1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,920 Because our Lord lives, certainly we listen to Him. 2 00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:07,360 We pay attention as He speaks from Second Samuel Chapter 7, 3 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:10,280 continuing on with the passage that Tim was reading. 4 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:14,080 Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you 5 00:00:14,080 --> 00:00:17,360 a house when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with 6 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:20,000 your Father's. I will raise up your offspring 7 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:23,960 after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish 8 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:26,560 His Kingdom. He shall build a house for My 9 00:00:26,560 --> 00:00:29,560 name, and I will establish the throne of His Kingdom forever. 10 00:00:30,040 --> 00:00:33,680 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. 11 00:00:33,680 --> 00:00:37,360 And when he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with a rod 12 00:00:37,360 --> 00:00:40,000 of men and with the stripes of the sons of men. 13 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:44,800 But my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it 14 00:00:44,800 --> 00:00:47,120 away from Saul, whom I put away from before you. 15 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:52,040 And your house and your Kingdom shall be made sure forever 16 00:00:52,040 --> 00:00:57,160 before me, and your throne shall be established forever. 17 00:00:58,000 --> 00:00:59,200 And this is the word of the Lord. 18 00:00:59,960 --> 00:01:02,640 Thanks to be God, the little grass Withers and the flowers 19 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:04,760 fade, but the word of our Lord it stands forever. 20 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:06,640 Amen. Please be seated. 21 00:01:07,120 --> 00:01:10,280 Grab your Bibles if you would turn to Second Samuel Chapter 7. 22 00:01:11,200 --> 00:01:16,080 Second Samuel Chapter 7. My guess is that you have either 23 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,440 seen the commercial or can easily imagine it when the dad 24 00:01:19,920 --> 00:01:24,240 gives his daughter, his teenage daughter, a gift and she, with 25 00:01:24,240 --> 00:01:27,160 some excitement, begins to open it and she tears it open. 26 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:30,560 And then there's that momentary confusion when she pulls out a 27 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:35,000 set of keys and she looks at it. And then you have that slowly 28 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,560 dawning realization. Keys go with car. 29 00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:41,440 Dad gave me keys, Dad gave me a car. 30 00:01:41,440 --> 00:01:43,680 And then she runs out. Of course, the commercial ends 31 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:46,040 with her hug in the car in the driveway or something along 32 00:01:46,040 --> 00:01:48,320 those lines. You move from a spot of 33 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:51,680 confusion, or mild confusion, not really sure what you're 34 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:55,480 looking at, to this dawning realization that comes and goes, 35 00:01:55,480 --> 00:01:57,280 oh, now I get it. Now I see. 36 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:01,320 I hope that that's what happens today when we look at this 37 00:02:01,320 --> 00:02:04,720 passage of Scripture, that as I read the text and as we looked 38 00:02:04,720 --> 00:02:08,520 at it initially, my guess is that more than one of you would 39 00:02:08,520 --> 00:02:11,240 think if you took it seriously, they anticipate it. 40 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:16,160 OK, this is an interesting passage, but I'm not quite sure 41 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:19,760 what all it has to do with us. And what I hope is, through our 42 00:02:19,760 --> 00:02:23,160 time together here as we look at this passage, that we're slowly 43 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:26,120 going to evolve. The dawning realization will 44 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:30,160 come, and I'll be able to watch as you kind of go, oh, now I get 45 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:32,600 it. Because the reality is that when 46 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:36,240 you first look at this, at first blush, the text basically says 47 00:02:36,240 --> 00:02:39,280 something along the lines of, hey, God's going to make this 48 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:42,120 great promise to David. And King David is going to reign 49 00:02:42,120 --> 00:02:44,840 and there's going to be some blessings to David and those 50 00:02:44,840 --> 00:02:46,680 kind of things. And it's easy to look at that 51 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:50,200 and see it as one of the hundreds of promises that God 52 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:53,920 gives to his people through the ages and is one of the hundreds 53 00:02:53,920 --> 00:02:56,120 of promises that are contained in the Scriptures. 54 00:02:56,440 --> 00:02:59,400 You look at it and you kind of go, OK, that's great for David. 55 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:02,760 I can understand that. And yet throughout church 56 00:03:02,760 --> 00:03:07,560 history, throughout Israelite history, the prophets of old, 57 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:13,440 God's people from the apostles on forward, Jesus himself, all 58 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:18,000 reference this text as an extraordinarily moment in 59 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:21,720 redemptive history. This is a key moment in the 60 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:24,880 story of redemption, the key moment of the story whereby we 61 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:29,400 become saved, how we are saved. And yet when we basically look 62 00:03:29,400 --> 00:03:32,280 at it, it's easy just to kind of look at it, kind of go blush and 63 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:35,560 say, OK, I kind of understand it, but I'm not quite sure why 64 00:03:35,560 --> 00:03:37,680 we spent a Sunday preaching on it. 65 00:03:38,360 --> 00:03:41,680 Well, hopefully by the end of this we will grow to see that 66 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:45,240 May God make it so, Lord, make it so for each of us that we 67 00:03:45,240 --> 00:03:48,040 would understand this passage more fully, more completely. 68 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:50,360 We pray through Christ our Lord, Amen. 69 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:56,400 The text begins, of course, with Nathaniel, Nate the prophet 70 00:03:56,400 --> 00:04:01,560 Nathan speaking with David. So David has this interaction. 71 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:05,720 He has his passion and desire. David has become king doing the 72 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:09,120 in the intervening months and years, he has become king over 73 00:04:09,120 --> 00:04:12,040 all of the nation of Israel. And Israel is growing both 74 00:04:12,040 --> 00:04:15,320 militarily and economically. It's becoming an established 75 00:04:15,320 --> 00:04:19,800 power in the local community. David is reigning over it, and 76 00:04:19,800 --> 00:04:23,120 he turns Jerusalem into the city, into his capital. 77 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:25,880 This is where he's going to reign in power through 78 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,480 Jerusalem. And so he establishes himself 79 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:29,520 there. And one of the things that he 80 00:04:29,520 --> 00:04:34,720 does is as the place becomes more secure economically and 81 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:38,320 more secure militarily, is that he builds himself a palace. 82 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:41,480 Now, we don't have a record necessarily of what the palace 83 00:04:41,480 --> 00:04:44,480 looks like, but from what we can gather and from other sources, 84 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:47,240 we can kind of picture that this is quite a big palace. 85 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:48,880 David is king. He's a new king. 86 00:04:49,000 --> 00:04:52,240 He's excited about his kingship. He builds himself this marvelous 87 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:54,480 palace. And as he's living in this 88 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:56,840 marvelous palace, he looks across the way. 89 00:04:56,840 --> 00:04:59,080 If you were with us last week, we talked a little bit about the 90 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:00,600 travels of the Ark of the Covenant. 91 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,600 By this time, the ark has made it to Jerusalem, but the ark is 92 00:05:04,600 --> 00:05:07,560 being stored in a tent. It's a glory tent. 93 00:05:07,560 --> 00:05:09,800 It's a big tent. It's a wonderful tent, but it's 94 00:05:09,800 --> 00:05:12,680 still a tent. And David says, hey, I'm living 95 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:17,120 in this wonderful palace and God is reigning in this, living in 96 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:20,640 this little tent. And if I am big and important 97 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:23,840 and I get this palace, God is bigger and more important than 98 00:05:23,840 --> 00:05:25,040 me. God gets this. 99 00:05:25,160 --> 00:05:29,200 He should have a bigger palace. So David goes to his chief 100 00:05:29,200 --> 00:05:33,400 spiritual advisor, Nathan, says, Nathan, I've got this idea. 101 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:37,000 I want to build God a temple. I want to build him a house or a 102 00:05:37,000 --> 00:05:40,840 temple where God can reside to the ark, again, being the 103 00:05:40,840 --> 00:05:43,640 physical manifestation of God's presence with his people. 104 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:48,120 I could I want to have this arc the the the arc stored within 105 00:05:48,120 --> 00:05:50,000 this glorious temple. I'm going to make this glorious 106 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:52,200 temple. And Nathan right off the bat 107 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:56,000 says, Hey, go and do whatever you want to do until Nathan goes 108 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:58,720 and checks with God and God says, hey, that's not what I 109 00:05:58,720 --> 00:06:02,280 desire. Just this quick side note, we 110 00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:07,360 often think that if we have a good idea that God will be happy 111 00:06:07,360 --> 00:06:10,960 with it or satisfied with that. The Scriptures belie that idea 112 00:06:10,960 --> 00:06:14,200 very frequently. The idea is, of course, for us 113 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:16,920 to be living faithfully according to God's scripture, 114 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,440 God's word, not to dictate to Him what we think is best for us 115 00:06:21,440 --> 00:06:23,120 to do. David thought that it made sense 116 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:25,960 for there to be a temple. God did not think that way. 117 00:06:25,960 --> 00:06:29,160 God did not desire that, even though it appeared to David like 118 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:32,600 it made all kinds of sense. Very often in life we go through 119 00:06:32,720 --> 00:06:35,400 making decisions based on what we think makes a whole lot of 120 00:06:35,400 --> 00:06:39,320 sense without doing that step that Nathan needed to do, which 121 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:42,200 was to go and to pray and to see God's face. 122 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:45,360 Just because it makes sense to you doesn't mean that it makes 123 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:48,160 sense to God. So God says, hey, don't do this. 124 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:52,040 Don't build this this temple. Instead, I'm going to establish 125 00:06:52,040 --> 00:06:56,000 your Kingdom. God says to to David, I'm going 126 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,280 to establish your Kingdom. Your Kingdom is going to be 127 00:06:58,280 --> 00:07:02,240 established into eternity. Now, this is an important thing 128 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:05,760 for David because David, like any king, is nervous about his 129 00:07:05,760 --> 00:07:07,640 role, about the stability of his role. 130 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:10,520 He's worried about rebels. He's worried about opposition 131 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:12,480 that he faces. And indeed, as we're going to 132 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:16,600 see in the weeks to come, David faces significant opposition in 133 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:20,240 his kingship. He is not a king and rolls on 134 00:07:20,240 --> 00:07:22,320 high and everything is fine for him. 135 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:25,200 He gets chased off the throne four different times during 136 00:07:25,240 --> 00:07:30,040 during his Kingdom. So his Kingdom is unstable and 137 00:07:30,040 --> 00:07:34,400 to have God come and say, look, when you die, I'm going to raise 138 00:07:34,400 --> 00:07:38,000 up your son as those of us who read the scriptures realize that 139 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,840 that Solomon that I will raise up your son Solomon and he will 140 00:07:41,840 --> 00:07:44,880 sit on your throne. There will be a follower after 141 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:48,040 you and descendants after him that will continue to sit on 142 00:07:48,040 --> 00:07:51,000 your throne of David. So what what God's reassuring 143 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:56,040 David on is, look, even though life is tumultuous, even though 144 00:07:56,040 --> 00:07:59,640 there is lots of difficulties all the way around, trust me, 145 00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:02,960 your Kingdom will be established and from your Kingdom will come 146 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:06,480 other other rulers and other kings, etcetera, etcetera. 147 00:08:06,480 --> 00:08:10,600 So he tells David about this assurance so that he encourages 148 00:08:10,600 --> 00:08:12,240 David. Now to David, you can imagine 149 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:16,320 this would be incredibly important, very influential, and 150 00:08:16,560 --> 00:08:20,440 if you're really reaching for us today, you can kind of see how 151 00:08:20,440 --> 00:08:23,640 maybe that has some importance in our spiritual life as well. 152 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:27,560 But by and large, we're looking at the gift with a certain 153 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:30,880 amount of mild confusion until we start thinking through the 154 00:08:30,880 --> 00:08:36,640 text a little bit Again. This text reveals for us the 155 00:08:36,640 --> 00:08:40,760 intricacies and the depth of God's redemptive plan for our 156 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:43,559 salvation. The reason why the church is 157 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:46,800 always held on to this passage, and why the prophets point back 158 00:08:46,800 --> 00:08:50,640 to this passage and why David himself received it as something 159 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:54,080 special and unique, is not simply because it spoke of David 160 00:08:54,080 --> 00:08:57,280 and his Kingdom, but rather it speaks of the Kingdom of which 161 00:08:57,280 --> 00:09:00,040 you are a part. If you are a follower of Jesus 162 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:05,400 Christ today, you are part of the Kingdom that God is speaking 163 00:09:05,400 --> 00:09:08,960 about right here, right now as He speaks along this text. 164 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:13,800 And so hopefully, just like that dawning comprehension comes upon 165 00:09:14,160 --> 00:09:16,760 the teenage girl as she gets her car. 166 00:09:16,960 --> 00:09:19,800 So I hope we're at this dawning comprehension is going to come 167 00:09:19,800 --> 00:09:22,800 on us as we look at this text. We begin right off the bat in 168 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:26,920 verse 11, B, where God declares that the Lord will make you a 169 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:30,680 house, where God declares that he will make you a house. 170 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:33,360 I must be feeling somewhat a little nostalgic these days. 171 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:38,160 Last week we looked at a passage of scripture and we looked at I 172 00:09:38,200 --> 00:09:40,960 referenced an 80s movie, the Ark of the Covenant. 173 00:09:41,680 --> 00:09:43,240 What is it? Raiders of the Ark. 174 00:09:43,240 --> 00:09:46,160 That's what it was called. And I did have a couple people 175 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:48,480 afterwards come up to me and say they've never seen the movie, 176 00:09:48,680 --> 00:09:50,120 but I'm positive they were lying. 177 00:09:50,680 --> 00:09:54,560 So today, today the movie reference is also from the 80s 178 00:09:54,560 --> 00:09:58,800 is not quite as iconic. But Crocodile Dundee, people 179 00:09:58,840 --> 00:10:01,280 say, OK, enough of you groans. So you've seen the movie 180 00:10:01,480 --> 00:10:04,200 Crocodile Dundee. So an Australian from the 181 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:07,000 Outback finds himself in New York City. 182 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:09,120 And while he's in New York City, he gets mugged. 183 00:10:09,640 --> 00:10:11,920 And so there's a bunch of hooligans around him. 184 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:14,240 And one of them pulls out a switchblade and pops open the 185 00:10:14,240 --> 00:10:17,000 switchblade and basically says, you know, I've got a knife. 186 00:10:17,440 --> 00:10:22,080 And and Crocodile Dundee says that's not a knife pulls out, 187 00:10:22,080 --> 00:10:24,920 that's a knife and pulls out this big massive hunting knife. 188 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:29,120 He says that's a knife. OK, David here says I want to 189 00:10:29,120 --> 00:10:31,440 build God you. I want to build you a house. 190 00:10:31,720 --> 00:10:34,960 I'm going to build you a house. And God says that's not a house, 191 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:38,360 this is a house. And he says to David, no, I'm 192 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:41,920 going to establish your house. I'm going to stop. 193 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:45,480 Now what he intends is not a building and not a palace. 194 00:10:45,680 --> 00:10:48,880 What he's saying is I'm going to establish your Kingdom. 195 00:10:49,040 --> 00:10:52,360 I'm going to establish your dynasty forever. 196 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:56,240 So he has in mind here this picture that where David has in 197 00:10:56,240 --> 00:10:59,600 mind, I'm going to build you a temple, a temporary or a 198 00:10:59,600 --> 00:11:03,800 physical residence for you to live. 199 00:11:04,120 --> 00:11:06,960 God says, no, that's not a house, this is a house. 200 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:09,800 I'm going to establish you a Kingdom forever and ever and 201 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:11,840 ever. And this goes to the divine 202 00:11:11,840 --> 00:11:14,920 gift. The first step in understanding 203 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:18,600 the blessings of this text is that this is about the divine 204 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:23,200 gift. It's all about God's grace and 205 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:29,120 not about our works. This text screams that idea for 206 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:31,200 us. Because David here has in mind 207 00:11:31,400 --> 00:11:32,880 this is what I want to do for God. 208 00:11:33,040 --> 00:11:35,200 This is what I want to do. I want to do this for God. 209 00:11:35,200 --> 00:11:37,480 I'm going to build him a house. I'm going to do these kind of 210 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:39,000 things. I want to do this for God. 211 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:44,640 And God says no, it's not about what you do for me, it's what I 212 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:49,200 do for you. It's what I have done for you. 213 00:11:49,680 --> 00:11:54,840 Over and over again in this passage, we see David wanting to 214 00:11:54,840 --> 00:11:57,240 do something for God, and that's fine, and that's good. 215 00:11:57,240 --> 00:12:00,080 And there is a necessary response to hearing God's Word. 216 00:12:00,320 --> 00:12:03,680 And there's a responsibility that all of us have to act upon 217 00:12:03,680 --> 00:12:07,640 what God tells us to do. All of that is very true, but 218 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:11,600 that is secondary to the primary emphasis that David is being 219 00:12:11,640 --> 00:12:13,680 taught here through this passage. 220 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:15,920 It's not about what you do for God. 221 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:19,040 It's about what God intends to do for you. 222 00:12:19,240 --> 00:12:23,520 It's not about our effort on His behalf, it's about God's effort 223 00:12:23,840 --> 00:12:26,800 on our behalf. I listened to a video of a 224 00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:31,280 Christian preacher teacher this week at some point and he talked 225 00:12:31,280 --> 00:12:32,800 about his relationship with the Lord. 226 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:37,000 And by and large, the the video was very beneficial, was very 227 00:12:37,000 --> 00:12:38,080 good. I liked hearing it. 228 00:12:38,360 --> 00:12:41,480 But as he talked about it, he always talked in terms of and 229 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:45,520 then I realized this and then I understood this and then I came 230 00:12:45,520 --> 00:12:47,360 to believe this and then I did this. 231 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:50,600 And after a while, it really bothered me that he kept talking 232 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:52,800 about what he was. We phrased everything in terms 233 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:57,160 of what I did and what I do. And this is a natural bent for 234 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:00,520 every one of us in this room to think in terms of what I'm doing 235 00:13:00,520 --> 00:13:02,360 and think of terms of what's happening to me. 236 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:04,600 And it's about me. And it's I, I, I. 237 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:08,600 And I wish that somebody could have said to this guy, you can 238 00:13:08,600 --> 00:13:11,760 turn everything around. What a difference it will make 239 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:14,200 to say, this is what the Lord has taught me. 240 00:13:14,920 --> 00:13:17,240 This is the what the Lord's insight has given me. 241 00:13:17,520 --> 00:13:20,800 This is now what I recognize about what the Lord has done in 242 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:22,840 my life. This is what the Lord is 243 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:25,400 enabling me to do and to accomplish. 244 00:13:25,800 --> 00:13:27,880 It's not simply a matter of linguistics. 245 00:13:27,880 --> 00:13:29,880 It's not simply a way in which we talk. 246 00:13:30,240 --> 00:13:33,680 It is inherent in the way in which we think that we are 247 00:13:33,680 --> 00:13:37,680 acknowledging that Christ goes before us in all things. 248 00:13:37,960 --> 00:13:42,840 This is not about what we do. It is about what Christ has done 249 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:45,440 for us. It's about what God does for us. 250 00:13:45,640 --> 00:13:49,000 And so when David here says what I want to do is do all of these 251 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:51,200 things and he's got this marvelous checklist. 252 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:52,640 And again, the checklist is great. 253 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:55,440 It's a wonderful thing. You want to dedicate your life 254 00:13:55,440 --> 00:13:59,560 more to prayer, do so if you want to dedicate your life more 255 00:13:59,560 --> 00:14:02,280 to reading the scriptures, of course, if you want to serve the 256 00:14:02,280 --> 00:14:04,920 church more faithfully, if you want to communicate your love 257 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:07,280 and care to your neighbor, if you want to be involved in a 258 00:14:07,280 --> 00:14:10,440 ministry that is ministering to those who are broken and needy. 259 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:14,120 Of course, we need to be doing all of these things, but all of 260 00:14:14,120 --> 00:14:18,360 those things flow from what the Lord has done for us, and we can 261 00:14:18,360 --> 00:14:20,640 never forget that and switch it up. 262 00:14:20,880 --> 00:14:24,280 And so the Lord here takes a great positive desire that David 263 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:26,680 has. And when you go back and read 264 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:30,080 this text earlier later today, which I hope that you do, read 265 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:33,360 those earlier verses that Tim read for us and try to decide if 266 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:37,840 God is gently rebuking David or if he's really rebuking David. 267 00:14:38,320 --> 00:14:41,440 I tend to think that he's kind of gently rebuking him, saying 268 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:44,320 that that's nice, that that's what you want to do, You want to 269 00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:46,880 build me a house. But you should pay attention to 270 00:14:46,880 --> 00:14:51,520 what I am doing for you. This passage is about God's 271 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:54,640 gracious acts towards his people. 272 00:14:54,800 --> 00:14:58,320 It's that first realization when you recognize that this text is 273 00:14:58,320 --> 00:15:00,280 not about David and David's Kingdom. 274 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:05,000 It's about God and his acting on our behalf, on your behalf, on 275 00:15:05,000 --> 00:15:08,320 each of us who come to know the Lord and Savior, where you first 276 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:11,960 begin to get an inkling that, hey, these keys belong to a car. 277 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:14,880 There's something bigger here that we need to recognize and 278 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:18,080 see. That continues on with the next 279 00:15:18,080 --> 00:15:22,160 step, the next realization, which is about the promise. 280 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:26,040 The divine promise is about unconditional love, 281 00:15:27,000 --> 00:15:29,240 unconditional love, divine promise. 282 00:15:29,400 --> 00:15:34,240 You can see it references most clearly in verse 14 and 15. 283 00:15:35,480 --> 00:15:40,400 One of the great perks of my job is that I get to see newborn 284 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:42,760 children. I get to be with newborn kids. 285 00:15:43,240 --> 00:15:48,800 Parent gives gives birth here in the congregation, whereas a lot 286 00:15:48,800 --> 00:15:52,160 of people would be a hindrance. I'm usually able to sneak in and 287 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:55,200 visit the kid early on and stuff like that and get to pray for 288 00:15:55,200 --> 00:15:57,320 the family. It's one of the great joys that 289 00:15:57,320 --> 00:16:00,040 I get to do is to to see the newborn children. 290 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:03,760 And I know that there's going to be exceptions to this role. 291 00:16:04,120 --> 00:16:06,760 So don't come up to me and say I know people who were OK. 292 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:08,480 I know there's exceptions to this role. 293 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:12,320 But by and large, over and over again, in my experience, people 294 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:14,840 come up to me afterwards when they've just given birth to a 295 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:20,960 kid and they're like, I can't believe how in love I am with 296 00:16:20,960 --> 00:16:26,320 this baby. I can't believe how much I feel 297 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:29,440 the minute the baby was born. This happens to Dad's lot. 298 00:16:29,440 --> 00:16:32,480 Moms, I think, have a run up of nine months or so to get used to 299 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:34,800 the idea. Dads, it often happens. 300 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:36,200 At least it certainly was with me. 301 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:38,000 I was excited about my kids being born. 302 00:16:38,000 --> 00:16:39,440 I was, you know, Kelly's pregnant. 303 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:41,280 That's wonderful, da, da, da, da, da. 304 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:44,480 But boy, when they were born, it was one of those things where 305 00:16:44,480 --> 00:16:47,600 immediately your heart is yanked open long before they do 306 00:16:47,600 --> 00:16:51,920 anything to deserve it. As a matter of fact, often while 307 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:54,800 they're being a pain, they're crying all the time, their 308 00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:57,680 diapers are gross, they're sleepy, they're nursing 309 00:16:57,680 --> 00:16:59,560 problems, all these kind of issues and stuff. 310 00:16:59,840 --> 00:17:03,880 And still there's this immense overwhelming passion and love 311 00:17:04,160 --> 00:17:06,079 for the child. You can picture a little bit of 312 00:17:06,079 --> 00:17:09,880 this imagery, I think that Jesus himself or God himself builds 313 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:13,280 into in verse 14. I will be to him a father, and 314 00:17:13,280 --> 00:17:16,599 he shall be to me a son. And there's this, this 315 00:17:16,640 --> 00:17:19,319 unconditional. Now the point is not the love, 316 00:17:20,240 --> 00:17:22,760 the point of this illustration is the unconditional nature of 317 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:24,640 this. Just a sidebar here for a 318 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:26,000 second. So I'm having a conversation 319 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:28,960 with some guys earlier this week and we're talking about 320 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:30,480 unconditional love and stuff like that. 321 00:17:30,480 --> 00:17:33,080 And I mentioned this about parents because it's, you know, 322 00:17:33,080 --> 00:17:36,560 I, I'm, I again, I get to see it often enough how parents just 323 00:17:36,560 --> 00:17:39,240 immediately seem to be unconditionally in love with 324 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:40,680 their kids no matter what they do. 325 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:44,000 And I and I had two, two of the individuals I was talking with 326 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,440 say, no, a better illustration is a pet is a dog. 327 00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:51,280 And the uncommitted devotion that a dog has for a master, 328 00:17:51,720 --> 00:17:54,000 that is not a better illustration. 329 00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:57,240 That is just not better illustration. 330 00:17:57,560 --> 00:18:00,720 So I want you to think in terms of a parent immediately falling. 331 00:18:00,880 --> 00:18:03,360 And again, it's not the love here, it's the unconditional 332 00:18:03,360 --> 00:18:05,760 nature of it. It's long before and I don't 333 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:08,880 know what happens to us. Sure I do. 334 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:11,920 It's the depravity of our hearts. 335 00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:14,640 It's the brokenness of the world around us. 336 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:19,680 It's a sinfulness that we all experience where in no time 337 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:23,640 people learn not an unconditional love, but a 338 00:18:23,640 --> 00:18:27,800 conditional love. God will love me if I do this 339 00:18:27,800 --> 00:18:30,800 and these kind of things. God will love me more if I do 340 00:18:30,800 --> 00:18:34,280 these kinds of things. God will demonstrate his I will 341 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:38,200 be more love worthy if I do these kind of things. 342 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:42,280 And the Scripture has proclaims against that over and over and 343 00:18:42,280 --> 00:18:45,320 over again. We are passionately loved by God 344 00:18:45,520 --> 00:18:48,080 simply because look again at the text. 345 00:18:49,040 --> 00:18:51,960 God says I will be to him a father and he will be to me a 346 00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:57,000 son when he commits iniquity. In other words, God knows that 347 00:18:57,000 --> 00:18:59,360 we're broken. God knows that we're going to 348 00:18:59,360 --> 00:19:01,400 commit iniquity. This is not if he commits 349 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:03,960 iniquity, it's when he commits iniquity. 350 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:07,840 When when sin happens, what is God's response? 351 00:19:08,360 --> 00:19:14,000 Yes, He will discipline us, but verse 15, I will never take my 352 00:19:14,200 --> 00:19:18,080 steadfast love from Him, the steadfast love of the Lord. 353 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:21,720 Endorse forever, not endorse forever, as long as we earn it, 354 00:19:22,240 --> 00:19:25,400 it endorse forever and ever and ever. 355 00:19:25,960 --> 00:19:30,960 This is the unconditional love that God pours out upon His 356 00:19:30,960 --> 00:19:33,120 people. This is the unconditional love 357 00:19:33,360 --> 00:19:37,440 that is demonstrated here to King David and the promise that 358 00:19:37,440 --> 00:19:43,360 is given to King David. So we see the divine gift of 359 00:19:43,360 --> 00:19:48,120 grace over works, and then we see the divine law, the divine 360 00:19:48,120 --> 00:19:51,600 promise of unconditional love, and our understanding of this 361 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:55,880 text grows a little bit. But still this is anchored in 362 00:19:55,920 --> 00:20:00,800 something that happened to David literally 3000 years ago, 3000 363 00:20:00,800 --> 00:20:04,400 years ago. And then we see the divine 364 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:08,440 fulfillment. The divine fulfillment happens 365 00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:12,560 in verse 16 and onward. Your house and your Kingdom 366 00:20:12,560 --> 00:20:15,000 shall be made sure forever before me. 367 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:18,040 Your throne shall be forever established. 368 00:20:18,040 --> 00:20:21,120 I wanted to be a good dad. I want to be a good dad. 369 00:20:21,120 --> 00:20:22,480 Dad. I got two kids. 370 00:20:22,480 --> 00:20:24,320 Most of you guys know I've got two children. 371 00:20:24,560 --> 00:20:29,600 They're old now, old, old. They're in their 20s now. 372 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:32,760 But when they were growing up, I wanted to be a good dad. 373 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:35,400 I wanted to be the kind of dad that said, look, I'm going to be 374 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:39,720 home for dinner and I'd be home for dinner, or let's play a game 375 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:42,720 tonight and we'll play a game tonight, or I'm going to read to 376 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:45,160 you or let's watch a movie or let's do something. 377 00:20:45,360 --> 00:20:49,000 I wanted to be a dad where when I made a promise to the kids, 378 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:52,200 the kids could count on it and they could know about it. 379 00:20:52,560 --> 00:20:55,040 And I don't know any dad that doesn't struggle with that, 380 00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:59,800 desperately wants to be faithful like that to his kids. 381 00:21:00,720 --> 00:21:05,280 And yet my job is such the pastoral emergencies come up and 382 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:09,760 I forced to miss appointments with my kids and where I can't 383 00:21:09,760 --> 00:21:13,080 do things, where I promise to do things and stuff like that. 384 00:21:13,080 --> 00:21:17,400 And my kids learned a lesson. And the lesson was not to doubt 385 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:22,000 my promises, but to realize that I don't control the future. 386 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:24,800 I don't have control over the future. 387 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:29,600 And my kids realize that. My kids grew up realizing that 388 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:34,200 sometimes Dad couldn't fulfill the promises he made because 389 00:21:34,200 --> 00:21:38,000 something unexpected occurred. And they didn't resent me. 390 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:42,400 They didn't grow up angry at me. They grew up recognizing that 391 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:45,320 God controls this world, not Henry Knapp. 392 00:21:45,960 --> 00:21:49,000 The God is irresponsible for what takes place in this world, 393 00:21:49,320 --> 00:21:53,240 not me or my desires or my interest and my my passions. 394 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:58,040 And so it's easy for us to see a passage of Scripture like this 395 00:21:58,360 --> 00:22:01,480 that promises God's love forever, that promises God's 396 00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:04,640 grace always working in people's lives and say, well, yeah, 397 00:22:04,640 --> 00:22:06,640 that's great for as long as it goes. 398 00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,400 If you know biblical history, or if you know Israelite history, 399 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:14,800 or if you know old now ancient Israelite history, history at 400 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:18,360 all, modern history, secular history, you know that the 401 00:22:18,360 --> 00:22:24,640 Kingdom of David ran for generations, but it eventually 402 00:22:24,640 --> 00:22:28,520 was wiped out and it was destroyed and the people were 403 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:33,280 taken into captivity and Israel was abandoned as a land. 404 00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:37,600 And it's easy to look at this promise and say, what happened, 405 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:41,720 O Lord? And the prophets of old, I kept 406 00:22:41,720 --> 00:22:45,200 pointing back to this promise and say, but God promised it. 407 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:49,000 And we know something different about God than about Henry 408 00:22:49,000 --> 00:22:51,000 Knapp. Henry can't always guarantee his 409 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:53,720 promises because I don't control the future. 410 00:22:53,880 --> 00:22:57,320 But what do we know about God that he does control the future, 411 00:22:57,440 --> 00:23:00,280 that he is sovereign over all the things, and that if God does 412 00:23:00,280 --> 00:23:05,120 promise something, that we have confidence that our Lord is 413 00:23:05,120 --> 00:23:08,040 going to fulfill it. And so the prophets kept saying, 414 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:11,960 but he promised David, he promised him, he promised him. 415 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:16,000 And then Jesus comes along and Jesus self identifies himself 416 00:23:16,000 --> 00:23:18,480 with this text. He is the Son of David. 417 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,080 He is the one who is rolling in David's place. 418 00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:24,000 He is the one who is the fulfillment of this promise to 419 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,680 David. And so we have the divine gift 420 00:23:27,240 --> 00:23:30,720 of grace over works. We have the divine promise of 421 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:32,880 unconditional love. Then we have the divine 422 00:23:32,880 --> 00:23:35,800 fulfillment of this promise in Jesus Christ. 423 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:40,240 And so it is true that every individual that is bound through 424 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:45,760 Christ to our Lord and Savior is bound in Christ in the Kingdom. 425 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:49,800 That is, his Christ came as the fulfillment of this passage, a 426 00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:53,320 descendant of David, and then given the fulfillment of this 427 00:23:53,320 --> 00:23:56,760 David that his Kingdom. And Jesus makes it crystal clear 428 00:23:56,760 --> 00:24:00,240 over and over again that his Kingdom is not of this world. 429 00:24:00,360 --> 00:24:02,520 His Kingdom is not a political entity. 430 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:05,880 His Kingdom is a spiritual entity in our lives and over the 431 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:09,000 everything in this world. And God's spiritual Kingdom, 432 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:12,760 Christ's spiritual Kingdom, is that of which everyone of us are 433 00:24:12,760 --> 00:24:14,960 a part of. And we all have that great 434 00:24:14,960 --> 00:24:17,560 promise. OK, Why am I so excited about 435 00:24:17,560 --> 00:24:22,920 this? Because I have been somebody who 436 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:29,200 has said to you, I forgive you. And then it's needled in the 437 00:24:29,200 --> 00:24:32,560 back of my head over and over again that I don't really 438 00:24:32,560 --> 00:24:36,800 forgive you. I have been one who has received 439 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:40,680 forgiveness from other people and they haven't really meant 440 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:43,040 it. And I know they haven't meant it 441 00:24:43,560 --> 00:24:47,120 because when I've sinned against them a second time, they go 442 00:24:47,120 --> 00:24:48,720 back. Oh, yeah, that's just like you 443 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:51,040 did the last time. It's just like you did the last 444 00:24:51,040 --> 00:24:56,560 time over and over again. Because I am faithless in so 445 00:24:56,560 --> 00:25:00,880 many ways of my life as you are faithless in so many ways of 446 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:05,000 your life. And we can write that on God. 447 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:07,120 Once again. God is just like us, only 448 00:25:07,120 --> 00:25:09,520 bigger. No, he's not. 449 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,200 Because we're told in the Scriptures the beautiful line 450 00:25:12,480 --> 00:25:18,560 that even when we are faithless, He will remain faithful because 451 00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:22,720 he cannot deny himself. Our Lord has promised that you, 452 00:25:23,360 --> 00:25:26,600 if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, our Lord has promised 453 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:30,560 that you are a part of His Kingdom forever. 454 00:25:30,680 --> 00:25:32,960 And there will be no end to that rain. 455 00:25:33,080 --> 00:25:35,040 There will be no end to that forgiveness. 456 00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:37,520 There will be no end to that unconditional love. 457 00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:39,560 There will be no end to that grace. 458 00:25:39,840 --> 00:25:44,720 It was yours now and forevermore because our God reigns 459 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:46,680 eternally. That's what it means, that 460 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:48,400 Christ is the fulfillment of His promise. 461 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:51,760 That's why this promise is so important in redemptive history, 462 00:25:52,000 --> 00:25:54,840 because we are not told just that Jesus will forgive us our 463 00:25:54,840 --> 00:25:57,600 sin. But what about my sins tomorrow? 464 00:25:57,840 --> 00:26:00,800 What about my sins the next day? What about my sins into the 465 00:26:00,800 --> 00:26:02,600 future? God may forgive me my sins 466 00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:05,600 today, but by golly, I've got a whole boatload of them coming 467 00:26:05,600 --> 00:26:08,400 down the Pike. And what are we told? 468 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:13,560 We are told that I am part of a Kingdom that reigns forever and 469 00:26:13,560 --> 00:26:18,400 ever and will never, ever die, will never cease, is established 470 00:26:18,400 --> 00:26:23,880 forever by God himself, who does not change. 471 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:28,320 How do you respond to something like that? 472 00:26:29,760 --> 00:26:32,440 Let's listen to how David responded to something like 473 00:26:32,440 --> 00:26:34,440 that. Let's pray together. 474 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:43,680 Gracious Lord, we are overcome with the thankfulness that you 475 00:26:43,680 --> 00:26:49,720 have given to us in the redemption of our souls, in the 476 00:26:49,720 --> 00:26:55,160 life of everlasting, in the blessings of your promise. 477 00:26:57,160 --> 00:27:00,680 Lord, we desire to experience that unconditional love. 478 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:05,680 We desire to live in a world that is dominated by Your grace, 479 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:11,000 not our need for works. We long to be in the Kingdom 480 00:27:11,200 --> 00:27:15,240 that is established by our King, Jesus Christ Lord and Savior 481 00:27:16,280 --> 00:27:21,200 Lord, we desire all of those things, and yet so often we lack 482 00:27:21,200 --> 00:27:25,880 the dawning realization that comes upon us that should cause 483 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:27,800 us eventually to say good and mercy. 484 00:27:28,240 --> 00:27:32,280 If Jesus is doing all of this for us, then He is also 485 00:27:32,280 --> 00:27:34,880 redeeming us forever and ever and ever. 486 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:38,720 Lord, we are grateful for that eternal redemption. 487 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:42,720 Grace us with your mercy and peace. 488 00:27:42,720 --> 00:27:45,720 We pray through Christ our Lord who taught us to pray together, 489 00:27:45,720 --> 00:27:50,400 saying, our Father who aren't in heaven, hallowed be Thy name, 490 00:27:50,800 --> 00:27:55,080 Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in 491 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,880 heaven. Give us this day Our Daily 492 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:03,120 Bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors, and 493 00:28:03,120 --> 00:28:06,840 lead us not in temptation, but deliver us from evil. 494 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:11,400 For thine is the Kingdom, and the power and the glory forever. 495 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:12,200 Amen.