But just a smile from my Savior, I know will through
the ages be glory to me. And when we sing that song, I
thought about the Lord smiling at me. Looking at me in glory,
not frowning, not displeased. but smiling. That's hard to get
hold of, isn't it? Every believer is going to experience
the smile of the Lord Jesus Christ. The smile of recognition. I know
you. The smile of love. The smile
of acceptance. The smile of being well pleased. And truly, Just a smile from
my Savior, I know, will through the ages be glory to me. And it will. David is overwhelmed. This man who is described as
the man after God's own heart is overwhelmed by the greatness
and the reality of God's grace to him, and he's dumbfounded. He's overwhelmed. He doesn't
know what else to do, so he just sits down. I kind of imagine
it being cross-legged. He sits down on the floor. Not
knowing what else to do, maybe feeling like he doesn't have
any business standing up, and he stands or sits before the
Lord. Isn't that a wonderful thing
to think about? Him sitting before the Lord. And when he sat before the Lord,
I don't have any doubt that he was not conscious of anybody
else. I don't know if anybody else
was in there with him, but he wasn't thinking about it. All
he was conscious of was the Lord himself, and he sat before the
Lord. Now, what brought David to this
posture? Wouldn't you love to be able,
by the Spirit of God, by the grace of God, to be able to do
just what David did and sit before the Lord? In verse one, of chapter 7, 2 Samuel chapter
7, And it came to pass, when the
king sat in his house, and the Lord had given him rest
round about from all his enemies, the Lord has defeated every one
of his enemies, and given him rest. And that's what every believer
possesses right now. He's defeated all my enemies.
I'm going to talk a little bit more about that in a few moments.
And he's giving me rest. Faith is described as a rest. There remaineth, therefore, a
rest to the people of God. For he that's entered into his
rest has ceased from his own works, just as God did from his. Wonderful to be able to just
cease from your works and know that Christ is your salvation
before God, and you don't look at anything else. He rests. Verse 2, Then the king said unto
Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in an house of cedar,
but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. He says, something
is wrong with this picture, me dwelling in this great big beautiful
house and the Lord, the Ark, which represents His presence
in a tent. Verse 3, And Nathan said to the
king, Go, do all that's in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee. When I read that, I thought,
the Lord's with me. What more could you want? The
Lord is with me. Wherever I go, He's with me. This is the heritage of every
believer, not just David, but every one of God's people. The
Lord's with me. He's with you, whether you're
aware of it or not. He's with you in a very powerful,
real and gracious way. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Now, evidently, Nathan jumped
the gun because David was feeling, I want to build the Lord Here
he's, his arc is intense and I'm in his big house. Lord ought
to have a big house too. I'm going to build him a house.
And Nathan says, go do what's in your heart. But evidently
Nathan jumped the gun because we read in verse 40, it came
to pass that night that the word of the Lord came into Nathan
saying, go and tell my servant David, thus saith the Lord, shalt
thou build me an house for me to dwell in? Hold your finger
there and turn to Isaiah 66. Verse one. Thus saith the Lord. The heaven is my throne. And
the earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you build
unto me? And where is the place of my
rest? For all these things have my hand made, and all those things
have been, saith the Lord. You're going to build me a house?
But to this man will I look, even to him that's poor, and
of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word." That's his dwelling
place. That's where he lives. In that one who is poor, and
who's of a contrite spirit, crushed over their own sinfulness, and
trembles at the word of God. That's his dwelling place. And
he says to David, you can't build me a house. Now go back to our
text in 2 Samuel chapter 7. He said, whereas I've 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 in 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 me not a house of cedar? I have
never asked for that. Now therefore, so shalt thou
say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of hosts. You
are sitting there in this house of cedar, and you have this desire
to build me a house. But I want you to remember something.
I took thee from the sheep coat." You know, David went from following
a few sheep to being the most powerful man in the world. How
did that happen? The Lord took him from the sheep
coat, following just a few sheep, and made him shepherd over his
people Israel. He said to them, I made you ruler
over my people, over Israel. Verse 9, And I was with thee,
whether so ever thou wentest. And you know, this is true of
every believer. Right now, he's with you wherever you go. You're
going in, you're coming out, he's with you. That's his promise. Is there
anything else you could desire over that? What could be better
than this? Having him with you. Let's go on reading. I was with
thee wheresoever thou wentest, and I have cut off all thine
enemies out of your sight." My enemies. I'm talking about
the enemies of Todd Divert. My enemies. Here they are. My
sins. He's cut them off. That's what
he did for me. I don't have any sin. I stand
before God without sin. My sinful nature. That's where
the sin comes from. My sinful nature. Well, He's
cut that off by giving me a new nature that's greater than my
old nature. Greater is He that's in you than He that's in the
world. There was a time when I couldn't muster up faith. I
believe now. It's because of this new nature.
He's given me victory over my old nature. My enemy is the devil. And the devil can't touch me
without him. Now, I'm scared of the devil.
I'm scared of Satan. I really am. I mean, I don't
want to have anything to do with him, but I know this. He can't
touch me unless the Lord allows him to touch me. And if he touches
me, it'll end up being for my good and the glory of Christ.
He's delivered me from Satan. He's delivered me from this world
and these sins. I'm not impressed with the world. There was a time when I was and
I'm not anymore. I'm impressed with the Lord's
gospel. I'm impressed with His Word. I'm impressed with His
people. But I'm not impressed with the world. He has delivered
us. He's cut off all of our enemies out of our sight. And He said
in verse 9, I've made thee a great name, like unto the name of the
great men that are in the earth. He gave David a great name. David
was somebody. But I am too. And you are too. I've got a great name. My name
is Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our righteousness. That's my
name. That's the name that he's put on my forehead. That's the
name he's put in my heart. His own name. That's my name,
the Lord our righteousness. That's the name I answer to.
When my name is called on judgment, the only name I'm going to answer
to is what? The Lord our righteousness, the
very righteousness of God in Christ, that's the only name
we answer to, not our own, but that great name that he's given
us. He says in verse 10, moreover,
I will appoint a place for my people Israel and 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." You look at the difference he makes between
Israel and everybody else. Verse 11, "'And as since the
time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel,
and have caused them thee to rest from all thine enemies,
also the Lord telleth thee that he'll make thee a house.'" Now
you talk about making me a house, he says, no, I'll make you a
house. Now let's go on reading. And when my days be fulfilled,
you know, the Lord has already determined the day I'm going
to die. And when my time is fulfilled, that's what's going to take place.
And he says to David, when your days are fulfilled, that's comforting
me. The Lord has already ordained
the day I'm going to die, the way I'm going to die. And knowing
it in his hand, it comforts me. Your time is in his hands. My
time is in his hands. He says, when your days are fulfilled,
when you're finished, when I'm finished doing with you what
I'm going to do here on earth, when thy days shall be fulfilled and
thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after
thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish
his kingdom. Now, who's he talking about?
Well, first thing that comes to mind, he's talking about Solomon.
Solomon. Solomon, that one who was born
through that wrong relationship of David when he got with Bathsheba.
God brings good out of evil, and he brought Solomon out of
this. Aren't you thankful that the Lord brings good out of evil?
He always does, and we can look with regard to everything we've
done that may have been evil. Well, God brings good out of
it for all of his elect. And he says he's speaking of
Solomon, but I don't have any doubt that when he's speaking
of Solomon, that's secondary. He's speaking of he who is David's
son and David's Lord. This is the kingdom that shall
be established forever. This is the kingdom that will
know no end. That one who is David's son and
David's Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's go on reading.
He says, I'll establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my
name. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Now, indeed, Solomon built a
great house for God's name. But the house he's speaking of
is the house of God, the church of the living God, the body of
Christ. This is the house that he built. And this is talking
about the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one whose kingdom is
established forever. Where is Solomon's kingdom? It's
not with us anymore, is it? As a matter of fact, he died
in shame. He died in infamy. Now, he died as a believer. There's
no doubt about that. But if you look at his life,
you'd say he couldn't be saved the way he died unless the Lord
told us he was. Now, God promised he's going
to be saved. Solomon's an example that man
at his best state. And Solomon is. You remember
how he prayed for wisdom and the Lord made him the wisest
man in the world? The wisest man in the world at his best
state is altogether vanity. And you can see that in Solomon.
But let's go on reading, verse 13. He shall build an house for
my name. The Lord builds the church. He
builds the temple of God by saving his people from their sins. And
I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be
his father and he shall be my son. That's quoted in the book
of Hebrews as referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll be to
him a father and he'll be to me a son. And notice what it
says, if he commit iniquity, I'll chasten him with the rod
of men and with the stripes of the children of men. But my mercy
shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put
away before thee, and thy house and thy kingdom shall be established
forever, because thy throne shall be established forever. Now,
he says regarding Solomon, and you look at Solomon's life. It
was a mess, wasn't it? It was a mess. But God says,
I'm not going to take my mercy from him. I'll chase him. And he did chase him. I don't
know what all happened to Solomon, but he had a grievous life. The
Lord did chase him. And I think as far as chasing
goes, whom the Lord loveth, he chaseth and scourges every son
that he receives. In that sense, I won't chase
it. Not because I want to chase him, but because I want to be
somebody whom the Lord loves. That's more important to me than
anything else, being somebody the Lord loves. So if he brings
all his chains, I'm all for getting out of chasing, but if he brings
it to me, we submit to his rod, don't we? But more than anything
else, this is talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. This is him speaking of his Son,
the Lord. Now listen to me carefully. I
want to say this the way it needs to be said. The Lord in his person
never committed a sin. Now here one's saying, if he
committed iniquity. The Lord in his person never committed
a sin. And when he was made sin, he
still never sinned in his person. I don't understand that at all,
but I know it's so. Even when he was made sin, he
never committed a sin in his person. He never had an evil
thought. He never had an unbelieving desire,
an unbelieving thought. He never sinned in his person. But this speaks of him from the
cross. When he was on the cross, he
did not remain innocent and just had sin charged to him. All that
sin is, all that guilt is, He was made to be. He was so truly
and really made sin that this is a description of Him. Now,
turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 21. All this is speaking of is the
Lord Jesus Christ. And it's referred to in Galatians
chapter 3. Verse 22, Deuteronomy 21, 22, And if a man hath committed
a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou hang
him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the
tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day. For he that
is hanged is accursed of God. that the land be not defiled,
which the Lord thy God giveth for the inheritance." Now, when
the Lord's talking about Saul, when he's talking about his son,
when he says, if he's committed a sin, I'll chase him, but I
won't take my mercy from him. Christ Jesus was so truly and
really made sin that this describes Him. And I'm not saying He ever
sinned in this person. You know that He didn't. But
so truly was He made sin that this describes Him. If a man
had committed a sin worthy of that, you hang him on a tree. He's cursed of God. And that's
precisely what took place with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now back
to our text in 2 Samuel chapter 7. I will be his father, and he
shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will
chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children
of men. But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took
it from Saul, whom I put away before thee." Now, he made a
big difference between Solomon, David, and Saul. Now, what about
Saul? I've been reading about him quite
a bit in the last couple of weeks, trying to find out about this
man. He's a man that the Lord departed from. He blessed him,
and he removed his blessing. And there were two reasons why
he removed his blessing. First, Saul, in 1 Samuel chapter
13, took it upon himself to offer a sacrifice without waiting for
Samuel to do it for him. Samuel was late. He was scared. He thought, well, I'll offer
up a sacrifice. And God said, because you did
that, my kingdom is going to be rent from you. And then in
chapter 15, when God said, destroy all the Amalekites, he didn't
do it. He preserved Agag and the best
of the sheep and the best of the oxen. He didn't destroy everybody
the way God said. It's a preservation of the flesh.
And God said, I won't have anything to do with him. Now, Solomon,
was just as bad. You look what he did. The Scripture
says he worshipped other gods with his wives. That's just as
bad. But the Lord made a difference
between Solomon and between Saul. What was the difference? Grace. Solomon was in Christ. Saul stood
on his own. Here's the difference between
the believer and the unbeliever. The grace of God. What God did
for Solomon. He made a difference. Saul, he
just left it to himself. What would happen to you if the
Lord left you to yourself? What would happen to you if the
Lord removed his hand from you? You'd be, and I would be, as
bad as Satan. Do you believe that about yourself?
It's so. And Saul was. But so was Solomon,
in and of himself, but God made a difference. He said, My mercy. will not depart from him. I won't
take it from him as I took it from Saul. Verse 16, and thine
house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne shall be established
forever. It's an eternal throne. He's
talking about the throne of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. According
to all these words and according to all this vision, did Nathan
speak unto David. Then went King David in, and he sat before the Lord. And he said, Who am I, O Lord
God? And what is my house, that thou
hast brought me hitherto? Who am I? in true and genuine
humility before God, astonished at His grace toward him. Now, God was making a difference
between David and Saul, wasn't He? He made an infinite difference
between David and Saul. He rejected Saul. He saved David
while the Messiah came through the loins of David. And David,
in and of himself, was just as sinful and just as weak as Saul.
You go on reading this history, and look what he did. Look at
the trouble he got into. But yet he was God's man. He was God's grace was upon him
and his kingdom was going to be forever. Now there's, God
made a difference between Saul and between David. Now what's
your response to that? How that God did something for
one that he didn't do for the other? Well, you could say, well,
that's not fair. That's not fair for God to do
something for one and not do something for the other. That's
not fair. How can he do that? Now, when I make a statement
like that, if I say that's not fair, you ought to give everybody
the same thing. What I'm saying is, is God owes me something.
That's all I'm saying. If I make that kind of statement,
that kind of objection, I believe in salvation by works is the
bottom line. That's not fair. But that was not David's response.
He said, who am I? What is my house that you would
look in mercy like this upon me? Verse 19. And this was yet a small thing
in thy sight, O Lord God. Remember, he's sitting before
the Lord and speaking. 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? Could men do this? Absolutely
not. This is God's work. He's going
to make my house eternal. And it's talking about the house
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David and the church of
the living God. Verse 20. And what can David
say more unto thee? For thou, Lord God, knowest thy
servant. What more can I say? At this
time, he goes on to speak some more, but at this time he was
speechless. What can I say? What can I say before you? I
got to think about this thing of being speechless. Two times
in our experience, I hope it duplicates itself many times
over, but there's two times when we stand speechless before God.
First, when we're self-condemned and we have no excuses. We can't
justify ourselves. Nothing to say. Guilty as charged
that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world become guilty
before God. We're speechless then. We don't
have anything to say. And we're speechless when we see His mercy
and His grace toward us. What can I say? What can I say? For thou, Lord, knowest thy servant. He knows me. He knows me through and through. That's our hope of salvation,
isn't it? His knowledge of me, not my knowledge of Him, but
His knowledge of me. I love what Paul said there in
Galatians 4, 9, where he said, Now that you have known God,
or rather, are known of God, how turn ye to these weak and
beggarly elements? He knows me. He knows me altogether. And He knows how bad I am. Nothing is going to surprise
Him. But He also knows me as perfect in Christ Jesus. That's
the real me. He knows me as without sin. He
knows me. Verse 21, For thy word's sake, for Christ's sake, and according
to thine own heart hast thou done all these great things to
make thy servant know them. Thou art great, O Lord God, for
there's none like Thee, neither is there any God beside Thee
according to all that we've heard with our ears." He's incomparable. You can't say God's like this,
God's like that. He's utterly unique. Nobody to
compare Him with. Verse 23, And what one nation
in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel? Now, this is
the wickedest bunch of people that ever lived, yet look at
who's spoken of. What one nation on 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, and from the nations
and their gods? Now look at the way he speaks
of Israel, and you look at how bad Israel is. Yet David said,
what nations like this? And you know that's true regarding
all of God's church, all of God's people. Nobody like them. Yes,
they're just like Israel. There's nobody like them as far
as being bad, but also like Israel, there's nobody like them as far
as being good. By the grace of God, God's done something for
them. Nobody like them. Verse 24, For thou hast confirmed
to thyself thy people Israel to be a people unto thee forever,
and thou, Lord, art become their God." There's the covenant of
grace right there. He's going to be my God forever. Verse 25, and this is, oh, may
the Lord enable us to enter into what he's saying. Verse 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 this is the plea of faith. Right here. There's no more important
verse of scripture to explain to us what faith is and what
it is to pray and what it is to ask the Lord for things than
right here. David says, Do as thou hast said. You said you're going to make
my throne forever. Do as thou hast said. Whatever
you said. Oh, it's important to know what
the Lord said, isn't it? I must know what he said. And here's
my play. Lord, do as thou hast said. Now, here's an example. God promised. Every single one
of his people. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. For you're not under law, but
under grace. Now, Lord, you said sin shall
not have dominion over me, because I'm not under law, but under
grace. Do as thou hast said. Lord, I'm
holding you to it. You said it! I'm being bold in
claiming what you said, but you said sin shall not have dominion
over me, so do what you said. Don't let sin have dominion over
me, because I'm not under law, but under grace. Now, you find
out what God has said, and you say, do as thou hast said. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Lord, I'm calling. Do what you
said. Save me. Now, this is coming to God's
presence. This is the only way we can come into His presence.
We claim what He said. Lord, do as you said. You've
made all these great and glorious promises. Do as thou hast said. The Lord said, Come unto me,
all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Lord, I'm weary. I'm weary of myself. I'm weary
of my sin. And I'm burdened over it, heavy
laden. But you said in your word, all
that come to you, you will in no wise cast out, and that you'll
give them rest. I'm coming to you. Do what you
said. You said Christ came into the
world to save sinners. I'm a sinner. Do what you said. Save me. We plea what he has
said. Now, Lord, you made these promises.
I didn't make these. You did. And you'll never lie. I'm taking you at your word as
the faithful God, as the truthful God, who will not lie. Now, Lord, do as thou hast said. Verse 26, And let thy name be magnified
forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is the God over Israel. And let the house of thy servant
David be established before thee." You said it would. Do what you
said. For thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed
to thy servant, saying, I will build thee a house. Therefore hath thy servant found
in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee." You know, every prayer
you truly pray, you found it in your heart to pray because
he put it there. That's why. And now, O 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, and with thy blessing let the house of thy
servant be blessed forever." Now, you take the Lord at His
Word. You find out what He said in
His Word, and you say, Lord, do as thou hast said. Let's pray.