This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:01] Well, I'm sure that you agree with me that life has changed in many ways over the last few months and many ways that are very different from what we've experienced before and maybe even what we would like to experience. I mean, we had quite a different set of graduations this last year and this summer, although it's hot and we are some of us are wishing we had air conditioning just like summers before this summer is different than the summers before. I don't know if if you've had summer traditions or things that you looked forward to doing in the summertime that have been altered by the current state of affairs. But one thing that I was thinking about the other day that has changed for me is that sometimes in the summer I like to go see a movie. Any anybody with me, fellow felon, movie fans. Right. It usually feels like the studios are putting out some of their best stuff in the summertime. And you go to a movie theater and you sit in some air conditioning and you enjoy some overpriced snacks and you watch a movie and you're hoping it's good. And more and more recently, you walk out of the theater disappointed. But you saw a movie and it was it was an interesting time. It was a fun time. But there is some of the times, those rare times where you see a movie or or maybe it's reading a book where you're really captivated as you're watching it or as it as you're reading. And it's and it's drawing you in. And one of the things that's drawing you into it is that you don't know everything that's happening. Right. Like, you're watching it, but you're trying to figure out the larger plot of the movie. Have you ever experienced a movie like this that's just maybe well-written or well well directed or well executed? And then some somewhat towards the end of the movie, something happens and it and it basically sheds new light on everything that happened before it in the movie. And it's almost like your eyes are opened and you're like, oh, wait a minute. So that's what it was all about this time. Has anyone ever experienced something like this? Probably not as much recently, but sometimes you can find those those rare those rare movies, those rare books where where where they just get you and you're like, wow. And it's almost so much more enjoyable to go back and watch it the second time. Have you ever done this where you go back and you're like, okay, now going to really enjoy this because I know what it's all about and you're catching all these things, all these little details that you're like, okay, I get that one now and I get I get this one now as we open up our time and the word, would you go with me to Luke Chapter 24 before we get in our text of 2nd Samuel seven, I'd like to to take you to the end of Luke's account of the life of Jesus.

[00:02:52] And I want to take you to the end and I want to reveal the plot. I want to spoil it for you all here this morning. Right. It's not a friend who does that for you for a movie. But here in the scripture, it is a friend who spoils it for you. And this is what Jesus does when he meets two of his disciples after he's raised from the dead and he walks with them on the road to a mass and they are asked and Jesus is like, oh, what's happened? And they're like, have you not heard? How could you have missed all this? And they're talking about Jesus. And in verse twenty five of Luke, twenty four it says and Jesus said to them, oh foolish ones and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory and beginning with Moses and all the prophets he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself?

[00:03:52] A Jesus at the end, he really opens the disciples minds so that they really get it. And he's saying, you know what it's really all about? It's really all about me. It's all about the Christ. It's all about the Messiah. The anointed one. The chosen one.

[00:04:08] And now for us, as we go back through scripture for all of the scriptures that like the law and the prophets and the writings like Jesus mentions here, we should be able to see all the details and to really relish all of those things that we like. OK, I get that now. Maybe the people who are who are living it as it happened, they didn't quite get all of it like we do now.

[00:04:32] And it turn with me back to second Samuel, seven to one of the prophets. Perhaps one of the very passages that Jesus opened the disciples mind to really understand. And as we go back, it's so sad for me as we think about the study of Samuel, which is really the story of David and God anointing him as king, that predominantly the way that people around here today in these United States of America, they think about this as well. Let's really learn some life lessons from David. Let's maybe get some some leadership lessons or some qualities. We could do some seminars based on David's leadership style, or we could just preach messages like How to slay the personal giants in your life. Right. Who's got a smooth stone? Can we give you all a smooth stone? Let's practice it together. Boom. Here we go. Giants come tumbling down. Right. There are so many people that when they study the life of David, when they study Samuel, they completely miss the point. It's like, how could you know, the end of the story and go back and miss the clear detail? So I hope that we won't miss it this morning. So let's start reading in Second Samuel, Chapter seven and in verse one.

[00:05:44] Says now, when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan, the Prophet. See, now I dwell in a house of cedar. But the ark of God dwells in a tent. And Nathan said to the king, go do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. Now, if you've been reading with us and 2nd Samuel, you'll remember from this last week that that David bringing the Ark of the Covenant and bringing it to his city, the city of Jerusalem, that he had conquered and he had won and now was his own and he was going to live there, that what he wanted to do is he wanted to bring the ark of the covenant there, because the ark of the Covenant really symbolized the presence of God, that as the nation of Israel, as they wandered in the wilderness, God had given them the tabernacle. And in the holy of holies was the ark of the Covenant, which was the very place where God was going to meet with his people and he was going to speak to them. And so, David, when he's thinking about where he wants to live, he's thinking, I want to be near God. I want I want God to be near where I am. I want to be able to converse with God. I long to be near the Lord. And now at the completion of David's house, his palace, really you can tell this is quite a quite a big a big building, a very impressive edifice. David's thought is like, wow, I've got this house. But what about the Lord? What about a house for the Lord, the Lord's dwelling in a tent and here I am and I've got this palatial dwelling for myself. And you can tell that he has a desire in his heart to build the Lord a house. And he's having a conversation with Nathan, the prophet who seems to be there with him. And Nathan's responses. Go do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.

[00:07:41] All right. That's just kind of one friend to another. Talk in there. And Nathan's a great idea. Let's do it. Let's get a building project going. But then look what happens in verse four.

[00:07:54] It says, but that same night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan. Wait. Breaking news. Fresh update. Go and tell my servant David. Thus says the Lord, would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this state, but have. But I've been moving about in a tent for my dwelling in all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel. Did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people? Israel saying, Why have you not built me a house of cedar?

[00:08:30] Now, therefore, you shall say to my servant David, thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people, Israel. And I've been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before. You and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the Earth. And I will appoint a place for my people, Israel, and we'll plant them so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more as formerly.

[00:09:05] For for my people. As formerly from the time that I appointed judges over my people, Israel and I will give you rest from all of your enemies. So here's breaking news from the Lord. And the question that that God wants to ask is, would you build me a house to dwelling? If you're taking notes, I'd invite you to take out your note sheet from your goody bag and let's write this down for point number one. Let's be clear about who builds the house. Let's be clear. I mean, David has a thought. He is coming with his own thought. And by. By many by many respects, we could think that's an admirable thought. That that seems like a good thought. He wants God to be honored. He wants the Lord to have a house. He's not okay with him being in a house and the Lord not being in a house. But God has more thoughts than David's thoughts. I mean, when you think about building a place for God's presence to dwell. I mean, the last time that happened is some of us remember going through the lawn and reading in Leviticus. Did it seem like God had some specifics in mind when he was thinking about the place where he would dwell? Like the materials, the dimensions? What's in it? What's not in it? God had some very specific thoughts, and I don't know that it necessarily included cedar all over the place. Right. God wanted it to be built the way that he wanted it to be built. And I think what what God is truly trying to make clear here is that he is not like the other gods. I mean, one of the things that God had really commanded, the people of Israel is like, I want you to go into this land and I want you to drive out these these pagan nations who are worshiping these other gods. And even as we remember studying in the scripture, David, against Goliath. It's really the battle of the philistine gods versus the battle of your way, the God of the nation of Israel.

[00:10:54] And who is going to win. And the way it worked in all of these nations around Israel is that with their God, the way their ruler thought about it was Amen to build a temple for this God, I'm going to build a house for this God and then this God will bless me.

[00:11:11] Then this God will be good to me. He'll give me favor. He'll give me victory over my enemies. And I will prosper like that. It's a transactional thing. Like I do something good for this God and then this God does something good for me. And I think that that the God of Israel, the true God, the one God, the only God, he wants to make it clear he is not like that. I mean, would you turn back with me to the Book of Exodus? I mean, keep your finger here in second Samael seven, but go back to Exodus 33 with me. And this is one of the passages where we really saw God reveal himself and even a greater way to Moses. And this is after the debacle with the golden calf where Aaron Moses brother had magically thrown hearings into a fire and outcomes this calf. What do you know? Let's worship it. I don't understand how that worked, but what's gonna happen now is that God is now commanding the people to leave the mountain. And there's a real question on whether God is going to be along for the ride or not, whether he's sending the people away from him, away from his presence, or if his presence will go with him. And Moses is going before the Lord and he's saying, hey, if you if you don't if you don't go, he says he says in verse 13. Now, therefore, if I have found favoring your side, please show me your ways that I may know you in order to find favor your side. Consider, too, that this nation is your people. And God said to him, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. And he said to him, If your presence will not go with me, don't bring us up from here, like for Moses. The thought was, I don't want to be away from the presence of the Lord. If God's not going, I'm not going to leave these people by myself. It needs to be the Lord leading his people. And he says, if you go down to verse verse twenty seven, Lord said to Moses, this very thing you have spoken I will do for you have found favor in my sight and I know you by name. And then Moses has this additional request.

[00:13:13] He says, Please show me your glory and look at God's response. He says, I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name the Lord.

[00:13:27] And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. That is fundamentally different than the way it worked with all the other gods in the land that God had promised to his people. God saying, you know you know what I'm all about. You know what my character is. I'm good. And I'm not waiting for people to be good to me. Like I am going to initiate the goodness. There is going to be grace. There is going to be mercy that isn't merited. That is not earned. That is not deserved. David, you want to try to do this good thing for me. No, no, no. Let's let's put that aside for a moment. Let me show you how I'm going to be good to you.

[00:14:12] Like that is the character of God. He's not looking around. He doesn't need things from us. It's not like he's like, oh, man, I just really wish some people would do some good things for me. He's up there saying, no, I'm ready to do good to people like I am going to initiate the goodness in people's lives. Now, we might think that this house isn't necessarily such a bad idea, but God wants to make it clear that the end of the story is not going to be look at that grave it David, and how he did this great thing for the Lord. It's going to be look at how the Lord did great things for David.

[00:14:48] He says, a look with me in verse 11, he says.

[00:14:52] Moreover, actually in verse a verse eleven at the end of verse 11, he says. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house when your days are fulfilled. And you lie down with your fathers. I will raise up your offspring after you. Who shall come from your body? And I will establish his kingdom. He shall build the house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. So it's so important for us as we think about just the way this exchange starts between Nathan kind of brainstorm and with Nathan the Prophet, and then God revealing his thoughts to Nathan, the prophet, that he wanted David to know what he thought on the matter, that he's like, I'm going to be the good one. I'm going to be the one that's initiating the goodness. It's not like you're going to do something good for me and I'm going to respond with goodness. No, I'm going to be good to you. And then your son is going to be able to build a house for for my name. And I just think that this distinction is something that so many people are still confused about today, about the Lord. When many people think of a religion or even Christianity, they think, well, those are good people trying to do good things for the Lord, or they think maybe I want to try to do something good for the Lord. That is the complete opposite of the way that God wants us to think about it. God has done something good for me. God has done something good for you and so many people. I've seen it happen many times, unfortunately, where maybe people, they hear the word and they start to get an understanding of how God wants them to live. And they see that that's very different than the way I'm living my life right now. And so people think, OK, well, I'm I'm just going to start trying to to do it this new way. I'm just gonna to I found out more information about what pleases the Lord, and so I'm just gonna go do it. I'm just gonna do these good things that the Lord wants me to do. And I think in the end, God will be pleased with me and God will accept me. Turn with me to the book of Ephesians. I think this is just so important that we have crystal clarity on this together here this morning. If you go to the book of Ephesians Chapter two passage, that's that's well known and cherished by by many of us where where it talks about how we are sinners. And we're just like the rest of the people that they really we shouldn't be thinking that any of us are good people out there. And then in verse four, there comes this is great contrast between who we are and it says, but God, Ephesians two four. But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespass, is made us alive together with Christ by grace. You have been saved and raised us up with him and seeded us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

[00:17:59] For by grace you have been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not as a result of works so that no one may boast. That's the way it is. God is not out there looking for good people to do good things for him, and then he's going to respond with goodness. God looks out there and he sees all of us that we're not good. And you know what his thought is? I'm going to be gracious to people. I'm going to be good to people who don't deserve it. And I'm going to give them grace. And. And the only way that they can really enjoy all the goodness that I have in store for them is not by working for it, not by doing good things to achieve it, but by by believing in it, but by responding with faith. By responding with with belief in the work that God did, not the work that I do, I hope that's clear in your mind. I hope that you're not here. You're not watching. This is video on the livestream and thinking I'm just out there trying to do good things for the Lord. And maybe that's what where you're at and you're exhausted. You've been trying so hard to to please the Lord. And you just can't do it as hard as you try. That's not the way it works. It's not like we try really hard and we somehow level up ourselves. More and more over time. It's like, no, we can't do it. God has to do it for us. And he makes us new and he gives us abilities to live for him that we could have never had on our own. No matter how hard we tried. It's not coming from you. And some people were like, all right, great. Doesn't matter what I do, I can just live my life the way I want to live it. And God's going to be gracious to me. He's going to forgive me so I can just keep on singing. There's verse 10. Let's let's look at that real quick. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus when we get made new in Jesus Christ says we're made new for what? For good works, which God is prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. So, yes, God does have things that he wants us to do. He does have a way that he knows is best for us to live. He does have a mission that he wants us to be a part of. Here on this earth, to save souls and to see his church get built up. But all of that is not coming from us. It's not like we had this great idea, like, let's go plan to church in Huntington Beach. It's God's idea. It was his work that he wanted to save souls. He wanted to build up a church. He wanted his name to be lifted high here in this parking lot here this morning and on the livestream.

[00:20:33] That wasn't that wasn't our idea. That was his idea. And he prepared it beforehand that we would walk.

[00:20:40] So I hope I hope that you've got the right idea. Let's go back to Second Samuel seven. Yes. God wants to make sure that this is very clear. Hey, David, I appreciate the sentiment, but let it be known that I am going to be the one who is good. I am going to be the one that is abundantly good over the top. Good. Like you're thinking like, yeah, I've I've kind of reached it now. Now it's time to be good to God.

[00:21:02] I have just begun to show you my goodness is the way that God wants David to think in any starts. And at the end of verse, Lebanese like moreover, like first of all, like let me just deal with some of the particulars of the immediate situation.

[00:21:15] Like right now we're at a period of kind of rest for a moment, but there's still enemy nations around. Like right now we're not like out of battle currently. Like, we've had time to build a house and maybe have like an opening ceremony or something like that. But we've still got Philistines. We've still got these other nations all around that we haven't quite conquered yet. We still haven't totally driven out all these other nations from the land. And he's basically like, I'm going to be making your name great, but but I'm going to be appointing a place for my people in verse ten. I want to plant them and they're going to dwell in their own place and be disturbed. No, more like right now. We weren't disturbed at the moment, but the opportunity for for being disturbed was close at hand. And so God's like, why? I've still got more work to do right now. We can't focus on building me a house right now. We actually got to have some more battles, David, like we got some more people to conquer. We've got some more of this land that I've given to you to win, to subdue. But then he takes it to the next level and verse eleven. I'm going to make you a house. Like, here's here's the play that God's making, like David wants to build. Gotta a house is in a physical structure, a building. And God's like, I'm going to make you a house. Like I'm going to make you a dynasty. I'm going to make your lineage something to be marveled at it. I'm going to make you a household. He says when your days are fulfilled, verse 12 and you lie down with your fathers when you die, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.

[00:22:46] He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the son of men. But my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from saw whom I put away from before you and your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established for ever, in accordance with all these words, in accordance with all this vision. Nathan spoke to David now. I mean, we had a king that God mentions here saw that God had appointed King, but then Saul had sinned, met multiple times we've read about.

[00:23:35] And so God actually took the kingdom away from Saul and he anointed David as king in his place. We've already seen that from the moment that David was anointed to the moment. Right now it feels like now we're at the palace. Now it feels like he is the king. It's been a long time. There's even been a certain amount of time that is passed before David has gotten to experience all that God has really said. But what he's talking about here, it doesn't seem conditional like we're gonna read in the future where God talks to certain kings and there's a condition to it. He's like, okay, if you obey me, if you walk in my ways, then this will be the results. Or if you disobey me and if you don't walk on my ways, this is going to be the opposite result. Like if you obey me, it's going to go good for you. If you disobey me, it's going to go bad for you. He is even saying here that it seems like some of this offspring will disobey the Lord, but God is going to do something that is not contingent on the obedience of the people that are gonna follow in David's life, like God is doing a work here. And he sent it says Your throne will be established forever in verse 15, he says, But my steadfast love, that's that Hebrew word that sounds really easy and gooey, but we've come to love it, right, Hassid of the Lord. Right.

[00:24:52] You gotta get some phlegm there to even pronounce it correctly in the Hebrew. But the Hassid of the Lord, his steadfast love will not depart from him. I mean, what a what a refreshment that must have Bendit to David. It's as he might have been thinking. OK, well if I send this could all this could all be taken away in a moment, just like it was for Saul. And now God's promising something that's so much better. It's like this is what I'm going to do. I'm not I'm not going to wait and see what you do or what your descendants do. This is what I'm going to do. I am going to show you my goodness and this goodness that I'm talking to you today, David, about it's going to echo for generations. It's going to echo forever. And you got to think about this the way that David must have been thinking about it, like. Like, how do I even comprehend this? Like the thought of a king and his kingdom and his throne lasting forever. How does that even work now? Now, let's think about this here. Let's think about other times that God has made a promise like this to someone. Let's go back to Genesis Chapter twelve.

[00:25:59] Because really, I mean, we could use the word covenant to describe what's happening here in second Samuel seven, that God is making a promise to David, an unconditional promise that God himself is going to keep. And let's look at a couple of times where God had a conversation with this guy, Abrams, who later we know as Abraham and it says in Genesis 12, verse one.

[00:26:24] Now, the Lord said to Abraham, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you, I will curse, and in you, all the families of the Earth shall be blessed.

[00:26:47] I mean, that's kind of a great way to make someone pack up and move. Seems like all the way across the world at that time. Right. I'm going to make you a great name going and make you into a great nation. And even from you, like there's this kind of vague promise at the end. What does that mean in in you? All the families of the Earth shall be blessed. Sign me up. Let's go. We're OK. Let's go find this land. Let's go do this. And then. And then in Genesis fifteen, you you could see that God brings even more clarity to these things after these things. The word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision Genesis 15 one fear not Abram's I am your shield. Your award shall be very great. But Abrams said, Oh Lord God, what will you give me for I continue childless. In the area of my house is Ellie Azer of Damascus, some distant relative. And Abraham Abrams said, Behold, you have given me no offspring and a member of my household will be my air. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him. This man shall not be your heir. Your very own son shall be your air. And then he brought him outside and said, Look toward heaven. And no, the stars if you are able to number them. Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be. And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness. So here's God. And he's making a promise to Abraham and Abrams, responding with faith. But it's clear that this promise has got multiple layers to it. God is talking about a long time, a long line of descendants. He's talking about something that's going to be a blessing to all the nations of the world. But you know where it starts. It starts with one son. It starts with the son of promise. It starts with with Isaac, who's gonna be born.

[00:28:38] And Abrams looking at his wife, who's Burnie's like, how is God gonna be able to do all this? It sounded great, but we've got no kids yet. How can we have a great nation and a lot of heritage without some offspring? Eliezer of Damascus. Doesn't sound like that.

[00:28:52] Great of a promise to me is what Abraham is thinking to himself. So in these promises, we've seen that when God is come in and he's making a promise to them, it almost seems like there's multiple levels, like there's something that's going to happen soon. But then there's a whole lot behind that that's going to happen in the future. Now, if you go back to second Samuel seven, you can kind of start getting a sense of this as we pay more attention to what God has said. And he's talking about an offspring as well. Verse twelve. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you who shall come from your body. And I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name. Now, when we read that, who do we think of you Bible scholars among us we think of Solomon. The one who actually did build the temple.

[00:29:44] A temple that was so amazing and so regal and so majestic that it's got to be considered one of the wonders of the ancient world. Even if you have been to Jerusalem and you've even seen kind of the the second version of it that they made. You can't even see the whole thing. But you can see just the the foundation of it. And I look at those stones and I'm thinking, I don't even know with all the cranes and equipment that they got on the four or five. Could they make something like this? Right. Like with all of our modern technology and inventions. How in the world did they do this thing? It was an amazing house for the Lord. It was an amazing place for the people of God to meet with God and to hear from the Lord and to offer sacrifices and to be right and atoned for before the Lord. But but then you start getting into some things where you're like, all right, let me scratch my head on that for a second. I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

[00:30:42] They will. Solomon. He died.

[00:30:47] OK. OK, I will be to him. A father. And he shall be to me a son. Wow. OK. That's an interesting way to describe it. I mean, did God have that kind of relationship with Solomon when he commits iniquity? I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons. I mean, can we think of some ways that Solomon committed some iniquity? I mean, did the did the guy have a few too many wives? Can we say that? I mean, it's going to be a little bit of a sad story as we read from it. He's the wisest man who ever lives. But that doesn't save him from making many, many sinful decisions, committing great iniquity. And it says, I'm going to discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men. But my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Soor, whom I put away from before you and your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established for ever. Now, now, when I think about a passage like this, it reminds me of another summertime activity that is still available to us. And it's the activity of hiking. Right. Any any hikers among us.

[00:32:00] You'd like to just go and point your finger that direction and just walk that direction and just just go there. There you find a trail and you're thinking, I've just got I've got it. I've got a summit that trail. I've got to get to the top wherever that's going to. Going to lead me. I mean, this is an activity that even though it's still available to us, I am still choosing to decline on on regular occasions. All you want to go for a hike? Nowhere is there some air conditioning. I wish the movie theaters would open up so I could sit down a little bit. But I don't know if you've ever been on a hike. And maybe this is one of the reasons why I don't have an affinity for hiking as as some others may may have. But if you ever gone with someone and and you're hiking and it's starting to feel like like like a little bit of drudgery. Like like we're trudging is like describing how you are like one foot after the other. Like you're not the person who wants to initiate the first, like call for a water break for stride. But your friend should know that should've been long, long ago. Right. Like Eve. Well well past that point. And you're trying to think like, how much further do I have to go? And your friend says to you, oh, it's just at the top of that hill there. Right. Have you ever, ever seen this? And then you you get to the top of that hill and you see actually there's another him in the distance, something that you couldn't quite see in your situation. But once you reach the top, you're realizing we have only just begun to hike. And now you're thinking like, OK, am I. Am I going to turn back on this one? Right. Like, I don't want to be not abro to this person, but it might just be that we just need to acknowledge that we've got totally different ideas about what is enjoyable and for human flourishing on this earth. Right. Like some of us are hikers. Some of us are very much not so.

[00:33:40] And that's what's so wonderful about this passage, is that this passage is a promise that's operating on multiple levels, like, yes, there's something close to it and something that's great, like David's gonna have an offspring.

[00:33:54] I mean, I just think about David and the morning that he went through for Saul and for his good friend Jonathan Jonathan, who, you know, if you thought about it the way it worked in other kingdoms, that Jonathan would have been the heir to the throne, that Jonathan would have become the king. And yet both of them die. And the line, the lineage of the House of Saul, only last one King generation. And then it's on to David. Right. Like, how sad that must be. So. So for David to think like, hey, one of my offspring is going to get to rule after me like that in and of itself would have been something that would have been exciting to him. But then we get these phrases like in verse 14.

[00:34:36] I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. And it says in verse sixteen in your house that he's talking to David. He's not even just talking about like, OK, now it's gonna be Solomon s. He's like, no, it's going to be David's house forever. Like, your throne shall be established forever. Now, I mean, if you're a history buff, you're kind of thinking to yourself, well, not really kings in the nation of Israel right now. It seems like at some point that actual physical geopolitical kingdom aspect of the line of David did come to an end. So what is God talking about here? Let's get this down for point number two.

[00:35:18] That really what we need to do is we need to see the greater David, that there's some times where where there's something in the in the in the scripture that that begins to take on a meaning that's that's bigger than itself. I even the the house for God that that Solomon would build would become the temple. And it seems that Jesus later on, he uses that that idea of a temple, a place for God to dwell, to refer to something even more than just the physical stones of the temple. When Jesus says you tear down this temple, I will raise it again in.

[00:35:51] Three days. Right. And people like it took Solomon, how many years to build this temple? How you building it again? In three days. But what he's taking is he's taking something and he's making it referred to himself. And go with me to Psalm 89. Go with me to Psalm 89. And I can I can imagine that as David's kind of like just trying to process what God is saying to him through Nathan the Prophet. It is marvelous. It is wonderful. It is amazing what God is saying. But do I do I totally comprehend it all? Can I can I see it all with crystal clarity? And Psalm 89 is a mask full of Ethan. That is right. If you're familiar with him. One of the great songwriters of the nation of Israel. And look with me in verse 19 of Psalm 89, it says of old. So this is perhaps being written a time after God spoke this to David by the word from Nathan the Prophet. But it says of old, you spoke in a vision to your godly one and said, I have granted help to one who is mighty. I have exalted one chosen from the people. I have found David, my servant with my holy oil. I have anointed him so that my hands shall be established with him. My arm shall also shout, also shall strengthen him. The enemy shall not outwit him. The wicked shall not humble him. I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. My faithfulness and steadfast love shall be with him. And in my name shall his horn be exalted. I will set his hand on the sea, in his right hand, on the rivers. He shall cry to me. You are my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. And I will make him a firstborn. The highest of the kings of the earth. My steadfast love. I will keep him for it, keep for him forever in my covenant, shall stand firm for him. I wish Dabb establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens. If his children forsake my Lord. Do not walk according to my rules. If they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. But I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. Once for all I have sworn by My Holiness I will not lie to David. His offspring shall endure forever his throne, as long as the sun before me like the moon. It shall be established forever. A faithful witness in the sky. So here's Ethan, the Ezra High, even expounding with more about this. And we're seeing this is referring to the same promise. And we're using the word covenant. We're using that special word that we think about when God makes a promise to people. But then in verse 38, you can tell. Even Ethan, the Ezra Heights kind of scratching his head a little bit, he says. But now you have cast off and rejected. You are full of wrath against your anointed.

[00:38:59] You have renounced the covenant with your servant. You have defiled his crown in the dust. You have breached all his walls. You have laid his strongholds in ruins, all who pass by plunder him. He has become the scorn of his neighbors. You have exalted the right hand of his foes. You shall make all his enemies rejoice. You have also turned back the edge of his sword, and you have not made him stand in battle. You have made his splendor deceased and cast his thrown to the ground. You have cut short days of his youth. You have covered him with shame.

[00:39:29] How long a lord will you hide yourself forever? How long will your RAF burn like fire? Remember how short my time is for what? Vanity. You have created all the children of men. And here's this question. Who can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Shiel, the place of the dead? So, I mean, you can see this is at a point where you could tell it doesn't take very long, doesn't take very long for the line of David to sour and to feel like things start going pretty bad pretty quick right now. A couple of generations in until it feels like we've got rampant wickedness before the Lord. So is that what this writer, Ethan is referring to? It says in verse that forty nine Lord, whereas your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness, you swore to David. Remember? Oh Lord, how your servants are marked and how I bear in my heart. The insults of many nations with which your enemies Mocho Lord. With which they mark the footsteps of your anointed.

[00:40:38] You're anointed one.

[00:40:40] So let me ask you this question, is Sawm eighty nine about David? Well, yes. Right. Because when the Bible is referring to David, it's referring to David. Yes, but it's referring to this offspring that's going to come from the line of David. And if you've read the gospel of Matthew, maybe you skipped over that first chapter. But you know what that first chapter is? It's a genealogy of Jesus Christ that traces his lineage all the way back to David.

[00:41:09] He's born in the town of David, the city of David, Bethlehem.

[00:41:13] Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ is the greater David. Look, give me the ax 13. Let's see. Even the apostle Paul really help us and get clarity on this. Go with me to the Book of Acts in Chapter Think 13, where where Paul and Barnabas are going on there, their first kind of missionary journey here. And they get to this this place called Antioch in Pacifica. And he goes and he starts preaching, preaching, as was his custom in the synagogue of the Jews. So he's he's talking to his fellow Hebrews, his fellow Jews by ethnicity. And that was his that was his custom. And he's recounting to them the history of the nation of Israel and how God brought them out of of Egypt and how he even brought them to the point of the judges and Samuel the prophet. And then in verse 21, he says, then they asked for a king and God gave them saw the son of Keish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for 40 years. And when he had removed him, he raised up David to be their king of. Of whom he testified. I have found in David, the son of Jesse, a man after my heart.

[00:42:16] He who will do all of my will. And then, in verse twenty three of this man's offspring, God has brought to Israel a Savior Jesus. As he promised before us coming, John had proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his course, he says, What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but behold, after me one is coming. The sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to untie.

[00:42:42] Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God to us has been sent the message of this salvation for those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets which I read every Sabbath fulfilled that by condemning him.

[00:43:05] And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilot to have him executed.

[00:43:10] And when they carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead. And for many days, he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus as also it is written in the second son. Today you are mice. You are my son. Today I have begotten you.

[00:43:40] That same phrase. I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son. Is that is that talking about Solomon? No. It's talking about the offspring of David. It's talking about Jesus Christ.

[00:43:51] And as for the fact he was raised from the dead, no more to return to corruption. He has spoken in this way. I will give you the holy and share blessings of David. Therefore, he also says in another song, which is Psalm 16, you will not let your holy one see corruption for David after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his father's and saw corruption.

[00:44:13] But he whom God raised up did not see corruption.

[00:44:16] Let it be known to you, therefore brothers, that through this man, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you and by him. Everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.

[00:44:31] I mean, David is thinking God has been so good to us. He's given us he's given us a place. We're getting victory over our enemies. We got the we got the ark of the Covenant. We could build him a house. Life would be great. And you know what God's thinking? He's thinking bigger and better things that he wants to promise to David. He wants to promise them a savior. That would really, truly set them free from their set. I mean, think about it. Up till this point in the nation of Israel, if you commit sin within the nation, you have to go and you have to go to this tent of meeting and you have to offer sacrifices to be made. Right. To be atoned for before the Lord. So you're forgiven, but you're forgiven until you've seen again. And then you got to go back and offer sacrifices. There was this year by year, time after time after time. I can't stop sinning. I can't be fully forgiven for my sin and actually be righteous for all time before the Lord. I've got to keep getting right with the Lord. I've got to keep getting a toned by the blood of these these animals, these sacrifices. And you know what? God's thinking? I'm going to send a sacrifice that can be offered one time for everyone. And this sacrifice, he's going to shed his perfect his precious blood, and that blood is going to be able to fully cleanse people. It's going to be able to fully set them free from their sin where God would look at them and he would call them righteous, not sinners.

[00:45:58] That's what Jesus came to do, and he's he came to set us free from our set. I mean, the Ferris's in the time of Jesus, those Sadducees, those rulers, those lawyers, it seemed like they were trying to pay attention. These things were read aloud. They were studying the law of Moses. They were looking at it intently. But were they? When Jesus comes.

[00:46:17] Does he actually think that the religious leaders are able to do what God wants them to do? Or have they lowered God's standard to something that they feel like they could accomplish themselves? Gods like it was never meant to be that way.

[00:46:29] It was never meant to be like you guys get your own record of goodness and that makes you acceptable before the Lord. No, I'm going to be the good one. I'm going to be the one that's showing grace and showing mercy to people who don't deserve it. And here in X 13 says that that you can be freed from that which you could not be freed in the law of Moses. I mean, so many of us, when we think about our salvation, when when that moment when when we realized we couldn't do it and we put our trust in Jesus Christ, we put our faith not in ourselves, in our own works, but we transferred our trust to Jesus and his work for us on our behalf.

[00:47:04] So many of us, we think back to that thing that time when that happened. It's like our whole life changed. It's like we got set free from the bondage of our sin. It doesn't mean that we're we're perfect and we no longer have the presence of sin at all in our lives. But we've got power now, like there's these temptations that before we were a Christian and they were strong and we were feeling it. It's like I'm powerless. I can't say no to this. Like, the best thing I can do is I can hold it off for a minute. But then eventually I sin and I fall short and I don't even want to do it, but I can't stop doing it. But now in Christ, I can actually be set free that he's going to give me a power that because Jesus raised from the dead, then I'm connected to him, that I too could walk in a new life where I could say no to my sin or temptation could come and I could consider myself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus and say no to it instead.

[00:48:00] This is the greater work. This has always been the plan that God has been building everything to is that it's going to be about Jesus. And yeah, there's going to be some offspring in the line of David that they're going to commit iniquity. But God's gonna be faithful to his promise and God's going to bring it all the way till this one offspring. The greater David is going to come. And he's the king. He's the real ruler of the nation of Israel. I don't know, as you're reading this, like some of us, this might have just been a chapter, it's like, all right, great. A nice promise to David. He gets lots of kings. What do you do? What does that mean for my life? But now is we're really digging for treasure.

[00:48:40] We find out what treasure there is in the scripture that this promise to David is not just something great for him and his staff. This is the promise for us. Now go back with me, the second Samuel seven and let's see how.

[00:48:52] David, response. Let's see how David response here.

[00:48:57] Since then, King David and went in and sat before the Lord and said, this is second Samuel seven, verse 18.

[00:49:07] And he responds, saying.

[00:49:10] Who am I? Oh, Lord God. And what is my house that you have brought me thus far? He's just overwhelmed by God's goodness. He is just blown away. And yet this was a small thing in your eyes.

[00:49:24] Like all the got it done to bring the nation of Israel in all these battles and all these Philistines and and all of this this like this time of peace that we're in for the moment here. This is a small thing in your eyes.

[00:49:37] Oh, Lord God. You have spoken also of your servants house for a great while to come and pay attention to this next phrase.

[00:49:46] And this is instruction for mankind.

[00:49:51] Oh, Lord God.

[00:49:53] I mean, you can almost translate that to say this is the word for all peoples, like this is the news. This is this is what it's all about. This is so much more than just the nation of Israel. This is for everyone. Like this is the word for all mankind, o lord, God. And what more can David sady for, you know, your servant, o Lord God. Because of your promise and according to your own heart, not not because of my goodness. You have brought about all this greatness to make your servant known. Therefore, you are great. O Lord God. For there is none like you and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people? Israel, the one nation on Earth whom God went to redeem to be his people, making himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods.

[00:50:45] And you establish for yourself and your people to be your people forever. And you will Lord became their God.

[00:50:53] And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house and do as you have spoken and your name will be magnified forever, saying the Lord of Hosts is God over Israel and the house of your servant day will be established before you. For you, O Lord of Hosts. The God of Israel have made this revelation to your servant saying I will build you a house. Therefore, your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord God, you are God and your words are true. And you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now, therefore, may it please you to bless the house of your servant so that it may continue forever before you for you.

[00:51:33] Oh Lord God have spoken. And with your blessing, shall the house of your servant be blessed forever?

[00:51:41] I mean, imagine how David must have felt.

[00:51:44] Like like he was thinking he was going to do a good thing for God and God just lavished grace on him, just like you can't even handle this. And he's just trying to comprehend it all. And you can tell he can't even comprehend it all. It's too great. It's too wonderful. But you know how he responds as he responds with a request. He responds with prayer. Let's get this down for point number three, that we should respond to God's promise with prayer. Your God is making a promise to David. But it's really this is really the instruction for all mankind. This is what it's all really about as this offspring that's going to come in the future. And even David is writing psalms like Psalm 16 that say your holy one won't undergo corruption.

[00:52:26] He won't decay. He's not going to stay in the grave, Sir David. He gets it. He gets it. Maybe even more than we might think. And he responds and he says, God, this is what you've said you're going to do. And so because you've said it, I'm going to ask you to do it.

[00:52:40] And Lord, do it.

[00:52:43] And I think this is so appropriate for us to be thinking through at a time like this in the history of our church. I mean, I want you to go to to Matthew Chapter 16 with me.

[00:52:56] Matthew, Chapter 16 with me.

[00:52:59] And this is a promise that we think about again and again and again. Matthew, 16. Peter makes this great declaration about Matthew, 16, sixteen, Simon Peter replied, You are the Christ, the son of the living God. And and Jesus answered, and blessed are you Simon Bar Jonah for flesh and blood is not revealed this to you. But my father who has revealed this to you. And you know what that word Christ that we translated in the Greek means? It means Messiah. It means the anointed one that they're really from. Second Samuel seven and on.

[00:53:33] That's when the Jews started really looking for a messiah. That's when the Jews started really looking for the anointed one. The one who is going to come. The one who is going to be called Christ. And Peter gets it here in Matthew 16. He says it's you.

[00:53:47] You are the Christ.

[00:53:51] And Jesus says that that's clearly the Lord revealing that to you. And he says in verse 18 and I tell you, you are Peter. And on this rock, this promise is declaration about Jesus Christ and who he is, that he is the messiah, that he is the anointed one. He says, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. God made a promise to David. He said, not even the sin of your descendants is going to keep it this promise from being fulfilled. Here is God making a promise, he said. Not even the gates of hell, not even death itself, is going to be able to keep Jesus Christ from building his church. After Jesus opened his disciples mind and Luke, 24, to understand even this passage here, and second, Samuel seven. You know what he commanded them to do? To preach repentance, to preach faith, to preach this promise as far and wide as it would go.

[00:54:41] Starting in Jerusalem, take it everywhere, take it to the ends of the earth. You could even say take it all the way to Huntington Beach, where if you go to first, Peter, which we've been studying, and that's just become such a precious book to us recently.

[00:54:54] I just remember that the sermon from Pastor Bobby at the beginning of chapter two of first verse, Peter, and it says in verse for as you come to him, a living stone rejected by man, but in the side of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a what as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. God still doing that work. God is still fulfilling that promise to build a house for his king. And he's doing it here today. He's doing it here among us. I just think of so many of you, my my friends, that that God has saved your soul, that you heard the word preached, you heard of this messiah. You heard of the Christ, the one who could come and save you from your sins when you couldn't save yourself and you didn't try to earn it. You didn't try to work for it. You believed in Jesus. You put your trust in Jesus. And he saved you from your sins. And he's given you a new life.

[00:55:57] And God's building his church.

[00:56:00] Over the past few weeks, as we've been trying to just figure all this out and get more easy ups and think about physical distancing for the seating and everything, we've almost kind of started talking about it like we're replanting CompassHB Bible Church here among the staff, among some of the leaders that this is outdoor. Kind of reminds us of where the church began at Marina High School. And Pastor Bob is starting to remember what it felt like to just be scorched in his face by the sun and week after week. And now it's like he's not just doing one service and the bullet Marina, he's doing two services. We need to give that guy a vacation, let his face rest for a week. They're right by God is God is building a church. And I can just tell you two things that I know that were happening at the beginning of CompassHB Bible Church. For one, I know that people were praying. I know that people were praying with confidence. God, you've said you're going to build your church and we're going to ask you to do.

[00:56:58] We can ask you to save souls, we're gonna ask you to mature people, we're gonna ask you to lift your name high so that more and more people know that you're the savior, that you're the Lord. And I know that it wasn't just prayer. I know that people were going out there thinking because God is promised this, because God is going to do this. I'm going to tell as many people as I can.

[00:57:17] This good news of Jesus Christ.

[00:57:20] Now, we're in a season where we're not doing our regularly scheduled things like we were five months ago. Our plans have been altered by the Lord. We are back outside. And the question for us today, when we understand the promise of the law, we understand how he's going to be building for himself his church. Are we going to respond with prayer?

[00:57:41] Are we going to ask him to do it because of his promise? Are you yourself going to have confidence that God is going to build his church and then that's going to be so glorious? That's something that you want to be a part of that's bigger than the here and now and all of the practical things that we're trying to think through that even more than thinking about what is school going to look like for my kids this upcoming fall and how is that all going to work? I'm thinking God is going to build his church and that's the main thing that I want to consume.

[00:58:06] My prayers. Is that the way that you're thinking about it? David, he prayed this and then we're gonna read tomorrow and scripture of the day, second same oh seven and eight where David prays this. And then he goes and he's like, OK, well, God's still got some planting to do of this nation. He's got some enemies to remove. So let me go get him. We've got some battles to win. And I know that they're going to be successful. Are we going to do that or are we going to pray? And are we going to go out there and we're like, God, still got some more souls to win. And so we're gonna go again. We're gonna figure out how to evangelize people in the area of social distancing. We're gonna we're gonna start praying and we're gonna expect God to save people.

[00:58:44] At this point in in second Samuell day, David has has built himself a house.

[00:58:50] And God redirected his plants to realize that it wasn't going to be him who built the house. It was going to be his son, Sollom. And I don't know that I quite understood all of this like I do now until I actually went to Israel last summer. And when I got there to Israel, it's like there's Jerusalem and you're just in all of this, like the Temple Mount. Like even without all the structures of the temple, there's still the foundation there and even just the foundation. Is that impressive that the first time you see it, you're like, well, like you just have to stop there for a second and take it in. You're like, let me get out my camera and take as many pictures as physically possible of this now. It's so impressive. But as you actually get closer to it, you see that the the temple is up here on this hill. And actually there's a hill that's slightly lower in elevation where that's where they actually say the city of David was. So here here's here's David in his house talking to Nathan, the prophet, and he's thinking about building God's house. And God makes him this enormous promise that he's just trying to get his mind around and to fathom. And I wonder if if David ever looked up Hill, I wonder if he ever looked out a window in his palace and he saw the hill that was not yet fully developed, just up the hill from where he was living. And he looked up there and he thought, one day my son's gonna build a house for the Lord.

[01:00:15] And I wonder if he fully realized that that one day there's gonna be my offspring who's going to be up on that hill. Offering his blood for us.

[01:00:26] To pay for our sins, to save us. Not just not just for a little while until we sin again. But for all to. That's what God is here to do.

[01:00:38] That's what God wants us to be praying for, that more and more people will know this good news like we have come to know it, that this would just fire us up, that we would want to share this, that we would want to pray with faith.

[01:00:48] In response to the promise of God, we pray with me. Let's pray.

[01:00:56] Your father, how great is your promise? God. Who? Who are we? We are not even of the people of Israel. So many of us God, we are Gentiles according to our ethnicity. We were strangers to these covenants of promise. But yet, in Christ God, you have made us heirs. That in Christ that that we have been brought near we who are once far off.

[01:01:18] God, that because you made this promise to David on this day, God, that you told him that he was going to have an offspring who is going to who is going to save God, who is going to do something that his kingdom would be established forever.

[01:01:30] God, we can't help but realize the end of the story that that's about Jesus. And guy, we want to say, as we've said already, that you will reign forever.

[01:01:40] God, we can't wait for the day that you will return to to put everything that's wrong. Right. God. And to to make for yourself a name, God to to do even greater works than we have experienced. God, we long for that day because now we want to celebrate that you paid it all. God, that the real enemy. God, the real offender. That we need to be safe from, that we need to be set free from the the real cruel master that we could not escape was our own sin. God, it was our own rebellion against you.

[01:02:11] There was no way that we could make ourselves right. God, by doing the works of your law, none of us would get justified. It had to come through your son. God, this is the word for all mankind. God, this is the news. This is the good news that we have come to know and cherish and trust in God. Let that good news resound from this place. God changes. Don't let us sit on the Gospel any longer. God, let us pray with faith. God, you promise to build your church. God, you've promised that you're going to glorify your name. God, we're still here. There's still more souls for you to save. So now we ask you to save. Now we ask that you build your church. Now we want to go about that work this week. We want you to get the glory. We pray all these things because of the great work of Jesus Christ, because of his great name. Who is worthy. Forever and ever. Amen.