 2 Samuel chapter 7 We'll begin here by looking at verses 1 through 3 2 Samuel chapter 7 beginning at verse 1 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 David is a great man the Lord speaking of David in 1st Samuel 13 verse 14 spoke of him that he was a man after God's own heart and we see that in the life of David But I don't think we see anything that clearly indicates the depth of his greatness as Clearly as what we see in chapters 6 and 7 and 7 of 2nd Samuel in chapter 6 We have David taking the Ark of the Covenant and bringing it to the city of Jerusalem which Demonstrates to us his great love for God and his desire to worship him and we watch him as he worships before the Lord with all Of his strength in chapter 7 we see him as he's reposing in his luxurious Palace in his castle that he has if you will in this this custom home a home that he refers to as being a House of cedar when he says he's living in a house of cedar. That's another way of saying I live in a custom home I live in a luxurious home. I'm in a situation where I'm at ease and content God has given me rest from all of my enemies and and and this man who is living in this beautiful paneled home in this Custom home begins to think it's just not right It's not right that I should live in a custom home Well the Ark of God is behind tent curtains and so what we have an opportunity is seeing the heart of David And and something of his greatness you see he's succeeded in uniting the kingdom And he's now there in this state of contentment for him life is good. He has wives He has children he has the love of his people and he's got fellowship with God According to chapter 5 here in 2nd Samuel verse 10 David went on and became great The Lord of hosts was with him and so David is living a life that is at ease and at peace and it's blessed by God He had taken Jerusalem from the Jebusites He had a home built for him by Hyrum who is the king of Tyre and of as I mentioned It would have been beautiful and luxurious. It was proper for a king but in his heart and David knows that his blessings have come from God and So as he's there and just resting in contentment He's aware that God is the one who blesses like it says in Psalm 68 verse 19 Blessed be the Lord who daily loads us with benefits the God of our salvation And that's how David saw his relationship with God that God daily blesses him loads him down With blessings because God is indeed his God the God of salvation He knew what James later would say to us in chapter 1 verse 17 How every good gift and every perfect gift comes down from above from the father of lights with whom there is no Variableness neither shadow nor turning he knew that God is the one who gives us the blessings and David just extolled God for that He was grateful to God and so he's been living in this lap of luxury and he's now content David for some time had had lived the life of a fugitive. He had been hunted by King Saul But it's all done now. He's at rest and he's in a state of ease He's he's saddled and he's in comfort and he's in peace He's safe from his enemies and as he's there he begins to think about it And so it says in verse 2 the king said to Nathan the prophet see now I dwell in a house of cedar the Ark of God dwells inside tent curtains And so he begins to think about the blessings of God and He's beginning to think how that he had built a tabernacle there a place for the Ark of the Covenant But the fact is the Ark is there in a tent and I'm living in a custom home And so he begins to speak to somebody who we're being introduced to here now in verse 2 a man by the name of Nathan the prophet He's just brought into the scene. This is his confidant. This was his friend This was a spiritual advisor and this is somebody you'll see in the life of David often after this But he's described to us simply as being Nathan the prophet and as he's speaking to him He's simply saying this he's saying I'm living in a permanent dwelling place the Ark sent a tent and this is not just not Right something has to be done about this and something should be done immediately Now this concern is the key to the greatness of David the king of Israel David cared about the things of God his devotion to God his love for God his Relationship with God was of such force and such nature. It was such a deep passion That even as he's resting there. He begins to think why is it that I'm in this beautiful home that took some time to build And all this time the Ark of the Covenant the Ark of God has been there with the tent in a tent. It's just not right That again is the key to his greatness because he wants to do good for the Lord So he speaks to Nathan And he says to him what's on his heart Well, notice Nathan's response in verse 3 Nathan says to the king go Do all that's in your heart for the Lord is with you undoubtedly this is something God would be pleased with David I don't even have to give this a moment's thought you need to do what the Lord seems to have placed on your heart You need to go and you need to build him a temple. The Lord is with you is what Nathan says Well, the fact is The Lord was not intending to use David to build him a temple and the reason is later on Revealed to David if you take notes it's found in first Chronicles in chapter 22 verses 8 through 10 and in that passage David makes it very clear that the Lord had said to him that I am not to build a Temple for him because David says God spoke to me and said because you have been a man of war and you have blood on your hands and So I don't want you a warrior to be building me a temple What I'm going to do is I'm going to use a son that I'm going to give to you and his name is Solomon and Solomon is going to be the one who will build a house for my name David It's good that you desire to do that, but I have no plans for you to do that I actually have plans in the future for a temple, but that plan does not include you constructing it You were a warrior you have bloody hands, and I'm not going to allow you to do that And so what we find here is Nathan saying to him go and do all that is in your heart The Lord is with you But in reality this isn't something that the Lord is moving Nathan to say because notice verse 4 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 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? What this reveals to us very briefly is that Nathan though He was a prophet didn't always speak for God because God here has to redirect him a moment before as we read in Verse 3 it had said go and do all that's in your heart the Lord is with you But now God redirects him you see in his normal dealings with David He was undoubtedly wise and thoughtful he was highly respected, but not everything he told David was inspired by God And this is one of those examples when he approved David's idea. He was moved by his own feelings He gave his own advice he didn't give advice from the Lord And so now God gives clear direction a distinct message and he says and I want you to take this to David And this is what he says verse 5 he says go and tell my servant David thus says the Lord Would you build a house for me to dwell in he says I've got something for you to do I want you to go and I want you to speak to David and this is what I have to say Now briefly I want to point something out to you I want you to notice here in verse 5 now David is referred to I want you to see this with me because I'm going to give you a real brief Insight into something here notice how he says Tell my servant David thus says the Lord would you build a house for me to dwell in notice how God refers to David God does not say go and speak to the leader He doesn't say that he doesn't say go and speak to the one who might have set up as king He doesn't say go tell King David notice what he calls him. He calls him my servant Now you might want to note that because in scripture very often when God is intending to Put a person in a place of what would be called greatness. This is how he refers to them He speaks to those whom he's using in great ways in this way It's like when he said my servant Abraham or he speaks of my servant Moses my servant Job my servant Isaiah My servant Jacob God when he's speaking concerning greatness in his kingdom as a tendency of saying if you're going to be great You're going to be a servant When Jesus was speaking about it one time is found in Mark chapter 9 verse 35 When Jesus was speaking to his 12 when we speak into the apostles He said to them if anyone desires to be first he shall be last of all and servant of all Another occasion in Matthew chapter 20 verse 28. He said the Son of man didn't come to be served But to serve and to give his life a ransom For many we have it backwards We have it backwards Sometimes we think that that person of high position that person of high prestige within the body of Christ the pastor even We sometimes look at them as being special or different or unique in reality They're supposed to be the servant. I'm supposed to be the servant of this fellowship not not the taskmaster not not the king over people but a servant and Unfortunately today, I think that we've gotten that backwards and a lot of times people treat the chief servant as if he is More like dignity and and all in the Lord says no, that's not what you're to do I want you to go and speak and I want you to speak to my servant and I want you to tell him something And here's what I want you to say ask him. Would you build a house for me to dwell in? Now he reminds him in the history of Israel. I've never asked for one. I've never dwelt in a house from the time That I began working with you up to this day. I've never asked. I've never required a permanent dwelling place I've preferred to move around Notice verse 7. I've preferred the tent. I Haven't commanded you to build me a house. Have I ever asked for a house? No, I haven't so verse 8 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've been with you wherever you have gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you and Have made you a great name like the name of the great men who are on the earth Let me rehearse my relationship with you David. I Want you to remember something as I speak to you? I Want you to remember that you at one time were just a young shepherd boy? I want you to remember that I removed you from being a shepherd and I brought you to the place that I could make you king and I made you king over my sheep over in the nation of Israel David like Moses who learned the secret of leadership At the backside of a desert caring for the flock of his father-in-law Jethro How that Moses when he was 40 years of age how it came into his mind that God was going to use him to deliver the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage and How that he went that day and he saw that Egyptian taskmaster Mistreating one of your one of Moses's Hebrew brethren and how the Bible says that Moses looked to the left and looked to the right and Properly slew this this taskmaster and buried his body in the sand One of the things by the way when you read the story of Moses and how he did that you fail to realize something Sometimes just by reading that you fail to realize that the taskmasters of Egypt were vicious men Were greatly feared who would beat them and mistreat them and and and the slaves are of great Fear towards this man because he had so much power and very often was so brutal And when you read that story how it points out that Moses looked to the left and they looked to the right Moses in other words didn't think a thing about him. He wasn't afraid of this guy at all He just looked to see as anybody watching So Moses we know was trained in all of the knowledge of the Egyptians We see that in Acts chapter 7 but a lot of times people don't realize that Moses being being set up in other words being Prepared to possibly become Pharaoh would have gone through all of the schools that Egypt had to offer all the schools Which included military school which included military training Which means that Moses was a martial artist and therefore when he saw this this guy doing what he was doing It didn't even cross his mind that he should be afraid of him He looked at him and looked at the left. He looked to the right. Nobody seems to be watching and he does it He killed him then he buried it and the Bible tells us that Moses thought that the people would know that by that action He had been sent by God to deliver them But the one who was in the wrong the next day was starting to have a problem with a fellow Jew Moses said your brother and what's the problem here and the one who was in the wrong said to him What are you gonna do kill me like you killed that Egyptian yesterday now? Wait a minute. There was nobody there except for somebody who's being mistreated and a taskmaster Who do you think it was that was being mistreated who is now turning on Moses? It was the one that he had delivered just the day before and as he sees this take place He says to Moses he says to him. What are you gonna do? You're gonna kill me like you killed that Egyptian it got out Pharaoh heard about it We all know the story that Moses went out to earn his degree He got a BD degree backside of the desert degree. He was out there for 40 years And while he was in the wilderness for 40 years. He was caring for his father's Flock his sheep and as he did so within the first 40 years of his life He thought himself to be something but the next 40 years of his life He discovered that he's nothing and God took that something taught him that he's nothing So that when he was 80 he became God's man to be the deliverer of the children of Israel and even as Moses when he was out that wilderness Discovered that he was to be one who cares for a sheep Ultimately, he didn't realize he'd have two million of them in a wilderness that he was gonna care for God used that in his life to train him in leadership principles in the same way God took David gave him small things to do He was faithful to the Lord and he says I took you from the sheepfold and I made you a shepherd over my people That's what I did and God is saying I used your early training to teach you certain things about caring for others That's why David could write Psalm 23 with this strong passion. The Lord is my shepherd He understood that he understood what it meant to be a shepherd And he understood what it meant that the Lord was his shepherd and and and and we can look at Jesus and John Chapter chapter 10 verse 11 where Jesus said I am the good shepherd and the good shepherd gives his life for the sheep And so David I have raised you up You were a young shepherd, but I have made you a shepherd over my own sheep and notice in verse 9 How he says and I've been with you wherever you've gone and have cut off all your enemies from before you and have Made you a great name like the name of the great man who are on the earth and God continues speaking to him and says now listen I've been with you all the way. Listen when you fought Goliath Who was with you? Who was your shield? Who was your strength? It was me when you were eluding Saul Who is it that kept you protected? It was me when you fought the Philistines I gave you victory even when you took Jerusalem from the Jebusites. I was the one who gave you victory I have been with you every step of the way and the victories I have given you resulted in something it results in fame it results in a great name and People hear about you throughout the land David was aware of this because in Psalm 18 verses 37 through 39 He says I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them neither did I turn back till they were destroyed I have wounded them so that they could not rise they have fallen under my feet For you have armed me with strength for the battle you have subdued under me those who rose up against me I had victory you gave it to me and that's what God is saying God is making it very clear. I have been with you verse 10 moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel and 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 anymore 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. I Will appoint a place for my people Israel You will possess the land that has been given to you They have a history of being exiled. That's true But God's promise to the nation of Israel remains intact in Ezekiel as we're studying Ezekiel in Wednesday nights in chapter 37 It says at verse 25 they shall dwell in the land that I have given to Jacob my servant where your fathers Dwelled they shall dwell there they their children their children's children forever my servant David shall be their Prince Forever Amos 9 verse 15. I will plant them in their land no longer shall they be pulled up from the land I have given them says the Lord your God and so he says I've given you a land Not only that notice verse 11 and the Lord tells you that he will make you a house David you wanted to build a temple But I'm going to give you a dynasty You wanted to do something great for me But I will do something greater for you You can never out give God you can never out do God you just can't It was in your heart to build me something. I'm going to build you something You wanted to give to me. I've got something better for you When Paul was writing in Ephesians chapter 3 verse 20 He said God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask her think The God who is blessing David is the same God who wants to bless us and God was saying to him. I'm going to do a work. I'm going to be a blessing to you and I'm going to make you a house now notice 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 He shall build for my name a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom Forever, I will be his father. He shall be my son if he commits iniquity I will chase in 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 and according to all this vision So Nathan spoke to David and so God gives him a promise now the promise has what you call a dual application one It applies to David's lineage of kings that will be his offspring from Solomon his son forward so that means verses 14 and 15 would pertain to those that are being referred to that would speak of God Disciplining David's seed when it's necessary Notice how it says in verse 14. I'll be his father. He'll be my son if he commits iniquity I will chase in 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 whom I removed from before you So one application would obviously be the future for David the dynasty that he has he'll have sons that God chastens But there's a second application because when you look at verses 12 and 13 and verse 16. This is what is called messianic prophecies This is speaking concerning a greater son that David's going to have one as we know as Jesus the Messiah Jesus Christ And that's what he's speaking about Because the second application is is David's greater son the Messiah Jesus's human lineage is derived from King David. That's why he's called the son of David When you open open up the gospel of Matthew in chapter 1 and you begin to read the very first verse It says the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David Later in Matthew in chapter 22 verse 42 Jesus asked a question He said what do you think about the Christ the Messiah whose son is he? They said to him the son of David and so this is in reference to Jesus Christ It's a future reference to the Messiah who will be from David's lineage from the tribe of Judah Now notice in verse 16 when it says your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you your throne Shall be established forever When you look at that and cross reference that with Luke chapter 1 in the New Testament verses 31 through 33 You see how this is fulfilled in Jesus because to Mary it was said you will conceive in your womb bring forth the son Shall call his name Jesus. He will be great will be called the son of the highest the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom of his kingdom there will be no end So you have a twofold application one is the lineage that is descending from David from Solomon on Secondly the messianic prophecy related to his greater son Jesus the Messiah who fulfills that literally Now according to verse 17 all these words and according to all his vision Nathan spoke to David so we went and faithfully delivered what the Lord had given to him Now as he does this I want you to see David's response David prays verse 18 Then king David went in and sat before the Lord And he said Who am I? Oh lord god What is my house That you have brought me this far And yet this was a small thing in your sight. Oh lord god You have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come Is this the manner of man? Oh lord god Now what more can david say to you for you lord god know your servant For your word's sake According to your own heart You've done all these great things to make your servant know them therefore You are great. Oh lord god. There's none like you nor is there any god besides you According to all that we have heard with our ears And 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 And 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 oh lord god the word which you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house establish it forever And do as you have said Let your name be magnified forever saying the lord of host is the god over israel Let the house of your servant david be established before you For you oh lord of host god of israel have revealed this to your servant Saying i will build you a house Therefore your servant has founded in his heart to pray this prayer to you And now oh lord god you are god 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 What a refreshing prayer and notice how it begins I want to point something out to you very briefly notice verse 18 where david simply begins his prayer by saying Who am i oh lord god Who am i What a great question to ask Who am i We live in an age when that kind of question might not be asked by the typical person Because There's not an awful lot of humility in the heart of the average person so They would say instead of who am i they'd say well, why not? bottom line is david had humility How do you receive humility? How do you grow in humility? How do you grow in the grace of humility? Sometimes people want to have humility and so they do all kinds of strange things. They dress funny. They eat weird foods They go and live in sparse climates or whatever they think that that's going to teach them humility But does it really teach them humility the easiest way? For a person to gain humility is to simply gain perspective And the way way you gain perspective is simply through contrast and the way you gain Perspective through contrast is simply spending time with god when you begin to see god for who he is and you begin to see yourself For who you are by contrast the result is going to be humility Many years ago My mom had a mirror That was used At that time for putting on makeup women would use it for makeup Today men do too, but then back in 1964 It was a makeup mirror and I liked that mirror because it was portable like But it had a light on it and you could actually push the buttons and it could be like Inside light it could be daylight. It could be night light. It had different settings and and I can remember it about the age of 14 I would use it when I would comb my hair and everything and and I can remember that that I could put the settings on whatever I liked and And when I put it on in the nighttime lighting, I looked good. I looked good in the dark But man when I put it onto daylight I I saw every blemish that every 14 year old has I saw that and I go Oh man, you look bad in the light. So it's better to keep in the dark and in a lot of ways That's how people are to this day morally They don't like walking in the light because the light shows them their error. It shows them their imperfection It it shows up what you are So people don't come to light Jesus says because they love the darkness They enjoy the darkness because their deeds are dark. They like to live in the light They in the darkness rather they stay in the darkness because they're more comfortable and they have all their friends Who are there with them in the darkness? Well, if you live in the darkness you you are basically blind I mean not that long ago a fish was drawn up from this very deep river and And the fish didn't have any eyes because the fish didn't need eyes because it's always in the darkness And therefore doesn't need eyes to see things in light. It doesn't have the sense of sight And there are people today with without god the lord is not in their life and therefore they walk around like that fish They're blind. They cannot see so they feel that they're fine in the dark Everybody's beautiful in the dark It's when you come out into the light that your imperfections are shown and I can remember that when I was a kid I would look at myself at my mom's light and and if it was a nighttime light I looked fine when I put it under full daylight Then I would see my imperfections and nobody really likes to see their imperfections But if you want to have humility what you do is you dwell in the light of god You spend time with the lord the closer you get to him the more of your own imperfection you see And the more of your own imperfection you see the more humbled you are which causes you to cast yourself on him and to say Oh lord, who am I? And god look at how you have blessed me. I don't deserve these blessings You know again a lot of americans think we deserve a lot more than we have We should have more everybody's owed certain things of course people think that way But then there are others who say, you know, I'm just grateful for what I do have I'm grateful for what god has given to me a roof over my head and food on my table and a car to drive A woman who loves me Neighbors who are kind We begin to count our blessings you begin to understand that we we don't run around saying well We deserve more we realize that what we have is a blessing from the hand of god and we're grateful for it David was Who am I? Oh lord god I was just a shepherd Who am I? You took me from following the sheep As the youngest of my father's family of boys And you displaced the king by the name of sol And put me in that position I wanted to build you a house But you said you're gonna give to me a dynasty And I have such a difficult time grabbing hold of that. You see david saw himself in contrast To the goodness of god and the greatness of god In psalm eight verses three and four you can almost picture david as a young boy out there in the middle of a Of a meadow with all those sheep and it's beautiful night there in israel as he's looking up at these Countless stars because when you've been out in israel and you've been out in an area where there's no light It's just wilderness. It's just dark. The stars pop. They're just so beautiful. They just stand out and And david was there as a as a young one and and he writes in psalm eight Verses three and four when I consider your heavens the work of your fingers the moon and the stars Which you have set in place What is man that you are mindful of him the son of man That you care for him You know when he was looking at these things he didn't look up and say oh How wonderful I am He looked and said how wonderful you are how great and majestic and powerful You are god. What is man that you would even consider him? What is man that you want to bless him? What is man that you take care of him? And so he begins with humility if you want to have humility draw close to the lord Spend time in his word spend time in prayer Have godly friends who are influences for good in your life Learn to share your faith with other people and and to see god show up in those moments when you're when you're sharing about him And and you'll grow and you'll grow day by day And so david saying who am I lord? What is my house that you have brought me this far and yet he goes on in verse 19 This this was a small thing in your side. Oh lord god You have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come Is this the manner of man? Oh lord god Being raised to the throne is a small thing. He's saying in comparison to what you've promised me Is this a manner of man? Well, of course not you bless me beyond anything a man could do It's not what men would do for other men They cannot bless as you have blessed me and I am overwhelmed by this verse 20 And now what more can david say to you? For you lord god Know your servant What can I say, you know my heart god knows your heart there are some Who will take that phrase and extend it as permission to continue sinning And so they'll say well, you shouldn't come down on me because god knows my heart Well, yes, Jeremiah says it god knows your heart. It's desperately wicked God knows my heart. That's true. Of course. He does. He knows all things about me but at the same time When you have a heart after the lord No, you're not perfect in this phase of the earth. No in your lifetime. You will not be perfect You go through a process where god works in your life throughout your life and then you end up Going to be with him, but you're imperfect throughout your your earthly days. That's just the bottom line And that's just the truth But at the same time You grow closer to him daily And desire more of him daily You will fail You will sin You will do wrong But you don't glory in that and you don't walk away from that saying no big deal. God is gracious. He forgives me I remember counseling a woman many years ago Who said to me God has a perfect will and god has a permissive will God's permissive will Was that I should have married my husband who was seated across from her when she was saying this His perfect will is for me to divorce my husband and marry his best friend What she did She divorced her husband And married his best friend Because she said god's perfect will was for me to be with his best friend and I was out of the will of god when I married this man here And uh, you couldn't reason with her You you couldn't say this is a perversion of the grace of god and the leading of the spirit. You couldn't Give her scripture. She didn't you know want to hear it She just went out and did what she wanted to do. There are people like that all the time God knows me. He knows my heart. He knows the weakness of my flesh. He knows that I can't keep away from those women He just knows it's in me When all the bells and and whistles are going off. There's nothing I can do I have to go through with what I was desiring to do god gives me grace And they do that they say that they argue that That's not what i'm talking about what i'm saying that david was saying here is god, you know me You know my heart. You know my desire remember in first samuel 13 14 david is a man after god's heart god You know me. You know everything about me even in my failures. You still know that my heart is yours I want to serve you. I have a desire. I love you. I have a passion for you That's why in psalm 139. It's so powerful versus one through three Oh lord, you have searched me and known me you have my you know my sitting down my rising up You understand my thought a far off You comprehend my path my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. You know everything about me God knows everything about you god knows everything about you you have a testimony that you give to people And you have a testimony only only you and god really know And that testimony that only you and god know will remain with you you don't want people to know exactly How bad you really were i don't want people to know my real testimony so i only give them certain Aspects of it god knows it all He knows everything from the beginning to the end and he still loves me and that is too wonderful for me And david understands that it's not an excuse to continue in sin It's an awareness of what god has done for you And david is saying that god you know me you know i wanted to build you a temple You know my heart is to build you a temple there. I am leisurely laying in my palace thinking about your ark They're in a tent. You know i wanted to build you a temple But you gave me a dynasty Notice what alcy says here verse 21 for your word's sake and according to your own heart You have done all these great things to make your servant know them Lord You have made the promise And i will take you At your word for your word's sake i will take you at your word therefore you are great. Oh lord god There's none like you nor is there any god besides you according to all that we have heard with our ears There's no god like you at all Your goodness to me reveals what a great god you are and i love you and i will serve you because there's no one else in this universe like you Verse 23 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 and 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 You've been good to me, but you've also been good to the nation In the midst of a world that has lost you redeemed us and you delivered us Because when god took moses And said i'm going to use you to deliver my children And when god used him to bring those 10 plagues on the nation of egypt and and when you read The the plagues and how it took place in chapters 7 through 11 there in the book of exodus when you get into chapter 12 verse 12 God says there i have judged the gods of egypt I have delivered you from their hand i have judged them and you know In this redemption in this bringing them out using the blood that was there on the lintel of the door for passover And how the death angel passed over and did not kill the first born of those who were covered by the blood even so to this day god redeems Even to this day god brings out a bondage There are people in this room if we were to give you opportunity And if you had the the ability to you could stand up and say i've been redeemed from alcoholism I've been redeemed from promiscuity. I've been redeemed from from drug abuse I've been redeemed from from a violent temper. I've been there are so many people in this church You if they had a moment to give their testimony could stand up and say god's blood Jesus christ poured his blood out for me and he changed my life as a result of that Jesus spoke concerning the fact that when somebody commits sin jesus said that man is a slave to sin But he said the one who knows the sun will be made free and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free And he who is free in the sun is free completely is free indeed And that's what happens when you commit your heart to christ and you begin to pursue him. You are taken out of bondage I've talked to too many people including my own testimony I understand what it means to be in bondage And i've talked to too many people Who have been at one time in bondage and they give this glowing testimony of how at one time They were stuck in a lifestyle That was going nowhere and destructive for all around And how god redeemed him and god pulled him out god saved him god transformed him God changed him completely You see god still redeems He still brings us out of bondage. He does it by the gospel of grace He does it to the truth that's been revealed to us through jesus christ Now he goes on he says you have made your people Israel your very own people forever And you lord have become their god You gave them the land of israel you firmly planted them and in doing so you fulfilled your promise david secured the land for the nation he defeated the philistines and the other enemies And god kept his promise to them. He made them a nation a nation that will continue perpetually And now Oh lord god The word which you've spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house establish it forever And do as you have said 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 notice verse 28 And now oh lord god you are god your words are true. You've promised this goodness to your servant Your words are true Do you believe them or do you not? If you believe god's word, you can be free You can be free I was just talking i've i've i've i've had this conversation several times this week with people several times Do you believe Or do you not in between services just today speaking to a young lady about this and i said you've have two options Be free Or be in prison Those are your options. Which do you want? What do you want? You can be free You can take god's word and trust him You can believe You know the bible tells us in numbers 23 19 god is not a man That he should lie nor a son of man that he should repent Has he said and will he not do Has he spoken will he not make it good God doesn't make false promises And god promised me That if i came to jesus he would not cast me out He promised me that the blood of jesus christ his son cleanses me from all sin He promised me that if i came to him i would be a new creature old things would be passed away all things would become new He promised me that he would never leave me nor forsake me He promised me that i would receive power after that the holy spirit had come upon me And i would be a witness to him in jerusalem judia samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth He said to me that my name is now written in the lambs book of life Jesus christ said to me i have gone to prepare a place for you if i go and prepare a place for you I will come again receive you unto myself that where i am there you may be also i have many Exceedingly precious promises from god and i want to embrace them And i want to hold fast to them and i want to trust him and i want to live by those things So i have options Is god's word true or is it not? He says to me if you confess your sin i am faithful and just to forgive you your sin and to cleanse you from all Unrighteousness all unrighteousness not just some of it Not just the unrighteousness that i was carrying up to the moment that i confessed him all Unrighteousness past present and yes even future God can take care of those things And so i take him at his word Problem is is i don't always act in faith upon those things that i truly should believe I'm a confessing christian sometimes and a practical atheist in my behavior I act as if god really doesn't exist When in reality here i am sane, but i know he does There are many like that But david said no You are god and your words are true and you have promised this goodness to your servant And i'm holding you to your promise Listen parents or grandparents now If you promise your five-year-old Something for their birthday That they really want Do they let you forget Or are they anything like i used to be and perhaps you used to be you said You said Where is it you said? Well, yeah, i i know i say no you said where is it? And they go through all the little presence and they say where is it? Where's what you said? You know what my my kids were that way it's funny They didn't remember me saying clean the room, but they did remember me saying i'd give them something They did You know what children have a tendency of remembering promises, especially if it touches their heart and it's something they want What is it that we're supposed to be if it's not children? What is it that jesus said to us concerning little children and that were to be like one? What does that mean it's many things including the fact that a child doesn't forget a promise and trust the one who made it And when jesus christ said you can have life When jesus christ said you need to be born again to enter into the kingdom of god and if you are Born again, you will enter his kingdom. That's a promise and you can hold fast to it You can hold fast to it. You can bank on it. It's a hundred percent sure david held fast to the promise Now he wanted to build the lord of house In the book of acts god asked the question. What kind of house are you going to build me seeing that? I made all things I mean come on When you come and you try and build me something you think is good enough for me. There's nothing good enough for me I just was pleased to dwell there. I chose to dwell there but no No, what's interesting is that god gave him By the spirit the plans you see it in first chronicles in chapters 28 and 29 Gave him by the spirit the plans and david also put forth the money And the money that david put forth with some of the leadership amounted to over 140 billion dollars to build this temple 140 billion dollars to build the temple And he gave it freely because he wanted the lord to have a house An interesting thing about david god said to david you cannot build it But that doesn't mean that david didn't leave something so that the house could be built He gave his son solemn in the plans and he said god gave me these and i'm giving them to you You make sure you do this the right way son david's legacy lived on through his son Because he put away the money and he had the plans from the spirit and he gave it to his son Now as i said a moment ago God doesn't dwell in a temple made with human hands So god decided to build his own temple And that's what you are and that's what i am when we receive christ because paul says no you not That your body is the temple of the spirit of god And so god doesn't dwell on structures like this god dwells in people like us We have him within us because we gave our hearts to christ and said god be merciful to us we're sinners Enter into my life forgive me and i became a temple of the living god And god's word he's true His promises are sure And he lives within us if we've received him Even now