As a matter of fact, if you look in the book of Chronicles,
he said, I'm not going to let you build a house because you're a bloody
man. Your son's going to build it, but you're not going to build
it. He didn't get sore and have his feelings hurt while here
I had all these great intentions and now I answered my prayer
the way I wanted to. No. He sits down before the Lord
in utter humility. And he says, Who am I? What is
my house that you bring me here? Now, here's humility. I want you to see humility. Who am I? What is my house? Let's
take the holy doctrine of election. God chose who would be saved
before time began. They're the only ones who'll
be saved. That's the teaching of scripture. Now, what's your
response? Do you say, well, that's not fair. Or do you say, why
would he choose me? Who am I? that he would look
down in mercy on me. There's two responses. One, that's
not fair, that sense of entitlement going on. He should save me.
He should do something for me. And the other is David's attitude
right here when he says, who am I? And what is my house that
you'd look in mercy on me? Verse 19. And this was yet a
small thing in thy sight, O Lord God, But thou hast spoken also
of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the
manner of men? O Lord God, is this the way men
do things? I love this childlike faith.
Verse 20, And what can David say more unto thee? For thou,
Lord God, knowest thy servant. You know me. Now, I was thinking about this.
The Lord knows me. And really, and Lynn knows me
well, but she doesn't really know me. Not like the Lord. The Lord knows me all the way
through. He knows my down-sitting, my
uprising. He understands my thoughts afar
off. He sees every bad thing about
me. He sees the sins that I've not
yet committed. He sees the bad motives. He sees
everything about me. He sees what He's done for me.
He sees what I am in the flesh. He sees all those things. And
He loves me. He loves me. Do you know that
if you could see what I was really like, you could not love me? You couldn't. And if I could
see what you're really like, I'd be the same way. This is
divine love. Before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew thee, God said. You know, he's going to say to
a bunch of people, when they're going to say, Lord, Lord, have
we not preached in your name? In your name, have we not cast
out demons? And in your name, have we not done many wonderful
works? Then shall I say unto them, depart from me, ye that
work iniquity, I never knew you. But regarding his people, David
and everybody who believes, He knows me. He knows me all together. And he loves me. Isn't that beautiful?
Thou, Lord, knowest me. Verse 21. For thy word's sake. For thy word's sake. Now, I don't
have any doubt that he's talking about the living word, the Lord
Jesus Christ. In the beginning was the word.
The Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was eternally
in the beginning with God. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, he's saying, for thy word's sake, for Christ's sake, and
according to thine own heart has thou done all these great
things to make thy servants know thee. For Christ, this is why
God deals in mercy with me. Be ye kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, had forgiven you. For Christ's sake, he forgives. And he said, out of your own
heart, according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these
great things to make thy servants know them. I think of the heart
of God. It's the source of all blessings,
the measure of our blessings, infinite. came from the measure
of His infinite heart. The reason for His goodness to
us comes from His own heart, His sovereign will and purpose.
Hold your finger there and turn to Deuteronomy chapter 7. Why
does the Lord love me? Because He does. Because He does. He finds the reason in His own
great heart. Look in verse 6 of Deuteronomy
chapter 7. For thou art an holy people unto
the Lord thy God, The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a
special people unto himself. Above all people that are upon
the face of the earth, the Lord did not set his love upon you,
nor choose you because you were more in number than any people.
For you are the fewest of all people, but because the Lord
loved you. That's why I did it. Because
the Lord loved you. The reason is found in his own
great heart. And because he would keep the
oath which he'd sworn unto your fathers, that the Lord brought
you out with a mighty hand and redeem you out of the house of
bondmen from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Oh, the great
things that he's done for us and in us for Christ's sake.
And according to thine own heart, has thou done all these great
things to make thy servant know them? Verse 22, wherefore, thou
art great. Oh, Lord God, For there is none
like unto thee, neither is there any god beside thee, according
to all that we have heard with our ears." He can't help but
speak of the greatness and the supremacy of God. He says there
is nobody like Him. You know why idolatry is forbidden? Any kind of idolatry, any kind
of form of God, is because it always brings God down. It humanizes
God. That's why it's so bad. If you
gave me a picture of the most loathsome looking toad you've
ever seen and said, this is a likeness of you, I wouldn't be very flattered. That's what all idolatry is. It makes God ugly. Any kind of
example, nobody can be compared to him. And then he says in verse 23,
And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like
Israel? whom God went to redeem for a people to himself and to
make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible
for thy land before thy people, which thou redeemest to thee
from Egypt, from the nations and their gods." Oh, the special
grace he's given them. He's praising sovereign, distinguishing,
discriminating grace. He says, you did something for
them you didn't do for other people. Now, what do you have that you
didn't receive? Who makes you to differ from
somebody else? Do you love Christ? Somebody else doesn't? Why is
it? Do you give yourself the credit? He made you to differ,
didn't he? Thank God for sovereign, distinguishing,
discriminating grace. Now, he goes on, For thou, verse
24, hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel to be a people
unto thee forever. And thou, Lord, art become their
God. He celebrates the eternal covenant
of grace. You become their God, their God
forever. And he summarizes everything
that God has said, all these promises he made. He said in
verse 25, And now, Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken
concerning thy servant. and concerning his house, establish
it forever, and do as thou hast said." In Luke 19, verse 10,
the Lord said, The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that
which was lost. I'm lost. I can't find my way. Do what you said. You said you've come to seek
and to save that which is lost. I can't find my way to you. I'm
lost. Do what you said. Now, do you see how you can take
what he said and use it with him, not in a way of presumption,
but this is actually the way of faith. First Timothy 115.
This is a faithful saving, and it's worthy of all acceptation. Everybody ought to rejoice in
this, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Lord, I'm a sinner. You said You came to save sinners. I am a sinner. I know that about
myself. You said You came to save sinners. Save me. Do what You say. This is the
plea of faith. You see, I'm not grabbing on
to something that's not in the Word of God. I'm pleading what
He said He would do in His Word. And that's what faith does. You
find out what God has said, and you plead that. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Lord, I'm calling
on your name. Now, when it's talking about
calling on His name, it's not simply talking about audibly verbalizing
His name. The name of the Lord is who He
is. It's His holiness. It's His justice. It's His sovereignty. It's His power. I'm calling upon
His attributes to save me. Lord, save me by Your sovereignty
as an act of Your will. Command my salvation. Lord, save
me by Your justice in a way that honors Your justice. Save me
by Your mercy. Save me by Your grace. Save me
by Your wisdom. I'm calling on Your name. Lord,
if You don't save me, I won't be saved. Now do what you said. Save me. Romans chapter 6 verse 14 says,
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under
the law, but you are under grace. Now, Lord, you promised, you
said this in your Word, that sin shall not have dominion over
me, because I am not under law, but I am under grace. These are
your words, not mine. Now, you do what you said. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8
and 9 says, for by grace are you saved. Complete, unasked
for, unmerited favor. For by grace are you saved. Through
faith. And that not of yourselves, it's
the gift of God, not of words, lest any man should boast. Lord,
you said salvation is by grace. Save me by your grace. Do what
you said. This is not presumption. This
is not a reverence. This is taking God at his word. You find out what he said in
his word and you plead with him. Lord, you said it. Do as you
said. Now turn with me for a moment
to Ezekiel chapter 36. Ezekiel 36. Now, God talks about all these
things that he's going to do. Verse twenty five. God says to Israel, I will sprinkle
you clean water upon you and you should be clean from all
your filthiness, from your idols. Well, I cleaned you out. I'll
sprinkle you a new heart. Also, will I give you one that
was not there before? A heart that believes, a heart
that loves, a new heart will I give you. And a new spirit
will I put within you. And I'll take away the stony
heart out of your flesh. And I'll give you a heart of
flesh. I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in
my statutes. And you shall keep my judgments
and do them. And you shall dwell in the land
that I give to your fathers. You shall be my people. I'll
be your God. Now, this is God's unconditional
promises. I will save you from all your
uncleanness, and I will call for the court and will increase
it and lay no famine upon you. I will multiply the fruit of
the tree and the increase of the field, that you shall receive
no more reproach or famine among the heathen." Now, when I do
this, then shall you remember your own evil ways and your own
doings that were not good and shall loathe yourselves in your
own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations. And
not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God. Be it known
unto you, and be ashamed and confounded for your own ways,
O house of Israel. Thus saith the Lord God, in the
day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities,
I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the waste
shall be builded, and the desolate shall be tilled, whereas it lay
desolate in the sight of all that pass by. And they shall
say, This land that was desolate has become like the garden of
Eden, and the waste and desolate and ruined cities have become
fenced and are inhabited. Then to heathen that are left
round about, you shall know that I, the Lord, build the ruined
places, and plant that which was desolate. I, the Lord, have
spoken it, I will do it. Thus saith the Lord God, I will
yet for this be inquired of, of the house of Israel, to do
it for them. Everything I've said I'm going
to do, you're going to ask me for. You're going to ask me to
cleanse you. You're going to ask that you
might be given a new heart. You're going to be all these
things you're going to ask for. Everything that God gives you,
you are going to ask for. Ask, and you shall receive. Lord, I'm asking. You promised.
Give it to me. Seek, and you shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
to you. This is the promise of God. Now, let's say I was a criminal
in hiding. I was guilty of gross crimes
against the state. Robbery, murder, just name all
the crimes you can. And I was in hiding. I was in
a place where I was safe. I was in hiding. And the law
couldn't catch me. What if somebody came to me and
said, you know what? The president just may pardon
you if you'll turn yourself in. He may do it. Would I turn myself
in? No. What if somebody said, now there's
a 90% chance the president will pardon you or even a 99% chance.
The president will pardon you. If you'll just turn yourself
in, he'll pardon everything. Would I do it? No, I'm in hiding. I'm safer here. I don't know
what's going to happen. Let's say somebody said, now, I've
heard, I've heard that the president will pardon you if you turn yourself
in. I've heard that. Somebody told
me that. It's been said that he said that. Would I turn myself
in then? No, I wouldn't. I'd stay in hiding
where I'm safe. But what if someone came with
a direct letter from the President himself, signed and sealed? You turn yourself in, you have
the complete pardon of sin. Guaranteed. You know what I'd
do? I'd turn myself in. Because he
said it. He said it. And I'm relying on
what he said. I'll turn myself in. Do as thou. Somebody says, well, you don't
deserve to be pardoned like that. Yeah, but the president said
I was. I don't care whether I deserve it or not. If he said it, I'm
okay. I'll come like that. That's the way a believer comes
into his present. Lord, do what you said. You said
you'd give me a new heart. Do what you said. You said you'd
cleanse me from all of my iniquity. Do what you said. You know, I couldn't help but
thinking about the Ethiopian eunuch when I was thinking about
this thing of pleading for the Lord to do what he said. He had
heard Philip preach the gospel. Now, can you imagine what a sermon
that must have been? He was preaching from Isaiah
53, and the scripture says he began at that same scripture
and preached unto him Jesus. I would have loved to have heard
that message, wouldn't you? And after this eunuch heard all these
things, and no doubt he heard about baptism, how a believer
is to confess Christ and believers baptism. What is baptism? Baptism
is I'm confessing that when Christ lived, here's my hope of being
saved, when Christ lived, he lived for me. That was me living. When he died, he died for me.
I died with him. When he was raised, I was raised
with him. He heard the gospel. He heard about the importance
of baptism. And he said, when they came to a pool of water,
he said, look, see, here's water. What hinders me from being baptized?
And you know why I said that? He found a million objections
as to why he shouldn't. I mean, I've not heard the gospel
very long. I'm very sinful. I don't know
hardly anything. I'm as ignorant. I mean, this
is the first time I've ever heard anything like this. I don't have any kind of
experience. I'm afraid I'm so weak. I don't know what I'm going
to do. Is there a reason why I shouldn't be baptized if there
is? Tell me. And Philip said, if
you believe, with all your heart, you may." You know what he answered? He said, I believe, and notice
what he didn't say. He didn't say, I believe I'm
saved. He didn't say, I believe I'm one of the elect. He didn't
say, I believe that I've got a new heart. He didn't say, I
believe that, here's what he said. that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God. That's what faith is. If you believe with all your
heart, that's the only requirement. And that's what he gives you,
the faith that he requires, he gives. Remember, faith is the
gift of God. If you believe with all your
heart, you may. Paul said, with the heart. With
the heart, man believeth unto righteousness. Salvation isn't
just giving assent to some doctrines and some facts you've heard.
It's believing with the heart. What's it mean to believe with
the heart? Well, it means to believe with the understanding. Your
understanding certainly isn't bypassed. I understand that Christ
is my righteousness before God, but it's to believe with the
affections. I love Christ being my righteousness before God.
It's to believe with the will. If I was given the choice between
Christ being my righteousness and having my own, I'd throw
mine away and I'd trust His only. With the heart, man, believe
it unto righteousness. And with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation. Whoso believeth that Jesus is
the Christ is born of God. Do you believe that he's God's
Christ? God's anointed prophet, the Word of God, God's anointed
priest, the one who can bring you into God's presence, God's
King, the one who rules and reigns? Now you find out what he said,
and with a holy boldness, hold him to it. He'll allow that. It's not presumption. Lord, you
said this. You said it in your word. Do
as you've said. Back to our text. We'll close
up in these last couple of verses. And now, O Lord God, 2 Samuel
7, 25. And now, O Lord God, the word that thou hast spoken concerning
thy servant, and concerning his house, establish it forever,
and do as thou hast said. And let thy name be magnified
forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel.
And let the house of thy servant be established before thee. For
thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy
servant, saying, I will build thee an house. Therefore hath
thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee."
You know, let me remind you, any true prayer that you have
in your heart, the Lord put it there. He said, that's why I
found in my heart to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, Lord
God, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast
promised this goodness unto thy servant. Therefore, now let it
please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue
forever before thee, for thou, O Lord, hast spoken it. That's
what he said, and that's what he's relying on. And with thy
blessing let the house of thy servant be blessed forever. Let's pray.