of 2 Samuel chapter 7. This week we are finishing the chapter off.
Good morning.
First Samuel chapter 18, 7.
The King David went in and sat before the Lord and said,
Who am I, Sovereign Lord, and what is my family that you have brought me this far?
And I see if this were not enough in your sight.
Sovereign Lord, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant.
And this decree, Sovereign Lord, is for a mere human.
What more can David say to you?
For you know your servant, Sovereign Lord.
For the sake of your word and according to your will,
you have done this great thing and made it known to your servant.
How great you are, Sovereign Lord.
There is no one like you, and there is no God but you,
as we have had with our own ears.
And who is like your people Israel,
the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself,
and to make a name for himself,
and to perform great and awesome wonders,
by driving out nations and their gods,
and before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt.
You have established your people Israel as your very own forever,
and you, Lord, have become their God.
And now, God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house.
Do as you promised, so that your name will be great forever.
And people will say,
The Lord Almighty is God over Israel,
and the house of your servant, David,
will be established in your sight.
Lord Almighty, God of Israel,
you have revealed this to your servant,
saying,
I will build a house for you.
So your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you.
Sovereign Lord, you are God.
Your covenant is trustworthy,
and you have promised these good things to your servant.
Now be pleased,
and to bless the house of your servant,
that it may continue forever in your sight for you.
Sovereign Lord,
have spoken,
and with your blessing,
the house of your servant will be blessed forever.
Amen.
Thanks, John.
Now, keep that passage open.
We're going to be working our way through it together.
And on the inside of your notice sheet
is an outline of the sermon as well,
which you might like to follow along with.
Now, really,
this morning's sermon is part two from part one last week.
So last week,
we were looking at the beginning of 2 Samuel chapter seven.
This week,
we are finishing the chapter off.
And if you weren't with us last week,
then let me try and super quickly get you up to speed
with what we looked at last Sunday.
2 Samuel chapter seven is all about God's promise to David.
And the first half of the chapter outlines that promise
as Nathan the prophet comes and speaks to David
and tells him this promise.
David says,
I want to build a house for the Lord.
And the Lord says,
no,
I'm going to build a house for you.
I promise I'm going to give you a dynasty
that will last forever.
And so last week,
we saw that God who is free,
God can do what he wants to do
whenever he wants to do it.
God is the free God,
yet he binds himself to a promise,
a commitment.
He says,
I'm going to do this.
And it's a promise that's ultimately fulfilled
in the sending of the Lord Jesus Christ
as the eternal King of God's people.
Now that was last week.
And this week is all about how David responds
to what God has said to him.
You'll notice at the beginning of the section
that John read for us,
David goes into the tent
in which the ark is kept
and he sits before the Lord,
reflecting on what God has said.
Now to work our way through the passage together,
I want you to notice first
that David asks three rhetorical questions.
Does anyone know what a rhetorical question is?
That was a rhetorical question.
A rhetorical question,
that was supposed to be a little joke,
but it doesn't matter.
Thanks, Joan.
A rhetorical question is a question
where the answer is obvious.
Yeah, so you don't need to ask.
It's like asking a teenager,
would you like some food?
Rhetorical question,
because the answer is obvious.
It's yes.
So David asks three rhetorical questions.
Look down.
Verse 18, he says,
who am I?
He says.
Then in verse 20, he says,
what more can I say?
And then in verse 23, he says,
who is like your people?
And the answer to all of those questions
is obvious.
What's the answer to all those questions?
Nothing.
Who am I?
I'm nothing.
I'm no one.
What more can I say?
I can't say anything.
Who is like your people?
Who can compare to your people?
Nothing can compare to your people,
he says.
There is nothing good
like what God has done.
Now, the point of that
is that David realizes
that what God has promised
is incredible.
It's out of this world.
He has nothing to compare to it.
It's more brilliant
and more majestic,
more amazing
than anything else he's ever heard.
Any promise he's heard before,
nothing, nothing, nothing
compares to this.
Nothing.
Now, all those nothings
doesn't mean that the passage
has nothing to say.
We've not quite finished yet.
I want to show you three things
that flow out of that nothingness,
nothing to say.
The first thing is this.
I want you to see a humble king,
a humble king.
When David asks that first question,
who am I?
It's not because he's reflecting
so much on his sinfulness.
That comes later in 2 Samuel.
What he's reflecting on here
is his humanity.
The point is that the size
and the scale of God's promise
does not match his mere manness,
as he puts it.
There is a discontinuity
between the size of what God has promised
and the smallness of David.
Not only does David know
that he is the smallest son
in an unknown family.
In verse 18,
he was out keeping the sheep,
if you remember,
overlooked even by his own father
and yet now is anointed king
over a united Israel.
But that, says David in verse 19,
is a small thing
compared to what now has been promised
about the future,
the future of the house of your servant.
In other words,
David, as he looks in on himself,
is empty of any reason
why God would give him
what he has promised.
Empty of any reason.
There is nothing in me.
The reason for God's promise
has to be grounded
in God's extraordinary generosity,
not in David's strength.
David sees that
and he is humble before the Lord.
Actually, you see this humility
all the way through the passage
in the way that David refers to himself.
He consistently calls himself
God's servant.
Nine times in the chapter,
he calls himself servant,
the servant king.
With any greatness that David enjoys
comes from the heart of God
or the will of the Lord,
verse 21,
to David, his servant.
In other words,
David is humble and empty
and God's promise fills him
and exalts him.
Now, the important detail to notice here
is in verse 19,
when David says that this promise
is also a decree.
Look down at verse 19
and you'll notice that.
He says at the end,
and this decree,
sovereign Lord,
is for a mere human.
Literally, the word there is law or Torah.
It means not so much law as in rules
in this situation.
It means more instruction.
Instruction.
In other words,
the promise that you have given,
this gigantic promise to empty David,
that is meant to be an instruction.
It's supposed to teach
that God fills the empty with glory.
And it's not just to teach David,
the mere human.
I think the sense here,
as in your footnote in your Bible,
is really it's meant to teach
the entire human race.
In other words,
all of us this morning
are meant to look
at the size of God's promise
and the emptiness of David
and see something,
learn something together.
Not simply,
I think that David's humility
is something that we should copy,
although it is,
and we'll talk about that in a moment,
but rather this idea of God's promise
being fulfilled in emptiness
is a lesson,
something that we should be looking for.
Why?
Well, because as we know
from the rest of our Bibles,
it's the exaltation
of an empty human king
that brings salvation.
The promise to David
is a pattern
that teaches us
to look for Jesus.
Think about it with me.
Jesus is the king of kings.
He's the Lord of lords.
He's the glorious,
eternal son in human flesh.
Where do you find him?
You find him in a stable,
not a palace.
You find him laid
in a feeding trough,
not an ornate cot.
But as you read that
in the Gospels,
you shouldn't be surprised by that
because you've been taught
that God's extraordinarily large promise
is seen in the emptiness
of humanity.
In Mark chapter 10,
Jesus picks up David's language here
when he says
that he's not come to be served,
but to serve
and give his life
as a ransom for many.
I am the servant of all,
says Jesus,
just like David.
In other words,
David's humility here
helps us recognize Jesus,
the eternal, glorious son
who empties himself of glory,
taking on weak human flesh,
pouring out his life on the cross,
only to be filled with the glory
as he receives the blessing
of his father
in the name that is above every name.
Let me ask you
whether you see this
this morning.
It's wonderful
if you all grasp this.
I know it's a sort of
abstract theological concept,
but there is glory
and there is wonder in this
if we will just listen to it.
In his divinity,
the eternal son
is eternally glorious.
There is no glory
that God has
that is not belonging
to the son.
The son is eternally glorious
with the father
and the spirit
in eternity past.
And without shedding
any of his divinity,
he takes on himself
the humanity of David,
empties himself
and becomes mere human,
to use David's words
in verse 19,
so that in his empty humanity
through his fulfillment
of the promise of God
and his work on the cross,
he can be filled
not so much
just with the divine glory,
but actually can be filled
with the glory
of being God's appointed king.
King,
the fulfillment of David,
the God-man ruler
of his people,
the final fulfillment
of 2 Samuel chapter 7.
This is how Paul puts it
in Philippians chapter 2.
Speaking of Jesus,
he says,
who being in very nature God
did not consider equality
with God
something to be used
to his own advantage.
Rather,
he made himself nothing.
Literally there in the Greek,
he emptied himself
by taking the very nature
of a servant
and being made
in human likeness
and being found
in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Therefore God exalted him
to the highest place
and gave him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee shall bow
in heaven and on earth
and under the earth
and every tongue acknowledge
that Jesus Christ
is Lord, King, Ruler
to the glory of God the Father.
This is the brilliance
of all this.
Philippians 2
is the fulfillment
of 2 Samuel 7
when a thousand years
before the coming of Christ
a young shepherd king
sits in a tent
and prays and says,
God, you've promised something
which doesn't match
my mere humanity.
And God says,
doesn't he,
in a way,
no, no,
this is how I work,
watch and wait
for the coming king.
Now, of course then,
there's a lesson for us too,
isn't there,
that we too should be humble,
we should be empty
of self-importance
like David
and like Jesus,
that in experiencing
the blessings of God
in turning to him,
we're not asking
that God might see
our potential.
I mean,
just imagine for a moment
that David sits down
in the tent before God
and goes,
finally God,
someone has seen
my potential.
My dad always overlooked me.
He was always more interested
in my brothers
than he was in me.
Thank you, Lord,
that you've finally seen
what great value I have.
It would be a wicked thing
for him to say,
wouldn't it?
Why?
Well, because God's blessing
is for the self-empty,
not the self-full.
That's the lesson
of the promise.
And so for you and me
and for us together
as a church,
it's only as we
recognize our emptiness,
it's only as we
shred our self-reliance
that we can begin
to be filled
with the power of God.
Why should God
revive the work
of the gospel
in Queen's Park
and Kilburn?
Why?
Why should God
give you the strength
for tomorrow?
Why should God
rescue us
from this sin-sick world
for a place
in eternal glory?
Who are we
for such a promise?
Who am I?
I'm no one.
I'm nothing.
It's about God's generosity,
taking what is empty
and filling it
with his power
and his strength
for his glory.
Let me just try
and press this
a little more.
If you're a Christian
this morning
and you don't share
this sense
that the promise
of God in Jesus Christ,
the promise
that he has given you
in the Lord Jesus,
the promise not just
for this life
but for eternity
in his kingdom,
if you don't,
if you're a Christian
and you don't sense
like David
that you are no one
to deserve that,
then either you
don't really know
yourself
or you don't really
know the size
of the promise
because it's wonderful
what's been offered here
and David recognises
that the size
of what God has promised
does not match
the emptiness
of his humanity
and so for you and me.
Second theme,
the awesomeness of God,
the awesomeness of God.
In verse 22,
David launches into praise
as he tells God
there is no one like him.
Look at verse 22.
How great you are,
sovereign Lord.
There is no one like you
and there is no God
but you.
And because God
is like that,
it means there is nothing
like being one of his people
either.
No one has it as great
as Israel.
Look at verse 23.
And who is like your people,
Israel,
the one nation on earth
that God went out
to redeem
as a people for himself.
No one else
has ever been rescued
like that.
No one else
has ever been turned
from slavery
to freedom
for the possession of God.
No one else
has received
such amazing things
that God has done.
No one else
has received
this kind of forever promise
that God has now
given to his people
in verse 24.
You have established
your people Israel
as your very own forever,
he says.
And you,
Lord,
have become
their God.
That's important
to notice here
that David
is seeing
this promise
God has made him
and understanding it
in line with the other
actions of God
in history.
Notice the way
that he refers
to God here.
It's sovereign Lord,
Lord God,
as it's translated.
That's significant
because David here
is taking on the language
that Abraham uses
for God
in Genesis chapter 15
when God spoke
to Abraham
and gave him
a promise.
David's saying
that God,
Abraham's God,
that God is my God,
he says.
This Abrahamic God,
that God is the God
now who's spoken
to me in promise,
he says.
And then in verse 23,
David is talking
about Moses
and the rescue
from Egypt,
saying that what
has been promised
to him
is essentially
the part B,
the sequel
to the Exodus.
God is not doing
something new
with David,
he is building
on what he has
already been doing,
all of which are showing
that God is alone
in generosity,
unparalleled in kindness,
which has been going
through the generations
of the Old Testament,
working out in promises
to Abraham
and to Moses
and now to David.
Now that's brilliant,
but I think to see
the gold here,
you've really got to
notice and think carefully
about what David says
about God's awesomeness
in those promises.
So just notice
these two big ideas
in verse 22 and 23.
That on the one hand,
there is no one
like God
and on the other hand,
there is nothing
like being one
of his people.
If you only see
one of those,
you only get
half the story.
If you see
that there is no one
like God
but you forget
there's nothing
like being his people,
you only get
half the story.
If you think
there's nothing
like being his people
but you forget
that there is no one
like God,
you've only got
half the story.
because it's not just here that God is great, right? It's not just that God is powerful or
mighty. Of course, that's true. And we're used to thinking in that category. I don't know
what you think about when you think about God, but maybe you just think of a great
force or power or might or majesty. Well, in a sense, that's kind of true, isn't it? But it's
only really part of it. Let me try and show you what's going on. Look at verse 26 and look at
what David calls God. David says that the Lord Almighty is God. Literally, the God of
heaven's armies is God. But notice what he adds. He says, over Israel. You notice that the Lord
Almighty, the king of heaven's armies, the one who is powerful and majestic and glorious
is over Israel. It's the same in verse 27. Lord Almighty, majestic, glorious, powerful,
mighty God of Israel. God of Israel. Or take a look at verse 22. David knows there is no one
besides God. Why? Well, because he has heard with his ears what God has done in redeeming Israel from
their slavery in Egypt. And now he hears their promise, the promise of God for him. And he says,
listen, I've got nothing more to say. There's nothing more to say. God in all his awesome power is for
David, not against him. In other words, God's awesomeness is for David, right? His awesomeness
is salvation for Israel. Because not only is God powerful and majestic and glorious, powerful to
crush all enemies and destroy everything in his path, which is sort of good news, I suppose, in a way,
and maybe how you think about God, but his greatness is seen in his mercy towards David,
in his love and his kindness, that this great power is for him, not against him.
So suddenly, God's power is not something that David is terrified of, but is something he loves
and delights in. Let me just try and illustrate what's going on here. I want you to imagine for a
moment that you're stuck in the mud, okay? I don't know how you got there, but it's your fault,
right? You're up to your waist in the mud. You can't get out. You can't move. You're going to just
be there forever and ever in the mud, right? You're stuck. It's a terrible situation. Your life is in
danger. You're going to die in the mud. And just as you think this cannot get any worse, it gets worse,
because through the mud is driving a huge digger towards you. And you're stuck, right? So you can't
get out. You've got no hope of getting out of the way of the digger. So what's going to happen when
the digger comes to you? It's going to crush you right over the top of you, and you can't get out
of the way. So listen, I put it to you that the bigness of the digger while you're stuck in the mud
is not good news, is it? It's not, is it? You're terrified of the digger because you're stuck in
the mud. It's not good news. It's bad news. The size of the digger is bad news. This is the end. I'm
lost. But then you look carefully and you notice that the driver of the digger is your dad. That's my
dad there. And you know that your dad loves you. He has a heart for you. He wants to rescue you.
And he's coming to use the power of the digger to lift you from the mud. What do you think then about
the size of the digger? Well, you're singing about it, aren't you? Oh, how mighty you are, digger. I love
you digger. Your scooping power is great. I love it. All of a sudden, what was terrifying to you is
brilliant news. Why? Why? Well, because you know that the one in whose hand is that power
loves you, loves you. And that's what's going on in our passage. David knew that God was great,
but what he finds out in the promise is that God loves him and is for him. That's the great news of
2 Samuel chapter 7. Now, of course, if David could see that about God from what he has heard in 2 Samuel
chapter 7, how much more can we see that as we see the fulfillment in Jesus Christ? You know, who is
like the God who stoops down from the glories of heaven to take on himself in the person of the Son,
frail human, empty flesh, to die on the cross to save us from our sin, from slavery, not in Egypt,
but to sin and death, dying, rising. Who is a God like that? Who is a God like that? Who has a name
as great as that name? The greatness is not crushing but saving. It's not far off or distant. It's not
something I read about in a dispassionate way as if, oh, yeah, yeah, God's great, isn't he? It's something
that I know is close by me and I love it that God in his triune awesomeness, Father, Son, and Spirit
moves towards me in the person of the Son to scoop me out the mud of my sin and lift me to glory.
What great news. No one like that God and there's nothing like being one of his people, which brings
us to the final point, which is about saving faith. I don't know whether you noticed this as John read the
passage for us earlier, but there's only one request in David's prayer. Did you notice that?
It's there at the end of verse 25. Notice it. It's do as you promised. It's the only thing that David
asked. Do as you promised. It's an amazing thing when you think about what's been going on in the
story. Here's David. He's sat in this tent before the Lord. God has spoken to him through Nathan the
prophet, said all these amazing things to him, and in effect, his prayer is something like this. Praise
you, Father. The only thing I want is you to do what you said you're going to do. The only request
I have is, Lord, just do what you've promised. That will be enough for me, Lord, if you will do
what you promised. That promise, that promise that you've made that I've heard through Nathan,
that's what I want, Lord. I don't want anything else. That's what I want. That's what I need.
David goes on to explain why he's asking for it. If you look down at verse 27, see what he says.
It's because God has said, I will build a house for you that he has courage to ask. It's because
God's words are true and trustworthy in verse 28, and he has promised a good thing. So David speaks
to God and says, please do what you've promised. Please do it. See, listen to this, because this is
really important for us this morning as we come to a conclusion. This is what it is for David to have
saving faith in God. There are two aspects to it. One is David looks at God and goes, I can trust you
to do what you say. I know, God, that you are trustworthy. But that's not all, okay? He says,
I know, God, you're trustworthy. But the second part is, he says, your promise, you keeping your
promise is all that I want in life, all that I need. Imagine it like this. I don't know whether
this might happen in your family when you had smaller children, or if you're a young person this
morning, this may still happen in your house. It does happen in ours from time to time. Imagine
that you and your siblings are fighting over a small chunk of chocolate.
You know, whose is it? And you're squabbling and fighting. And then your mum comes in, maybe
this takes a bit more imagination, because this never happened in my house. But imagine
your mum comes in with a giant kilo bar of chocolate and says, listen, I promise to give
this to you. I promise to give it to you. What happens to the fight about the little chunk
of chocolate? Suddenly it evaporates, doesn't it? Why? Well, because the promise is way better
than the thing you were really concerned about before. It's eclipsed, isn't it? Your fight
over the chocolate is eclipsed by the kilo bar promised to you. And all you want is your
mum to keep the promise. Please just keep your promise, mum. Please keep your promise. And
you will stop fighting. Now that's what's going on here. David is suddenly consumed by the
promise of God. And David was thinking, oh, I'm going to build a temple. I'm going to kind
of make Jerusalem like the place that I really want to be. I've built my own cedar house.
Now all I really need is to get that Ark of the Covenant out of a tent and into a nice
cedar building itself so that we can make Jerusalem nice and cosy. Let's bed in. Let's settle down.
Let's get comfortable. Let's build heaven here. Let's build the eternal kingdom here. Maybe
this is what being God's people is about. It's about building home here and enjoying it.
And God comes and says, no, listen, listen, my promise is for something much, much better than
that. My promise is not the chunk. It's the kilo bar. My promise is not just for the short time now.
My promise is for ever. I am not talking about a short kingdom here in Jerusalem. I'm talking about
an eternal heavenly kingdom. I'm not talking about a place where you're king, David. I'm talking
about a place where I'm king. I'm not talking about a place where you live for a short time and then
you die. I'm talking about a place where you live forever and ever and ever. I'm not talking about a
place where you cry and weep and mourn and suffer. I'm talking about a place where every tear is wiped away
and you live forever with me
in a world remade by my power and my glory
forever and ever and ever.
And David says, oh, that's what I want.
That's what I want.
And that's saving faith.
Being a Christian is not just saying a sinner's prayer
with your mum by the bedside
and then just getting on with life.
I think some of us think that, don't we?
You know, we pray, Lord, please forgive me for my sin.
And then I'm just gonna carry on with life
as I was living before,
as if that's what it's all about.
You know, building heaven here,
trying to get a career, trying to get a house,
trying to get enough money to live.
Asking God to help me do what I want to do
and fulfill my plans.
But being a Christian in 2 Samuel chapter seven
is not like that at all.
Being a Christian in 2 Samuel chapter seven is saying,
yes, I'm sorry for my sin and I turn from it.
I trust you.
But Lord, what you promise is what I want.
I don't want anything else.
If I cannot have that, I want nothing.
Because that's what really matters.
The promise is better than anything else we travel over.
So let me say to you this morning,
whether or not you'd call yourself a Christian,
have you seen that?
Have you seen that?
Until you see that this promise of God made in Abraham,
Moses and David,
fulfilled in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ,
until you've seen that that really is
the only lasting treasure,
then you've not really understood what God is saying here.
So have you seen it?
Do you know that?
Have you seen that in life and death,
the only treasure of any value
is knowing God through Christ, his King,
that we are empty
of any reason in ourselves to receive that,
that God in his awesomeness scoops us up,
gives us this amazing promise
that now by faith we're invited to reach out
and take hold of living life and dying death
with something bigger than our own dreams
and aspirations driving us.
Well, let me pray and then we'll sing
in response to what we've heard.
Let me pray.
Heavenly Father, we want to say with David,
please, Lord, do as you have promised.
What you've promised in the Lord Jesus Christ
is better than anything that we could do for ourselves,
better than anything that we have planned for our lives.
Lord Jesus Christ, knowing you, trusting you,
eternity with you in a world remade by your power
and your glory forever and ever
is better than any of the simple little things
that occupy us now.
Please, Lord, fill our hearts
with the great treasure that it is in knowing you
and do as you have promised, we pray.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.