if you will, to 2 Samuel 23. I've looked at this several times.
I'm not absolutely sure, but it seems to me that evidently
David is in his last weeks or certainly months, maybe hours
when this scripture was written or when these words were spoken,
It clearly says, these be the last words of David, 2 Samuel
23, 1. It identifies in David the son
of Jesse, the man who was raised up on
high, the man whom God anointed, and the sweet psalmist of Israel
was dying. Now it's appointed unto All men wants to die. Scripture says something about
the instrument of death is already prepared. Certainly man's days
are determined. My days are determined. God has set my bounds I cannot
pass. The number of my months is with
the Lord. Even those who are God's chosen
will die. When it talked about Abraham
and Enoch and Abel and Noah and all these men, it said in Hebrews
11, but they died. They died in faith, but they
still died. I don't suppose there's anyone
here tonight who expects to die this evening, but one of us or
several of us may. And when a man is dying, what
are his thoughts? I'll be honest with you, I've
never really faced death. I've never been in that position
where I thought there's a possibility that I may not see the morning
light or the sunrise again. I've never really been there.
But what does a man think about when he's dying? Well, I would
judge that a man would consider three things. I believe if I
were, right now, Jay Dye, that physician examined me and said,
there's really no hope that you will live out the night, I believe
I'd immediately go into thoughts regarding three things. I believe
I'd think about my relationship with God. My relationship with
God. What is my relationship with
God? I really believe I'd do some
serious thinking about that relationship. And secondly, I believe that
the next thought that would go through my mind is, how will
I fare in the judgment? There will be a judgment. Scripture
says it's appointed unto me and wants to die after this judgment. Every man shall give an account
of himself to God. There will be a judgment. And
then I believe the third thing, and all of these would be considered
at the same time, while individually I'm sure, I would think, where
will I spend eternity? Where will I spend eternity?
Now, these are the last words of David, and I'm just certain
that these three things were on his mind when he spoke these
words. My relationship with God, the
living God, not my religion now. Notice I didn't say my religion.
I wouldn't have a religious thought, I don't think. I would have some
thought concerning my relationship with God and the judgment in
eternity. I believe these three things
are on David's mind when he speaks these words. Now I know that
our Lord Jesus Christ is our pattern. I know He's our example
and I know He's our only sure foundation. But David, David
is a man. I'm only a man. And David is
a man. And I'm sure that David knew
the Lord. I'm just positive of that. Twice he's called a man
after God's own heart. I know that he knew the Lord.
I know that he was one of God's own. So I'm going to look at
the words of David and the thoughts of David in this dying hour.
And I'm going to see if I can find my hope where he found his.
I'm going to see if I can find my comfort where he found his.
You see what I'm saying? David is dying. Someday I'll
die. David considers the future, eternity. I'm going to consider eternity
in the future. David found some confidence.
David found some comfort. David found some hope. And being
a man like David, I'm going to see if I can find and if I can
say the same thing and find in the same place the hope and comfort
and joy which he found. Now, two things are evident here. Number one, David finds no hope
or comfort in his works. I want you to note that. Down
here in verse 5, he said, Although my house be not so with God,
yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things,
and sure, this is all my salvation, this is all my desire. Now, David might have said this. as he lay there, J, dying. He
might have thought back, way back yonder, 60 years prior to
this day, when he was a shepherd boy and his father had sent him
out there to take care of the sheep, because there was an important
man coming to town. His name was Samuel. This important
man was on a mission with God. This was the prophet of God.
And David wasn't even allowed to stay in the house and meet
the prophet of God or see this great prophet of God, but he
was sent out on the hillside to take care of the sheep and
his six, with his six other brothers, I think, six of them, they stayed
there at the house in the hope that one of them would be anointed
king. And after they'd gone through all of the talk and the ceremony
and God rejected all six of them, somebody came out there and said,
David, your dad wants to see you. So he said, well, you take
care of the sheep. And this lad, everybody pictures
him as a little kid, but I think he was a pretty good-sized boy.
And he came back to the house, and there was all kind of celebration
there and everything, and everybody was waiting on him. David was
the man of the hour, God's man of the hour. And this young man
came and stood in the door, and every eye turned and looked upon
him. There were his six brothers and his father, his mother, and
the prophet of God and all these friends and neighbors assembled
there. And he said he came and stood in the door and God said,
that's my man. That's my man. Now he could have
thought of that. He could have said, well, I think
I'll rest easy about this thing of dying. I think I'll rest easy
about this thing of meeting God at the judgment and spending
eternity because one time years ago, 60 years ago, I joined the
old country church and made a decision. And God said, that's my man.
Or perhaps he could have thought about that day when the armies
of Israel were all backed against the wall and there was a big
fellow up there named Goliath that was challenging all of them. He laid down the challenge to
God's whole army, God's king and his whole army. And he said,
pick a man to come meet me. And not a man in Israel would
go meet him, not one man. But this young David came out
there with a sling and so many stones went out there to meet
the giant and slew him. Go on and on. David could talk
about the time he restored the ark, what a holy, sacred hour
it was when David took the people and the priest and all the fellows
and went down and brought the holy ark of God back where it
belonged, to Jerusalem. David did that. Or how David
sat down and peened, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
Or Psalm 45 or Psalm 100, make a joyful noise unto the Lord.
And when he penned, under the leadership of the Holy Spirit,
the very words of Jesus Christ on the cross in Psalm 22, for
he perhaps could have thought about the time he defeated God's
enemies. Here he is a dying man. Here
he is facing judgment and eternity, facing a meeting with the Holy
God. And you know, actually, as I thought about these different
victories and works and hours in David's life, I kind of got
a little assurance too. Honestly, as you think about
these things, that's the old flesh. I did this and I did that. I tell you, the strongest, hardest
to conquer, most persistent enemy you've got yourself That old flesh is going to take
some credit, it's going to take some glory, it's going to take
some praise, it'll worm its way in, it'll wiggle up its evil
head, it'll reach out some way to stand like those at the judgment
and say, hold it, everybody hold it. I preached in God's name. I cast out devils in God's name. I did many wonderful works, only
to hear Christ say, I never knew. David could have in this awesome
hour, in this solemn hour, Think what he could have thought. Think
what he could have said. Think what he could have relied
upon. But he didn't. He didn't. He didn't mention
one single thing that he did in this summing up his hope.
He said, what I'm saying is, he said, this is all my salvation. This is all my desire. This is
all of it. A-L-L, all of it. Sum total of
it. Substance and essence of it.
This is it in a package. I'll show you the second thing
I find here. David didn't despair over his sins. Now I'm sure,
I'm sure that if he'd been dwelling on his sins, his failures, the
time that he feigned being a crazy person, slobbered at the mouth
and acted like a fool and a crazy person to escape some wicked
king, the time that he took another man's wife committed adultery,
where the time he had the other man killed, the time he counted
Israel, numbered Israel, and God wiped out how many hundreds
of men, thousands of men? The times he played the fool.
I just imagine that if he'd have thought of these things, he would
have said, I'm sorry, I regret it, I wish I hadn't have done
it, but there's nothing here about that. David didn't find
comfort in his victories and he didn't find despair in his
sin. He doesn't mention the things
he did good or the things he did bad. He doesn't mention either
one. Now, I tell you, I get a little
disturbed over the way people die today, church people. In
their dying hours, they're forever talking about how they've served
the Lord and how they've done all these things, you know, or
else they talk about they haven't done this, haven't done that,
and haven't done the other. David's only source of comfort,
you read it again with me, in 2 Samuel 23 5, although my hearts
be not so with God, yet he hath made with me, he made it, he
gave it, an everlasting comfort. I was listening to a television
preacher this morning, and he made this statement, these words,
I'm going to quote them almost verbatim. He says, I rarely ever
think about death. He said, as he continued, I am
not afraid to die. I wish he'd left it right there.
I'd have had more hope for him, but he couldn't domino. He said,
I have made preparation to live with God. Who made it? I made it. I've made preparation,
and therefore I'm not afraid to die. That's not what David
said. He didn't say that at all. He
said, God hath made the preparation. God hath made the preparation.
He hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Now my friends, I'm
going to say something here and you think it over. Someone said
years ago, he who understands the covenants, mainly two. God is a covenant God. There's
six or seven covenants in the Bible. There's a covenant He
made with Noah and a covenant He made with Abraham and a covenant
He made with David. and the covenant he made with
Moses, and I mentioned Noah, but there are two in particular,
there are two specific covenants. He who understands the covenants
holds the key, the very key to theology. Now I'm going to ask
some questions, I'm going to deal with it as frankly and plainly
as I can. When David mentioned this covenant,
Although my house be not so with God." Here he is, evidently a
dying man, evidently an eternity-bound soul, evidently a man on the
threshold of a meeting with God Almighty, a trip you and I are
going to shortly take. And the thing that he finds,
the place where he finds hope and confidence and comfort is
not in his duties and works and gifts and victories, nor even
does he despair over his failures and faults and sins, but he turns
his whole attention to something God did for him, and he calls
it the everlasting covenant. And he says, that covenant that
God made is ordered in all things and sure, and it's my whole salvation
and my whole desire. Now, what is that covenant? All right, let's start with this.
Number one, there was a covenant made with Adam, our first father. Our father, it read, this is
what the covenant, God made a covenant with Adam. You know the story,
made the heavens and the earth, said let there be light, the
trees, all things, you know, and then he made man, male and
female, and he gave these orders, made this agreement, this covenant,
do my will and live. Now that was the covenant in
so many words. God made with Adam. Do my will
and live. Adam was a great covenant head.
This covenant was made between God and Adam. It was made between
God, Jay, and the human race because Adam was our covenant
head, our federal head, our representative. Now that's so. That's so. Turn, if you will, to 1 Corinthians.
I'll try to show you that and as simply as I know how. As plainly
as I know how to show it, I'm not going to get complicated.
I'm simply going to show you in 1 Corinthians 15, where it
says, In Adam all died. In Adam. Adam was a covenant
head. This agreement, this covenant,
this testament was made with Adam. It was a covenant of works.
It had this stipulation. If you will obey me, if you'll
walk in my law, if you'll keep my commandments, you'll live.
That's what God said, 1 Corinthians 15, 22. Now look over here at
verse 47. The first man, verse 45, so it
is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul. The last
Adam, a quickening spirit. Verse 47, the first man is of
the earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. As is the earthy, such are they that are earthy, and
as is the heavenly, such are they that are heavenly. As we
have borne the image of the earthy, that's Adam, we shall bear the
image of the heavenly, that's Christ. You see the two men?
The two Adams. The word Adam is man. And the
first Adam, he was the federal head of the whole human race.
All men were created in him. God never created but one man.
He even got woman out of that man. He created man from the
dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life. He became a living soul. And from that man he made woman,
and from that man and woman came all the rest of the human race.
All of them, except Jesus Christ. He didn't come from that man
and woman. He came from heaven. He came from God. He was the
Son of God. God used a woman to form, make, prepare him a
body in that woman so that he would be born like we are. But
he had no natural father. He had no connection with Adam
by natural generation. None whatsoever. He came from
God. He's the Son of God. All the
rest of us came from Adam. Or it turned to Romans 5. You
said, what did we have to do with Adam? He was our father.
He was our covenant head. He was our representative. He
was our federal head. And when he stood, we stood.
When he obeyed, we obeyed. When he fell, we fell. When he
died, we died. When he offended God, we offended
God. When he was separated from God
and cast out of the presence of God, all of his race was cast
out. Romans 5, 12 shows you that.
Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into this world, and
death by sin, so death passed upon all men. Right there. Look, if you will, at Romans
5. Verse 17. Romans 5, 17. As, if, or if by
one man's offense death reigned. Verse 18. By the offense of one
judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Verse 19. As by
one man's disobedience many were made sinners. That was the first
covenant. And we want nothing to do with
that covenant. Now let's wipe it out. You don't
want anything. If perfect Adam couldn't handle it, you can't
handle it. You don't want anything to do with the covenant of works.
You don't want to make any agreements with God based on obedience.
There's one man that had an agreement with God based on obedience and
he failed. He failed. Now, you don't want any arrangement
like that with God. Martin Luther said, I want nothing
to do with an absolute God. I don't want any agreements.
I don't want any pacts. I don't want any covenants. I
don't want any deals with God. His blessings based on my obedience. No, you don't now. You don't
even now want it. Even a saved person, you don't
want it. You want the gifts of mercy. You want the blessings
of mercy. You don't want any agreement.
You don't want any of God's mercies or blessings or benefits to be
based in any way on your faithfulness. You just don't do it. You're
a fool if you do. You don't know yourself. You don't know what
you can do. You sure don't. How in the world
can we entertain keeping a law we've already broken? How? I don't understand that. I don't
understand how any preacher can preach blessings on the basis
of obedience, when God Almighty requires perfect obedience. God
requires perfection inwardly and outwardly. God can't handle
a partial obedience. All right, here's the second
covenant. The second covenant is made with the second Adam.
Now, the Word uses it this way, that the second covenant is the
everlasting covenant. It's second by way of revelation.
It's first by way of being purposed. So I'm going to use it as second
because that's the way it's revealed. The second covenant was made
with Jesus Christ our Lord. Now turn to Hebrews 7. Hebrews
chapter 7. In the seventh chapter of Hebrews,
It talks about the Old Testament priesthood in verse 21. And it
says here, it talks about this covenant made with Abraham and
with Moses and with Israel. For those priests were made without
an oath. But this, with an oath by him
that said unto him, The Lord swareth and will not repent.
Thou art a priest for ever. after the order of Melchizedek,
by so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament." That
word, testament, is covenant. Now turn to Hebrews 13. Hebrews
13. And here in verse 21, which I
read a moment ago, or verse 20, Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus Christ, that great Shepherd
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant. This everlasting covenant, there
are about four marks of this covenant or identifying characteristics. Number one, it was not made with
a man. It was not made with men. This
everlasting covenant was made before the foundations of the
world with Christ. This is a covenant that God made
with His Son. It's called the everlasting covenant
and God Almighty is the is the one who purposed it, and Jesus
Christ is the one with whom He made it. I want to show you a
few verses. First from John 6. And this is
the covenant that David's talking about. This is where he found
his hope, his confidence, his comfort, his assurance, is this
covenant. Now, John 6, 37. You know the verses the scripture
says in Ephesians 1, blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual blessing
as he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world.
In Christ before the foundation of the world. In 2 Thessalonians
2.13 he said, I thank God for you brethren, beloved of the
Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation.
What I'm saying is before the foundation of the world, before
God ever made man, before man ever fell, before this covenant
of works ever was in effect, God made with His Son an everlasting
covenant, and He gave the Son of people. He gave to Christ
a people out of every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue, people
under heaven, innumerable as the stars of the sky and as the
sands of the seashore. who shall be made like him and
reign with him forever. And that's who he's talking about
in John 6, 37. All that my Father giveth me shall come to me. And
him that cometh to me I'll in no wise cast out. For I came
down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him
that sent me. And God's will is an eternal
will. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. And this
is my Father's will, which has sent me, that of all which he
hath given me I lose nothing, but raise it up at the last day.
I turn to John 10, John chapter 10, and the Lord Jesus talks
about him here. He says in verse 11 of John 10,
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. Verse 14, I am the good shepherd.
I know my sheep and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth
me, even so I know the Father, and I lay down my life for my
sheep. Other sheep I have which are not of this immediate fold,
them also I must bring. They shall hear my voice. They
shall be one foe, and they shall be one shepherd. In verse 24,
some of the people came and said, well, if you're the Christ, tell
us plainly. He said, in verse 25, I told you, the works that
I do, they tell you, they bear witness, but you believe not
because you're not of my sheep. I said unto you, my sheep, hear
my voice. I know them. They follow me. I give them eternal
life. They shall never perish. Verse 29, my Father which gave
them me, is greater than all, no man can
pluck them out of my Father's head." Turn to John 17. And here
our Lord, in John 17, is the great priestly prayer, the prayer
of intercession on the part of the Mediator for His people.
And six times in this one prayer, He mentions those that the Father
gave Him. He said in verse 2, Thou hast
given Him power over all flesh that He should give eternal life
to as many as Thou hast given Him. Verse 6, I have manifested
thy name unto the men which thou gavest me. Verse 9, I pray for
them, I pray not for the world, I pray for them which thou hast
given me. So here's what I'm saying. I'm saying that the Father
made a covenant with the Son. Now, when Adam stood in the Garden
of Eden, God made a covenant of works. It was already preceded
by this covenant of grace, or when Adam fell, we'd all been
annihilated. There was already a surety. There
was already a Redeemer, there was already a Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world, there was already a covenant,
there was already a promise, there was already a provision,
there was already a purpose. But God made this covenant with
man, and man failed. And that everlasting covenant
went into effect. It was revealed, because God
said to the serpent, He said, I'll put enmity between you and
the woman, between her seed, Christ, and your seed, and you'll
bruise his heel, but he'll smash your head and your power. And
our Lord Jesus Christ made this, our Father made this covenant
with Christ and gave Him a people, chose them in Christ, made Him
their shelter, their representative. You say, well, I just don't understand
these things. Well, I don't claim to understand
them. I just say this is what Scripture says. This is what
it said. By one man's disobedience, many
were made sinners. By one man's obedience, we were
made righteous. Because he lives, I live. Because
Christ honored the law, I honored the law. Because Christ died
on the cross and rose again, I died and rose again. Because
Christ ascended and is seated at the right hand of God, I ascended
and am seated in Him at the right hand of God. Because Jesus Christ
is accepted in the Father, I'm accepted. I'm not accepted on
the basis of my decision or my profession or my preaching or
my works or my obedience because all of that is as imperfect as
anything I've ever done. Even my righteousness is a filthy
rag and so are yours. But Christ is not. He's a perfect,
holy, accepted substitute. Not only that, this covenant
was made with Christ and it's all of grace. Absolutely nothing
to be added by the sinner. Nothing. Christ said on the cross,
it's finished. It's finished. Not only that,
but this covenant is ordered in all things and sure. The first
covenant failed because man failed. The second covenant, the everlasting
covenant, the covenant God made with his son, cannot fail because
Christ can't fail. The banner of this covenant is
faith. The religious people march to
eternity under the banner of works. The believer marches to
eternity under the banner of faith. Now, that's that covenant. And this is what David's talking
about. Here he is, a dying man. Someday you and I'll be a dying
man. And I'll tell you, when you're lying there and the old
clock is tick, tick, tick, tick, everything quiet in the room,
and you look up and the doctor's standing there with a frown on
his face and, you know, they're shaking his head, and you look
down there and your tears are streaming down your wife's face,
You look through the door and all the children are sitting
in there in the living room, they're waiting, you know, and
your thoughts begin to think, well, I'm sure glad I joined
the church. I'm sure glad I was baptized.
I'm sure glad I went to church and gave my tithe. I'm sure glad
this, that and the other. Friend, you're on dangerous ground. You're on dangerous ground. But
if that mind of yours can reach back and lay hold by faith, on
something not you did, but something God did. Something God did in
His eternal counsels. He made with you an everlasting
covenant and included you. He made with His Son a sure covenant,
an everlasting covenant, everlasting that way and that way. Covenant
of grace, pure grace, total grace, free grace, based not on your
works, but on the works of Christ. And you can look on to the Calvary
and say, He took my place. When He died, I died. When He
was buried, I was buried. When He arose, I arose. And when He's
seated in God's right hand, that's my comfort. That's my hope. That's my salvation. It's ordered
in all things. I'm resting in that. Now, you
can die with a little hope that way. But I don't care how righteous
and moral and good and faithful and religious you've been, I
mean souls you've won to Jesus, God can send you to hell for
the best deed you've ever done, because it has got enough sin
in it to damn anybody, because it wasn't done based on perfect
love for God. There's not anything from the
sole of your feet to the top of your head commendable in the
sight of God. That's just so. All right, how
do I lay hold on this covenant? I found a couple of verses over
here in Isaiah 56. I don't know that I may be stretching
this thing a little bit, When I started studying about
the covenant, I found a couple of statements over here in Isaiah
56 verse 4 and 6. The last line in both of these
verses says, ìTake hold of my covenant.î Verse 6, ìTaketh hold
of my covenant.î How am I going to take hold of this covenant?
Well, first of all, and I want you to listen to this very carefully.
I want to present this as plain as I can. First of all, I must
turn loose completely of that covenant of works. That's the
first thing. I'm not going to lay hold on
everlasting mercies until I turn loose of temporal curses and
works. I've got to turn loose. I've
got to totally turn loose. Now, what you and I have got to realize,
I hope I can make this plain. I've tried to since I've been
pastor here, and I realize I haven't done a very good job of it, or
more folks would find more peace. But turn to Galatians 3. My friends, all you'll ever get
out of works is a curse. Now, all you're ever going to
get out of religion is a curse. All you're ever going to get
out of the law is a curse. That's all the law says. It says,
cursed, cursed, cursed. The law, there's no way, shape,
form or fashion that any religious law can say, blessed. Not on
us. It may on the elect angels, but
not on us. Can't do it. Galatians 3.10,
look at it. As many as are of the works of
the law are under the curse. They're under a curse. It's written,
and this is the reason, it's written, Cursed is everyone that
continueeth not. Will you underline this? In all
things. Now, you may have some commendable
deeds and commendable thoughts and commendable words and commendable
acts, but now wait a minute, it says in all things. To offend
in one point of the law is to be guilty of the whole shooting
match. Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things
that are written in the book of the law to do them. The Scripture
says in Romans 3, 19, What the law saith, it saith to them who
are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped. Every mouth
stop. All the world guilty. Galatians
4, verse 21. Listen to this. Tell me. Tell
me, Paul said. Will you tell me, you that desire
to be under the law, under a system of works, will you tell me something? Do you hear God's law? Do you
hear God's law? So the only way in the world
to take hold of this covenant, to find any hope in it, any rest,
to come, David evidently, had taken hold of God's covenant
because, Jay, He came to this place and He said, this is all
my salvation, this is all my desire, this is all my hope,
that God made a covenant. And it's ordered in all things
and should. He evidently had turned loose totally and completely
of any works. Now, you've got to let go of
your confidence in your prayers. You've got to let go of your
confidence in your repentance. You've got to let go of your
confidence in your faith. You've got to let go of your
confidence in your worship, in your resolutions, in your decisions,
in your profession. Let it all go. Let it all go. Don't retain a rag of it, is
what I'm saying. Not a rag of it. Oh, Barnard,
you say long as you can wiggle your little pinky, you're not
trusting Christ. You're not trusting, you're hanging on. I don't care
if it's a thread, you're hanging on. They tell me, I don't know a
great deal about it, but they tell me that way back yonder,
during these plagues, these black plagues and things of that nature,
that this, that thing spread so, you know, that when a man
died, that they'd put handkerchiefs over their face or some kind
of rag, and they'd go into the house where the man died, and
they'd take everything out. They take out all the furniture,
they take out all the clothes, they just empty the closets,
they take everything, everything in the house out and set it on
fire and burn it. Everything. They just empty that
out. I can imagine somebody in there, they got that handkerchief
over their face, you know, and they're around it, and they go
over here and open the dresser drawers and they're throwing
everything out to be burned, and they come to a scarf. Oh, it's
so pretty. So pretty. And he picks that
scarf up and he says, I just can't burn this. And he folds
it up. And puts death in his pocket. He puts disease in his
pocket. He puts corruption and takes
it home to his wife and his children. And the whole family is wiped
out. And I'm afraid that's what we do. We look over our house
of faith and our house of religion and God says, burn it! Burn it! And we find that little scarf. You know what we did back there
that was at Body Pattern of Sona, and that looks so pretty. We
put it in the pocket. Put it over here, and we save
it, and it winds up damming us, that one little rag. Paul said
in Philippians 3, turn over here a minute and listen to it, he
names all these things, Philippians 3, that he was, that he had,
that he did, all of them. And he said in verse 8, Doubtless
I count all things but loss. For the excellence of the knowledge
of Christ my Lord, I have suffered the loss of all things. I do
take them out to the rubbish heap, to the garbage dump, and
count them but dung. That, in order that, Charlie,
I may win Christ. Am I too hard? That's what it
says. And I'll tell you, if you want
to lay hold, if you want to lay hold on this covenant of grace,
this everlasting covenant, if you want to come to the end,
I know there are a lot of people coming to the end who are saying,
I've got an agreement with hell, I'm not afraid to die with hell,
or we had agreement when the overflowing scourge comes so
it won't touch me, but that's a whistling by the cemetery.
This man David had real hope. He had a solid foundation. He
had grounds for comfort. He said God did something. God
did something. I'm not afraid. God did something. He made with me an everlasting
covenant in Jesus Christ. And it's been fulfilled by the
obedience of my Lord, by the death of my Lord, by the sacrifice
of my Lord. He's the surety of that covenant.
I never paid a dime on it. I forfeited it. I declared bankruptcy
and Christ picked up the note and satisfied me. And he's seated
at the right hand of God with a paper marked, paid in full,
and my name on it. And that's all my desire. And that's all my salvation.
Turn loose. I don't know whether you can
do it or not. It's the hardest thing a human being ever had to do.
Ever had to do was stand before God and say, in my hands, no
cross I break. That's it. I'm naked, naked I
come to thee for dress, helpless I look to thee for rest. Other
refuge have I none, hangs my hopeless, helpless soul on thee.
Better come on down now. You'll either be brought down
in this life or brought down to judgment. You'll either be
stripped here or stripped there. You'll either be condemned here
or condemned there. That's the way it is. There's
no middle ground. I reflect not on my works, Nor
do I find depression in my infirmities. I choose to dwell, to hope, to
find comfort and confidence in one thing. Christ died for my
sins. The old hymn writer said, I'll
to the gracious King approach, whose scepter mercy gives. Perhaps
he will receive my touch, and this old sinner lives. I can
but perish. If I go, I am resolved to try,
for if I stay away, I'm going to forever die. What have you
found in that covenant, preacher? I found three things. I found
an atonement. I found an atonement. Until I
understood the meaning of substitution, I never understood the gospel.
When I learned the meaning of substitution, I learned the gospel. I found, secondly, a mercy seat.
God is reconciled. Sin is forgiven. I have an entrance
into God's presence through my great high priest. Thirdly, I
have found a perfect righteousness in Christ. I have no guilt, no
charge, no curse, no condemnation, peace. I found a perfect righteousness. Now in myself, I'm the most wicked
sinner on earth. But in Christ, I'm as perfect
as he is. That's so. Here's the last question. I close with this. Why don't
you come? Why don't you lay hold on this everlasting covenant?
Why don't you? Here are three reasons why you
should. Number one, others like you have come. Spurgeon said
this. Others like you have come. Have
you been an idolater? Abraham was. Have you been a
thief? The man on the cross was. Are
you fallen from virtue? The harlot was. Are you married
many times? The Samaritan was. Are you a
blasphemer? Paul was. Are you weak in trial? Peter was. Are you a crook? Zacchaeus was. So come on. Whole
gang, just like you and me, in the kingdom of God. Why not you? Second reason, all who have sincerely
come to Christ, out of all who have sincerely come to Christ,
there's never been one turned away. Never. And thirdly, and this is the
third reason why you ought to come. I want to close with this. First reason is others have come
just like you and me. Others have come. And secondly,
no one who's ever come has ever been turned away. And thirdly,
you know why you ought to come? To Christ, to the covenant of
grace. There's nowhere else to go. That's right, there's nowhere
else to go. There's nowhere else to go. There's no hope anywhere
else. There's no promise anywhere else.
There's no word anywhere. Nowhere else to go. Our Father,
honor your word tonight in a very special way. This is our hope. Lord God, this is our confidence,
this is our salvation. Let me be able to say tonight,
this may be my last night on this earth, this may be my last
message to this beloved congregation, this beloved family body of Christ. The Lord hath made with me an
everlasting covenant. The chief of centers has been
included by his grace as a gift to his son. And this covenant
is ordered in all things and sure. Christ is our surety, our
righteousness, our sin offering, our sacrifice, our substitute.
He's our reigning seated King, our mediator and high priest.
In Him we have all things. And this is, Lord God, this is
my salvation. This is all my desire. May that
be said by every person here. I pray for Christ's sake. Amen.