If you haven't left Sacred Sandwich
yet, turn back to it or hold it. If you haven't left it, if
you have, turn back to it because that's our text this morning. I was reading this scripture
last week and meditating on it some and I thought what a wonderful
incident that took place here in David's life. And what a wonderful
thing the Lord taught him. My text on what I want you to
concentrate on this morning is found here in verse 18. Let me
read it to you again. 2 Samuel chapter 7 and verse
18. 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? interested in this little phrase
this morning where it said, King David went in and sat before
the Lord. And I was interested in that
because that's not how our story began. If you'll read chapter
six, you remember the context that David had brought the ark
of God. from the house of Obed-Edom. They had left it there because
they had experienced some problems in bringing it. And the Lord
had killed one of David's friends because they didn't carry the
ark properly. And David went to Obed-Edom's
house and had the priest to carry the ark and they brought it to
Jerusalem. And David put it in a tent that
he had pitched for it. He put that ark there. Now you
remember the ark. It was that case, that chest,
if you will, that had the manna in it. It had urns robbed that
budded. I think at this time it just
had the two tables of the covenant, the Ten Commandments in it. But
on top of that chest was the mercy seat. And it was said of
the Lord that that was the place where He was to dwell. That was
the presence of the Lord dwelling between the cherubims. And he
told Israel, there will I meet you. And there's where their
sins were atoned for and there's where their iniquities were forgiven. So what David does, he takes
this ark and he puts it in this tent that he's pitched for it.
And then he goes into his own house and he calls Nathan the
prophet. And he tells Nathan what he intends
to do. Here in verse 2, that the king
saith unto Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in the house
of Cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains. And Nathan said to the king,
Go, do all that is within thy heart to do, for God is with
thee. Now here was what was in David's
heart. It was in David's heart to build
a house to the Lord, a magnificent house. And I'm sure David's heart
was in the right place. I'm sure his motives were honorable. He was seeking to honor the Lord
by building the Lord a house. He realized how magnificent the
Lord was, and he said, I want to build a house to reflect His
glory. And it's a place for God to dwell
in. for God's presence to dwell in. We know for one reason the scripture
tells us that God forbid David to build a house is because David
had shed too much blood. He was still having some wars
around him and the Lord said you've shed too much blood. David
told Solomon his son this just before David died. He said I've
left the house for you to build and the Lord wouldn't let me
build it because he said I have shed too much blood. But I think
here in 2 Samuel, this is another account of the reason that the
Lord didn't let David build his house. And I think another reason
is given here, why the Lord did not let David build this magnificent
house to the Lord. And it was because the Lord was
going to teach David a valuable lesson. I want you to think about
that with me this morning. I want you to look here at verse
2 again, and I want you to see something here that you can almost
detect it in David's voice. And it's somewhat of a note of
pity for God. Now you say, Bruce, David would
have never thought that. Well, good men are just men. It's been said that men at their
best are just men at best, and that's it, isn't it? Good men
can have thoughts that's underneath the glory of God. And you can
almost detect here a little sympathy for God as you read verse 2. That the king said unto Nathan
the prophet, See, now I dwell in this house of cedar, But the
ark of God dwelleth within curtains." Can you see that? I've got this
beautiful house, Nathan, and the ark of God is out there under
a tent. And I just feel like God's glory
is suffering. I feel like I need to do something
for Him, something for His glory. Can you detect that? Just a little
bit of sympathy. My house that I've built is a
beautiful house, but look out there at God's dwelling place
in a tent. I want to build God a temple,
a house to dwell in. Or maybe David's thought was
something like this. God is such a great God. I want
people to see His glory. His glory needs to be seen. So I'm going to do something
to make His glory shine. I'm going to take the time. I'm
going to take the expense. I'm going to provide the labor
to build Him a magnificent house. I want to build a house. for
God to dwell in. And boy, Nathan got behind him. Nathan said, David, I'm 100%
for you. We need to do something for God.
You need to be up and going, doing, doing, doing, going, going,
going and doing something for God. And I'm sure that Nathan
left and David got so excited that he could hardly sleep that
night. meditating on what he was going to do for God. And he was getting ready, boy,
to go and do, and go and do, and go and do. His mind was caught
up with going and doing something for God. But when we come here
to the end of our story, we don't see David doing anything. We
don't see David going anyplace. What do we see him doing? We
see him sitting before God and worshiping Him. Now, that's why
I said verse 18 is somewhat of a magnificent statement, a very
interesting statement. What changed everything? What
changed David's whole attitude of up, up, up and do, do, do
and go, go, go to his attitude of said, I'm going and setting
before the Lord and worshiping Him. Well, I want you to look at this
this way, look in verse 5 and verse 7. God is going to remind
David two things here in Verse 5 and verse 7. And I say, remind
him. David probably already knew it.
But we're such people that we forget. And we have to be reminded. And here's the first thing the
Lord is going to remind David of. God cannot be contained in
a house. I almost chuckled as I read verse
5. And when I emphasize it this
way, read verse 5 with me this way. The Lord said to Nathan,
Go and tell my servant David, Thus saith the Lord, Shall thou
build me a house to dwell in? You are going to build me, the
living, eternal God, a house to dwell in. Can you see that? See how David needed to be reminded
that God cannot be contained in a building? Later on, when Solomon built
this building and they dedicated it, and Solomon was there on
his knees with his hands raised up before the heavens, and here's
what he said about this house that he had built. Will God indeed
dwell on the earth? Behold, the heavens of heavens
cannot contain him, how much less this house that I have built. The heavens of heavens cannot
contain him. The Lord said, How can man hide
from my presence? Do not I fill heaven and earth? Brothers and sisters, he not
only fills heaven and earth. Heaven and earth are in him.
It is not so much that God fills the universe and that God dwells
in the universe. The universe dwells in Him. He is too immense to be contained
in a house, isn't He? And he had to remind David and
he had to remind Nathan, the prophet, of this. There is something
else he taught him here in this verse 2. Look here in verse 7. There is something else that
the Lord hints at here. 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,
saying, Why build ye not me than a house of cedar? Let me paraphrase
this like this. Since everybody else is paraphrasing,
I should be able to do it too. Why isn't somebody doing something
to help me out? I need a house. Why isn't everybody
getting together to build me a house? Ain't that what he's
asking? I need help here. He's almost mocking, isn't he?
Have I ever asked anybody, Nathan, to do anything for me? Do I need anybody's help in doing
anything? I want you to hold that Scripture
right there and turn with me and look how the Apostle Paul
says this. Hold your Scripture in second,
Chronicles chapter 7, and look in the book of Acts chapter 17. This is where Paul was preaching
to this a bunch of philosophers on Myers Hill. And look here what he says in
verse 22. Then Paul stood in the midst
of Myers Hill, Acts 17, 22, and said, You men of Athens, you
philosophers, you wise men, I perceive that in all things you are too
superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld
your devotion, I found an altar with this inscription to the
unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare
I unto you. God that made the world, and
all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth,
Dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worship
with men's hands, as though he needed anything." He does not
need anything from us, but we need everything from Him. For
it is Him that gives us to all breath, life, and all things. Brothers and sisters, can you
tell me one thing this morning God needs? If He needed anything, could
you supply it? What if He was blind? Could we
guide Him? What if He was hungry? Could
we feed Him? If I was hungry, I wouldn't ask you. If He was
ignorant, could we teach Him? If He was lost, could we find
Him? How many preachers have we heard
in our lifetime telling whole congregations, you're the only
hands God has. You're the only feet God has.
You're the only mouth God has. Won't you help Him out? Well,
that's not the God of this Bible. The God of this Bible is not
worshipped with men's hands as though He needed anything. He don't need you and He don't
need me. That's the God of the Bible. He said to Nathan, let me ask
you this question, Nathan. I want you to search the scriptures
and see if I have ever asked anybody, would somebody please
do something for me? Would somebody please build me
that house? Look back over in our text again
in verse 8 and 9 that Brother Baker read for us. Look how the emphasis are changed
here from what David was intending to do for God to what God had
already done for David. I want you to notice this. Two
lessons there that the Lord taught David and Nathan. You can't contain
God in a building. He's uncontainable. The heavens
can't contain Him. And secondly, He don't need your
help for anything, for nothing. And here in verse 8 and 9, the
Lord was going to teach David, it's not what you do for me. It is what I have already done
for you. Look here at what he says in verse 8 and verse 9.
Now therefore, so shalt thou say unto my servant David, thus
saith the Lord of hosts, I took thee, I took thee from the sheep
code, from the sheep pastors. I took you from following the
sheep. I took you to be ruler over my
people Israel. And I was with thee whithersoever
thou wentest. And I have cut off all your enemies
out of thy sight. I have made thee a great name,
likened to the name of the great men that are in the earth." Now
this is amazing, isn't it? Here was a man that was on the
throne, and at this time the most powerful king known to the
world. And he was one of the richest
men of his day, if not the richest. All his enemies had been subdued
under him. He had a name that was reverenced
and admired all over the world. And this was a man that came
from following the sheep and sleeping in the pasture under
the stars at night. And he was brought from that
insignificant place and exalted on the throne of Israel. And
somebody will say, what a lucky guy. Brothers and sisters, how in
the world did this happen? Well, it didn't happen by accident.
It didn't happen by chance. God said, David, I did that for
you. When I found you, you were just
a little kid following the sheep along the pastures. And I took
you. And I equipped you. And I made
you rich. And I fought your battles. And
I put you on the throne. And you're talking about doing
something for me? It's not what you do for me.
Look what I did for you. That's the gospel, isn't it,
brothers and sisters? That's the very essence of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who would have ever dreamed that
this little boy would have been raised up through all of these
mysterious circumstances and been on the throne of Israel?
Who would have ever dreamed it? Nobody dreamed it. David would
have never dreamed it. The Lord sent Samuel down to
Jesse's house. And he said, you go down there
and anoint one of Jesse's sons to be king over Israel. Samuel made his way down to Jesse's
house and he said, the Lord has sent me down here to anoint one
of your sons king. And there stood seven sons. And the first one, Eliab, walked
up. And man, he was a tall, handsome,
muscled up man. And Samuel said, that's the Lord's
anointed. And the Lord said, that ain't
Him. They brought the next one. The Lord said, that ain't Him.
They went through seven sons and He said, none of them are
Him. And Samuel looked at Jesse and he said, don't you have another
son? Well, He said, the little kid's over yonder watching the
sheep. Surely that ain't Him. And Samuel
says, go get Him. Samuel looked at Him and the
Lord said, that's my anointed. That's my King. Who would have
dreamed it, brothers and sisters? This was of the Lord. This was
the Lord's doing. And he stops and he reminds David
what I have done for you, David. That's why you find David sitting,
worshipping in the presence of the Lord from the beginning to
the end. Every step along the way, until
he set David on the throne, he says, It's my doings, David.
Every step of the way, I took you. I made you ruler. I was with you in every place.
I fought your battles. I subdued your enemies. And I
have given you this great name. It's me, David. I've done this
for you. From the beginning to the end,
he took this young lad from following a few sheep and exalted him as
king over Israel. Where would David have been?
What would David have been if the Lord had not have did this
for him? We wouldn't have been reading
about him, would we? Had David forgotten all of this? I doubt
it. I doubt he had forgotten what
the Lord did for him. But here was the whole problem
with David. He got caught up in doing for
the Lord, in going for the Lord, in doing for the Lord, in doing
for the Lord, in the great work that I'm going to do for the
Lord. He lost the sweet reality of what the Lord had done for
him. Have you and I lost that sweet
reality of what He's done for us? Have you got caught up in what
you're doing for Him? You got caught up in the work
of the Lord? Maybe you've got caught up in
yourself. Maybe you've got caught up in your trials and your sufferings
and your heartaches, and you've lost the sweet remembrance of
what God has done for you. Listen to this. You think God
has did great things for David? Listen to what He's did for you
if you're here and you know Him this morning. Paul said, We are
bound to give thanks always to God for you. I'm thanking God
for each one of you, Paul said, for God hath from the beginning
chosen you to salvation. Oh, brothers and sisters, are
you living in the sweet reality of electing love? Have you forgot
that He has chosen you? Where would you be? What would
you be apart from electing love? Where would you be if He had
chosen you? "'Twas not that I did choose
you." Lord, that could never be. This heart would still refuse
you, but thou hast chosen me. That's it, isn't it? And brothers
and sisters, if he hadn't have chosen you, you'd have never
wanted anything to do with him. Where would you be and what would
you be without his electing love? You'd still be out in a dark
world. You'd still be doing your own thing and worshipping yourself. Living in nature in a perishing,
lost world. That's where you would be. You got over that? You caught
up in your own troubles? Caught up in what you're doing
for God? Well, come and sit down before the Lord and come back
to this. I ain't done nothing for Him.
It's what He has done for me. When the Lord first came to you
and found you, what did He do for you? I'll tell you what He
did for you. He gave you life. He found you
dead in your sins and He gave you life. He found you bound
in a powerful kingdom of Satan with no ability to get out, no
power to get out, not even the desire to get out. And He delivered
you from it. Giving thanks unto the Father
who hath made us fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints
in light, who hath delivered us. What has God done for you,
brothers and sisters? He hath delivered you from the
power of darkness into the kingdom of His dear Son." What can I
do for God? Fade, fade such thoughts as that. What has He did for me? He has
chosen me. He redeemed me at a great cost
to Himself. And He has called me, forgiven
me, and given me the life of His dear Son in my soul. And that makes me just want to
sit down before Him and worship Him and admire Him. Man alive. He has not only brought
David from a lowly state in this world and exalted Him into the
highest place in this world. But He has done the same for
us. Has He not done the same for
us? Paul said He quickened us when
we were dead in sins. What an awful state to be in.
And He has raised us up to sit together in heavenly places in
Christ Jesus. That's what He's did for you,
dear child of God. And what a famous name He has
given you. Everybody knew the name of David.
Nations knew the name of David. He was a famous man. But heaven
knows your name, dear child of God. Angels know your name. What manner of love the Father
has bestowed upon us that we should be called the sons of
God. What names! This is the covenant
that I will make with them. I will be their God and they
shall be my sons and my daughters, saith the Lord. You are a child
of God. What a name! You are a daughter
of God. What a name! What an honor He's
put upon you! What's God did for you? We can't
even talk about what we want to do for Him. You say, Bruce,
but what I want to do for Him is for His glory. It doesn't
matter, does it? In the light of what He has done
for us, it all fades. It fades. This is the very first and foremost
important aspect of salvation. This is a principle taught from
Genesis through Revelation. That salvation is not what the
sinner does for God. It is what God does for the sinner
in Jesus Christ the Lord. out of the mouth of every sinner,
every believing sinner, no matter where you find him, whatever
difficult circumstances he's in, how much doubt and fears
he may have, when push comes to shove out of his mouth comes
this, salvation is of the Lord. But the Lord doesn't stop here
with David by reminding him what it did for him in the past. You're
in verses 11 through verse 16. He's going to remind David what
he was yet going to do for him. You're in verse 11. Look at this. And as since the time that I
commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused
thee to rest from all thy enemies, also the Lord telleth thee that
He will make thee an house. He turned David on his head,
didn't he? You're telling me you're going to make me a house?
I don't need a house. I'm telling you, I'm going to
make you a house. And when thy days be fulfilled
and thou shalt sleep with our fathers, I will set up thy seat
after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will
establish his kingdom. And he shall build a house for
my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
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. And thine house and thy kingdom
shall be established forever before thee, for thy house, for
thy throne shall be established forever. Ever. This is a precious promise. And
it has two meanings to it. It has a natural meaning. And
it has without a temporal meaning, a natural and temporal meaning. And here's the natural meaning
that this promise had. God was going to raise up David's
son, Solomon. And he was going to build this
magnificent house where the Jews met and worshiped
the Lord and saw his shekinah glory and offered sacrifices
to him. Solomon did that. But here's
the thing about that promise that was physical and temporary. It all passed away. Where is
that temple? God destroyed it. Where is all
the activity that was going on in that temple? God abolished
it. It waxed old and it has decayed. And listen, brothers and sisters,
what I am about to tell you. It will never be rebuilt. It
waxed old and vanished away. The promise that God made to
David in that sense was only temporary and it was natural. And you come to the New Testament
and the house and lineage of David could hardly be found. It was fallen. There had been
no king set upon David's throne for hundreds of years. Had God's
promise fell then? No. Because here is the second aspect
of this promise. It was spiritual. And it wasn't
an everlasting promise. Look what he said in verse 12.
I will set up thy seed after thee, and I will establish his
kingdom. Who is that? Who is the seed
of David? And look here again in verse
16. This is so important. And thine house and thy kingdom
shall be established forever before thee, and thy throne shall
be established forever." Forever! Forever! Your throne will be
forever! Your kingdom will be forever! We can answer that with one scripture,
and it's wonderful. Look over in the book of Luke. Look over in the book of Luke,
chapter 1. Luke's Gospel, Chapter 1, and look down in verse 31. This is where the angel came
to the virgin Mary. Look here what he told her. Luke,
Chapter 1, verse 31. In verse 30, he said, The angel
said unto her, Angel Gabriel, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast
found favor with God, and behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb.
and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David." The Lord said, David,
I'm going to make your throne to endure forever. But it wasn't
a natural throne. It wasn't a temporary throne.
It was the throne that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was to
set upon Himself. Look what He said in verse 33,
And He shall reign forever over the house of Jacob, and of His
kingdom there shall be no end. There is David's kingdom. It
is Christ's kingdom. There is David's throne. It is
Christ's throne. Peter was preaching to those
Jews on the day of Pentecost, and he said this about David.
He said, men and brethren, let me freely speak to you of the
patriarch David. He is both dead and buried, and
his grave is with us to this day. But he being a prophet,
and knowing that God hath sworn with him with an oath, that of
the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, He would raise
up Christ to sit on His throne. He before spake this of the resurrection
of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell, neither did
His flesh seek corruption. This Jesus has God raised up,
wherefore we are all witnesses, and God has exalted Him at His
right hand. He said, I declare this today
to the children of Israel, that this same Jesus, God hath made
both Lord and Christ. Who is the seed of David? Jesus
of Nazareth. Who's on David's throne? Jesus
of Nazareth. And it's an almighty throne,
a sovereign throne. And what about David's kingdom?
It's the church. And that's an everlasting kingdom,
isn't it? And it's the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. Can't you imagine David setting
up in heaven today looking upon his Savior? And you know what
he's probably saying? Look at my throne now. He's looking
at the church and saying, look at my kingdom now. That's the promise that God made
to David. David, you're going to die. But
I'm telling you what I'm going to do to you. I'm going to do
amazing things for you. I'm going to raise up my Son
to sit on your throne. What a promise! What a promise! Back over here in our text again.
I like what he said here in verses 18 and verse 19 to David. So he told Nathan to tell David
this. And Nathan did, and here's the
way David responded in verse 18. Then went King David in and
sat before the Lord, and he said, Who am I, O Lord God? What is
my house that thou hast brought me this far? You've done all
these things for me up until now, but He doesn't stop there.
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. Is this the manner of man, O
Lord God? You've spoken of my house for
a great while to come. You've made such statements as
this. Your house is going to be an everlasting kingdom. Your
throne is going to endure forever. A great while? I reckon a great
while, unless you say forever, is just a short amount of time.
Forever, David, forever. When the Apostle Paul was telling
us in Ephesians 2 that God had quickened us from the dead and set us together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus, then He proceeds to tell us that's
not all He's going to do for us. That's what He's did for
us. But He made this statement in
verse 7, that in the ages to come, He might show the exceeding
riches of His grace in His kindness toward you. You hear Yosef this
morning, the Lord has saved you. And you say, Bruce, He's brought
me this far. His grace has brought me this
far. I tell you, He ain't finished fulfilling His promises yet. He's going to have you in heaven
with Himself. Someday the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back,
and He's going to raise you and change your vile body, and you're
going to be with Him for how long? For how long? Forever! I go to prepare a place
for you. That's His promise. For you and
you. And after I do that, I'll come
again and receive you unto Myself that where I am, where is He? There you'll be with Me also. Brothers and sisters, that's
a promise, isn't it? That's a promise. I'm just thinking I'm caught
up with all these things I need to do for God. I want to be going. I want to be doing. One man in this congregation
said his sister-in-law told him she went to church seven days
a week. That's a lot of going, ain't it? That's a lot of doing,
ain't it? She probably needs to be brought
down and set at the feet of God and realize it's not what you're
doing for Him. It's what He does for us. Notice this about these promises.
We started a little early, so give me a little more time, OK?
Just settle down, settle in. A couple of more points about
this. You'll notice something about
this promise that God made David, what He was going to do for him
yet. And you'll notice this about
them, that they were one-sided. Do you notice that about them? It wasn't contingent. upon what
David was going to do. Did you notice that? The promises
were one sided. Ah, ah, ah. This is what the Lord was going
to do there in verse 11 through verse 15. Aren't you glad, brothers
and sisters, that the promise of God is one sided? Aren't you
glad it's not contingent? Aren't you glad that he'll say,
well, I'm going to watch you and I'm going to make sure that
you fill all the condition of this promises. And when you do,
then I'll fulfill my part. But if you don't, then all the
promises are void. Aren't you glad it's not that
way? Aren't you glad that he didn't
say, David, I've made you this promise. I'm telling you, this
is what I'm going to do for you. Your kingdom is going to be an
everlasting kingdom. Your throne is going to endure
forever. But David, I'm going to watch you. And I'm going to
watch Solomon. To make sure you guys keep every
commandment I've commanded you and observed every statue that
I've given you. And you've done it from your
cradle to the grave. I'm watching you fellas. Aren't
you glad it wasn't that way? What would have happened to the
promise when David was wickedly laying in Bathsheba's arms? What
would happen to the promise then, brothers and sisters, when David
killed Uriah and lied about it and deceived people about it?
What would happen to the promise then? If it was contingent upon
man, what would have happened to the promise when Solomon married
700 wives and had 300 concubines? and made idols for them. You say, Bruce, that's not very
pretty. We're not very pretty. You're not very pretty. And I'm
not very pretty. We're sinners by nature and we
live that way. And if God's promises in Christ
depended one heart's breath upon us, then we'd lose every promise
He ever made. They are one-sided. God makes
them out of sovereign grace, free grace, and He fulfills those
promises by His faithfulness and His power. And if He don't,
we're in trouble, brothers and sisters. There's a reason why some of
the best Christians ever lived in this world, some of the greatest,
made this cry. I am not worthy of the least
of your mercies. I am vile, O Lord, in my best
state of altogether vanity. Depart from me, Lord, I am a
sinful man. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Aren't you glad
that his promises are one-sided? God did not choose me. For any
holiness he saw in me, and he will not therefore reject me
because any sin that remains in me. He did not save me because
I am worthy. He will not cast me away because
I am still unworthy. If God accepted me for Christ's
sake when I was fallen, He will not refuse me when I fall again,
and fall again, and fall again. You say, Bruce, that sounds like
antinomianism. I guess we've never preached
the gospel until we preach it so freely people accuse us of
that. A just man falls seven times,
and yet he rises again. The steps of a good man are ordered
of the Lord, and he delights in his way, though he fall. He shall not utterly be cast
down, for the Lord upholdeth him. with His right hand. I love those promises, don't
you? I like this one very well. Unto
Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present
you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeded joy,
to the only wise God, be honor and glory and praise and majesty
forever I'm glad the promises of God
are in Christ. In Christ who never failed. In Christ who was always faithful.
In Christ who fulfilled God's requirements on our behalf. And
David goes into this lowly tent and he sits there before the
Lord and he begins to worship. And his mind is no longer running
on going and doing. But he thinks differently now.
He sits and he worships. O Lord God, Thou hast spoken
of Thy servant's house for a great while to come. Is this the manner
of men, O Lord God? What can David say more unto
Thee, O Thou Lord, God, You know Thy servant. For Thy word's sake
and according to Thy own heart hast Thou done all these great
things to make Thy servant know them. He goes from a thought
mind that's just racing like crazy, of doing and doing and
going, till he comes here and his mind is restful. And he's
worshiping. And he's admiring God for what
He's done for him. Let me say this in closing. Even David's worship, even the
prayer that he prayed, did not originate with himself. I want
you to notice verse 21 and verse 27. For thy word's sake and according
to thy own heart hast thou done all these great things to make
thy servant know them, know them. And here in verse 27, For thou,
O LORD God of hosts, God of Israel, thou hast revealed to thy servant,
saying, I will build thee an inner house. Therefore hath thy
servant found in his heart to pray unto thee. Why did David pray? He found something in his heart.
What was it? Something God put there. God made David to know what he
was going to do for it. And that's why David prayed. We have never prayed the first
prayer, brothers and sisters, except the Holy Spirit utter
it within us. We have never had a good desire
except the Lord implant it in us. We have never had the least
spiritual knowledge except the Lord has taught us. And we will
never will and we will never do anything except the Lord first
work in us to will and to do. I'm just saying to you this morning,
brothers and sisters, it's not what we do for God. It's that
He's doing everything for us. I've reached this conclusion
in my life, in all my doing and all my going. If it ever amounts
to a hill of beans, it will only be as I set before the Lord with
a sweet and fresh knowledge. of His free and sovereign acts
of grace towards me." Is that your thoughts? Sometimes I get so busy preparing
messages that I forget to go in and sit
before the Lord. Then he has to stop me and remind
me, Bruce, I don't need your messages. I don't need your mouth. I've come here because I need
to come here and hold up the Lord's glory. He don't need me
to do that. He don't need me to do anything
for Him. What I need is this, just to sit before Him and be
freshly aware of what He's done for me. That's it, isn't it? Gilly.