Bibles with me the second Samuel
chapter twenty three. Second Samuel twenty three I
want to look this morning at a very familiar passage of Scripture.
One that I'm sure many of you have committed to memory one
that I know your pastor has preached from and quoted many times in
telling him on the phone this past week where I intended to
preach from. He said to me, that's one of
my favorite passages. This passage of Scripture has
been a great source of encouragement to God's people for three thousand
years now. I pray this morning that the
Holy Spirit will bring it fresh to our hearts and that he'll
be pleased to water it with grace and cause it to bear the fruit
of faith in our hearts. This verse really is priceless. It is a pearl of truth that sits
on a treasury of faithful sayings. Those who can see it Well, the
light of it is very, very bright. It will serve as a light into
our path and a lamp unto our feet. The scope of this verse,
as I trust we'll see this morning, is really comprehensive. This
one verse tells us everything we need to know about who God
saves and how he saves them and why he saves them. The simplicity
of this one verse is pointed and timeless. As relevant today
as it was 3,000 years ago, the Lord used, as you know, King
David to pen much of his word. And yet we find David chooses
these words as his last words, his dying testimony. These words took him safely through
the valley of the shadow of death and delivered him safely to the
other side. You see, in verse one of 2 Samuel
23, now these be the last words of David. What were David's last words?
Before we look at them, will you travel with me in your mind's
eye to that moment in time when you will speak your last words. Your loved ones are gathered
around. You have but one last opportunity
to speak before your spirit departs from your body. You won't be
haphazard, I trust, in speaking those words. You'll choose them
very carefully. For those words will summarize that which is
most important in your life. They will express to your family
that which you hope they will hold dear. Much can be known
about a person by their last words. There's a book of famous
last words. I looked up some men's last words
that were very chilling. P.T. Barnum exposed his true
heart in his last words when he said, How were the receipts
today at Madison Square Garden? Charles Darwin, with no fear
of God, said in his dying breath, I am not the least afraid to
die. Queen Elizabeth, Queen of England,
1603, out of desperation, said, all my possessions for a moment
of time. Your last words and my last words
may not make the pages of a famous last words book, yet they will
speak volumes about what we hold dear, what we believe, who we
are. what our trust is for salvation. There are five statements in
these last words of David that are very clear and very glorious. We'll read them here. You see
in verse one, these be the last words of David. David, the son
of Jesse, the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the
God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel said, The Spirit of
the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God
of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me. He that ruleth over
men must be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be
as the light of the morning, when the sun riseth, even the
morning without clouds, as the tender grass springeth out of
the earth by a clear and shining after rain. And here it is. Here is David's last words. Five
phrases in this one verse. Although my house be not so with
God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things, and sure, this is all my salvation. And all
my desire. Although. He make it not to grow. Each of these five statements
can be seen from three different perspectives. Each of these three perspectives
complimenting one another like a like a three legged stool. I hope the Lord will build that
school for us this morning and give us a place to to sit down
and rest our souls in Christ. The first way in which we can
see each of these five statements is that it expresses the heart
of the believer. It tells where our hope is and
it expresses our unfamed faith and sincere prayer to God in
all that we hold dear. Secondly, it expresses the heart
of Christ. I hope you saw in those first
verses we read a description not only of King David, but also
of the Lord Jesus himself. He is the sweet psalmist of Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
oftentimes in the scriptures the Son of David. He is the shepherd
of our souls. He is the man after God's own
heart. He's the one who was anointed
King, the one who was raised up on high, the rock of Israel. He is the warrior that got the
victory for us. So as David speaks, he speaks,
speaks prophetically about Christ and shows how the Lord Jesus
Christ is praying this prayer for us, for his people. Thirdly, This verse can be seen
in that it defines the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
in five very concise and comprehensive, glorious doctrines. Doctrines
that are undivided and unalterable. Doctrines that are expressed
time and time again in the scriptures. The first phrase, although my
house be not so with God, expresses the believer's need. It is a
confession of our sinfulness. David knew something of the consequences
of his own sin, particularly as it manifested itself in his
house. You remember those events recorded in scripture
that are so terrible. That experience of Amnon and
Tamar, David's own daughter and his own son, involved in incest
and rape and murder, revenge. The story of Bathsheba and Uriah. All of that brought into the
household of David in terms of adultery and jealousy. And David, in a forced marriage
with a wife that despised him, carried the burden of that in
his house. His eldest son, Absalom, usurping
his own throne. the results of his insurrection
and eventual execution. David knew something of the turmoil
of a household that had reaped the fruit of sin in so many ways. When we consider the effects
of our own sin, we grieve first and foremost of the effects that
our sin has on our our families, our household. The sleepless
nights caused by rebellious children, the feelings of guilt and regret,
of failures, the devastating heartache of divorce that never
goes away. We can say with David, although
it be not so with my house, although my house be not so with God."
The quiet loneliness and grief that the death of a loved one
brings to our souls, we say as poor and needy sinners, we cry
in prayer to God, God, although my house be not so. It's not
as it ought to be. Lord, I am a man in need of mercy. My sin has brought great heartache
and turmoil in my life and in the lives of others in so many
ways. But also, David was expressing
the confession of sin in the house of his bodily tabernacle. For David says in Psalm 51, Behold,
in iniquity I was shapen. And in sin did my mother conceive
me. This is every believer's cry
before God, regardless of how much turmoil or peace we may
experience in our household. We know in the household of this
flesh, there's great conflict. For the flesh wars against the
spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And we bear this dead
body all the time with us so that we cry. with Paul, who will
deliver me from this body of death, this tabernacle of sin
that I carry about with me, although my house be not so with God. Job put it like this, who can
bring a clean thing out of an unclean? And the apostle Paul
said in me, in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. He said, for to will is present
with me. Or how to perform that which is good? I find not. As I heard your pastor preach
recently, the message I heard from Genesis chapter 6, God's perspective on who we are
is the one that matters in the end. And here's what God said
when I looked down from the heavens. and looked into the heart of
man, I saw that every imagination of his heart was only evil, and
that continually. Although my house be not so with
God, well, perhaps if I look deep enough, I'll find some vestige
of virtue. I'll go down and see if there's
a glimmer of goodness there somewhere. Perhaps there's a drop of desire
for God. The problem with that is that
going down into the human heart is much like going down into
a well. The deeper you go, the darker it gets. Although my house be not so with
God. No Old Testament figure speaks
prophetically of Christ more than David. The son of David
praying for his people. The zeal of my house hath eaten
me up, the Lord said. And you remember the story with
Peter when the Lord had to rebuke him and warn him of the fall
that he was about to experience. And yet the Lord encouraged him
in that rebuke. He told him, he said, Peter,
I've prayed for you. I've prayed for you. And when
you're converted, you encourage the brethren. My prayer for you
as the son of David, my intercession, my, the one who ever liveth to
maketh intercession for us and stands before the throne of God
on our behalf. His prayer for us is our hope
of salvation. Although, here's Christ speaking
of his church. Oh, a bunch of desperately dependent,
dysfunctional children. Are we not? And he says to the Father, Father,
although my house be not so with God. Although they be not as
they ought to be. You see, this is the this is
the prayer of the believer. This is the prayer of Christ.
You know, we raise our children in hopes that one day they'll
become independent. Not so with the Lord. Not so with the Lord, the more
he grows us in grace, the more dependent we become. Can you
imagine having a child that you spend all of your life raising,
they still can't dress themselves? We can dress ourselves. We're
in need of the Lord to put the robe of righteousness on us.
Can you imagine spending all your life raising a child that
still can't feed themselves? And yet there we are. There we
are. Praying for daily bread, and
if the Lord doesn't feed us, we'll starve. Lord, you've got to provide for
us. You've got to take care for us. And to hear the Lord Jesus
Christ say to the Father, Father, although my house be not so with
God, we say amen. We say with that Syro-Phoenician
woman, truth, Lord, that's me. I'm a dog. But would you be so
kind as to scrape a few crumbs off the table for me? Lord, I
can't. Without you, I can do nothing.
Lord, I can't even come to you without
without your grace. So, at least we can come to Christ.
No, you can't come to Christ apart from his enabling grace
to come. We don't have the desire to come. Unless he makes us willing, we
won't come. That's why that's why election
predestination is such a necessary part of the gospel, because otherwise
men will make a work out of coming. If you don't, here's the gospel,
come to Christ, but you can't. Come to Christ, but you can't. You have no ability in yourself
to come. Unless he enables you to come, you won't come. You
see, we. We don't want to make it work
out of coming. This is the church and the Lord Jesus Christ interceding
for his people. Father, although my house be
not so with God. Do you see how this first phrase
speaks of a subject that is spoken over and over again in the scriptures?
This first phrase speaks of total depravity. Now, total depravity doesn't
mean that we're as bad as we could be. If it wasn't for the
restraining grace of God, we'd be a lot worse. Totally depravity
means that there's nothing about us that is good. That everything
in us is infected with the disease of sin. That we truly are leprous. From the top of our heads to
the bottom of our feet, there's no clean flesh on us. We are
totally depraved and we come before God in this spirit. Although my house be not so with
God. Lord Jesus intercede for me. Pray for me. Scripture says all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God. You know that verse gives
us a good definition of sin. What in your life falls short
of the glory of God? That's sin. That's sin. What are you going to offer up
to God that measures up to His glory? I'm so thankful that there's another
faithful saying in the Scriptures. A faithful saying that's worthy
of all acceptation. Christ Jesus came into this world
to save sinners. To save sinners. You know, people
that have a problem with the gospel, often times they'll say,
well, you know, I don't know about this thing about the Son
of God dying only for a particular people. That's not their problem. That's really not their problem.
The problem is with what we're talking about here. This is the
beginning of the gospel. Total depravity. The problem
is they don't see themselves as sinners. They don't see themselves
as a poor and needy people who have nothing in themselves worthy
and no ability within themselves to come before God. They cannot
say, although my house be not so with God. They think that
there's some vestige of virtue there somewhere. They do not
believe that they are totally depraved. Although my house be
not so with God is the cry of every believer. It is the cry
of Christ. And it is the description of
our need before God. in our depravity. The second
phrase, notice with me in our text, although my house be not so with God, yet he hath
made with me an everlasting covenant, yet as coming short of the glory
of God is a good definition of sin, in spite of is a good definition
of grace. In spite of, and that's what
this word yet means. Paul puts it like this in Ephesians.
He said, though we were by nature, children of wrath, even as others,
but God, yet God, in spite of that God who is rich in mercy. Great love were with his love.
Oh, what manner of love the father had bestowed upon us. We, the
ones whose household is not as it ought to be with God. Yet he hath made with me." You
see the order? Who initiates this covenant? We didn't make it with him. He
made it with us. The believer's hope is that God
made a covenant of grace written by the finger of God,
dipped in the ink of his own son's blood. and etched indelibly
in the Lamb's Book of Life. He hath made with me a covenant. And this covenant goes back to
the Lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world.
This is an eternal covenant. This is a covenant I didn't have
anything to do with. Like that sports fan, I didn't
make any contribution to this battle. This is a covenant of
grace. Let me show you that. Turn with
me to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. Verse four. According as he has
chosen us in him. Although my house be not so with
God, yet he made with me. An everlasting covenant. He has
chosen us in him. When? Before the foundation of
the world. That we should be holy and without blame before
him in love. How are we going to be holy and
without blame? Only in Christ. Only in Christ. Having predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. Not according to our works. He
made with me an everlasting covenant. If he had not chosen us, we would
never have chosen him. To the praise of the glory of
his grace, when he has made us accepted in the beloved. Turn
with me to 2 Thessalonians. 2 Thessalonians and look at chapter
2 at verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren. Beloved of the Lord. Why are
we thanking God? If it was our choice to let him
have his way in our lives, if we were the ones that you see.
The gospel of God's free grace, his sovereign grace, grace established
in eternity past in a covenant of grace is the only gospel that's
worthy to be grateful for. God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. No beginning, no end, no foreseen
merit. No goodness on our part, yet
he hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Now, the first leg
to that stool again on this point is that it's the believer's prayer,
but it's also the prayer of Christ. Isaiah chapter 42, behold, look,
look, mine elect, whom I am uphold. Who's the first elected one of
God? The Lord Jesus Christ. This covenant
of grace is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ when he came to
this world. The result of it was to save
sinners, yes. But his primary purpose was to
satisfy the demands of this eternal covenant. This covenant of grace
was made between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy
Spirit in eternity past. And this is the Lord Jesus Christ
prayer. He's made with me. an everlasting
covenant. Unconditional election. God elected a people not based
upon anything he saw in them, but according to his good pleasure,
according to his own sovereign will, that he might get all the
glory and receive all the thanks. This covenant of grace was established
in eternity past. Although my house be not so with
God. That's where we are yet. He these are these are this.
This is good dying testimony, isn't it? This is a good confession. This be worthy of of taking to
the grave. He's made with me an everlasting
covenant, and this covenant is ordered in all things. And sure
you see, the truth is that there were conditions that had to be
met in order for this covenant to be ratified. There were conditions
that had to be met, but you and I can't meet them. There was
a law that had to be satisfied that had to be kept. There was
a righteousness that had to be established. There was justice
that had to be that had to be meted out. There's only one that could do
that for us. And he is saying to us and we are saying to the
father, this covenant of grace is ordered. ordered in all things,
and it is sure. You see, any other gospel has
no surety to it. It has no surety to it. A gospel
that's dependent upon something you do or some prayer you pray
or some commitment that you make. How do you know you were sincere
enough? How do you know you did it right? How do you know the
prayer you prayed was acceptable before God? You can't be sure. There's only one that the father
said, I'm satisfied with him. Behold, my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. You hear him. He's the one I'm
satisfied with. He's the one that satisfied all
the demands of God's law and God's justice. He's the one that
is our surety. He is, as Paul tells us in Hebrews
chapter six, the anchor of our souls. Turn with me there to
that passage of Scripture. Hebrews, the sixth chapter. Verse 18, that by two immutable
things. In which it was impossible for
God to die to lie, we might have a strong consolation. This is
the this is the covenant that was ordered in all things, in
other words, all the necessary conditions that had to be met
in order for this covenant to be satisfied and ratified before
God for us were done in Christ. This is the strong consolation
that we have. who have fled for refuge to lay
hold upon the hope that is set before us. We're laying upon
Christ. He's our hope. Which hope we
have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast. And which entered into the veil,
entered into that within the veil. Whither or where you see
verse 20, where the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus. made a high priest forever after
the order of Melchizedek. Now, you know that in the days
that those words were written, all ocean going vessels were
wind driven. There were, there were no motorized
vessels. They had, they were dependent
upon the wind. If you were going to anchor a ship in a safe Harbor,
you could not sail that ship into the Harbor. And so what
they would do is they would take one of the men on the ship and
put him in a dinghy. And in that dinghy with that individual was
the anchor to the ship, tied to the ship with a very long
rope. And that man in the dinghy would row into the safe harbor
and make sure that that anchor was placed securely in some rocks. And then every hand on deck would
grab a hold of that rope. and pull that ship into the harbor. You know what they call the man
in the dinghy? They call him the forerunner. The forerunner. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
forerunner. He has entered into the safe
harbor. He is seated at the right hand of God. And he's the anchor. And he provides
the rope of faith that connects the ship of the church to that
anchor. And all hands on deck, have a grip on that rope. What's
the security of that rope? The anchor. It's gone in through
the veil. The veil, speaking of his body
that was rent on Calvary's cross. In the Old Testament, a priest
was stationed on the outside of the Tabernacle warning the
people to stay away. Stay away. By the high priest
himself had to be had to go into the Holies of Holies with a rope
tied to his ankle in case the presence of God killed him in
that place, he could be drug out. No one dared go near that
place. When the Lord Jesus Christ cried
his dying breath on Calvary's cross and declared to us, it
is finished and declared to the father that he was faithful to
the end when he said, father, into thy hands, I commit my spirit. The scripture says that the veil
was rent from top to bottom and no longer does the priest stand
outside the holies of holies, warning the people to stay away,
but rather. The spirit and the bride say,
come. For our forerunner has gone before
us, and he's planted the anchor of our soul in the rock that's
sure and steadfast. You see, this speaks of particular
redemption. Particular redemption. We call
it sometimes limited atonement. And I know there's people who
have a problem with that. And you know, I used to say we have
to take it up with God. Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't take anything up with God.
Don't go before God with a spirit of disagreement. No, my advice to you is bow and
submit and believe what God has said. Believe it. The truth is that all men limit
the atonement. All men limit the atonement.
The Bible limits the scope of the atonement. And the free willers limit the
power of the atonement. God limits the purpose of the
atonement. The purpose of the atonement was to satisfy the
demands of God's law for a particular people. Ordered in all things
and sure. Sure. Not one drop of the Lord's blood
was wasted. Everyone for whom he died will
be saved. It's sure. This is all my salvation and
all my desire. All my desire. We have no place else to go.
We've got no place else to go. You remember when the Lord fed
the five thousand and then told them that if they wanted to be
his disciples, they had to die to themselves and take up their
cross and follow after him. The scripture says they all left. And the disciples stood there
speechless. The Lord said to them, will you
not leave me also? In one of those rare occasions,
Peter actually had something good to say. He said, Oh Lord,
where are we going to go? Where are we going to go? You have the words of eternal
life. We know and are sure that thou
art the Christ, the Son of the living God. We've got no place
else to go. We can't. We can't diversify
our assets in hopes that if one thing fails, another will succeed.
We can't add you to what else we're hoping in for the salvation
of our souls. We've put all our eggs in one
basket. If you don't save us, we won't
be saved. This is all my salvation and
all my desire. You see, the truth is that God
will either do all the saving or he won't save at all. He will
either do all the saving or he will not save at all. Coming to Christ. Doesn't just mean that we can't
do without him. It means that we've got no place
else to go. No place else to go. The grace that God puts into
the regenerate heart is irresistible. It's irresistible or we can't
deny you. We can't we can't add to you
or take away from you. We've got to come. We've got
to come. We've got you see, coming to Christ is not a choice. I
know your pastor preaches this. I've heard him say it's not a
choice. You won't come to Christ if you've
got a choice for something else. You come to Christ only when
all your choices have been taken away and you've got no place
else to go. And the Bible teaches that as
irresistible grace. Irresistible grace. Although
my house be not so with God. Yet he's made with me an everlasting
covenant. That covenant is ordered in all
things, and it's certain, it's sure. I've got an anchor for
my soul. The forerunner has planted that anchor. The whole ship's
going to get in there. This is all my salvation. All my salvation. This is all my desire. Though he make it not to grow.
Though he make it not to grow. As we grow in grace and in the
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, we become more and more aware
of our dependence upon grace and our need for grace. No child
of God believes themselves to be less needy of grace now than
they were when they first were converted. David, in his dying
breath, looked back over his life and said, you know what? From the time the Lord first
called me to now, I'm in need of grace more right now than
I was then. I haven't grown a bit. I haven't
grown a bit. Paul said in his dying breath,
right towards the end of his life, not necessarily his dying
breath, but towards the end of his life, he said, I'm the chief
of all sinners. That was one of the last things
he said about himself. Do you believe that to be true about
yourself? You know, in religion, you've
got, Mark, you referred to this this morning, you've got competition
of people who want to elevate themselves above one another.
And believers don't do that. Believers genuinely esteem one
another more highly than themselves. A believer looks around and says,
you know, there's no one here that needs grace more than I
do. I feel like I haven't grown a
bit. Though we make it not to grow,
the hope of my getting through. Is not based upon the fact that
I've matured And I've become more holy and I've grown. It's based upon the persevering
grace of God by the spirit of God to get me there. It's called
perseverance of the saints. Or I like to think of it as the
preservation of the saints by the perseverance of the spirit.
That's really what it is. We are preserved to the end,
not because we've persevered, but because he's persevered.
though we make it not to grow. Finally, this final statement,
this last statement in this verse also describes the Lord Jesus
Christ's words about his church. You know, the church of the Lord
Jesus Christ is exactly the same size right now as it was in eternity
past and will be in eternity future. You know, all this foolishness
going on in religion where people entertain one another and try
to talk, they call it church growth. Well, the Church of God
is a church that never grows. Never grows in numbers. And we
we pray the Lord will will bring those lost sheep, but you know
what? They're part of their they're part of the Church of the Lord
Jesus Christ before they know it, before they know it, they're
part of this church. Not one is added to the church,
not one is taken away from the church. The church is exactly
the same size now as it's ever been or ever will be. We're not interested in trying
to make goats look like sheep. The longer I pastor and the more
I preach and the more I deal with people, the more I say,
you know, I just. I go out, sometimes I feel like
I need to go out of my way to discourage people from coming.
And here's the thing about it, one of God's sheep, you can't
discourage them. What I'm trying to say is that
I've just had too many people that have come and you get encouraged
and think the Lord saved them and then before long they fall
away. They fall away and it causes you to not want to do anything
or say anything to try to influence a person. to be a part of the
church. If they're part of the church,
God will bring them and they'll remain. They'll remain. They
won't leave. John said they went out from
us because they were never of us. Had they been of us, they
would still be here. They would still be here, though
he make it not to grow. This verse of Scripture summarizes
everything we need to know about who God saves, why he saves,
how he saves. And it's a good confession. It
would be a good dying testimony to say with David and with the
Lord Jesus Christ, although my house be not so with God. Yet,
He's made with me an everlasting covenant. And that covenant is
ordered in all things, and it's sure. And this is all my salvation. This is all my desire. Though
I don't see any growth taking place in me at all, my hope is
in His faithfulness, not mine. God bless His Word.