2 Samuel 7, page 195 in your Pew Bible. Again, this is God's holy word. Now it came to pass when the king was dwelling in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies all around, that the king said to Nathan the prophet, see now I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside tent curtains. Then Nathan said to the king, go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. But it happened that night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, thus says the Lord, Would you build a house for me to dwell in? For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt, even to this day. But I have moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle. wherever I have moved about with all the children of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, Why have you not built me a house of cedar? Now therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler over my people, over Israel. And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies before you, and have made you a great name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth. Moreover, I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and I will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more. Nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them any more as previously, since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also, the Lord tells you that he will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seat after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But my mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. According to all these words, according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David. Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and he said, Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house? You have brought me this far, and yet this was a small thing in your sight, O Lord God. And you have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come. Is this the manner of men, O Lord God? Now what more can David say to you? For you, Lord God, know your servant. For your word's sake and according to your own heart, you have done all these great things to make your servant know them. Therefore, you are great, O Lord God. There is none like you, nor is there any God beside you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. Who is like your people, like Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for himself as a people, to make for himself a name? to do for yourself great and awesome deeds for your land, before your people whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, the nations and their gods. For you have made your people, Israel, your very own people forever, and you, Lord, have become their God. Now, O Lord God, The word which you have spoken concerning your servant, concerning his house, establish it forever, and do as you have said. So let your name be magnified forever, saying the Lord of hosts is the God over Israel. Let the house of your servant David be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to your servant, saying, I will build you a house. Therefore, your servant has found it in his heart to pray this prayer to you. And now, oh, Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this goodness to your servant. Now, therefore, let it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue before you forever. For you, oh, Lord God, have spoken it, and with your blessing, let the house of your servant be blessed forever. Amen. On the morning of December 13th, 1799, after a previous day of working around his estate at Mount Vernon and riding on horseback all day, George Washington woke up and he had a severe sore throat. He had a hard time breathing. He had a hard time talking. And by 10 o'clock that night, George Washington was dead. The experts, the medical experts, the historians, they're not agreed on how George Washington died. Some think it was pneumonia, some think it was some kind of special infection in the throat. Others think it was because of bloodletting. Bloodletting. It was a common practice in those days, based on a misunderstanding of the body, that if you let someone bleed out, at least in some sense, that would help them. They believed, they had this understanding that the body was Made up of four main fluids. This is what they thought back then. Black bile, yellow bile, phlegm, and blood. And often times with regard to inflammation, like George Washington, they said the problem is there's too much fluid in the body. We need to take fluid out. That's what they thought. I mean, no one knows why exactly George Washington died, but here's a man who was 67 years old, not too old. He had good health. He was working in his estate. He was riding a horseback. How many 67-year-olds ride a horseback, okay? He was healthy, he was strong, and he died quickly. And many will say it was because of the bloodletting. It's well documented that he lost 80 ounces of blood over 12 hours. It's well documented. This is all very much well known. That's 40% of an adult's blood volume. If it wasn't because of the bloodletting, the bloodletting certainly didn't help. His doctors did not properly understand how to diagnose, how to treat his problem. And that story kind of, I mean, you know, George Washington's bound to die, but he died quickly. It kind of makes you cringe a little bit. I mean, just because of a misunderstanding about how to treat the human body and how to understand the fluids and such. And yet, this type of thing happens today still. I'm not here to preach to you on how to be a doctor. But I do want to talk to you tonight about rightly understanding God's plan of salvation, rightly understanding what's wrong with you and how to treat it. There are people who have no understanding on how to treat their sin. And there's people who know a thing or two about Jesus, but still have a misconception of salvation. In some way, they mistreat their problem. They miss the whole thing. They miss salvation. because of a misunderstanding. Tonight I want to speak to you on salvation. I want you to understand some key principles of salvation. This chapter speaks to the salvation of God's people. It's actually a very important chapter in the Bible. 2 Samuel 7, a lot of ink has been poured out on this chapter. And I want to take it and kind of speak to you on salvation. Now, if you recall the context here, David Two weeks ago we looked at chapter 6 how there's peace in Israel. David has solidified the throne from Saul's family. There's no more internal threats. The Philistines, he's defeated the Philistines. Okay, so there's no invading army. And he turns to worship. He turns to the ark of God. He brings back the ark of God from Kirjath, Jerim, and he brings it to Jerusalem. which is good, and he's focused on worship and the ark, and in this setting, God reveals to him something about salvation. I want us to look at that. The lesson that we learn tonight is that God's own work of saving repeat offenders is to be received with a humble and adoring faith. God's own work of saving repeat offenders is to be received with a humble and adoring faith. I want to bring this message to you under four points. Four points this evening. First, verses 1-7. the object of salvation. Who is it that God saves? The object of salvation. And what we see in verses 1 through 7 is that God saves repeat offenders. Sinners, for one, and even sinners who keep making the same mistake. What mistake did David make? Well, Verses 1-2, it's a noble concern. David sees that he's dwelling in a nice house that he's built, but the Ark of God, which is a symbol of God's presence, is dwelling in tents. And David was... It's interesting to think about, you know, what is Nathan thinking about in verse 3? He says, listen, go do with all that's in your heart, for the Lord is with you. We've got to keep in mind that David was himself a prophet. He was a prophet in that God spoke to him. He revealed to him a lot about worship. He was almost like a second Moses. There's a lot of the Bible where David is changing the way worship is done. The whole idea of a temple in the first place was revealed to God, or revealed to David through God's word. Acts chapter 2 verse 30 is a place where the Bible says that David was a prophet. So verse 3, Nathan is probably assuming, wrongly, that God had communicated to David to do this. So he says, listen, go and do it. But God had not communicated to David to do this. He hadn't told him. That's clearly communicated in verses 4 through 7. Now this is where we see the offense. On one hand, David's a sinner, just like you and me, we're sinners. But I want you to think about the repeat offense here. What did David do in 2 Samuel 6? He worshiped God in a way that God had not commanded. The whole Uzzah incident, right? Uzzah touches the ark. The ark is inherently by nature connected to the worship of God. The Levites were supposed to carry it. All that, but there's more to be said about that. You'll recall David's own commentary on what happened in 2 Samuel 6. He says that to the Levites, because you did not do it the first time, the Lord our God broke out against us, because we did not consult him about the proper order. And this is what God brings out in verses 4 through 7. I want you to see that. It's an assumption. It's something that's assumed by the human author of 2 Samuel. Of course you wouldn't just make up your own way of worshiping God. I mean, David says, listen, who have I ever told of all the judges throughout the history of Israel before the Davidic covenant? Have I ever told any of them? to make me a temple? No. Why are you taking this upon yourself to change the way God's people worship me? This is the same exact problem, same exact offense. David should have learned. He should have learned. He's a leader. He's exposed to greater levels of revelation. He should have figured this out. Matthew Henry writes that worship only is acceptable which is instituted, why should David therefore design what God never ordained? Let him wait for a warrant, but let him do it. Better a tent of God's appointing than a temple of his own inventing. Now my intention in these first seven verses, and I think the intention of the Holy Spirit in writing this, isn't to get us to think necessarily about the regulative principle of worship. How God reserves for Himself the right to tell us exactly what to do. Unless God's told us to do that, we don't do it. Okay, it's guilty until proven innocent. What I want you to see is that, what's God about to say to David? Is God not about to bless David? Who is God bringing salvation to as a word? Promises of salvation. Who's the object of salvation? Is it people who have everything in order? Is it people who get their life cleaned up and then they come to Jesus? God saves sinners. not because they have figured it all out, not because they've earned it. Think about, think about, this is both in the sense of, several ways we can look at this. Saul of Tarsus. What was Saul doing on the road to Damascus? He was going to persecute Christians. Jesus came to him, literally came to him, gracious. Think about it from the perspective of God's people, those who already trust the Lord, who are forgiven, do you still sin? Do you still need to be saved in some sense? Think about Jonah, the prophet, rebelling. I don't want to go to Nineveh. What does God do? Well, He chastens them, He punishes them, but He graciously does, He brings them back, He brings them to faith, He brings them to repentance. This is who God saves. We looked at this morning in Sabbath school, Tim was talking about how You know, so many people who are Bible-trained don't really get the gospel. They don't get the gospel. They think that they really have to earn God's salvation. Now, can you out-sin God? Now, I want to explain what I mean by this, because you can't out-sin God's grace. I want to explain what I mean by that. You can't out-sin God's grace. You cry out to God in faith to Him. It doesn't matter what you've done. He'll save you. Christians, repeat offenses. I mean, David's a Christian. He keeps making the same mistake. Do you keep making the same mistake? Is God done with you? You're not gonna grow anymore? I'm sorry, I'm just done with you. Go to Him. Confessing your sin, seeking His help, this is who He saves. The object of salvation is repeat offenders. And I want you to think about, again, your understanding of salvation. Does this make sense to you? Do you know that God is gracious? For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. There's hope for sinners. There's hope for Christians who keep sinning. God's grace, God's saving promises come to those type of people. Verses 8 through 11, verses 8 through 11, I wanna cover a second aspect of salvation. I want you to have a proper understanding of salvation. Promises of salvation, salvation itself comes to sinners, even repeat offenders. But secondly, I want you to see the worker of salvation, the one who actually does salvation. And that is God alone. I'm telling you tonight, God's own saving work of repeat offenders. That part, God's own saving work. Now, verses 8 through 11, it's interesting. I mentioned to you that this chapter There's been a lot of ink spilled on this chapter, and it has to do with, really, verses 12 through 16, this revelation, this broadening the story of salvation to David. Why does God put verses 8 through 11 in here? He's reminding David that He's the one who's brought David along. He's the one who's brought David along. He's the worker of salvation. For David specifically, verses eight through nine, I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep. I mean, think about David when Samuel came to the house of Jesse. Kids, have you ever been in a kickball game and you're the last one to be picked? David would have been that guy. He was so far away. They were not thinking he would be the king. He wasn't that tall. He wasn't all that handsome or whatever. His other brothers were. He wasn't even there when Samuel arrived. He was keeping the sheep. He was in the bottom. God brought him up. He raised him up. He established him. Verse 9, I've been with you wherever you've gone, and I have cut off all your enemies. God is the one who's been with David. He's the power behind David's victories. He also goes and talks about how verses 10 and 11, this is also in regards to Israel. It says, moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them. Who's the actor? That's what I want you to see. Who's the worker here? The reason is to, I'm not gonna go into all this. There's reasons to take verses 10 and 11 in the past tense, just like verses eight and nine. It's kind of a little bit strange if you think about it. He says in verse 10, moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more. Well, hasn't that already happened? Hasn't that already happened? Verse 1 says that the Lord had given David rest from all his enemies all around. David will fight, even in the next chapter, but it's not from inside. He's on a conquest as a king. I think we should understand this to be in the past tense. I've done all this for God's people. You didn't have rest during the time of judges, but ever since you've been on the scene, I've given God's people rest in the land, just like I promised Abraham. Now whether that's the way we should translate it or not, it's both true. Who's the one acting here? Who's the worker of salvation? God is the worker of salvation. He's the one who's acting. Now, think about this from the perspective of your life. Okay, you need to be saved. You can identify with God's people and God's work for them. It's true now that the worker of salvation for God's people still is God himself. Have you kept all of God's laws? Listen, if you're gonna go to heaven, you have to be perfect. You have to obey all the laws. That's true. But how does that apply to us? How do we get that? It's because Christ, Christ has done all that. He's fulfilled all the law for us. Again, this morning in the Sabbath school, Tim was talking about how often he would go out and ask people questions such as, why should God let you into heaven? And especially from church folks, from church people, there's this idea, well, I've done this and I've done that. You know, Roman Catholics, what they do is they don't completely do away with Jesus. They acknowledge Jesus in some sense, but they add to Jesus our own works, our ceremonial works, our prayers, the rosary, all these different things. That's what you need to earn salvation. Protestants can do the same thing. People who go to a Protestant Reformed church, You know, what's the basis for why God is going to save you? Is it because of something you've done yourself? You know, is it because you've said a prayer? Well, I've said a prayer when I was a kid. And that earned myself... I've been baptized. You know, I've worked... these things, and I've worked it out. I've saved myself. I've contributed to my salvation. I want you to see from these verses that God is the worker of salvation. For by grace you've been saved through faith, but not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. I spoke to you about George Washington's death because there was just a lack of understanding. Do you have a lack of understanding? Anybody who comes to God, at the gates of heaven as it were, to Jesus and says, well, thank you for dying for me, but I've also done this, has missed the gospel. Missed the gospel. The worker of salvation is God alone. Verses 12 through 16, the third thing. Okay, so God saves sinners, himself, in what way? What are the means in which God uses to bring about the salvation of his people? Well, he uses a Davidic king, God's own saving work of repeat offenders through a Davidic king. This is the means of salvation in verses 12 through 16. Look with me, the nature of this king. In the previous, in the verse 11 it talks about how the Lord will make you a house. And he elaborates on what he means by that. Verse 12, when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you who will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom. The Messiah, the King who will reign forever, will not just be from the seed of the woman, okay, recall that phrase from Genesis, promise to Adam and Eve, not just from the seed of Abraham, in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed, but specifically David, his seed. He shall build a house for my name, verse 13. He shall build a house for my name. Now, this is a reference to the temple that Solomon builds. But there's also another reference here. Emmanuel, Jesus. Jesus, in his human flesh, he is preeminently the temple of God, because he is God. We should see Christ here all through this. He fulfills that. Verse 14, the coming king, this Davidic king, will be a son of God. Sound familiar? I will be his father and he shall be my son. There's a reference here, of course, to Solomon, but there's an ultimate reference in Christ. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, with the blows of the sons of men. This reference to iniquity is a reference to sin, violation of the law. Psalm 89. which we sang picks up on this a little bit more. The story of Israel and their kings up until the New Testament and Christ is a story of disobedience. The kings did not obey the laws of Moses as it were. Psalm 89 You have verse 30, if his sons forsake my law, do not walk in my judgments, they break my statutes, do not keep my commandments, that I will punish their transgressions with a rod, et cetera. And so here is this reference to this Davidic king, which obviously points us to Christ, because he's gonna reign forever. He's going to reign forever. Christ right now is on His throne and He's reigning forever. Hebrews chapter 1 verse 5 picks up on this passage of Scripture and applies it directly to Christ. He's the Son of David. Hebrews 1 verse 5, For which of the angels did He ever say, You are My Son? Today I have begotten You and again I will be to Him a Father. and he shall be to me a son." A quote here from verse 14. Jesus is the premier son of God who's kept all the laws, who's reigning now forever over the nations, over the church. And this is the means which God is going to bring about his salvation. Now, I wanna bring out from this at least two applications, if you will. A lot of ink's been spilled in this chapter. I want you to think about something theologically for a moment. We call ourselves covenanters, and there's a reason for that, and there's a meaning to that phrase. We believe in covenant theology. You hear me preach this, I'm assuming this. The fact that there's one covenant of grace, and that covenant of grace has different administrations. from the garden, Adam and Eve, Abraham, there's more revelation, a different administration, there's progression, you have Moses, you have David, all the way to the New Testament, the New Covenant. And this administration, there's growth, There's progression. There's never a break. It's all one covenant. In this covenant, we have an assumption of Abraham, the Abrahamic covenant, the land, the seed promise. There's Moses here with the laws. Okay, going back to Psalm 89. There's progression here. And it includes all the way up to the New Testament. Ezekiel 37, you may want to turn there. Ezekiel 37, 24-28. The idea is this, what I'm trying to say is, I teach to you and I preach to you that we're covenant theologians, we live in a progression. And one of the reasons why we baptize our infants, okay, this is just one application of what I'm trying to say, is because God never, He builds upon His covenants, He doesn't break them. The New Covenant isn't new entirely. It's added upon. It's another administration. I want you to know that. There's not a verse in the Bible that necessarily says all that I just said. It's assumed. It's just part of the way Scripture communicates. It's here in 2 Samuel 7, Ezekiel 37, verses 24 through 28. David, my servant, shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd. They shall also walk in my judgments and observe my statutes and do them. So you have the Davidic covenant together and the Mosaic covenant together. The Davidic covenant builds on the Mosaic covenant. Then they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob, my servant. Abraham, promise of the land. where your fathers dwelt, and they shall dwell there, they, their children, and their children's children forever. My servant David shall be their prince forever. But it's not just that, it's also the new covenant. Moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them. There shall be an everlasting covenant with them. I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever. My tabernacle also shall be with them. Indeed, I will be their God, and they shall be my people. There's a progression here. I don't want you to see that. But secondly, and most importantly, Jesus is the Messiah. I don't want you to miss that one. Jesus is the object of your faith and your love. This is what is being spoken here. He is our prophet. He is our priest. He is our king. He is our savior. Put your trust in him. Fourthly, and finally, Verses 17 through the end of the chapter, essentially half of the chapter. What do we see here about salvation? Why does the Holy Spirit have this in the Bible? What do we learn? We learn about the response to salvation, a response to God's promises of salvation. God's promises come to you whenever you hear preaching, at least biblical gospel preaching, whenever you read the Bible. How are you to respond to them? Well, the response is faith, fundamentally faith. God's unsaving work of repeat offenders through a Davidic king is to be received with a humble and adoring faith. Notice David's humility. Verse 18. Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house? Did you have brought me this far? This was a small thing in your sight. He's humbled by God's message. This is important for you to see this. Those who hear the gospel can harden. They can say, listen, I don't need a gospel. I don't need a gospel. Faith, the proper response is humble. Who am I? I don't deserve this. He's astounded at the grace of God. He's astounded at how God reveals to him. Verse 20. Now what more can David say to you? For you, Lord, God know your servant. For your word's sake and according to your own heart, you have done all these great things to make your servant know them. Why isn't God communicating to David? He's humbled by that. Especially a repeat offender. Faith is humble. It's also an adoring faith. David praises God for His greatness. Verse 22, therefore you are great, O Lord God. There's several places here in this text where he refers to the Lord of hosts as the God over Israel. The word God there is emphasizing God's power, His sovereignty, Elohim is the word. He's praising Him for His greatness, for His goodness. Do you do this? This is my question. This is David's response. We're learning how to respond to God's promises of salvation. Verse 23 through 24, God's goodness. You're the God who redeemed your people. Verse 24, for you have made your people Israel, your very own people forever and you Lord have become their God. He's praising God for his goodness and condescending to sinners. There's a relationship. I'm their God, you're my people. This is the essence of the covenant of grace throughout all of the Bible. I will be your God and you will be my people. He's humbled, he's worshiping. Notice the worship. He praises God for his truth, verse 28. And now, oh Lord God, you are God and your words are true. You're powerful, you're great, you're good and you're trustworthy. It's a humble and adoring faith. But I want you to see, fundamentally, this is faith. For one, he's praying, which is an act of faith itself. Belief that there is a God. He's invisible, but he hears me. He's everywhere present, he's all powerful. But notice the petitions. He asks God, he believes this revelation from Nathan. Okay, he has faith in it. And he asks God to carry it out. Verse 25, now O Lord God, the words you have spoken concerning your servant, concerning his house, establish it forever and do as you have said. Do as you have said. Verse 29, now therefore let it please you to bless the house of your servant. He's just praying back God's promises. He's responding in faith. And I want to speak to you on whether or not you have responded in this way, do you have faith in God? I wanna talk to you about this as believers, as God's people. What promises has God given you? He's promised to forgive you of your sins, yes, you understand that, you understand Jesus is the means, you're trusting in him. Romans 6, 11. Now David wasn't converted here. He's already, as it were, converted. He's getting more revelation, more promises. As Christians, we go through life and we need to believe the promises of God. Romans 6, 11, likewise you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin. Do you believe the promise? Because of the Holy Spirit's presence in you, empowering you, that there's no sin in your life that you must commit, that you're a slave to. You're just like me, you struggle with sin. Some of you may be really wrestling with sin. You're called to believe this. Your call to confess your sin, to ask God to help you to overcome your sin, but to believe that you're dead to sin. Sin has no dominion over you. Do you believe that? Do you? That's the first step to overcoming sin. Believe that God has given you the power to overcome it. How have you responded to that promise? Do you pray in this way? Do you pray with informed prayers? David is repeating God's word, his promises back to him. This is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything according to his word, he hears us, 1 John 5, 14. He hears us, in other words, he does what we say. Of course he hears us, he's God. He does what we say, because it's according to his word. I wanna also speak to you as one who may be here, who may not know if you're a Christian. You've heard the gospel, not just from me tonight, but maybe some other people, and God wants you to respond to the message of salvation. And that response is faith. There's trust. He wants you to turn to Him. Come to me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Take Christ, believe in him, rest in him. That's what he wants you to do. Have you done that? Have you turned to him and trusted in him? This is the response to salvation. God's own saving work of repeat offenders through a Davidic king is to be received with a humble and adoring faith. The message tonight, the thing I want you to think about is your understanding of salvation. Is there anything that you've learned tonight, like entirely? Is there something in your understanding that you need to correct? Listen, the story about George Washington's death, if it makes you cringe, what a waste. Listen, that's happening. People go to hell forever because they don't understand God's plan for salvation. May it never be that we go through life not understanding our true problem and God's plan to save us. Let's pray tonight. Heavenly Father, we come to you with thankful hearts that we have been chosen by your grace to not only be saved, but to hear your word to hear your word preached, to be told more about your son, the Lord Jesus, and the plan of salvation. Father, we pray that you would help us to understand your plan and to conform our minds, to conform our hearts to it. We thank you for your son, the Lord Jesus, and we ask that he would be at the center of our life, that he'd be the object of our faith. Father, we pray this in his name, amen. It's so sensitive.