This morning, we'll be looking
in 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7. I've titled this message, The
Prayer of a Righteous Man, The Righteous Man. Prayer is something that is used
and practiced all over the world. in just about every religion
that I can think of, every one at least that I've learned. Prayer
is something that is associated with spiritual things. It's for
meditation purposes. It's to bring petitions unto
the God that people serve. Now, when we pray, we do not
pray as the heathen do, as Christ talked about in Matthew chapter
six. We don't pray in vain repetition. I remember being a boy and the
prayer that we were taught And perhaps some of you have heard
this, but it was God is great, God is good. Let Him thank Him.
Let us thank Him for His food. By His hands we are fed. Give
us Lord our daily bread. Amen. That's vain repetition.
Do we know that? Now we want to teach our children
how to pray. Don't misunderstand what I'm
implying this morning. But this is what men and women do as adults
when they pray. They bring the same repetition
over and over. The Catholic Church is a very
good example of that, praying the same thing over and over,
saying Hail Mary, Mother of God, and other blasphemous things.
But the believer don't do that. Do you know why? First of all,
the Lord said not to, and we know that he said not to in Matthew
chapter six, don't pray as the heathen do. But we pray not in
public to be seen and heard like the Pharisees, do we? We pray
in our heart unto him. We pray in secret. Why? Because
we are not looking to be seen. We're not looking to be glorified.
We're not looking to be recognized. We're looking for Christ. We're looking to see Christ.
And the only way to do that is the eyes of faith, And the only
way that he will bless us openly is if we do pray in secret. Turn
with me to Matthew chapter six, just to, I'll show you this this
morning. For the sake of time, I was going
to not turn there and just quote it, but I'm impressed to do that
this morning. Matthew chapter six in verse
five. This is our Lord speaking unto his disciples. and it can
be applied to all believers. It says in verse five of Matthew
chapter six, and when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as hypocrites
are. They love to pray standing in
the synagogues and in the corners of the streets that they may
be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, they have
the reward. But when thou prayest, enter
into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy
father which is in secret, and thy father which seeth in secret
shall reward thee openly. But when you pray, use not vain
repetitions as the heathen do, for they think that they shall
be heard for their much speaking. Be not you therefore likened
to them, for your father knoweth what things you have need of
before you ask it. Public prayer, public prayer. Now I'm not talking about praying
in services, because that's not public. This is a place of worship.
This is where God's people have met together to hope that He
will meet with us. It's where He promised He would
meet, where two or three are gathered in His name. So when I refer
to public prayer, I'm talking about something outside of this
area, this room, outside of public worship. We don't go, for example,
whenever you're at a restaurant, we know that we, I've seen men
stand up at a restaurant and they begin to proclaim loudly
so everyone can see as they're saying that they're giving thanks
and they get praise of men. We don't do that, do we? Do you
know why? Because we've been taught to
pray in secret. Christ is our example of this.
When he prayed, He prayed with our brethren. He prayed with
the disciples. He didn't pray in front of the
hypocrites that are called Pharisees. He prayed in secret unto his
father, him and his father alone. When we pray, we have been taught
to do just that. He continues to tell us here,
and it's something I want to bring to our attention, and I
mentioned this Wednesday night, but someone wanted to, someone
was very upset with me and my family, so don't worry, none
of you all, you can not worry about that. Somebody in my family
that don't even live in the state was upset that I would dare call
the Lord's Prayer something other, found in Matthew chapter six.
Brethren, this is not the Lord's Prayer whenever he says, our
Father who art in heaven, here in verse nine. I'm gonna read
that to us. That is the model prayer. He's telling his disciples how
to pray. He's teaching them what you should say. That's not the
Lord's Prayer. The Lord's Prayer is found in John chapter 17,
when he is praying by himself to his Father for His people. He is the intercessor for His
people in that chapter. We're gonna look at that here
in a bit. But this is what the Lord tells us to do whenever
we pray. This is how we should pray. Our
Father, verse nine, after this manner therefore pray ye, our
Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this
day our daily bread and forgive us our debts or trespasses as
the other gospel says, as we forgive our debtors. Lead us
not into temptation but deliver us from evil for thine is the
kingdom, the power and the glory forever, amen. Now the gospel
here is plain in this model prayer that the Lord gives. He's telling
us the who is the father and where is he located? The father
is in heaven, he's higher than the heavens. So that's an acknowledgement
of who we're praying to and who he is, he's holy, he's holy. Our father, which art in heaven,
hallowed, that means holy. He's holy, he's higher than we
are. So to begin praying this prayer, you have to have the
faith of Christ given to you already and the repentance of
God just to acknowledge who he is here. He also tells us where
the Lord is and what we should be praying for. We should be
praying for our daily bread, which is Christ. We should be
praying that the Lord would not lead us a temptation, that it's
all of him if he keeps us, that he would deliver us from evil.
Why is the next thing he shells us? His is the kingdom and the
power and the glory forever. The kingdom, the power and the
glory forever. And this is also how we should
pray according to his will, because it is his kingdom. It is by his
power and it is for his glory forever. We pray in secret under
our Father, acknowledging who He is, acknowledging that it's
by His will that we are saved. It's by His will and purpose
that anything good ever happens to a wretched, vile sinner, because
we are hell deserving. And yet He passed by us, saw
us polluted in our own blood. and He had mercy upon us, that's
how we approach Him. Not so other men can see us,
not so other men can hear us. We pray to our Heavenly Father,
and our Father hears His people. Isn't that glorious? Our Father
hears us on behalf of Christ when we pray. I wanted to preface
this message with this passage, but our text is found in 2 Samuel
7. 2 Samuel 7. I love that we see David's life
and everything that has taken place in David's life up until
him, saving him from Saul, giving him the kingdom, and now it says
in verse one of chapter seven, it came to pass when the king
sat in his house, the Lord had given him rest round about from
all his enemies. Now the king said unto Nathan
the prophet, see now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the
ark of God dwelleth with curtains. And Nathan said to the king,
go, do all that is in thy heart, for the Lord is with thee. David
is desirous to build the Lord's house. Now don't forget, I'm
preaching to us on the prayer of the righteous man, so I'm
not getting distracted from that at all. But in order to worship
God, in order to come to him, to approach the throne of grace
that we may have, because we've obtained mercy to find grace
help in the time of need, We needed Christ our temple, Christ
our tabernacle, Christ our sanctuary, Christ our city of refuge. And
this is what David's desiring. He's saying, I have a house of
cedar, I have beautiful construction that's been done, and yet the
Lord's dwelling in tents. He's dwelling in tapestry, and
he deserves better than that. Now, his desire unto the Lord
is to build him a house. But the Lord tells him, no, you
can't build me a house. Do we know why David couldn't
build him a house? First of all, he was a man of
war. He was a bloody man, the scripture says. And the Lord
wouldn't have it. But second of all, God's house has to be
holy. We're talking about a holy God dwelling in a place. Now,
what we have here in this building is wood, and it is mortar, and
it is stone, and it is nails, and that's all that David had
to work with as well. It was a place made with hands. But we know in looking at Leviticus
as we had, and even looking last Sunday about Christ, our high
priest, we know that the Lord desires the inward parts of man
for us to worship. He desires a tabernacle not made
with hands, not of flesh and blood, but it's of the spirit,
isn't it? That's where his kingdom is.
That's where he is going to be worshiped by his people, is in
spirit and in truth. Yet the Lord gives David and
the Lord gives each of us a desire to worship Him, to pray unto
Him, to call upon Him. We can't do that unless He allows
us to, unless He causes us to. You would not have naturally
woke up this morning and wanted to come to the house of God.
Your flesh is enmity, my flesh is enmity against God. Yet He
has put that desire in the heart of His people according to His
will. That's why the scripture says, the spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak. It also says the Lord, David,
in another place, Psalm chapter 110, verse three, it says, thy
people shall be willing in the day of thy power. We have a desire
to worship, don't we? We have a desire, we've been
made willing We've been made, we've just been made and we see
a need. We want to worship God. We have to have Him. That's why
in Psalm 95, verse six, he says, Oh, come, let us worship and
bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord, our maker. We know. We've been made to know. The
very first Sunday that we have met here, I quoted this verse
to us. Except the Lord build a house,
they labor in vain that build it. We, as the Lord's people,
know that the Lord is the one that's going to build the house.
He's the one that's going, he has erected his temple in the
person of Christ. He's already done that. He's
already seated at the right hand of the Father, so he's already
satisfied with the work Christ did. And you and I come here
not to try to do something We have a desire to worship and
yet we can't on our own. Do we see what I'm trying to
say this morning? We're coming here at the same desire David
did. We're wanting to build the Lord a house. He deserves a house.
He deserves a place. And yet the Lord said, you can't
build me a house. You're false and full of sin. But the Lord
says, I'm gonna build a house for myself. I'm going to have
my son build me a house and you're gonna worship me and I'm gonna
establish my kingdom with you forever. So here's the Lord.
telling David, you can't do anything. You can't build me a house. You
can't worship me. I'm gonna build a house. I'm
gonna cause you to worship me, and I'm gonna save my people
from their sin. The Lord gets all the glory in this salvation
that's happening right here. It's a beautiful picture of what
our Lord accomplished. This is the grace that the gospel
gives unto his people. This is the only hope that we
have. Lord, I wanna worship you. Lord says, you can't. God's a
spirit, and you must worship in spirit and in truth, but he
said, I'm gonna give you my spirit. I'm gonna make you perfectly
righteous. I'm gonna present you wholly unto my father and
you will worship. You will be willing in the day
of my power." Isn't that glorious? You can't, I will, is what the
Lord's saying. And then he says, I will and
you shall worship. I love our God in that regard.
Now in verse 12 of this chapter, This is the Lord speaking as
a response unto David by Nathan the prophet. It says, when that
day shall be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers,
I will set up thy seat after thee, which shall proceed out
of thy bowels. And I will establish his kingdom. 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. 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. Thy throne shall be established
forever. Now we understand that the Lord
Because we have the volume of the book, we see that the Lord
is specifically physically speaking of Solomon, but he's also speaking
of the Lord Jesus Christ because Solomon didn't establish the
eternal throne of God, did he? Solomon didn't establish the
spiritual kingdom of God that never ends. Heaven and earth
shall pass away. So anything that Solomon and David established
physically is going to burn up. He's talking about Christ. He's
talking about through the lineage of David, being in the bowels
of David already, Not being born yet, he's talking about Christ.
That Christ would come, King of kings and Lord of lords, and
he would establish his kingdom. He would establish his place
of worship. And do you know where his place of worship is, brethren?
It's right here. It's in the heart that he's given
unto us. He's taken out the heart of stone, and he's given us the
heart of flesh. He's given us a place to worship
together. This building, sure, but we worshiped
in the community center, did we not? So it's not the place
physically, it's the place spiritually. It's the new man that he's given
us that looks to Christ, and that's what he's telling David
right here. I'm going to establish this. You can't. You can establish
this kingdom. I can establish this kingdom
and you all can establish this kingdom. God had to do it and
he did it through his darling son, the Lord Jesus Christ for
his people. Now I love David's response to
this. David's response is found in
verse 18. Then went King David in and sat
before the Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord God? And what is
my house that thou hast brought me hither to? And this was yet
a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God. But thou hast spoken also
of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the
manner of man, O Lord God? And what can David say more unto
thee for thou, Lord? Thou, Lord God, knowest thy servant.
For Thy word's sake and according to Thine own heart hast Thou
done all these great things to make Thy servant know them. Wherefore,
Thou art great, O Lord, and there is none like Thee, neither is
there any God beside Thee, according to all that we have heard with
our ears. Who am I, O Lord God? What is Thy servant that Thou
shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? Truth, Lord, I am
a dog, but the dogs desire crumbs that fall from the master's table.
Do we see that it's always the same confession? When the Lord
comes to you and shows you that you're a sinner, when the Lord
comes to me and shows me I'm a sinner, it's the same confession. Who am I, Lord, that you would
have mercy upon me? That your grace is not exhausted
because of my sin, but yet you have abundant grace that covers
all my sin, and yet my sin is gone forever. cast as far as
the east is from the west. Who am I? What is my house? He says here. What is my house?
This is a small thing compared to you. My kingdom is a tiny
kingdom. My kingdom is insignificant is what David is saying. David
still don't understand the Lord's talking about an eternal kingdom
here, but he's confessing to the Lord, who am I? And as a
king, what am I that you should look upon me? This is a small
matter. This is a small thing and yet
you're going to establish it forever? Who's a God like unto
thee that pardoneth iniquity? Who's a God like unto thee that
showeth mercy? And then he says, is this the way of man? Is this
the manner of man? It's a rhetorical question. Of
course it's not. We're not gonna see our worst enemy. We're not
gonna see our worst enemy and give him our kingdom. Everything
that we've ever worked for and earned by our own merits, physically
speaking. We would not by nature give our
inheritance unto a dog or unto a person that was our proclaimed
enemy, would we? And yet that's what God did for
his people. By nature, we are enmity against God. And he established
his kingdom by the person of his son. He robed us in his righteousness,
put a robe on our back, a ring on our finger, just like the
prodigal son. He's washed us in his own blood. Not only did
he give us his kingdom, but he laid down his life for us on
top of that. He gave us his son that we might have life and have
it more abundantly. Who's a God like it to him? Who's a father
like him to him? That's what David's response
is right here. Can you imagine hearing this from the Lord hearing? Hearing what David is heard that
he's going to establish his kingdom forever with you. If you're God's
people, you've already heard this. You've already heard it
by the preaching of the gospel. That's why we come here is that
the Lord would establish his kingdom that I could be part
of it. that I would be made, he said in 1 John 3, verse one,
behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,
that we should be called the sons of God. Then he says, brethren,
now are we the sons of God, right now, right now are we the sons
of God. That's what he did for his people. What am I, Lord, who am I that
you would take notice of me? What is man, what is man that
the Lord Look on him and have mercy. His thoughts are not our
thoughts. His ways are not our ways. For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so is his ways above
our ways and his thoughts above our thoughts. The good news of
the gospel comes in the same exact chapter as I was quoting
from there, and it says, incline your ear and come unto me. There's
an open invitation for the people of God to come unto him, for
the worst dead dog vile sinners to come to him. Come unto me. All you that are labored and
are heavy laden. If you are laboring, if you are labored and heavy
laden, that means you're working. He talks about a yoke there.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. So two oxen would go to
plow a field and they would take an old oxen and a young oxen.
And the old oxen would keep going straight to train the young one
so he couldn't leave. What Christ is saying, be yoked
up with me. I'll do the work. He's already
done the work. It's finished. He's already done it. And that's
why he says, come unto me. The table's already been spread.
The kingdom's already been established. The blood's already been applied.
Here we see the table of the Lord in front of us, and he says,
come, take the water of life freely. Come, take the blood. Drink Christ's blood and body.
It's all our righteousness, all our salvation. But is there room enough for
me is the question. Well, he said, incline your ear
and come unto me. Here in your soul shall live, and I will make
an everlasting covenant with you. I'm thankful that the Lord
doesn't give specific names in the scripture, that it doesn't
say, well, I only died for this person, and I only died for this
person, and we have some kind of a glimpse as to what kind
of person we have to be. David was a murderer. David was an
adulterer. We're gonna find that out the second hour. David was
a terrible man. If you look at his life and the
things that he committed and the unbelief that he had through
his entire life, everything that happened in his kingdom, being
split in two between him and his son and the warfare that
he had, he never had peace. He never had peace in his life.
He was always warring his entire life. That's you and I, isn't
it? That's you and I by nature. And yet he says, I will make
an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
David. What does that mean? Well, the
sure mercies of David were sure because of where they came from.
It was God's mercy bestowed upon him. It was God's grace given
unto him in the covenant of grace before the foundation of the
world. I'm thankful that you and I can't mess that up. He
says, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have
compassion upon whom I will have compassion. Let us not overlook
the fact that the Lord said, I will. That means he's going
to. That means he already has. If
the Lord says, I will, it's going to happen. That's the good news.
He didn't say, I can. I can have mercy. He said, I
will. That's the gospel. That's the
interjection that I'm hopeful for, is that he will, and he
does, the scripture says, he has, he does delight in mercy. David said, Lord, let us build
you a house. Let me build you a house. That was the desires
of his heart. Lord, let us build you a house.
Show us what we have to do to be found in Christ. Well, there's
nothing you can do. It's finished. You can't build
me a house. I've already established it forever.
You can't build me a kingdom. I've already finished the work.
And he says unto his son, sit here on my right hand till thy
enemies be made thy footstool. And all those who are in Christ
are seated in the heavenlies with Christ. So not only are
we in his kingdom, we're sitting in him right now in glory. We
say, Lord, we want to build you a house. You know, the believer
knows we can't build him a house. Our desire is to see him, our
desire, and that's David's desire. David was right in what he wanted
to do, but he knew by God's word he couldn't do it. So God did
it for him, and God did it for his people. And now he says,
come, let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be
red like quips, and they shall be as wool. When he says, come,
reason together, are you gonna reason with the Lord? If he tells
you that your sin's been made white as snow, there's no reasoning
in that. That's just good news, isn't
it? That's just a declaration of good news. The Lord saved
His people from their sin. He will not share this glory
with anyone. He wouldn't share it with David.
He won't share it with you and I. He won't share it with anyone.
He gets all the glory and salvation, and the Lord's people don't want
any glory. We don't want any glory and salvation,
do we? We want Him to have all the glory.
Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body
of death? Christ delivered us from the body of death. Oh, death,
where is thy sting? Oh, grave, where is thy victory?
That's why the four in 20 hours say, holy, holy, holy is the
Lord God Almighty, which was, which are, and which is to come.
He's worthy of all glory and all praise. And he will have
it all from his people. Now, the why to all this is found
in verse 26. What we say to these things,
what we say to these things is found in verse 26. Let thy name
be magnified forever, saying, the Lord of hosts is the God
over Israel. Let the house of thy servant
David be established before thee. For thou, O Lord of hosts, God
of Israel hath revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build
thee a house. Therefore hath thy servant found
in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. So from verse 18 through
the end of the chapter is David's prayer unto God. Do we see that? And it is a prayer of thanksgiving.
And it is a prayer of hopefulness. And yet the Lord did not do anything
according to David's prayer that he had not already promised that
he would do, meaning it wasn't David's prayer that accomplished
this kingdom being established. It was God said, I will, and
you shall. and that's where we find hope,
and that's where we find rest, is that we can't change the mind
of God. So why do we pray? He told us to. He told us to
come into his presence and pray. He said, ask. He said, you have
not, because you ask amiss. Ask, and it shall be given unto
you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened
unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh
findeth, and him that knocketh, it shall be opened. What is the
Lord saying? He desires for us to ask him of what things we
desire. What do you pray for more than
anything? It's not money, is it? And it's not more time. Greg said many times, if time
and money can fix it, it's not really a problem. If you had
enough time, you could eventually get enough money. So really it
comes down to time, don't it? Ultimately, but nonetheless,
what do we pray for? Lord, let me be found in Christ.
Lord, leave me not to myself. If you leave me to myself, I
will be utterly desolate. I will be found in want I will
need. I need a substitute. That's what
we pray for mostly, isn't it? Whether it's consciously intentionally
as we're driving down the road or whether or not we have a overwhelming.
Feeling of Lord save me because of circumstances. That's what
we're praying for. Lord save me. Give me Christ.
Give me Christ Lord. Allow me to worship you. We pray according to the Lord's
will, don't we? Christ prayed the same thing in John 17. Let's turn there. Christ is our
righteous man. Now understand, no matter what
you and I pray, no matter what you and I pray, we are praying unto the Lord's will. We are not praying unto our own
will, because we've been made to know that the Lord's ways
are better than our ways. The Lord's higher than we are. We do not come to the Lord in
prayer on our own merits. We do not come into his presence
and demand something or request something based upon something
we have done. Meaning in religion, men are
striking a bargain. They think with God, I'm going
to do my part and you do your part. If I do this, you do this. See, whenever Jacob wrestled
with the angel, Jacob said, I'm not gonna let go of you till
you bless me. But that's not what we do in salvation, is it?
That was a physical thing that took place. We don't come before
the Lord and demand that he gives us something, do we? That's not
what we, that's not in our heart. Do you know why? Because the
Lord's made us to know that his ways are above our ways, his
ways better than our ways. We pray unto the Lord's will.
And we certainly don't bring our merits. So what, when do
we pray? Why do we think that we say, in Jesus' name, amen? It's because it's only by His
merits we're able to enter the throne of grace. It's only by
His grace and mercy that we're able to even know who God is. It's only by His Spirit that
we're able to worship Him, that we're able to pray, and it's
by Christ. He must take the very best prayer
that I ever pray, He must take it and wash it in His blood,
or it will not be heard by the Father. He must take it and wash
it in his own blood. Now, Christ is not the same as
you and I in that regard that I just said. When he prayed,
he was perfect. He was perfect, he is perfect. And when he prayed, his father
heard him. And his father rewarded him according
to his merits, according to his acts, according to everything
that he did. According to Christ, his father rewarded him. I wanna
know what he prayed for, don't you? It's found in John 17. In verse 13. John 17 verse 13. Christ is speaking to his father. And now come I to thee. These
things I speak in the world that they might have my joy fulfilled
in themselves. I have given them thy word and
the world hath hated them because they are not of the world. Even
as I am not of the world, I pray now that thou should take them
out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the
evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. And thou has
sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into
the world. And for their sakes, I sanctify
myself that they also might be sanctified through thy truth.
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also, which shall
believe on me through their word." Brethren, there's controversy
in this chapter with those who are in religion about who the
Lord prayed for. Was he just praying for his disciples?
Well, or was he praying for the world or was he praying just
for his people? Well, certainly he starts out
by praying for his disciples in verse 12. In verse 10, he says, all mine
are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. And
now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world. And
I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those
whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are. Now
understand, We don't have contention with this chapter, but you're
going to have people that may come to you and say that the
Lord was praying for the world here, or he was just praying
for his disciples. That's the only explanation for
those who deny the electing grace of God. That's the only two conclusions
you can come to. Either he's praying for his disciples
or he's praying for the world. He's praying for his people.
He's interceding for his people. And he tells us that clearly.
I prayed up, I've neither pray after these alone in verse 20,
but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word. So that's the disciples going
forth and proclaiming the gospel of Christ unto them. And what
happens unto them? He sanctified them. He has sanctified
them through himself. Now understand sanctified means
to be made holy. Sanctified means to be set apart.
Sanctified means to be made like unto God. And that's what God
requires in order for you and I to be saved. So Christ Jesus
sanctified himself is what he just said there. And then he
lays down his glory. He lays down His glory in order
to impute it unto you and I by the death of Himself on the cross
of Calvary, and in doing so, He sanctified His people. He made them holy. The Lord's
the only one that prayed anything ever in the scripture, and the
Lord, based upon His merits, based upon His request and who
He was, awarded Him, rewarded Him based upon His request. He
prayed unto his father in the Garden of Gethsemane, Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not
my will, but thy will be done. In order for you and I to be
made the righteousness of God in him, he had the drink of that
cup and he prayed unto the will of his father. And the father
rewarded him with his people being made perfectly righteous
by his own blood. This is what he promised David
all the way back in 2 Samuel. He said, I'm gonna establish
a kingdom. You can't establish the kingdom. I'm gonna do it.
And I'm gonna establish it forever by your seed. And that was Jesus
Christ coming. When the Lord Jesus prayed, when
the Lord Jesus prayed for his people, the father heard him. The father was well pleased with
his son. You know the only difference between Judas and Peter? Christ
prayed for Peter. That was the only difference.
Christ loved Peter. Christ died for Peter. That was
the difference. Peter was standing before the
Lord, and the Lord said, can you go with me? Peter said, we'll
go with you all the way, even into the end, we're gonna die
with you. He said, I'll die with you, Lord. And he said, get behind
me, Satan, for Satan hath desire to sift thee as we eat. He said,
Peter, fear not. That's what the Lord says to
his people, fear not, for I have prayed for thee. That was the
difference, the Lord Jesus prayed. for his people in John 17, prayed
in the garden of Gethsemane for his people and all his prayer,
the prayer of the righteous man, the Lord rewarded him what he
prayed for. It came to pass because of the
Lord's prayer, because of him honoring his father, his father
honored him and glorified him and gave us the glory of Christ.
You and I have been glorified. Now I don't see that and you
don't see that. Glorified means being made like him. But according
to the scripture, we've been glorified. We've been glorified. Then whom he predestinated, he
called. Whom he called, he justified. And whom he justified, he glorified.
Romans chapter eight. The scripture says in James chapter
five and verse 16, the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous
man availeth much. Now in religion, What I was taught,
and it's not true, it's not true, that you need to pray a little
harder, you need to work a little more, and the Lord will reward
you based upon your efforts. God does not reward His people
based upon our efforts. God rewards His people based
upon the merits of Jesus Christ. That's our hope. That's our rest.
If He rewards me for one thing that I've done, then it's not
all of grace, is it? As a matter of fact, it would
be damnation to me is what it would be if He rewards me based
upon me. That means he sees me. I don't want him to see me. I
want him to see Christ. I want to be in Christ. So what
does it mean? The effectual fervent prayer
of a righteous man availeth much? Well, if it is up to me, is my
prayer effectual enough? Is my prayer fervent enough?
Christ was. Christ was effectual enough.
Men say that we should be sorry. When we come and approach the
Lord, they make displays in communication by saying, well, come up here
and all you have to do is is be sorry for your sin and then
you confess your sin and then the Lord will save you. But how
sorry do you have to be? I need to know what magnitude
of sorrow do I have to feel in order for my sin to be put away?
Aren't you glad that Christ is the one that felt the full sorrow
of our sin, the full fire of God's wrath and satisfied him? Everything that was required
in feeling sorry enough, Christ felt the sorrow, the grief. He put him to grief, the scripture
says in Isaiah 55. Grief is likened then to something
that happens during death or after death, the grief, a loss
of a loved one or something. that you cared for dearly being
taken from you. Christ was put to grief for his
people because of our sin, the separation from his father. Our
righteous man is the one that availeth much. He availed much
whenever he prayed for his people. He accomplished the will of the
father. Do we see that what he prayed
was the will of the father for him to pray it? Do we see that
what he prayed was the desire of his heart, which was to be
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, to establish
His kingdom, to give us a place of worship, to allow us to be
able to enter in boldly to the throne of grace. Christ Jesus,
by His own will, by His own will, prayed unto His Father, and His
Father was pleased with His prayer, just as He was pleased with His
life, just as He was pleased with His death, His blood, His
resurrection. God is satisfied with His Son. So when you and I pray, Take
heart in knowing that the Lord sees the prayer of the righteous
one when we pray. He's not looking at just our
wishful desires. He sees and has caused us to
pray unto him, thy will be done, Lord. And what is the Lord's
will? That Christ would save his people from their sin, and
he did, he did. In verse 20, he says, neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe
on me through their word, that they all may be one as thou,
Father, art in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in
us. Think about the oneness. I've spoken on this recently,
but think about the oneness. We're talking about Christ being
one with his Father and you and I being one with Christ. And
he literally says, I in thee, that they also may be one in
us. Isn't that glorious? To be one
with God in thought, in deed, in action. How can that be? Because
we're in Christ. We are one with God. Perfect union, perfect union. That the world may believe that
thou hast sent me. Verse 22, and the glory, the
glory which thou gavest me, I have given them that they may be one,
even as we are one. The Lord Jesus Christ has given
us his, glory, His glory. He has glorified His people. Isn't that wonderful? He has
given us the glory. We're talking about the creator
of the universe, the sovereign sustainer of all life, the sovereign
sustainer of everything, the one that spoke light into existence,
all of His glory. You want to see the glory of
God, look at the cross. That's where the glory of God
can be seen. And He did that for the salvation of His people
and to honor His Father, to fulfill the covenant of grace. You and
I are just the benefactors of everything that transpired, but
He gave us His glory in the process and presented us as perfectly
righteous before the Father. This is the good news that the
Lord was speaking to David of back in 2 Samuel. This is our
hope that from the foundation of the world, from the foundation
of the world, look at in verse 24, Father, I will that they
also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am that they
may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest
me before the foundation of the world. Now understand this, if
we are one in Christ Jesus, and Christ is one with his Father,
and the Father loves Christ Jesus before the foundation of the
world, do you know what that means? This is simple math. Christ
loves us before the foundation of the world, and the Father
loved us before the foundation of the world. Paul said in Romans
chapter eight, nothing shall separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus. Do you know why? Because God
is immutable. He changes not. He doesn't grow
older. He doesn't have a new thought.
So if he loves you at this moment, he's always loved you and he's
always going to love you. That is how much the Lord saved
his people perfectly, perfectly. That's how he loves his people
perfectly. The Lord gets all the glory in this salvation,
doesn't he? All that was required for the
Father to give His Son His request, Christ did it. Everything that
was required for the Lord to answer Christ based upon what
Christ requested, Christ fulfilled it, and God gave Him His people. God gave Him, before the foundation
of the world, He gave them to Him to redeem them, but everything
required, Christ Jesus did to please the Father and to save
His people from their sin. Now in closing, I want us to
look at 2 Chronicles 7. 2 Chronicles chapter 7. We've got just a little bit of
a late start, so the time has kind of thrown me off a little
bit, but this will be the last place we
look at 2 Chronicles 7. Second Chronicles chapter seven
was a verse that we would, perhaps some of you can relate to this,
but we used to have things called revivals. And this would be something
that would be pushed. People would get together and
they would have, we call them in the gospel, we call them,
well, I guess the closest thing would be a conference where you
gather together and you have services one night, then the next day
or the next day and so on. But men would have these revivals
and they would use this verse in 2 Chronicles 7 as their foundational
verse as what we should do in order to get a response from
God. And that's how most men pray. Most men pray to get a
response from God when in turn prayer is not for God or to enact
God to do something. It's for you in order to see
him more high lifted up because the more you pray, the more you'll
see less of yourself, the more you'll seek after him and realize
you're completely powerless. But men believe, men believe
that they come to God and they obligate God by praying something. They've done their part. And
they believe that this 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14, they believe that
if they do this, because he says this right here, then it's obligated
him to do something. Now look at this. 2 Chronicles
7, 14, if my people, which are called by my name. Now let's
stop right there first, because you can't, if we go any farther
than that, then there's gonna be a misunderstanding of who
he's speaking to. First of all, it's his people, and they're
called by his name. The Lord saved us, and then he
called us. So he's speaking to his people
alone, nobody else. If my people, which are called
by my name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and
turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven.
I will forgive their sin, and I will heal their land. Now that's
the verse that men believe. The last election, we just went
through election, but before that, the presidential election,
whenever I went down to Tennessee to visit with family, they literally
had this sign, it was down Main Street, they had multiple signs
with this verse on it. All we have to do is humble ourself
and pray and turn from our wicked ways and God said he'll heal
our land. That's what they said. That's what they believe with
all their heart. I mean, they're genuine in their belief. But we have
to continue reading. Verse 15, now my eyes shall be
open and my ears attend unto the prayer that is made in this
place. For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that
my name may be there forever, and my eyes and my heart shall
be there perpetually. Now, my people, which are called
by my name, first and foremost, if they'll humble themselves,
if they'll seek my face and they'll turn from their wicked ways,
Do we know that that's all by grace? Every bit of that. If
we humble ourself, it's because we've seen God. He's given us
repentance. Do we see that? You can't humble
yourself. Scripture declares, humble yourself
under the mighty hand of God. He that humbleth himself shall
be exalted. He that exalted himself shall be abased in Luke chapter
14. But not unto salvation. We can't humble ourself enough
unto salvation. And that's what men and women
are saying they need to do. That's just not true. So what is the
Lord telling us? He's saying unto us, unto us,
his people, you have been humbled, you are being made to seek his
face, you are being made to call upon his name, and you have turned
from your wicked ways because he's given you a new man. Everything
required here for the Lord to heal us, to put away our sin
and to heal our land, Christ did. Now what is he talking about,
heal my land? He said, I will heal their land.
Well, two ways can be taken by that. Men believe it's a physical
land. Well, where were they at this
time? They were in the land of Canaan, weren't they? They were in the
promised land. They had false gods all around them, didn't they?
And it was causing pollution. It was causing division. It was
causing all kinds of controversy, and it's still causing controversy
over there physically. But the Lord's not establishing
his earthly kingdom, is he? Everything he's speaking of is
a spiritual kingdom. That's the reason the Jews rejected
Christ from the very beginning because Christ didn't set up
an earthly kingdom and conquer it like David did back in Samuel. They rejected Christ because
of this. You and I see that it is a spiritual kingdom. You and
I know that God, when he set up this spiritual kingdom, he's
given us faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and repentance unto God.
You and I have been made to know that the land that needs to be
healed is this land right here, this man, this land of false
gods and false religion needs to be driven completely out of
us. We're born idle factories. We're born false God producers. Lord, I need you to heal my land.
I need you to heal the inward parts of me, that I may worship
you, that I may come unto you, that I may seek your face. And
he does that for his people because of this heavenly kingdom that
he has established. How do we know all this? Well,
he tells us, He tells us that I have sanctified, verse 16,
for now I have chosen and sanctified this house that my name may be
there forever and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.
How do we know that we have been humbled? How do we know that
we have been made to seek his face? Because he's the one that
did the choosing. Because he's the one that did
the sanctifying. I have sanctified. I have made you holy, he says.
So why do we humble ourselves? Because he's humbled us. Why
do we seek his face? Because he says, seek ye my face.
Why do we pray unto him? As David was praying in thanksgiving
because of what Christ has done in putting away our sin. We seek
the Lord. And he tells us, seek the Lord
while he may be found. I love the part where it says,
therefore, his eyes and his heart is here forever with his people. His eyes are attentive unto us.
Just as the scripture says, one sparrow sold for a farthing.
How much are you? How much more valuable? Not one
sparrow falls to the ground unnoticed. And how much more valuable are
you to your heavenly father? If he takes notice of the sparrows,
Don't you think he'll take note of his people? He'll not withhold
one thing from his people that they need, that they need. And he'll not withhold one thing
that you ask for, that you need, because your need is one thing.
It's Christ. It's to be found in Christ. I
love the word perpetually here. Perpetually means forever and
ever and ever and ever. And you can't say ever, ever
enough because it's forever. It's continual. It never had
a beginning or ever had an end. whom the Lord chose, he sanctified.
They've been made holy in Christ. He's loved them with an everlasting
love. It never had a beginning and
it never had an end. He's established his kingdom with his people.
David said, Lord, let me build you a house. And he said, you
can't. I'm gonna build a house for myself. You're gonna worship
me. And I'm gonna establish your kingdom forever and ever in Christ
Jesus. That's what he did for his people.
That's what the prayer of the righteous man was being prayed
for in the garden. It's what the prayer in John
17 was being prayed for All that the Lord required Christ Jesus
did. He saved his people. Christ Christ's
prayer was heard by his father and God answered. God answered
and the answer is you're perfectly righteous before him. You're
perfectly righteous. Father, bless your word. Thank
you for doing all the work and getting all the glory. I pray
that You would keep us according to Your will, in Christ's name,
Amen.