1 Chronicles chapter 17. I want to read this entire chapter
to you. It will just take a minute to read it. 1 Chronicles chapter
17. I am just going to deal with
the first few verses, some practical things, but I do want to read
this whole story to you. In 1 Chronicles chapter 17, If
you have a pew Bible, it is on page 503, 1 Chronicles chapter
17, and it has 27 verses, but let's read this story, a good
story. 1 Chronicles chapter 17 and verse
1, Now it came to pass, as David sat in his house, that David
said to Nathan the prophet, Lo, I dwell in that house of cedars,
that the ark of the covenant of the Lord remaineth under curtains. Then Nathan said unto David,
Do all that is in thine heart, for God is with thee. And it
came to pass the same night that the word of the Lord came to
Nathan, saying, Go and tell David, my servant. Thus saith the Lord,
Thou shalt not build me that house to dwell in. For I have
not dwelt in that house since the day that I brought up Israel
unto this day, but have gone from tent to tent, and from one
tabernacle to another. Wheresoever I have walked with
all Israel, spake I a word to any of the judges of Israel,
whom I commanded to feed my people, saying, Why have ye not built
me in a house of cedars? Now therefore thus shalt thou
say unto my servant David, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, I took
thee from the sheep coat, even from following the sheep, that
thou shouldest be ruler over my people Israel. And I have
been with thee whithersoever thou hast walked, and have cut
off all thine enemies from before thee, and have made thee a name
like the name of the great men that are in the earth. Also I
will ordain a place for my people Israel, and will plant them,
and they shall dwell in their own place. and shall be moved
no more, neither shall the children of wickedness waste them any
more as at the beginning. And since the time that I commanded
judges to be over my people Israel, moreover, I have subdued all
your enemies. Furthermore, I tell thee that
the Lord will build thee an house. And it came to pass, when thy
days be expired, that thou must Go to be with our fathers, and
I will raise up thy seed after thee, which shall be of thy sons,
and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build me in that house,
and I will establish his throne forever. I will be his father,
he shall be my son, and I will not take my mercy away from him
as I took it from him that was before him. But I will settle
him in my house and in my kingdom forever. and his throne shall
be established evermore." According to all these words and according
to all this vision, so did Nathan speaking to David. And David
the king came and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I,
O Lord God, and what is my house, that Thou hast brought me hitherto?
And yet this was a small thing in Thy eyes, O God, for Thou
hast also spoken of Thy servant's house for a great wall to come.
and has regarded me according to the estate of a man of high
degree, O Lord God. What can David speak more to
thee for the honor of thy servant? For thou knowest thy servant.
O Lord, for thy servant's sake, and according to thine own heart,
thou hast done all of this greatness in making known all these great
things. O Lord, there is none like thee
neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we
have heard with our ears. And what one nation in the earth
is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem to be his
own people, to make thee a name of greatness and terribleness,
by driving out nations from before thy people, whom thou hast redeemed
out of Egypt? For thy people Israel did thou
make thine own people for ever, and thou, Lord, become us their
God. Therefore now, Lord, let the
thing that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his
house be established for ever, and do as thou hast said. Let
it even be established that thy name may be magnified for ever,
saying, The Lord of hosts is the God of Israel, even a God
to Israel. And let the house of David thy
servant be established before thee. For thou, O Lord God, hast
told thy servant, that thou wilt build him that house. Therefore
thy servant hath found it in his heart to pray unto thee.
And now, Lord, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness
unto thy servant. Now, therefore, let it please
thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before
thee for ever. For thou blessest, O Lord, and
it shall be blessed for ever. For thou blessest, O Lord, and
it shall be blessed forever. I just want to look at some practical
things in the first few verses here of this story. I often think
when I read the Old Testament what one of Brother Larry s favorite
passages of Scripture is over in Romans chapter 15 and verse
4 where the Apostle Paul said, Whatsoever things were written
aforetime were written for our learning. These things were written
for our learning that we may be taught something from these
things, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures
may have hope. So I just want to look at a few
practical things here as I was reading this. These things just
sort of jumped out at me, just the first three or four verses
really. And just say it, just look at
it as it is written here in the Scriptures. So practical, this
is so practical. That is one thing I like about
the Word of God. It is so practical. It is so practical. And as we
read it, the simple things that it teaches us keeps us from so
greater errors and comforts our soul as we live our life in this
world. The first thing I noticed was
this, and it came to pass as David sat in his house. The first thing I noticed here
that David had a house. David had bought a house. David
had built a house as he sat in his house. house. Now what does that tell us? That
tells us there's nothing wrong with owning your house. It's
alright if you can afford a house to have a house. I never know
any place in the scripture where the Lord ever forbid anybody
not to have a house. We read in the early church that
many of them had property and sold the property and gave it
to the church to help the poor. But we never read anywhere that
The Lord required them to sell anything. Peter said, while it
was yours, could you not do with it what you wanted to? Cornelius,
remember how he lied about it, him and his wife? Nothing's wrong with owning a
house. David had a house. And he lived
in the house. And I don't think he ever felt
guilty about it. Do you? Martha had a house. And Lydia had a house. Peter's mother-in-law had a house.
The jailer had a house. And people in the New Testament
have houses that they had bought, that they had built. So the first
thing we see here is there's nothing wrong with having a house.
Nothing wrong with it. Don't feel guilty if you want
a house. The second thing I see here,
there's nothing wrong and sinful and we shouldn't feel guilty
about having a nice house. David said, I dwell in a house
of cedars. Well, I tell you, this was probably
a beautiful house, I would say. I know the king of Tyre, King
Hiram, he lived up in the northern part of Israel and David sent
up there to him and said, I'm going to build a house. And the
king of Tyre sent him down carpenters, sent him down masons, and they
cut down some of those beautiful trees in Lebanon and sent it
all down to David. And he built probably an absolutely
gorgeous house. You know there's nothing wrong
with having a nice house. If you have a house or build
a house or you want to buy a house and you can afford it, buy a
house and make a nice house out of it. Nothing wrong with that
issue. And the third thing we see in this is this. There's
nothing wrong with calling it your house. It's your house. And it came to pass as David
set in his house. You say, Bruce, don't everything
belong to the Lord? It does. Everything belongs to
the Lord. Your breath belongs to the Lord, but you call it
yours. The food that we have is His, but we call it ours,
don't we? You want to sit down and eat my dinner? The Gospel
is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but don't we call that ours too?
Everything we have is His, but yet when He gives it to us, we
call it ours, don't we? David said he sat in his house. The Catholic priest and the nuns
still to this very day declare a vow of poverty. And they sell
what they have or give away what little bit they have and they'll
move in a monastery or some place like that and live in some little
old rinky-dink apartment. And they think that when they
do that, that that's what God is requiring of them. Well, God
didn't require that of David. Why would He require that of
them? I remember when Martin Luther, he was a Jewish monk,
and he lived in a monastery and the Lord saved him. The Lord
brought him to faith in Christ. And you know the first thing
he did? He left the monastery, bought a house, married a nun,
and raised his family. And didn't feel guilty about
it. Nothing wrong with having a house, nothing wrong with having
a nice house, and nothing wrong with calling it your house. David
dwelt in his house. The next thing we see here is
this. There's nothing wrong with sitting in your house. David
sat in his house. You know, we don't always need
to be up going and doing things. Some people feel guilty if they're
not out in the neighborhood handing out tracts, if they're not visiting
the sick in the hospital, or out witnessing to the neighbors.
They can't sit down for a minute in their house and rest, except
they feel guilty. You say, Bruce, aren't those
good things? Those are good things. Absolutely those are good things.
But isn't there a time to sit down in your house and rest and
enjoy what the Lord has given you and just relax yourself.
I bet you David did more for the Lord's glory than any of
us. I never wrote the first psalm.
Look how many he wrote. I've never led a nation, but
he did. I've never fought the battles of the Lord, but he did.
And yet he had time to sit down in his house and rest. There's
nothing wrong with that. Some people are like Martha's,
bless their hearts. They're cumbered about much.
And they can't sit down. Even when the Lord came, she
couldn't sit down, could she? Cumbered about many things. Martha,
Martha, Martha. Can't you sit down and rest yourself
in your house? She had a house. I think it's
a very fitting thing to remember when the Lord Jesus ascended
back to the Father's house. What did He do? He sat down. When He had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, He sat down. So there's nothing wrong with
sitting down in your house, is there? Sitting down and resting
yourself in your house. The fourth thing about this little
story here is this. In your house is one of the best
places, one of the best places to entertain the Lord's people. One of the best places. to entertain
the Lord's children. Nathan was welcomed in David's
house. Nathan was invited to David's
house. Nathan the prophet went and sat
down with David in his house and they talked to one another.
They fellowshiped one with another in David's house. That's what
he said there in verses 1 and 2. What a blessing it is, brothers
and sisters, to open our homes to God's children. Isn't it a
blessing? When the Lord had opened Lydia's heart, you know the first
thing that she did? She opened her home to the Lord's
people. And not only invited them, but
she insisted that they come home with her. She compelled them,
she constrained them, come into my house. And they came into
her house and abode there at least for a while. You say, reckon her house was
cluttered? Probably was. She was a sales lady. She traveled
quite a bit. I imagine her house probably
had some cobwebs in the corner, don't you? There may have been
some dishes in the sink. The floor may have been somewhat
dusty. But you know something? Who cares? Who cares? Who's looking? Who's judging? They were too busy enjoying one
another's company to see if there were any cobwebs in the corner
or dishes in the sink. I've been in people's houses.
I tell you, the last several years, I've stayed in some homes.
And floors, the linoleum on the floors is wore out. I guess they
couldn't afford to get any more floor put down. I don't know. lay down on the mattress, and
I mean it was pretty lumpy. And I've been in some houses
where in the summertime, I mean, you just burn up. In the wintertime,
you froze to death. But you know something, when
I left those places, I had the most encouraging heart in me,
and my spirit was just lifted up in me from the sweet fellowship
that I had with the saints of God. And I didn't go there to
see their house and judge their house, what it looked like or
what it didn't look like, needed upgrades or whatever. I went
there for the same reason these two men sat in David's house
and talked, for the sweet, sweet fellowship. Poor old Martha,
bless her heart, I often think about her, and I bet some of
you are like her. I don't know if she was, I don't know really
if she was trying to impress the Lord Jesus or not. I don't
know if she's just anxious, wanting everything to be just right.
It seemed like that's what it was. Everything has to be just
right. I mean, this is the Lord of Glory.
She knew who He was. And when she got word He's coming
by and He's going to stay a while and eat with us, oh man, she
ran off to the market and got a whole bushel full of stuff
and started mixing everything up and just ran herself to death. Somebody come in, had a little
bit of mud on their shoes. Man, she grabbed the broom and
grabbed the dustpan, sweeping it all up. Seen a crumb drop
on the floor and she dove on it to get it cleaned up. She
was just so upset. The Lord is coming to my house.
I'm going to feed Him. You know something? I don't think
He come there to see what was wrong with her house. I don't
think He come there to judge what her house looked like. And
I'm just about pretty certain it doesn't matter how clean Martha's
house was, how accommodating her house was, how comfortable
her house was, it wasn't as near as much as the house that he
had left. He had left the father's house. He came to this world
and was going back to the father's house, and I doubt seriously
if Martha's house impressed him much. And I bet your house wouldn't
impress him, and I bet my house wouldn't impress him. That's
not why he came to Martha's house, was it? He sat down to fellowship
with them and teach. And that's the important thing,
brothers and sisters, about having God's people, the saints, in
your house. They don't come there to see
what your house looks like. They come there to fellowship,
to sit and talk about the things of the Lord. I imagine Nathan
probably went around and looked at all the cedar beams, don't
you? and said, man, I've never seen anything like this. And
the cedar walls and probably the marble floor. But I tell you, it wouldn't long
until their conversation got off of the beams and off of the
floor and turned to something else. And that's the fifth thing
here that we see in this text. When they sat down, they turned
the conversation to something that was profitable to their
souls. They were talked about the covenant,
the Ark of the Covenant. They sat down and David said,
Nathan, I want to talk to you about the Ark of the Covenant.
The Ark of the Covenant. It is over there and dwelling
on that old tent that Moses made hundreds of years ago out of
those old badger skins and goat skins. Here I dwell in this house
and I am concerned about the Ark of the Covenant. They talked
about the Ark of the Covenant. They knew something about the
Ark of that Covenant. And that's where the conversation
was turned. I just wonder if Nathan didn't
look over at David or David look over at Nathan and said, you
know, David, without that covenant that God made with Abraham before
you and I were ever born, we wouldn't be sitting here tonight
talking. We wouldn't be in this cedar house. We wouldn't be in
this land of promise. We wouldn't be among these covenant
people. if it wasn't for the covenant
that God made with Abraham. They talked about the covenant,
the ark of the covenant, but the covenant. You know, before
these men were ever born, and they remembered this, and this
is what this was about, one of the things this was about, not
just the ark, but the ark of the covenant. Hundreds of years
before this, the Lord told Abraham, He said, Abraham, I'm going to
give you a son. a child of promise. Remember that? Isaac, a child. In your old age, I'm going to
bless you with a son. I promise you that. And he covenanted
with the Lord for that. And Abraham said, Lord, how should
I know that you're going to give this to me? And remember Abraham
put those sacrifices and burned those sacrifices and this lamp
come traveling through between those sacrifices and Abraham
kept the buzzers to beat off the sacrifices. The Lord made
a covenant with Abraham and said, I'm going to give you this land.
I'll give you a son. And you're going to call his
name Isaac. And Isaac's going to have a son. You're going to
call his name Jacob. And Jacob's going to have 12
children. And they're going to go down
into Egypt. And they're going to evil and
treat them. And I'm going to redeem them out of Egypt and
bring them into this land of promise and give them this land.
And I'm going to be their God and they're going to be My people.
That's one of the things that they were referring to here,
the covenant, the covenant. And I can just imagine Nathan
looking at David and saying, David, boy, if it wasn't for
that covenant, if it wasn't for that covenant, we wouldn't be
enjoying these blessings. We wouldn't be here in the land
of promise. It still belonged to strangers. And we wouldn't
be fellowshipping about the sweet things of the Lord. They talked
about a covenant. They talked about this covenant. You know none of us would be
here tonight, brothers and sisters, if it wasn't for the covenant
of grace that God made with His Son. None of us would be here
if it wasn't for the covenant. There's a covenant made long
before you and I ever existed. God made with His Son. Listen
to Psalms chapter 89 and verse 3. I have made a covenant with
my Chosen. Here's the Father speaking. I
have made a covenant with my Chosen. Who is that? That's Christ. That's Christ. Behold my servant
whom I uphold, my elect in whom my soul delighteth. That servant
is Christ, His chosen of God. He's called the first elect.
Our forefathers used to call Christ the first elect. And then
God chose all the elect in Him. He said, I have made a covenant
with Christ, my chosen. This is what this covenant is
about. I have sworn unto David my servant, Christ my servant.
Thy seed will I establish forever. Now who is the seed? That's all
of his blood-bought ones. That's those that he's called
by his gospel. That's those that he's given
grace to believe, his people. And I will build up thy throne
to all generations. What is that throne? Well, that's
the throne Jesus Christ sits on. Not only His sovereign throne
where He rules, but a throne of grace. Come boldly to the
throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help.
And listen to Hebrews 8. This is the covenant that I will
make with them after these days, saith the Lord. I will put My
laws in their mind and write them in their hearts. They shall be to me a people,
and I will be to them a God. I'll be merciful to their unrighteousness,
and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." You
know, without that covenant, you wouldn't be here. It's because the Lord said, I'm
going to call them. I'm going to put my laws in their
heart and write them in their mind. That's why you're here,
isn't it? You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for that covenant.
Let me show you a couple of Scriptures. Hold 1 Chronicles chapter 17
and look in Jeremiah chapter 32. Jeremiah chapter 32. David and Nathan's heart, their minds went
to this covenant, the Ark of the Covenant. And you know when
you and I When you and I have an opportunity to sit and talk,
our minds should go to profitable things, brothers and sisters.
It should go to profitable things. You know, there's a time to talk
about cedars. There's time to talk about the
beautiful floor. But there's time to talk about the things
of the heart, spiritual things. Let our conversation turn to
spiritual things, and don't let it sink down in the gutter of
gossip and rumors, or we'll leave one another's presence feeling
so guilty, won't we? But when we're together like
these men were, talking with one another, let our conversation
be about what theirs was about, the covenant, the covenant. And
look how Jeremiah talks about it here in Jeremiah chapter 32,
and look in verse 37. Jeremiah 32, 37, Behold, I will
gather them out of all countries, whether I have driven them in
mine anger, and in my fear, and in my great wrath. And I will
bring them again unto this place, and I will cause them to dwell
safely. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart,
and one way, that they may fear me forever, for the good of them,
and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them, and I will not turn away from them to do
them good. And I will put my fear in their
hearts, and they shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice
over them to do them good. I will plant them in this land
assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. For thus
saith the Lord, like as I have brought upon this great evil,
upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I
have promised them. And look in chapter 33 and look
in verse 6. Behold, I will bring it health
and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the
abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captivity
of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build
them as at the first. And I will cleanse them from
all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned against Me.
I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and
whereby they have transgressed against Me. And look over in
verse 16 at the surety of this. And those days shall Judah be
saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name
wherewith she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. For
thus saith the Lord, David shall never want a man, to sit upon
his throne." Who is that? Who is that? That's Christ, isn't
it? Before Solomon died, Jeroboam died, all David's descendants,
you know, they stayed on the throne for a little while and
they died. But he said he'll never want a man to sit on his
throne. Jesus Christ is on his throne, isn't He? He's on the
throne of David. Verse 18, "...neither shall the priests, the Levites,
want a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, and to kennel
meat offerings and to do sacrifices continually. Jesus Christ is
that priest. He is the King and He is the
Priest. And He said down here in verse 21, verse 20, Thus saith
the Lord, If ye can break my covenant of the day, and my covenant
of the night, and that there should be no day and night in
their season, Then may also my covenant be broken with David
my servant, with Christ my son, that he should not have a son
to reign upon his throne, and with the Levites the priests
my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot
be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured, so will
I multiply the seed of David my servant and the Levites that
minister unto me." Look in one more place. Look in Ezekiel chapter
37. Look at this, I love this, Ezekiel 36, he is speaking here
of the covenant also. Here is the way Ezekiel talked
about it. Look in Ezekiel chapter 36 and look in verse 24. Ezekiel chapter 36 and look in
chapter 24. Now you will find yourself right
here and this is why you are here tonight. This is why we're
here talking about the good things of the Lord and this is where
our mind should go to when we're outside this place, talking one
with another. This is what we should talk about,
things like this. I will take you from among the
heathen and gather you out of all countries and will bring
you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water
upon you and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness and
from all your idols will I cleanse you. and a new heart will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you that heart
of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to
walk in my statues, and you shall keep my judgments and do them,
and you shall dwell in the land that I gave your fathers, and
you shall be my people, and I will be your God, and I also will
save you from all your uncleanness, and I will call for the corn,
and increase it, and lay no famine upon you." I love this, bless
you. And what really bothers me, sometimes
aggravates me, when people try to limit this to God's elect
among the Jews. Paul said he took the Jews and
his people among the Jews and his people among the Gentiles,
and he's made them both one. He's made them one. And what
he's saying here, I'm going to gather my left and I'm going
to bring them to me. And I like the way he says this.
He said, I will and you shall. I will cleanse you and you shall
be clean. I'll call you and you're going
to come to me. I'm going to reveal myself and
you'll know me. And I'm going to put my fear
in your heart and you ain't going to ever depart from me. I love
that, don't you? I will and you shall. And Shannon, that's why
you're here tonight. Larry, that's why you're here
tonight. He said, you call Larry Becker. Sends his Spirit. He
said, you call Larry Becker. You bring him here to me. I will. And he shall. This is profitable
talk about it. The covenant of grace. And this
is what these two men sat in their houses and talked about.
The covenant of grace. The covenant of that the Lord
made with Abraham. And here He said, the Ark of
the Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant. David said to Nathan,
Behold, I dwell in the house of cedars, and the Ark of the
Covenant of the Lord remaineth behind those curtains. You remember
what this Ark was. It was the Ark. It was a wooden
box made out of shidom wood, so big, so deep. They overlaid
it with pure gold. and put the Ten Commandments,
the two rocks, the stones that Moses had chiseled out, the Ten
Commandments, they put those commandments in this ark. And
over the top of that ark they had a pure mercy seat, a solid
gold mercy seat. And on each end of that mercy
seat was these cherubims, these angels overshadowing that mercy
seat. And once a year the priest would
come and stand before this mercy seat and he would take that blood
and he would sprinkle it seven times upon that mercy seat. And
the Shekinah glory of God would come down and meet with them
there on that mercy seat. And there is where God forgave
their sins and blessed Israel. And the high priest went back
outside. He lifted up his hands and looked
all around over those twelve tribes and here is what he said
to them. The Lord bless thee and keep
thee. The Lord make His face to shine
upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. and he said, I shall put my name
upon them, and I will bless them, saith the Lord. You know, we
sing about that mercy seat, don't we? We sing about it. I don't know how much we sing
about it here, but we sing about this mercy seat. Listen to this. From every stormy
wind that blows, from every swelling tide of woe, there is a calm,
a sure retreat. It is found beneath the mercy
seat. There is a place where Jesus sheds the oil of gladness
on our heads. A place then all besides most
sweet, it is the blood-bought mercy seat. That's where we fellowship
at, around the mercy of the Lord. There is a scene where spirits
blend, where friend holds fellowship with friend, though sundered
far by faith they meet, around one common mercy seat. Or whether
could we flee for aid, When tempted, desolate, dismayed, Or how the
host of hell defeat, Had suffering saints no mercy seat. And that's what they're talking
about. This Ark of the Covenant with a mercy seat. They talked
about these things. And what a blessing it is to
talk. Because I tell you, when you talk about the Ark of the
Covenant, you've got to think what was on that Ark. That's
a mercy seat. Don't you love to talk about
mercy? Oh, mercy. I tell you, I love to be around
people that have found out their need of mercy. And they've obtained
mercy and that's what they know they need to get through this
life is mercy. And they live their life praising
God that He set a throne of grace they can come to and find mercy. Mercy. You see some of these
people and all they want to talk about is It's just how much they've
grown and how good they are and how holy they are. You leave
them and you feel so discouraged, you know. But boy, you get around
people talking about mercy. Oh, mercy. And don't you leave
feeling so encouraged? I need mercy, don't you? Every
day I need mercy. I love to talk about mercy. And
blood. When you think of that mercy
seat, when you think of the Ark of the Covenant, you think of
the blood of atonement that sprinkled that mercy seat. Don't you love
that blood? The precious blood that washed
our sins away. We sing about it. What can wash
away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. And I'm just saying when these
fellows here got together, boy, the conversation turned towards
things that would profit their souls. And when they left one
another, they're feeling edified and feeling encouraged. And lastly
is this. They were talking about things
with a degree of humility here and thankfulness and appreciation
and with a desire to return glory and honor to the Lord. David
said, you know it's in my heart to build the Lord a house. I want to build him a house.
I want to build him a magnificent house. And boy, Nathan said,
Boy, that's wonderful, David. I'll do what I can. I'll give
what I can. I'll work what I can. I think that's a wonderful idea.
Build the Lord a house. I wish the Lord, don't you wish
the Lord put that in your heart? How much do we owe the Lord?
How much do we owe Him? David said, Look how He's blessed
me. Look at this house. He has made me king over this
nation. Oh, He has done great things for me. And David said,
Here I sit and my nothing hardly for Him, and I want to build
Him a house. Do not you wish that was in all
of our hearts? Oh, what can I do for His glory?
He has done so much for me. What can I repay Him? Well, the
Lord told Nathan and said, Go back and tell David, He cannot
repay me. He cannot repay me. And I am not going to let him
build me a house. He shed too much blood, I'm not going to
let him build me a house. But he said, tell David this,
I'm going to build him a house. I'm going to build him a house.
David was dumbfounded. He was absolutely dumbfounded.
Here he's wanting to do something to show his gratitude to the
Lord, and the Lord turned right around and just loaded him with
more blessings. You know, you can't out-give
the Lord, you can't out-bless the Lord, you can't do nothing
better than he can. Lord, David's got a house. David's
got a beautiful house, and you're going to build him a house? That's
what he said in verse 10, wasn't it? Go tell him, I'm going to
build him a house. Lord, look what a house he's
already got. Yeah, but that old house is going to rot. Yeah,
the roof is going to start leaking after David's gone, and it's
going to get old, and it's going to collapse. But I'm going to
build him a real house. I'm going to build him a house
that will never decay. I'm going to build him a spiritual
house. You know, I'm looking at some of the house right here. Remember when they was having
that great Bible conference there in Acts chapter 15 and James
stood up to talk? And he talked about the tabernacle
of David which was falling down come into ruins. But he said,
this is what the Lord said. I'm going to build that tabernacle
that's falling down. that the residue, all the chosen
people, may flee to that house, be a part of that house. And
all my Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, that's who makes
up David's house. All God's elect from all ages.
Every blood-bought soul, every believer makes up this tabernacle
of David. Well, the Church of Christ goes
under a lot of names, doesn't it? David's house. David's house. The seed of Abraham? That's the Church. The Israel
of God? That's the Church. The children
of promise? The redeemed of the Lord? The
Lord our righteousness? That's the Church. The bride? The Lamb's wife? Body of Christ,
the great city, the holy Jerusalem, Christ's house, and David's house. I'm going to build David a house,
and that's the church. Out of every nation, kindred,
tongue, and tribe, and people, that's David's house. So if you've
got a house, don't worry so much and fret about what it looks
like. Have the Lord's people over every once in a while, and
sit and talk with them. And when you're talking, don't
talk about other people. Talk about the Lord. Talk about
those good things. And then when you part and go
your ways, you can go feeling good in your heart, edified in
your soul that you've been with the Lord's people. Oh, gracious and kind and tender
Father, we bless You for Your Word. We thank You for what it
teaches us. These wonderful truths just shine
out to us. And they instruct us and teach
us how to live and how to talk and how to act, how to believe
and what to believe. And they are so practical, Lord,
and we thank You for them. Give us grace, I pray, to apply
these things. And may we have hearts like these
two great men have, to sit with one another and have sweet communion. and talk about the things of
the Lord, your promises, your precious blood, your mercy, your
covenant. And Lord, without you, none of
us would be here. Without your covenant, without
your promises, without your I wills, none of us would be here tonight.
We'd all be lost in sin and headed for devil's hell, without God,
without hope in this world. It's because of you that we've
come here this evening. to sing, to worship, to believe
you, to fellowship one with another. It's because of you. And when
we get to heaven and bow there at your feet, we'll take off
our crowns and cast them there and give you all the glory. But
Lord, it's all of you. Everything's of you and we bless
you for it. Please bless this group that's
gathered here tonight. Bless your saints and bless them,
Lord, and bless those who aren't here. be near them and teach
them and be so gracious to us. Oh, we need grace. Your heart's
full of grace and that's all we need, your grace. In Jesus,
our Lord's name, Amen.