Now I want tonight, I'll be looking
back at portions of these first 17 verses next week and possibly
the week after. But I want tonight to look at
these first 17 verses in an overview and do so with the focus on the
purpose of God. The purpose of God. The title
of the message is Intention Override. Intention Override. Many years ago, I think it was
1954, when Ralph Barnard was a Southern Baptist and came to
Ashland, Kentucky, where all the Southern Baptist churches
in Ashland had gathered together in Central Park to hold a great
Bible conference among the Southern Baptists. They asked Ralph Barnard
to preach. And a young man named Henry Mahan,
who was at this time about 21 or 22 years old, and pastor of
Pollard Baptist Church with 1,200 members, He was 21, 2 years old
at the time, he was a pastor for that church. Rob Barnard
came up, and Rob was the kind of fellow that would call on
preachers to quote scripture. He would put you on the spot
a lot of times. One of the first nights of the meeting, he called
on Brother Mahan to stand up and quote Romans 8, 28. Brother Mahan proudly stood up
and said, We know all things, work together for good. And sat
down. Barnard said, Stand up young
man. That's not all of it. Romans 8.28, and Brother Mahan
thought for a minute and said, We know all things work together
for good to them that love God and sit down. Martin said, That's
not it. Stand up, son. Henry thought
for a minute and he said, We know all things work together
for good to them that love God to them called according to His
purpose. He said, Now you can sit down.
You just learned a very important lesson. God does everything on
purpose. God does everything on purpose. And that's what I want us to
look at tonight. At God's purpose. This part of the 7th chapter
is very plain in its teaching. Basically, the story you have
here is that David had an idea. He had an idea, one that was
from his heart. It was a real idea. It was from
his heart of love to God. He desired to build a house for
the ark of God. He desired that. His interest
was in the glory of God and his proposal was not an error. was not an error to propose to
build a house for the ark of God. And he, as king, not only
had the intent, but also had the wherewithal to accomplish
the desire of his heart. And he was initially even given
the green light by the prophet Nathan, here in verse 2, who's
the prophet of God. Now, God Himself had purpose
to build a house for His name. He had purposed to build a house
for his name. So David was not off base as
to the building of a house for God. But David was forbidden
to build the house himself or to build it during the time of
the expanse of his own kingdom. Now everything about what David
desired to do was right. There was nothing wrong with
what he wanted to do. But he was forbidden because it was
not the appointed time and he was not the king that God had
chosen to build the house. The king that God had told to
build the house did not yet exist except in David's loins. He was
King Solomon who would be born of David. But so it was at times. So David's desire was good, his
intentions were good, they were even reasonable, and even were
about what God Himself had purposed to do, but God overrode his intentions. God's purpose covers everything. It covers everything. Men may
consider minutia as unimportant, but it's minutia that are the
axles upon the wheels of which providence turns. These details
are important, especially to God. David was not wrong in what
he wanted to do. He was even going to do something
that God Himself had purpose to do. But God said, you can't
do it. You can't do it. I've got somebody
else. Because there's a purpose and a time for everything in
God's economy. One of the most difficult things
for people to learn, especially in religion, is that basic fact. You may desire to do something
for the glory of God. I hope you do. You may seek to
please Him. You may see something in Scripture
that sounds to you like a challenge and you're going to take up the
challenge. But know this, if it's not according to God's purpose
as to the time that's important, nothing's going to come of it.
Nothing's going to come of it. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, the
very man whom God said would be the one to build His house
wrote these words, Solomon, Saved for Jesus Christ, the wisest
human being that ever lived upon the earth. And he said, to everything,
Ecclesiastes 3, there is a season. There is a season. And a time
to every purpose under the heaven. Now nothing is left out of that
equation. So no matter what goes on, no matter where it's going
on or whatever time it's going on, there is a time for it according
to God's plan and God's purpose. He said in order for us to understand
that this covers everything, He said there's a time to be
born and there's a time to die. There's a time to plant and there's
a time to pluck up that which is planted. There is a time to
kill and a time to heal. A time to break down and a time
to build up. There is a time to weep and a
time to laugh. A time to mourn and a time to
dance. A time to cast away stones and
a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace and a time
to refrain from embracing. A time to get and a time to lose. A time to keep and a time to
cast away. A time to rend and a time to
sow. A time to keep silence and a
time to speak. A time to love and a time to
hate, a time of war, and a time of peace. Now, that just covers
about everything, doesn't it? It covers about everything. And
he says this, What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein
he labored? If everything is set out like
it is set out, what profit is in a man for what he labors for? He said, I have seen the travail
which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised therein,
no matter what happens. And this is difficult for us
old skeptics and us old sinners to wrap our sinful minds around. He said, God hath made everything
beautiful in His time. in His time. Also, so that we
can never really wrap our mind around this. He has set the world
in their heart, and the world there is eternity, but the concept
of it is that thing that's just beyond our grasp to understand. Kind of like predestination.
We think we get a hold on it, and it slips right out of our
brain. Because it's bigger than we are. It's bigger than we are.
So God has put this principle in men's hearts. So when they
think they get it, they just won't get it. Why would He do
that? So ultimately, men would bow down and say, God's in this.
I can't get it. I can't have anything to do with
it. He has set the world in the heart so that no man can find
out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.
We can't point at one thing and say, this is what God is doing
at this particular time. Now we know that God is doing
it, but we don't know the outcome. We don't understand the full
purpose of it. We don't see how it's going to turn out. We don't
know any of that. I know people like to think they do. They look
at somebody sad in church and say, well, God's dealing with
that person. I've heard it. Haven't you heard that? Oh, he's
crying over there. God's dealing with him. He may
have a stomachache. May have acid indigestion. I don't know.
May have a toothache. Or if somebody does well, God
has blessed that person. That may not be the case at all.
God may give you a great deal just to rip it from your hands.
Or make you die with it in moments before you die, realizing it
really doesn't mean anything at all. We don't understand. But no man can know what God
is doing at any time. I know that there is no good
in them, but for a man to rejoice, why don't you just stop bellyaching
and go ahead and rejoice and do good in this life. Just do
your best. Do what you can. If an opportunity arises for
you to do good, do it. Do it and rejoice. Because you
see, behind all of it lies the inescapable and unchangeable
purpose of Almighty God. And also that every man should
eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his labor. If you work
for it, you ought to be able to keep it. You ought to be able
to enjoy it. And that's not a political statement.
That's a scriptural statement. It's a gift of God. I know that
whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Nothing can be put
to it nor anything taken from it. And God doeth it that men
may fear before Him, that worship Him, fall down before Him. Now this verse 15, I don't have
favorite verses, but this one, every time I look at it, this
is one of those things where God has put the world in our
heart. We look at this and we can't
get it, but we know it's true and we bow to the wisdom and
the grace and wonder and sovereignty of Almighty God. That which hath
been is now. And that which is to be hath
already been, and God requires that which is passed, or that
which is driven away, or that which he has set in order. God's purpose can never be thwarted,
nor overcome. David wants to do something good. but it's not according to God's
purpose. And so God stops him in his tracks. History is littered
with the ruins of the purposes of men who desire to hurry along
a particular aspect of a revealed purpose of God. Many a religious
politician tried to gain office so that they could hasten the
day of Armageddon. They've actually said things
like that. I want to be President of the United States so I can
have my finger on the button. and I can start Armageddon. You
ain't going to start Armageddon. That's all set in God's time
and God's purpose. It's going to come when it's
supposed to come. And no matter who gets in the White House or not, nothing's
going to change that. Nothing's going to change that.
There's Christians so-called in this day that want to get
all Jews back to Israel because their view of eschatology is
that when all Jews are in the homeland, Christ will return. Well, you can put them all in
there tomorrow. It still ain't going to change
a thing. Nobody knows when Christ is coming again. Christ said
that. You can mark this down. If somebody
says he's coming to such and such a day, mark it down. It
ain't going to be that day. It might be the next day, but
it's not going to be that day. You can count on it because nobody
knows, not even the Son of Man. He willfully gave up his understanding
of the fact and said only God the Father knows these things. God has a plan. I know people
like to talk about that. They say God loves you and has
a wonderful plan for your life. If that is the case, things are
going to be okay with you, I can guarantee it. If God loves you
and has a wonderful plan for your life, you're on cloud nine. You ain't going to be no leaks
in your boat through this whole outfit. But they say that in
reference to everybody and that's simply not the case. God has
a plan. God has a plan. God has a purpose,
and that purpose will come to pass in the precise manner ordained,
and at the appointed time it's ordained. You see, time is God's
invention. It is God's creation. And as
Creator, His time is merely a tool in His toolbox of providential
workings. The house will be built. God
said this house will be built. God has purposed it. It will
be built. But it will be built by the yet
unborn son of David, Solomon, the wisest of all kings. And
all those typifications will become substance in the hand
of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. All that temple that
Solomon built is gone. The priesthood is gone. The sacrifice
is gone. The ceremonies is gone. The rites
are gone. They're all gone. One tribe,
one Jew don't know what his tribe is anymore. The Jewish worship
is gone. What they carry on now, these
days of festivals, they have nothing to do with the days of
festivals they had back in the Old Testament. Because all those
festivals required a blood sacrifice, a priest, and an altar. The Day
of Atonement, what is it? Yom Kippur or Yom Kippur, the
Day of Atonement. Now it's just used to confess
your sins. To confess sins, how rotten you
are. But that's what the Day of Atonement was before. It was
the day when the representative of the people went in before
the Holy God and offered blood on the mercy seat for the people
of God and for a year their sins were covered. That doesn't take
place anymore. There is no high priest. That's
all gone. That's all gone. All those things
pointed to something. Whether it be the tabernacle
of Ove where Christ was said to tabernacle among us. As God
said, I walked in those curtains with this people. Among those
curtains with this people. Or whether it's Solomon's temple
made with wood and gold and so forth. Those things pictured
something else. They pictured that temple that
would never ever be destroyed. And you're that temple. And that
temple was built by Jesus Christ the Lord, the King of Kings of
whom both David and Solomon spoke of. Look at over Zechariah. Zechariah
chapter 6. Zechariah chapter 6. It says this in verse 12, And
speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying,
Behold the man whose name is the branch, and he shall grow
up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord.
even he shall build the temple of the Lord, and he shall bear
the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne, and he
shall be priest upon his throne, and the counsel of peace shall
be between them both." Now that word peace and the representative
here is very important to the context that we are looking at
tonight. Now look over at John chapter
2. Our Lord was confronted by a
bunch of religious people talking about the temple. And our Lord
said this to them, and they wanted to kill Him for saying it. In
John 2, verse 18, Then answered the Jews unto them, and said,
What sign showest thou, seeing that thou doest these things?
And what He's done, He's cleaned out the temple of the money changers. Why do you do this? What sign
do you give us? And then answered Jesus and said,
destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." He is going to build the temple.
And the temple he is speaking of, we know is his body, the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you desire to do good,
you should. You should. And in your desire
to honor God and glorify God, remember that your doings, remember
this very clearly, your doings will change no aspect of God's
will of purpose. People say prayer changes things. Prayer doesn't change anything.
I think it changes the people who pray. But it doesn't change
the purpose of God. It doesn't change the course
that this river called history is flowing. Paul lived to preach
the gospel. He lived to preach the gospel.
He said, for me to live is Christ. For me to live is Christ. He lived to preach the gospel
and he spent himself in that endeavor. He purposed to do it
everywhere, but on occasion he was forbidden to do that purpose,
to preach the gospel in a certain place. Look at Acts chapter 16. Now this is the story that eventuates
in me being here tonight. in the United States of America,
in Cherokee, North Carolina, preaching the gospel. It starts
right here in Acts 6. In Acts 16, in verse 5, it says,
And so were the churches established in the faith, and they increased
in number. And when they had gone through
Persia, and in the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of
the Holy Ghost to preach the Word in Asia. Well, God, don't
God want to save everybody? Well, he didn't let Paul go preach
the gospel to them people, did he? And they were come to Mysia
and Esaid to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them
not. Were they purposed to do it? Why didn't they do it? Because
God's got a purpose, you see. And there's a plan here that
Paul, the apostle, don't know anything about. And they, passing
by Mysia, came down to Troas, And in a vision appeared to Paul
in the night, and there stood a man in Macedonia, and prayed
him, saying, Come over unto Macedonia, and help us. And after they had
seen the vision, immediately We endeavored to go to Macedonia,
assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach
the gospel unto them. Therefore, loosing from Troas,
we came with a straight course to Samothrace, and the next day
to Neapolis, and from hence to Philippi. which is the chief
city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony, and we were in
the city abiding certain days. And on the Sabbath day, that
is Saturday, we went out of the city by a riverside where prayer
was wont to be made, and we sat down and spake unto the women
which were resorted together. So on a Saturday they went out
and they heard that these women were praying out there, and they
went out to pray with them. And a certain woman named Lydia,
a seller of purple, that is, purple cloth, which was regal
cloth, royal cloth, especially appreciated by the Romans who
inhabited the Grecian area of Philippi at the time. The seller
of purple, the city of Thyatira, you want to know what that's
about, you read Revelation and see what's going on in Thyatira,
and this is a very interesting connection here, which worshipped
God, she worshipped God. and heard us. Now with what light
she had, she knew that the God of the Old Testament was God,
and she's going out and praying to that God. She was a woman
of commerce. She was a businesswoman. And
it says, whose heart the Lord opened. First record of open-heart
surgery and all in humanity was right here. The Lord opened Lillia's
heart. And she attended to the things
which are spoken of Paul. Now look what happened here.
And when she was baptized and her household, she besought us,
saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come
to my house and abide there. And she continued with us. You
know what that is? That's the beginnings of the
church of Philippi right there. The church of Philippi. The first
European church. The first European church. From
there, the gospel came to America. From Europe. I'm standing here
tonight, because God forbade Paul to go to Asia, and to Missia,
and said, no, go to Macedonia. And there he met a woman. who
gave her house to be a meeting place for the gospel. God has
a purpose and a plan and it always comes to pass, always comes to
pass. The plan and every aspect of
it has been set by eternal decree even to the thoughts and intents
of men's hearts and also to the words upon their tongue. David
said, you know every word that's upon my tongue, Lord. Whatever
is upon my tongue, for I speak it, you know what it is. Now,
men may and do disobey the Lord's commands. The old theologians used to call
it this way. The Lord has a command of purpose
and a will of purpose. The command of purpose can be
disobeyed. God has commanded you to love your neighbors as
yourself. How do you do that? You are disobeying it, aren't
you? God has commanded you to love Him with all your heart,
mind, soul, and strength. How are you doing with that?
Not so good, are you? You disobeyed that command. But
even in the disobedience of the command, that does not have anything
to do with the absolute success of God's purpose. Nothing whatsoever. Men may and do disobey the Lord's
command, but even in doing so, they fulfill His purpose. In Genesis chapter 50 and verse
20, Joseph, when he finally revealed himself to his brethren, think
of what they did. They lied to their daddy. They
put him in a pit. They sold him into slavery. He
was put into jail. And they thought he was dead
for sure. And now he has been set up only second to Pharaoh
and has assured Egypt that the seven years of fat kind meant
that they ought to store up grain because there's going to come
a great famine for seven years of lean. And when the seven years
of lean came, those boys who had sent him into slavery had
to go to him to get food. And they didn't know when he
said, I am Joseph. And they began to fear in their
hearts. He said, don't be afraid, brothers. You meant it for evil,
but God meant it for good to save much people alive. They
were acting in disobedience to God and in their evil plans and
will. What they were doing, they were
sending their Savior to Egypt. They just didn't know it. They
had no idea. God's will will be done. God
has a purpose and it will be done. So what do we do? The great
wise preacher said, do good. Do good. Seek to please the Lord. Seek to glorify Him, to be an
obedient servant. Go ahead and plan and purpose
and prepare with the glad understanding that your God will accomplish
His purpose. And that's the overriding view
of this entire 17 verses here in this first chapter, and really
the overriding view of all the Scripture. But there are several
things here I want us to look at quickly. First of all, When
you are given a time of quiet from turmoil, use it to meditate
and contemplate on the glory of God. meditate and contemplate on the
glory of God. And I'm not talking about some
great theological thing where you try to answer theologically.
Just consider what He's done for me, how blessed I am, how
privileged I am. This is how we find David in
verse 1 of this chapter. The warrior king's enemies are
all defeated as he sits in his house made of cedar. His thoughts
turn to what he might do to honor God. What can I do to honor God? His desires are born of a comparison
of His estate as compared to the estate of the ark of God.
And from a sense of true humility, I believe it's true humility,
and His sense of equity or righteousness, He is embarrassed that His dwelling
is superior to that of the ark where the Shekinah glory dwells. There's nothing wrong with any
of that thinking, is there? Nothing wrong with that at all.
His desire, this desire is both right and wrong, however. Under
the principles of the Law of Moses, with its many rites and
ceremonies that make up the Old Covenant, visible activities
and places are very important, though they are temporal in nature
and will be finished with the coming of the Messiah. But for
the time, the desire was right. Build God a house for His ark. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing
wrong with that. But it was wrong in that he did
not consider the purpose of God in all this. But he was born
of personal sentiment. Be careful there. Personal sentiment
can get you in a real fix sometimes. Secondly, it was wrong in that
God's house is built by God and not by man. God says, I'll build you a house,
David. You don't build me a house. He ends up saying in this chapter,
I'll build you a house. I'll make your house great and
make your name great. And your house will be forever.
You don't build me a house, I'll build you a house. I'll build
you a house. And that's the way it always
is. Our God is in the heavens. He hath done whatsoever He hath
pleased. That's where God's house is. If you're going to put Him
in a place, He's everywhere. He's omnipresent. But look over
at Isaiah 66. In Isaiah 66, our Lord says this,
Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is
my footstool. Where is the house that ye build
unto me, and where is the place of my rest? For all those things
hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith
the Lord. But to this man will I look,
even to him that is poor, and of a contrite heart, spirit,
and trembleth at my word. And there's only one man that
truly fits all three of those definitions, and that's the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's who God looks to. That's
who God looks to. David was talking about a contrite
heart in Psalm 51 when he talked about his own heart, but he was
also talking about Jesus Christ. and picturing Him in type and
shadow. God says, where's the house you're
going to build me? You're going to build me a house?
You're going to build me a house? God's house is Jesus Christ. That's where God lives and He
is in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. And the Lord
said in His high priestly prayer in John 17, I'm in God and He's
in me and you're in me and Him. That the world may know that
God has sent me. We are God's house. Colossians 2.9 says that
the fullness of the Godhead bodily dwells in the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are His temple, the habitation of God. The habitation of God. And He built that house. He built
that house. Secondly, even if those who speak
for God are aligned with you, it does not necessarily mean
that your desires will be realized. Now, there's a big deal today
in a lot of places. If we agree together and pray,
then God's going to have to do something. You can agree all
you want to. That ain't going to change nothing. You can get
the preacher to agree with you. That ain't going to change nothing
neither. That won't change God's purpose. Nathan, back in our
text, told David, go far. David says, you know, I live
in a house of cedar. God lives in curtains. It just ain't right. Nathan said, whatever you want
to do, God's with you. You go for it. You go for it. Nathan gave David the green light.
Why not? David's desire to honor God was real and worthy. And
sometimes we feel that if we get the support for ideas that
that makes them take on a kind of power or even at least a permission,
but it doesn't necessarily. It doesn't necessarily. If you
have a good idea, I might go along with you. I know many of
us are in the purpose of God. We'll find out. We'll find out. People often times look at something
God has commanded in Scripture or declared is going to take
place. And then they say, I'm going to do that. Just stop right
there. You're not going to do it. If
God said He's going to do it, He's the one that's going to
do it. Now He may use you in the whole scheme of things, but
you may never know about it. We don't know how God works in
this time. I remember the story Rob Barnard told one time of
of a fellow holding a revival. He wasn't holding a revival.
He had preached at this church about ten years before and was
gone. And one night the preacher was
preaching and this girl come running down the aisle screaming
and crying, screaming and crying. And of course the preacher got
kind of puffed up. He thought he had said something to win
her over or something. And he started talking to her.
He said, well, could you tell me what part of the message was?
She said, it wasn't nothing you said. It was what he said. He
said, what are you talking about? He says, what he said, that preacher
preached to you 10 years ago. I haven't been able to get it
off my mind since. I haven't been able to get it out of my
heart. It's been tearing me up for 10 years. We don't know how
God works. We don't know how God works.
It's easy for folks to put down preachers and it's easy for folks
to cause people to be suspicious of preachers. Don't let you ever
do that. And the reason is that preacher, even if he is goofy
at the moment, God will bring him back. God will bring him
back. And he may be the preacher that
tells your beloved child the gospel. And it might be that
appointed time when your child comes to know God. Don't get
in the way of God. Don't get in the way. I'll tell
you why. Not because you'll get trampled
over. God's purpose will come to pass. Will come to pass. And there are a couple of reasons
why David was not to build this temple according to the Word
of God. The temple would be built in Jerusalem. And that was a
city of peace, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city of peace, the city of
peace. David was not a man of peace. David was a man of war. So he
can't build this house. That house is going to be built
in Jerusalem. His town is the city of David,
isn't it? That's where He's living, in Judah, in the city of David.
Listen to how David describes this over in 1 Chronicles chapter
22. David is speaking to his son
Solomon and telling him why He's to build the house and God prevented
him from building the house. And he says to Solomon, verse
7 of 1 Chronicles 22, And David said to Solomon, My son, as for
me, it was in my mind to build an house unto the name of the
Lord my God. But the word of the Lord came
to me, saying, Thou hast shed blood abundantly, and hast made
great wars. Thou shalt not build a house
unto my name, because thou hast shed much blood upon the earth
in my sight. Behold, a son shall be born to
thee, who shall be a man of rest and peace. I will give him a
rest from all his enemies round about, for his name shall be
Solomon. And that name means peaceable.
And I will give peace and quietness unto Israel in his days. He shall build a house for my
name. And He shall be my Son, and I will be His Father, and
I will establish the throne of His kingdom over Israel forever. Forever. In our text, back in chapter
7 and verse 12, it says, And when thy days be fulfilled, the
Lord says to David, And thou shalt sleep with thy fathers,
and 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." The temple was to be built by a man of peace because
it's built in the city of peace. Our Lord gave a reason to Pilate
why his people didn't fight. Why his people didn't fight to
establish an earthly kingdom. And his people don't. We're not
in the business of marking out acreages and putting up signs
with no trespassing signs. That's not our business here.
We don't even belong here. We're sojourning here. We're
sojourning here. We're not in the business of
defending borders. We're in the business of preaching
the gospel. That's not to say as a citizen of the United States,
if you're called up to battle, you go because you obey. the
laws of the land. However, it's not our design
and our purpose here on earth to defend localities, to defend
localities. Our Lord said this to Pilate
when he thought the Christian people were saying that Christ
was going to set up an earthly kingdom and fight against Rome. And some of His disciples believed
that. Read on the road to Emmaus, the disciples on the road to
Emmaus, what they thought was going to happen and what Christ
said it was what was really going to happen. Our Lord said, my
kingdom is not of this world. You believe that? That's right,
it's not. He said, if it were of this world,
my people would fight. If it was about geography, my
people would fight. My people would fight. Christ
has established peace by the blood of His cross. By the blood
of His cross established peace for His people with God. He is
our peace according to Ephesians chapter 2. His gospel is called
the gospel of peace. He is the prince of peace. Peace
is the effect of His imputed righteousness. Peace and rest.
Look over at Isaiah chapter 32. What happens when God makes His
people righteous in Jesus Christ? What happens? Verse 17 of Isaiah
32 says, And the work of righteousness shall be peace, shall be peace,
and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever. quietness and assurance forever. Look over to Isaiah chapter 54,
where our Lord quoted in John 6, verse 45. In Isaiah chapter
54, verse 13, it says, And all thy children shall be taught
of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be
established. Thou shalt be far from oppression,
for thou shalt not fear, and from terror, for it shall not
come near thee. Great shall be the peace of thy
children. What kind of great peace is he
talking about? He's talking about the great peace of the heart
that the great gospel of peace brings to us. He's not talking
about getting along. We try our best to get along.
We want to get along with people. We want to be as kind and as
gentle and as generous as humanly possible and try our best to
live peaceably with all men. But we can't establish that.
What kind of great peace is that? What's the great peace? That
in the midst of a world that's seemingly in turmoil, We have
the peace that passeth knowledge and understanding that God Himself
has established peace in our hearts by the blood of Jesus
Christ, that we are not sinners in His eyes, that we are holy
before Him, fully accepted by Him, and that will never ever
change. All our sins are forgiven. And I'm telling you, that will
make you quiet. and at rest and peaceful in your
heart, in your heart. The temple of God, the house
of God is His people. And their war is not with other
people and other nations. Their war is spiritual. It's
internal and not external or political. Secondly, the reason
that David was not to build the temple of the house is because
God did not ask him or tell him to build the temple. Preachers
like to say, God won't you do this, God won't you do that.
Don't listen to him. If you don't see it in Scripture,
don't believe it. Just don't believe it because it ain't so.
It ain't so. In verses 5 through 7, our Lord
says, Go and tell my servant David, thus saith the Lord, Shalt
thou build a house for me to dwell in? Whereas I have not
dwelt in any house since the time that I brought up the children
of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked
in a tent and in a tabernacle, in all the places wherein I have
walked with all the children of Israel, spake I a word with
any of the tribes of Israel, which I commanded to feed my
people, saying, Why build ye not me a house, Cedar?" Did I
ask anybody to do that? Did I ask you to do this? He
didn't ask David to build a house and didn't command him to build
a house. Now this tells me something. It tells me that no matter our
intentions, we must first see that they align with the will
of God as it's revealed in the Word of God. We must see if they
align up. People say, well, I've prayed
about this. Well, Scripture plays. That's what old B.B. Caldwell
used to say. He was famous for saying that. People say, well,
I believe this, I believe that. He'd say, Scripture plays. Scripture,
please. Scripture, please. People say
things like, God told me to do this. Scripture, please. Because if it doesn't line up
with Scripture, I don't care what you say God told you to do. It's
got to line up with the Word of God. The Bible is the source
of our doctrine and practice. Did I tell you to do this, David?
No. Did I command you to do this? No. Did I ask you? No. Then don't
do it. Then don't do it. I saw it on
TV the other day. Well, I tell you, growing up
in the 50s and 60s, I don't remember much about the 40s because I
was only four years old when the 40s ended. But in the 50s
and 60s, I saw religion change dramatically even in the church
I was going to. They used to have all these gimmicks
to get people to come. Then you got in the bus ministries,
which became even more gimmicks. There was a bus ministry in Winston-Salem
at a church. that actually went all the way
to Virginia to pick up people for Sunday school. That's 70,
80 miles away. Because they wanted to have the
biggest Sunday school. And they put $5 bills under one seat on that bus every
Sunday morning, on every bus. So somebody would get that $5
bill. Gimmicks, gimmicks. They had weight lifting for Jesus. I remember this. They had pumping
iron for Jesus. They had parachute into church
day. They had dress the funniest day. Everything to get people to come
in. This week on channel 13 they had a preacher, no it was on
Fox, they had a preacher that was Mixed martial arts for Jesus. And the pastor was a mixed martial
artist and he would set up cage matches in his church so he could
get people in. And the reason he did, he says,
if we can get just one person to believe on Jesus. You can't! Mixed martial arts ain't the
way! People are saying, well, I love
to go to the singing on the mountain. And there's nothing wrong with
that. If you like gospel singing, that's where you ought to go
and you ought to enjoy it. I used to love to hear the Imperials.
I've still got an album there. I thought they had the prettiest
harmony there ever was. People say, well, you know, the
Spirit was there and people got saved because of that singing. No,
they didn't. Nobody gets saved by a song. People are saved in one way.
under the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And
no matter what anybody tells you, that's what the Scripture
says. That's what the Scripture says.
David's life and kingdom was according to God's purpose. And
God reminded David of the fact that he did not plan and purpose
his own estate. Here he was planning to build
a house for God, and God just reminds him, well, you didn't
plan where you're at to give where you're at, did you? Did
you plan the house that you live in right now to be in the place
where you'd have the house that the people built for you to live
in? Did you plan any of that? And we're going to learn that
too. We will learn over time and experience that the God who
saved us is also the God who has kept us and keeps us, the
God who directs our steps, and He does not need any help in
caring for His own. He doesn't seek any help in caring
for His own. He seeks no input even if it
is a plan to do something for His honor. He doesn't seek it
from you. Our Lord said, before Nicodemus
came and started bragging on Him, Jesus would not line Himself
up with any man. John chapter 2 verses 23, 24,
25 in there, He said, God, Christ did not align Himself with any
man because He knew what was in man and didn't need man to
testify of Him. And here comes the next verse,
and there came a man to Him by night and started to testify
of Him. I love the way the Scripture lines up. God doesn't need anyone. He does not need any help in
caring for His own. And the way we honor God, how
do we honor God? I know people have big ideas.
Didn't we cast out devils in thy name? Didn't we do wonders
in thy name? And then we preach in your name. How do we honor
God? By believing Him. By believing
Him. That's it. Holly's got to be
more than that, preacher, by believing Him. This is the work
of God, that you believe on Him whom He has sent. And if you
read the account of David's rise to his throne, you will not find
one fingerprint of David in the whole affair. He said, did I
ask you to build me a house? Look at verse 8. Now therefore,
so shall thou say to my servant David, this is what you tell
him, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, I took thee from the sheep coat,
from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over
Israel. I did that. And I was with thee, whithersoever
thou went. And I have cut off all thine
enemies out of thy sight, and I have made thee a great name,
like unto the name of the great men that are in the earth. Moreover,
I will appoint a place for my people. It ain't going to be
the city of David. be Jerusalem. And I will plant
them, that they may dwell in the place of their own, and move
no more. Neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any
more as before. And since the time that I commanded
judges to be of My people Israel, and have caused them to rest
from all thine enemies, also the Lord telleth thee that He
will make thee an house." You are not going to find any
of David's fingerprints on that whole affair because they are
not there. That is what God is telling I just want to honor
you, Lord. I want to build you a house.
Where did you get your house? How did you get where you were?
How did you get to the place where you are? Are you going
to do something for me when I've done everything for you? I've
done everything for you? In these words of Nathan, I see
the real job of a preacher. The preacher of the gospel is
used to check men and their plans. not by ruling them or controlling
them or driving them, but by reminding them over and over
and over again that what they are and where they are and where
they will be and where they shall be are all by the grace of God
according to the purpose of God. Your past, your present, and
your future are God's. He will not use you to fulfill
a purpose that He has ordained for somebody else, but He will
use you to fulfill His purpose for you. Jeremiah said, it's not in man
to direct his own steps. He just can't do it. He doesn't
know where he's going. David said, the steps of the good man
are ordered by the Lord. And finally over in 2 Samuel
chapter 23, David says this on his dying bed in verse 5, Although
my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things insure, and this is all my salvation
and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. God is a
God of purpose. It's a lesson that every child
of God learns throughout his career as a child of God, daily
and hourly, through every instance that comes his way, through every
trial, through every sorrow, through every joy. It's a learning
experience. And in your deepest, darkest
hour, this will be the most comforting thing to you. Our God is a God
of purpose, and He took us out of the sheep coat, and He put
us where we're supposed to be. And whatever's happening to us
right now is exactly what's supposed to be happening to us right now. Right now. Father, bless this
strong understanding. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.
Good night. God bless you.