WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.360 We are carrying on tonight in the Life of David series that we had been doing. 00:00:06.360 --> 00:00:12.960 And one commentator says that 2 Samuel 7, he calls it the banquet of words. 00:00:12.960 --> 00:00:20.320 And that's because this is the longest speech from God's mouth since Mount Sinai in the 00:00:20.320 --> 00:00:22.160 book of Exodus. 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:27.780 And that makes sense because this is a covenant moment. 00:00:27.780 --> 00:00:34.160 This is when God makes a covenant with David just like God made a covenant with Moses on 00:00:34.160 --> 00:00:35.880 Mount Sinai. 00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:41.039 Now you won't find the word covenant anywhere in the passage like you do in some other texts 00:00:41.039 --> 00:00:43.560 that are clear that God's making a covenant. 00:00:43.560 --> 00:00:50.280 But we're going to sing it after the sermon, Psalm 89, verses 27 and 28, call 2 Samuel 00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:53.640 7, God's covenant with David. 00:00:53.640 --> 00:01:02.760 Now a covenant is when God makes an unbreakable relationship with human beings and he attaches 00:01:02.760 --> 00:01:06.879 to that unbreakable relationship promises. 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:10.439 And when you look back at all the covenants in the Bible, they always come with a certain 00:01:10.439 --> 00:01:14.680 set of promises that are actually the same. 00:01:14.680 --> 00:01:20.359 They build on one another and there will be a dynasty of people, a community, and that 00:01:20.359 --> 00:01:25.400 they will have a land to live in and that in that land they'll have a hope of resting 00:01:25.400 --> 00:01:29.039 from their enemies, a Sabbath day that is coming. 00:01:29.039 --> 00:01:32.640 And in the midst of all that, that God will be with them forever. 00:01:32.640 --> 00:01:38.599 And those four promises you see in every single moment that God comes down to make a covenant. 00:01:38.599 --> 00:01:45.000 And the three great moments of covenant in the Old Testament are Abraham, Moses, and 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:46.960 2 Samuel 7, David. 00:01:46.959 --> 00:01:51.959 And that means that this is one of the great, what we've just read is one of the most significant 00:01:51.959 --> 00:01:53.359 moments of all of human history. 00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:57.879 It's one of the great moments of human history when God comes down to make a covenant, the 00:01:57.879 --> 00:02:00.280 Davidic covenant as it's called. 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:08.079 Now, there's multiple ways to preach about a covenant, about 2 Samuel 7, and one of them 00:02:08.079 --> 00:02:11.120 would be to look at all the details of the covenant and how it relates to all the other 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:16.079 covenants and how it relates to the New Testament, the New Covenant. 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:22.480 But actually, when you read Abraham's covenant, Moses' covenant, David's covenant, one of 00:02:22.480 --> 00:02:28.200 the things that I think really jumps out is that every one of the passages is actually 00:02:28.200 --> 00:02:31.480 about God and about the nature of God. 00:02:31.480 --> 00:02:35.680 It's the nature of God that jumps off the page every time God makes a covenant. 00:02:35.680 --> 00:02:41.439 And this passage is unusual because we don't have that often in the Old Testament a certain 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:43.800 way of addressing God. 00:02:43.800 --> 00:02:46.000 And David uses it nine times. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:51.639 It's translated at the end of the passage as Lord God, and it's the word Adonai, Adonai 00:02:51.639 --> 00:02:52.919 God. 00:02:52.919 --> 00:02:56.560 And it's the name that gets used when covenants get made. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:02:59.879 And it really means God the King. 00:02:59.879 --> 00:03:04.280 And David says it nine times, and he points us to the fact that when you read God say, 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:09.120 I'm going to make an unbreakable relationship with you, and here's all the promises and 00:03:09.120 --> 00:03:14.120 the way I'm going to fulfill it, that you've got to turn around and say, wow, this is about 00:03:14.120 --> 00:03:15.199 God. 00:03:15.199 --> 00:03:18.959 And verse 22 really sums up the way to respond. 00:03:18.959 --> 00:03:25.079 I think David says, Lord God, I heard the promises, and all I have to say is you are 00:03:25.079 --> 00:03:26.079 great. 00:03:26.079 --> 00:03:27.599 That's the sentence he gives us. 00:03:27.599 --> 00:03:29.079 And that's it. 00:03:29.079 --> 00:03:33.179 When you look at the covenant, the response is, Lord, you're great. 00:03:33.179 --> 00:03:35.399 These promises, they are great. 00:03:35.399 --> 00:03:42.199 And so tonight, just for just a few minutes, this covenant story tells us something about 00:03:42.199 --> 00:03:43.799 God. 00:03:43.800 --> 00:03:48.680 We learn what kind of God the Christian God is here in 2 Samuel 7. 00:03:48.680 --> 00:03:51.280 So let's see three things. 00:03:51.280 --> 00:03:57.040 God's covenant wisdom, His covenant presence, and His covenant love. 00:03:57.040 --> 00:04:00.160 Okay, so first, the covenant wisdom. 00:04:00.160 --> 00:04:06.360 Verse one is actually a very unusual moment in the books of Samuel because it says that 00:04:06.360 --> 00:04:11.480 the King lives in his house and has rest from all his enemies. 00:04:11.479 --> 00:04:15.039 David was always at war, almost always throughout his whole career. 00:04:15.039 --> 00:04:20.399 And this is one of those very unusual moments where there are no enemies at the door and 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:26.599 David's heart is right, actually, that his heart is at peace and oriented unto God. 00:04:26.599 --> 00:04:33.120 And so David, in his right mind, rest, it looks like the covenant promises are being 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:34.639 fulfilled already. 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:38.039 He turns to Nathan, who is an unknown prophet. 00:04:38.039 --> 00:04:40.439 We've never heard of Nathan until 2 Samuel 7. 00:04:40.439 --> 00:04:46.000 He just pops up out of nowhere and he says, I'm in luxury. 00:04:46.000 --> 00:04:51.920 I've got a house to live in, palace, and God's given us rest. 00:04:51.920 --> 00:04:58.199 And it's not right that God's ark, the sacrament of His presence, should be in a tent next 00:04:58.199 --> 00:05:02.680 door, a little bitty tent, and not a temple, a palace. 00:05:02.680 --> 00:05:03.680 It's not right. 00:05:03.680 --> 00:05:10.360 I'm living proportionally greater than the God who has delivered us unto this moment. 00:05:10.360 --> 00:05:16.439 Because the Nathan, the prophet says, God's with you, your heart's in the right place. 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:17.439 Let's do it. 00:05:17.439 --> 00:05:18.439 Let's build the temple. 00:05:18.439 --> 00:05:19.800 Now, a couple things. 00:05:19.800 --> 00:05:26.480 One is that the word house here is the most frequent word that shows up in this passage, 00:05:26.480 --> 00:05:31.360 12, 13 times, and it's a triple entendre. 00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:34.600 When David says, I live in a house, he means a palace. 00:05:34.600 --> 00:05:38.199 But then he said, God doesn't have a house, means a temple. 00:05:38.199 --> 00:05:41.360 And in a moment, we're going to see that God then comes and says, no, no, no, you can't 00:05:41.360 --> 00:05:42.360 build me a house. 00:05:42.360 --> 00:05:45.079 I'm going to build you a house, meaning a dynasty. 00:05:45.079 --> 00:05:49.240 So the word house is the feature word with three different meanings. 00:05:49.240 --> 00:05:54.079 And so far, we've had two already where David says, I've got a house, a palace, but God 00:05:54.079 --> 00:05:57.519 doesn't have a house, a temple. 00:05:57.519 --> 00:06:05.800 And here, every indication from the writer, every indication from the climax, this climax 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:10.840 moment in the story of David is that David should build God a temple, that his heart 00:06:10.840 --> 00:06:16.840 is in the right place, and that he means well, and that God has fulfilled so many of the 00:06:16.840 --> 00:06:20.759 covenant promises from Abraham and Moses for it in this moment. 00:06:20.759 --> 00:06:26.000 And you come down to verse five and God says, no. 00:06:26.000 --> 00:06:30.680 He says to David, through Nathan, you want to build me a house? 00:06:30.680 --> 00:06:33.720 When did I tell you to do that? 00:06:33.720 --> 00:06:38.480 Even in the past, have you read from the scriptures that have been written so far that I ever 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:46.200 said to any of the rulers, including you, build me a temple that I should dwell in the midst 00:06:46.200 --> 00:06:48.640 in your midst forever. 00:06:48.640 --> 00:06:56.320 And that means that David's heart is in the right place, but David, David does not have 00:06:56.320 --> 00:06:59.520 what we call the wisdom of God. 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:04.199 And that's a very specific term, actually, in God's providence, Derek talked about this 00:07:04.199 --> 00:07:10.799 this morning, because the New Testament term for the wisdom of God is the term mystery. 00:07:10.799 --> 00:07:16.079 And a mystery is something that you cannot know, the plan of God, until God decides to 00:07:16.079 --> 00:07:19.240 let you know it and unfolds it before you. 00:07:19.240 --> 00:07:23.519 And in the equivalent term in the Old Testament is a phrase, the wisdom of God. 00:07:23.519 --> 00:07:30.159 And the wisdom of God is that great plan of God that you cannot know until God lets you 00:07:30.159 --> 00:07:33.519 know, until he unfolds it before you. 00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:39.399 And right here, this is what Paul means in 1 Corinthians 1 when he says, the wisdom of 00:07:39.399 --> 00:07:42.399 God is often foolishness in the eyes of human beings. 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:46.919 It always is, because whenever we look at something God's doing throughout history, how many times 00:07:46.920 --> 00:07:54.400 in your life have you ever come to a moment where you said, I feel like my heart's in 00:07:54.400 --> 00:08:00.000 the right place, and I've done what I'm supposed to do, and I'm in worship, and I'm using 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:04.560 the means of grace, and I'm in scripture and prayer, and God has brought this into my life, 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:07.040 and I don't understand it. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:11.879 And he was leading us down this road, and then all of a sudden, we're going down this 00:08:11.879 --> 00:08:15.200 road, and it's suffering, and it's hard. 00:08:15.199 --> 00:08:20.599 And David, David's heart was in the right place, and he was in the best shape of his 00:08:20.599 --> 00:08:27.439 life spiritually, and it makes total sense on paper that he would build God a temple, 00:08:27.439 --> 00:08:33.919 and God comes down and says that the wisdom of God is wiser than the foolishness of God. 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:34.919 I said it backwards. 00:08:34.919 --> 00:08:38.480 It's wiser than the wisest wisdom of men. 00:08:38.480 --> 00:08:45.720 And you see, in other words, the first rule about covenants is a rule for all of the Christian 00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:52.440 life, and that's that God makes them, God determines them, and God comes down and tells 00:08:52.440 --> 00:09:00.399 us that this is what my plan is, and I initiate it, I decide it, I determine it, I tell you. 00:09:00.399 --> 00:09:05.759 And throughout the history of covenants in the Old Testament, covenant history, the one 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:12.399 thing that we learn all the time is that we can't see all that God is doing in any given 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:13.759 moment. 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:19.559 And there's this complex web where every single event that God has ordained from the beginning 00:09:19.559 --> 00:09:25.600 is happening and pouring forth into millions of consequences, God intended consequences 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:29.480 that we can't possibly understand, and it's the wisdom of God. 00:09:29.480 --> 00:09:35.159 And David couldn't understand it here, and God responds and says, Versailles, and I love 00:09:35.159 --> 00:09:42.120 this, he says, David, you were out in the pasture, you remember, tending to the sheep, 00:09:42.120 --> 00:09:49.879 the smallest brother of the house of Jesse, and I was leading Israel across the Red Sea. 00:09:49.879 --> 00:09:52.559 I was, do you know what I've been doing? 00:09:52.559 --> 00:09:57.639 And you were in the pasture, and I came and I got you, and I made you prince, and I made 00:09:57.639 --> 00:10:01.480 you, and the reason God can say that is because he's God. 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:07.360 And he says, I determine what's going to happen in the midst of human history. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:12.000 And when we say, you know, if you're struggling tonight, maybe you've come here tonight and 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:18.600 you're struggling with the question of Christianity and the Christ, and you're saying, I actually, 00:10:18.600 --> 00:10:24.399 I want to believe this, but I look at my life and I look at the suffering out in the world, 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:29.240 and I don't understand why God would do it the way that he's doing it. 00:10:29.240 --> 00:10:36.759 And you fall into this classical dilemma that says either God is good, but he's not powerful 00:10:36.759 --> 00:10:44.320 enough to deal with the problems in our midst, or he's powerful and he's not good, so he 00:10:44.320 --> 00:10:47.320 won't deal with the problems in our midst. 00:10:47.320 --> 00:10:51.320 And what the Bible does is it comes over and over again, every time we see these great 00:10:51.320 --> 00:10:57.720 moments, these covenant moments, and says, God says, look, you can't possibly understand 00:10:57.720 --> 00:10:59.320 all I'm doing. 00:10:59.320 --> 00:11:03.680 And we've got to be in a place actually where we're open enough to say that really does 00:11:03.680 --> 00:11:04.680 make sense. 00:11:04.680 --> 00:11:10.279 You know, it makes sense to say that even though I can't think of a reason why this could 00:11:10.279 --> 00:11:14.200 be happening, or why God wouldn't open this door, but he's opening this door, why God 00:11:14.200 --> 00:11:19.399 would say no about this and yes about this, though I can't think of a reason if there 00:11:19.399 --> 00:11:24.720 really is a God, and he created the world and he controls all things, it makes total 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:29.800 sense that I wouldn't understand all he could possibly be doing in every single moment. 00:11:29.800 --> 00:11:34.279 And it's not an easy providence, but it's true. 00:11:34.279 --> 00:11:37.160 It makes sense, and here we see at the very beginning the wisdom of God. 00:11:37.160 --> 00:11:38.480 Two things to take away from this. 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:46.320 One is this, God says the way to respond to this is to say that in the midst of the Christian 00:11:46.320 --> 00:11:53.080 life we desire to think God's thoughts after him more and more and more as we walk down 00:11:53.080 --> 00:11:58.160 the path of our life, meaning there's a way in the New Testament to actually grow into 00:11:58.160 --> 00:12:04.720 the wisdom of God, where you so think like God thinks that you can start to see reality 00:12:04.720 --> 00:12:05.720 the way God sees it. 00:12:05.720 --> 00:12:09.680 Not that you know everything that's going to happen, but that you start to, in heart, 00:12:09.680 --> 00:12:14.680 you understand you're okay, you're settled, you're buoyant, you have a buoyant heart. 00:12:14.680 --> 00:12:18.240 No matter what the circumstances of life are doing to you, you're okay because you have 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:19.640 the wisdom of God. 00:12:19.640 --> 00:12:20.640 And here it is. 00:12:20.640 --> 00:12:21.640 It's a very simple application. 00:12:21.639 --> 00:12:25.120 Here's James 1, verse 5, he tells it to us straight. 00:12:25.120 --> 00:12:31.840 He says, if you lack wisdom, if you're having a tough time in the midst of your trials seeing, 00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:33.759 why would this be happening? 00:12:33.759 --> 00:12:36.960 He says, ask for wisdom. 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:39.919 And God will give it to you because he's generous. 00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:42.679 And it says ask in faith, and he will give you the wisdom of God. 00:12:42.679 --> 00:12:47.840 He will help you to think like God thinks, like God sees the world. 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:54.680 Now the second takeaway is this, verse 11, God says, David, you've said you want to build 00:12:54.680 --> 00:13:00.440 me a house, you will not build me a house until I build you a house. 00:13:00.440 --> 00:13:03.920 And remember, house is a triple entendre. 00:13:03.920 --> 00:13:08.639 And here he's saying, you want to build me a temple, you cannot build me a temple because 00:13:08.639 --> 00:13:14.000 I'm too busy building your dynasty, building a kingship for you and around you that will 00:13:14.000 --> 00:13:15.879 last forever. 00:13:15.879 --> 00:13:16.879 And here's the principle. 00:13:16.879 --> 00:13:18.879 This is what it means. 00:13:18.879 --> 00:13:26.000 God always, always builds something for you, for us, before you can ever build anything 00:13:26.000 --> 00:13:28.399 for him. 00:13:28.399 --> 00:13:32.399 God always has to build first. 00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:36.279 And only then can you respond to God by building something second. 00:13:36.279 --> 00:13:42.919 God has to take Israel across the Red Sea before Israel can respond in obedience and faith. 00:13:42.919 --> 00:13:48.879 God has to send great David's greater son to you before you will ever reach up in faith 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:50.439 and say yes to him. 00:13:50.439 --> 00:13:52.919 God always has to move first. 00:13:52.919 --> 00:13:56.519 And that's the great principle of the wisdom of God in the Old Testament. 00:13:56.519 --> 00:14:03.399 Now secondly, and briefly, God's covenant presence. 00:14:03.399 --> 00:14:08.639 Now the second thing, not only God's covenant wisdom we see, but God's covenant presence, 00:14:08.639 --> 00:14:15.120 verse six and seven, God's response here, he turns to David then and says, I've not 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:19.519 lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt till now. 00:14:19.519 --> 00:14:23.159 I've been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. 00:14:23.159 --> 00:14:28.439 In every place where I've moved, I've moved with the people of Israel. 00:14:28.439 --> 00:14:32.879 Now hear what God's saying here. 00:14:32.879 --> 00:14:38.600 He's saying, my people, David, here's why you can't build me a house. 00:14:38.600 --> 00:14:44.159 My people have been exiles for a long time. 00:14:44.159 --> 00:14:49.840 And how can I be where my people are not? 00:14:49.840 --> 00:14:51.879 And so it's not time yet. 00:14:51.879 --> 00:14:55.399 And this is what one commentator, Ralph Davis, says about it. 00:14:55.399 --> 00:14:58.440 Do you see what God is saying about himself? 00:14:58.440 --> 00:15:04.480 He's saying, I'm the God who travels with my people in their topsy-turvy here in their 00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:06.519 journeys and wanderings. 00:15:06.519 --> 00:15:10.720 The God's people live in tents, so will he. 00:15:10.720 --> 00:15:13.879 Are they a pilgrim people in their way to a land of promise? 00:15:13.879 --> 00:15:18.240 So he makes himself the pilgrim God. 00:15:18.240 --> 00:15:20.039 And just understand the implications of this. 00:15:20.039 --> 00:15:23.879 And this is, you know, we mentioned the first rule of the covenant, God has to do it. 00:15:23.879 --> 00:15:24.879 God has to make it. 00:15:24.879 --> 00:15:26.360 It's a top-down activity. 00:15:26.360 --> 00:15:32.199 But the second rule is that God does indeed make an unbreakable relationship with people 00:15:32.199 --> 00:15:33.759 when he covenants with them. 00:15:33.759 --> 00:15:37.319 So here, here are the nature of this unbreakable relationship. 00:15:37.319 --> 00:15:46.240 I read an article this week from a group of astrophysicists from Australia, a university 00:15:46.240 --> 00:15:54.919 in Australia, giving some fun facts to the lay reader, the non-specialist scientist reader, 00:15:54.919 --> 00:15:59.799 things that we have over the last 10 years come to unfold in their team in particular 00:15:59.799 --> 00:16:02.679 about creation, about nature. 00:16:02.679 --> 00:16:04.839 And this is what they listed a bunch of facts. 00:16:04.839 --> 00:16:13.239 They said, when we now think that at minimum there are 76 trillion stars in our galaxy, 00:16:13.239 --> 00:16:19.079 that's 70,000 million, million, million, 70,000 with 21 added zeros, stars in the galaxy. 00:16:19.079 --> 00:16:21.679 And that's, they said a modest guess. 00:16:21.679 --> 00:16:24.199 Some of those are neutron stars. 00:16:24.200 --> 00:16:33.440 Neon stars spin 600 times in complete rotation every second, which is unfathomable. 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:34.879 That's in our solar system. 00:16:34.879 --> 00:16:43.360 Also in our solar system, 99% of all the mass, the matter, is in the sun. 00:16:43.360 --> 00:16:48.600 So all the other planets and stars comprise 1% of the total mass of the entire solar 00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:49.600 system. 00:16:49.600 --> 00:16:55.440 The sun comprises 99% of that entire entirety of what's in our solar system. 00:16:55.440 --> 00:16:59.000 And the sun's rays touch the earth every hour. 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:06.640 And when they do, one hour of the sun's rays contain more power, more energy than all of 00:17:06.640 --> 00:17:11.319 the human race uses a year in all of its energy consumption. 00:17:11.319 --> 00:17:13.200 One hour of the sun's rays. 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:15.279 That's how powerful it is. 00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:19.120 And we know, of course, from the beginning of the 20th century and even more in the 21st 00:17:19.119 --> 00:17:23.039 century, that time is almost impossible to understand. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:27.399 That one day on Venus is longer than a year on earth. 00:17:27.399 --> 00:17:32.359 And understanding that it's even more complex than Einstein thought it was. 00:17:32.359 --> 00:17:38.119 And all of it is made up of subatomic particles, the quantum field that we now know we do not 00:17:38.119 --> 00:17:40.000 understand at all. 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:45.079 Now listen, God is the maker of heaven and earth. 00:17:45.079 --> 00:17:47.079 The first line of the Creed tells us. 00:17:47.079 --> 00:17:54.559 And he is the word that upholds all 76 trillion stars in the galaxy. 00:17:54.559 --> 00:18:05.079 And he says, if my people are poor and they're living in tents in the middle of the desert, 00:18:05.079 --> 00:18:07.919 I'm there. 00:18:07.919 --> 00:18:12.199 I'm going to stay in a tent in the middle of the desert. 00:18:12.200 --> 00:18:18.559 And you see, God's closeness in the midst of covenant. 00:18:18.559 --> 00:18:24.319 This is technically speaking for theologians an inappropriate category for God. 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:30.200 But God's closeness can almost make you want to talk about God's humility. 00:18:30.200 --> 00:18:37.600 That he is so humble that he wants to bind himself to me and to you as a pilgrim people 00:18:37.600 --> 00:18:39.640 in the midst of a universe like that. 00:18:39.640 --> 00:18:43.080 And that means that God is a pilgrim God for a pilgrim people. 00:18:43.080 --> 00:18:44.360 He's close to us. 00:18:44.360 --> 00:18:49.200 And the Psalms say to you the same thing that David probably was thinking when God said, 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:53.720 you're not going to build me a temple, no matter how you feel about it. 00:18:53.720 --> 00:18:55.360 They say, cry out. 00:18:55.360 --> 00:18:58.640 You cry out to God and you say, how long go Lord? 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:02.140 Why, oh God, my life is confusing. 00:19:02.140 --> 00:19:04.480 I don't know why this road and not that road. 00:19:04.480 --> 00:19:09.560 I don't know why I haven't had this relationship or I did have this or this or this. 00:19:09.559 --> 00:19:10.559 Whatever it may be. 00:19:10.559 --> 00:19:12.960 And they say, where are you? 00:19:12.960 --> 00:19:13.960 Where are you? 00:19:13.960 --> 00:19:22.559 And listen, God wants you to hear in 2 Samuel 7 that you can't understand his closeness. 00:19:22.559 --> 00:19:27.960 That he is a pilgrim God with you, the pilgrim who's walking through this life. 00:19:27.960 --> 00:19:31.039 And this is his answer to you. 00:19:31.039 --> 00:19:37.000 His answer to you is when my people are ravaged by sin and death and misery and sorrow, even 00:19:37.000 --> 00:19:42.759 when it was their fault, he did not consider equality with God in heaven, a thing to be 00:19:42.759 --> 00:19:46.279 held on to, but made himself nothing taking on the form of a servant. 00:19:46.279 --> 00:19:50.839 He became a pilgrim God man to be with you. 00:19:50.839 --> 00:19:56.079 And that's how close the covenant God gets in the midst of his covenant people. 00:19:56.079 --> 00:20:03.599 And if you have the son of the covenant tonight, the true David, David's great heir, then 00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:08.159 you need to know tonight that right now you've got the covenant presence of God and it won't 00:20:08.159 --> 00:20:09.159 go away. 00:20:09.159 --> 00:20:10.659 He won't go away. 00:20:10.659 --> 00:20:16.399 Now thirdly and finally, God's covenant love, covenant wisdom, covenant presence, covenant 00:20:16.399 --> 00:20:17.399 love. 00:20:17.399 --> 00:20:23.679 Verse 15 at the wrap up of all of God's promises, which we'll touch on briefly. 00:20:23.679 --> 00:20:30.839 God says, my steadfast love will not depart from the son of the king, him, as I took it 00:20:30.839 --> 00:20:32.319 from Saul. 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:39.279 And there we're introduced to that very famous word in the Old Testament, steadfast love. 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:42.439 It's the Hebrew word, hessed. 00:20:42.439 --> 00:20:46.079 We talked about it a couple months ago from the pulpit. 00:20:46.079 --> 00:20:53.439 Every time God makes a covenant, we get this word that God says, my love is hessed love, 00:20:53.439 --> 00:20:55.000 meaning it's covenant love. 00:20:55.000 --> 00:20:56.079 It's not going to go anywhere. 00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:57.919 It's going to stick with you. 00:20:57.920 --> 00:21:05.120 It means here there's going to be hessed love for David's son, an unbroken dynasty. 00:21:05.120 --> 00:21:06.680 God says that will last forever. 00:21:06.680 --> 00:21:14.120 Now, that word shows up in all the covenant making moments, Noah and David and Abraham 00:21:14.120 --> 00:21:16.880 and Moses, steadfast love. 00:21:16.880 --> 00:21:22.360 But when you look across the covenants in the Old Testament, these moments of making 00:21:22.360 --> 00:21:27.880 these unbreakable relationships, every one of them actually introduces new things. 00:21:27.880 --> 00:21:31.960 These new promises that haven't come before. 00:21:31.960 --> 00:21:38.080 It takes the land promise, the dynasty promise, the Sabbath promise, God's presence promise, 00:21:38.080 --> 00:21:40.720 and it builds on it and attaches new things. 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:47.440 Now, let me show you just what's new here, what God has never said before like he says 00:21:47.440 --> 00:21:49.560 to David here in these promises. 00:21:49.560 --> 00:21:55.160 He says, verse 10, now this is not entirely new, but only slightly new. 00:21:55.160 --> 00:21:58.240 Violent men will no longer afflict the people. 00:21:58.240 --> 00:22:05.519 So he says, you will no longer have violent men, covenant people coming after you. 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:10.600 Verse 14, David, your son, I will be to him a father. 00:22:10.600 --> 00:22:12.200 He will be to me a son. 00:22:12.200 --> 00:22:13.800 He's not said that before. 00:22:13.800 --> 00:22:15.720 This is new. 00:22:15.720 --> 00:22:21.759 And verse 13, he says, your son will build a house for my name. 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:27.920 He will build a permanent home for me, a temple, a place for me to be with you forever. 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:29.160 He's not said that before. 00:22:29.160 --> 00:22:32.879 And verse 16, your throne, David, will be forever. 00:22:32.879 --> 00:22:34.559 It's not going anywhere. 00:22:34.559 --> 00:22:38.559 He's never said that before in the whole of Testament to anybody. 00:22:38.559 --> 00:22:43.119 And verse 15, in the midst of all that, let me repeat to you again what I said to Abraham 00:22:43.119 --> 00:22:47.960 and what I said to Moses, I will give you my hesed, my covenant love. 00:22:47.960 --> 00:22:51.279 It's not going just so you know that these promises are so secure. 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:56.680 Now, this is where the passage gets sticky because when you read the rest of the Old 00:22:56.680 --> 00:23:02.799 Testament, there's a way of actually looking at that list and what's new here and saying, 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:06.399 this is exactly why the prophets exist. 00:23:06.399 --> 00:23:11.039 You know, Amos and Obadah and Micah and Nahum and the other. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:19.559 This is why they're in the Bible because of 2nd Samuel 7 and how it gets sticky, challenging. 00:23:19.559 --> 00:23:25.440 As God, just listen, God says verse 10, I'm going to plant you in a place, David, through 00:23:25.440 --> 00:23:30.519 your son and your people will be disturbed never again. 00:23:30.519 --> 00:23:32.919 No more violence. 00:23:32.919 --> 00:23:41.720 And you know, if you've read through the Bible, you know something and you know that 375 years 00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:51.360 later, a kingdom is going to march in and destroy the people of God and 415 years later, the 00:23:51.360 --> 00:23:56.519 southern kingdom where David lives right now is going to be leveled and God's people are 00:23:56.519 --> 00:23:59.240 going to be oppressed and enslaved for 400 years. 00:23:59.240 --> 00:24:03.200 All right, verse 11, here's another promise. 00:24:03.200 --> 00:24:08.279 You will have a man, your son on the throne of Israel forever. 00:24:08.279 --> 00:24:11.160 Your dynasty will never end. 00:24:11.160 --> 00:24:16.040 And in 2nd Kings 25, and if we had time to turn there, we would. 00:24:16.040 --> 00:24:24.519 2nd Kings 25, Zedekiah is the very, well Babylon has taken the kingdom. 00:24:24.519 --> 00:24:32.759 And Zedekiah is David's lineage and he's brought up and Nebuchadnezzar kills all of Zedekiah's 00:24:32.759 --> 00:24:36.920 children in front of Zedekiah's eyes. 00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:41.680 And then he takes Zedekiah's eyes so that he will see no longer. 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:45.400 And Zedekiah lives out the rest of his days in the midst of Babylon. 00:24:45.400 --> 00:24:49.120 And at that moment, what do the prophets say? 00:24:49.120 --> 00:24:57.200 The line of David, the forever line, the land, the violence, the where is the fulfillment 00:24:57.200 --> 00:24:59.960 of the promises of God? 00:24:59.960 --> 00:25:07.240 And how can I, when I say, you know, either God is all powerful or he's not good because 00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:15.440 he won't deal with this problem or he's not good and all power. 00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:16.440 What do I say? 00:25:16.440 --> 00:25:17.640 Why, Lord? 00:25:17.640 --> 00:25:20.360 And then the prophets start to say what the people said. 00:25:20.360 --> 00:25:25.960 They say, why, oh Lord, when are you going to, what is this? 00:25:25.960 --> 00:25:28.559 We read 2nd Samuel 7. 00:25:28.559 --> 00:25:32.039 And now we're here in the line of David is gone. 00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:33.879 And it feels like it's gone forever. 00:25:33.879 --> 00:25:37.599 You know, the people said, where is the hesed of God? 00:25:37.599 --> 00:25:41.599 Where is the steadfast love of the Lord in the midst of a situation like this? 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:47.839 And David prays, in fact, in verse 25, Lord, confirm this. 00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:53.839 Will you right now confirm that these promises will last? 00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:56.240 And that's exactly what the people cried out. 00:25:56.240 --> 00:25:59.920 Will you confirm it and you read the rest of Old Testament history? 00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:01.960 And it's a question mark. 00:26:01.960 --> 00:26:08.240 Now if you have a Bible, we don't normally do this, but if you have a Bible, flip over 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:14.200 to Matthew chapter one. 00:26:14.200 --> 00:26:16.640 And it's good to see it. 00:26:16.640 --> 00:26:23.440 Matthew one, the very first line, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, which is 00:26:23.440 --> 00:26:29.480 a connection to Genesis, which starts with the genealogy of Adam, the book of the genealogy 00:26:29.480 --> 00:26:35.279 of Jesus Christ, and the very first line, the very first way, the very first thing to 00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:39.799 say about this man, Jesus Christ, is he is the son of David. 00:26:39.799 --> 00:26:42.600 And all the prophets cried out, what about 2nd Samuel 7? 00:26:42.600 --> 00:26:45.360 What about the land and the promises and the forever dynasty? 00:26:45.360 --> 00:26:51.279 And Matthew opens up and says, let me tell you, he is the son of David. 00:26:51.279 --> 00:26:55.599 And you flip a couple pages over and Jesus Christ goes through the waters and he comes 00:26:55.599 --> 00:26:58.759 out again and the heavens open. 00:26:58.759 --> 00:27:04.720 And God had said in 2nd Samuel 7, I will be a father to him, he will be a son to me. 00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:10.639 And the heavens open and God says, behold, my son. 00:27:10.639 --> 00:27:12.160 The prophets have been writing about it. 00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:13.639 You've been looking for it. 00:27:13.639 --> 00:27:17.039 Let me tell you, you see what the Israelites in that moment, they knew. 00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:19.639 They said, he's talking about 2nd Samuel 7. 00:27:19.639 --> 00:27:21.200 He's talking about, this is the son. 00:27:21.200 --> 00:27:25.039 This is the son of David that's been talked about all these years. 00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:29.039 This is hundreds of years in the making. 00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:35.360 All the promises of God are yes in Christ, but hundreds of years where you're saying, 00:27:35.360 --> 00:27:37.720 where's the wisdom of God now? 00:27:37.720 --> 00:27:39.360 And they had to wait. 00:27:39.360 --> 00:27:42.120 And you say, how are all the promises filled? 00:27:42.120 --> 00:27:44.400 And we'll close with this. 00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:47.559 We'll close with this, something I didn't mention earlier. 00:27:47.559 --> 00:27:55.599 And that's that at the very beginning, when David has denied the ability from God to build 00:27:55.599 --> 00:28:01.000 the temple of God, we're actually given a real reason for it. 00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:07.839 First Chronicles 17.6 tells us, it's a parallel passage that the reason David was not allowed 00:28:07.839 --> 00:28:10.039 to build God's temple. 00:28:10.039 --> 00:28:15.519 It says, you may not build my temple because you shed blood. 00:28:15.519 --> 00:28:18.240 You are a man of war. 00:28:18.240 --> 00:28:23.119 And so God says, David, you're not fit to build the temple of God because you've killed 00:28:23.119 --> 00:28:25.879 too many people. 00:28:25.879 --> 00:28:28.200 The reason for that is because it was unfitting. 00:28:28.200 --> 00:28:34.440 It was, violence was never to be taken out on a human being in the temple of God. 00:28:34.440 --> 00:28:41.039 It was part of the Levitical law that blood could never be shed apart from an animal sacrifice 00:28:41.039 --> 00:28:42.160 in the midst of the temple. 00:28:42.160 --> 00:28:45.440 And so God comes and says, David, you are not fit. 00:28:45.440 --> 00:28:49.960 You are the great David in your hearts in the right place, but you have poured human 00:28:49.960 --> 00:28:51.759 blood onto the ground. 00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:56.559 You cannot come into the presence of God and build the holy temple that will last forever. 00:28:56.559 --> 00:28:57.559 You're not fit. 00:28:57.559 --> 00:28:58.559 I need a man. 00:28:58.559 --> 00:29:05.519 And he's saying, David's son that will build the temple, he's got to be a man of peace. 00:29:05.519 --> 00:29:08.200 And you know, you say, well, of course, he's talking about Solomon. 00:29:08.200 --> 00:29:14.360 But the problem with that is if you've read the story, you know that 415 years later, they're 00:29:14.359 --> 00:29:18.439 going to come in and the promise was he'll build a temple that will last forever, that 00:29:18.439 --> 00:29:20.279 God's presence will never leave. 00:29:20.279 --> 00:29:22.240 And the temple is leveled. 00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:24.119 It's destroyed. 00:29:24.119 --> 00:29:29.919 And Amos realizes that David was unfit and Solomon was unfit and the temple is lost. 00:29:29.919 --> 00:29:35.559 And you can go to Matthew 1 and you see the son of David. 00:29:35.559 --> 00:29:37.719 There's the promise, the forever king, the son. 00:29:37.719 --> 00:29:44.339 But you go to John 1 and it says he has tabernacled among us. 00:29:44.339 --> 00:29:51.559 You go to John 2 and Jesus says, I will tear down the temple and in three days I'll build 00:29:51.559 --> 00:29:52.559 it. 00:29:52.559 --> 00:30:01.119 And immediately you say, 2 Samuel 7, the temple promise was about him. 00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:04.199 It was about he's the temple. 00:30:04.199 --> 00:30:08.199 And you see the answer, all the promises are yes and amen in Jesus Christ. 00:30:08.199 --> 00:30:09.199 How? 00:30:09.199 --> 00:30:11.599 And the answer is the cross. 00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:15.959 Because it was at the cross that the temple of God was torn into pieces. 00:30:15.959 --> 00:30:21.000 You see David couldn't build God's temple because he was a man of war, not a man of 00:30:21.000 --> 00:30:22.519 peace. 00:30:22.519 --> 00:30:29.759 And so the true son of David, the man of peace had to have war from God onto him. 00:30:29.759 --> 00:30:30.839 His blood had to be spilled. 00:30:30.839 --> 00:30:31.839 He couldn't spill blood. 00:30:31.839 --> 00:30:37.399 His blood had to be spilled so that you might know the possibility of true peace. 00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:42.519 He was the temple that was destroyed but in three days it was rebuilt again. 00:30:42.519 --> 00:30:50.160 And all the promises of the Davidic covenant are yes today in Jesus Christ. 00:30:50.160 --> 00:30:54.160 This week I heard someone mention this. 00:30:54.160 --> 00:30:59.080 When we look at our lives and we say, where's the wisdom of God? 00:30:59.080 --> 00:31:00.680 This feels like foolishness. 00:31:00.680 --> 00:31:07.000 I don't know why I'm walking through this or I'm passing through this. 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:13.400 There's a famous saying in the black church in America. 00:31:13.400 --> 00:31:18.480 It's one of the black gospel songs that's been written in lots of different ways throughout 00:31:18.480 --> 00:31:20.400 the 20th century especially. 00:31:20.400 --> 00:31:24.720 But the most famous of the songs is called the on time God. 00:31:24.720 --> 00:31:29.440 And the most famous line you may have heard it before is, he may not come when you want 00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:34.279 him to but he's always on time. 00:31:34.279 --> 00:31:42.160 And for hundreds and hundreds of years they said, where's the heir of the covenant? 00:31:42.160 --> 00:31:46.680 And he didn't come when they wanted him to but he came on time. 00:31:46.680 --> 00:31:54.519 In the fullness of time Paul tells us, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, to redeem 00:31:54.519 --> 00:32:00.119 us that we might be called sons and daughters of God. 00:32:00.119 --> 00:32:05.079 And that's an invitation for you as we approach the table of the living God. 00:32:05.079 --> 00:32:06.079 Let's pray. 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:14.919 Father, we give thanks that the promises are yes in Jesus Christ. 00:32:14.919 --> 00:32:20.239 And we come now and ask that you would give us faith in your very covenant presence as 00:32:20.239 --> 00:32:21.639 we approach your table. 00:32:21.640 --> 00:32:31.640 And we ask for this faith in Christ's name.