[0:00] Please turn with me to 2 Samuel chapter 7, verses 1-29. 2 Samuel chapter 7, starting in verse 1.
[0:14] 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, see now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.
[0:26] And Nathan said to the king, go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, go and tell my servant David, thus says the Lord, would you build me a house to dwell in?
[0:41] I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, that 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?
[1:02] Now, therefore, thus 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 the prince over my people Israel.
[1:13] And I have 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 will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place, and be disturbed no more.
[1:28] And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.
[1:42] 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, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
[1:55] 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 sons of men. But my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you.
[2:11] And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.
[2:24] Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that you have brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God.
[2:42] And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God. Because of your promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness to make your servant know it. Therefore you are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you, and there is no God beside you, according to all that we have heard with our ears.
[3:00] And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth from 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.
[3:16] And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever. And you, O Lord, became their God. 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.
[3:31] And your name will be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is God over Israel, and the house of your servant David 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.
[3:48] 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.
[4:05] For you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever. This is God's word. Thanks be to God. Praise the Lord.
[4:19] It's a wonderful Sunday. I love these Sundays of installing new pastors and celebrating here. Hopefully, if I've been running around getting some last-minute things together, if I haven't come around and greeted you or something like that, hopefully after the service, I'll be able to hang out a little bit less pressured to have everything ready.
[4:42] So we got some cakes, some cupcakes back there, a wonderful poster of what we perceive Micah to look like at the age of 99. And it's going to be a good celebration in the back of the church here.
[5:00] We got a question for you. How many of y'all love to plan? Planning.
[5:12] You guys have been... Don't lie. You guys have been planning vacation since it dropped below zero. Let's be honest. You want to get out of here. We love our plans, don't we?
[5:26] I got a lot of half-finished plans at my house with half-done construction projects. There's been drywall sitting for about six years. That still needs to be hung.
[5:40] My girls just informed me that I'm building a treehouse next week, they said. They're six years old. They said next week. I don't think they have any concept of what next week actually means, but I ain't going out in the cold.
[5:53] Better they realize that sooner than later. I didn't expect an amen on that. Thank you. We love our plans of maybe trying to improve our lives.
[6:08] You know, our New Year's resolutions that we've already failed. We love planning for our families. We love planning even for church. And now planning isn't necessarily bad.
[6:21] There's nothing wrong with planning. Planning can be very, very wise. God's Word commends careful planning. In Proverbs 16 specifically, it says, commit your work to the Lord and your plans will be established.
[6:36] And then it continues in verse 9. The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps. There's wisdom in planning, right?
[6:50] But here's where things begin to go wrong with planning. While some plans are not bad because they're careless.
[7:02] Some plans aren't bad because they're careless. But some plans are bad because they quietly assume a place that belongs to God. Plans actually become dangerous in that sense.
[7:15] When our plans actually replace the place of God in our lives, it becomes dangerous. Especially when we begin to assume and believe the falsehood that the future ultimately depends primarily on us.
[7:33] And sometimes the greatest spiritual lesson that we can learn and we must learn is that God is often not asking us to build for Him.
[7:45] He's asking us to trust in His building for us. And that struggle between planning and trusting is not anything new. In 2 Samuel chapter 7, which was read beautifully today, thank you Mark, we meet David who is doing something very familiar to all of us.
[8:06] Isn't he doing something that we all do? He's looking at his life. He's looking at what God has done in his life. And he's making a plan of what he thinks should happen next.
[8:19] And by this point in the story, God has done a lot. He's taken David from the pasture and now he's on this throne. He's done quite a lot.
[8:32] David has survived Saul's mad pursuits of his life. David has united the tribes of Israel. He's established Jerusalem as the capital of the city of David.
[8:46] He's brought the ark of God into the city. We should notice that things are stable. And he's planning what's next.
[8:58] And it's at this moment he begins to plan. It's specifically at this moment when things are good. Before David could even begin to carry out his plans, to take his building project down to the building department for a stamp, God does something unexpected.
[9:16] He stops David dead in his tracks. Not to rebuke him harshly, but to remind him of something critical.
[9:29] And to make a promise with him. It's not a small promise at all. It's not a temporary promise. This promise is eternal. Eternal of staggering magnitude.
[9:43] One that would shape not only Israel's future, but the future of the entire world, and a promise that is still a hope for us today.
[9:54] What we're going to see in this passage is simply a main point that God builds the kingdom. We receive it by grace through faith.
[10:07] We'll see this simply in just three sections today. I've titled this sermon, Good Intentions, Greater Promises. Good Intentions, Greater Promises.
[10:18] And before we dive in deep here, I'd like to spend just another moment in prayer, knowing that this task is not to be taken as light.
[10:31] So let's pray together. Father, we come to you this morning asking you to help us to see something today.
[10:44] Help us to see something that is a problem in our own hearts, in my heart, in all hearts of humanity.
[10:57] Help us to not only see that, but allow us to be guided and corrected by the power of your Holy Spirit at work in us.
[11:09] Help us to see your truth and the hope that is eternal and even rests with us today.
[11:20] We ask you to help us by the power of the Holy Spirit today. Help us to understand. Help us to be changed. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.
[11:32] Amen. The first section that I've titled is just observing the plan. The plan. What David wanted to build.
[11:47] The scene opens up with this King David at rest from verse 1 all the way to verse 3. He's at rest. He's comfortably established in a palace of cedar.
[12:01] And remember, this palace of cedar was actually donated materials by a pagan king. Even the unbelievers of the world were saying, you're the king. Here, take my money.
[12:13] And let me help you build. And he's dwelling in this beautiful house, this palace of cedar from the king of Tyre. And the problem, though, is that this should bring a lot of relief to David.
[12:29] But David was restless still. He was restless. He looks out the window in verse 2. He looks out the window in verse 1.
[12:41] And he's looking and he sees the tabernacle in just a tent. Here he is in this palace of cedar. And he's looking at the tabernacle. And in that tent housed the ark of God for centuries.
[12:57] And now he's looking out and he's saying, this is an anomaly. This doesn't make sense. I mean, we can't blame him, right?
[13:10] He shares this unrest with even Nathan the prophet. And from a human intuitive standpoint, Nathan the prophet says, you're the king.
[13:20] You're the boss. You don't need my approval. Go do it. Unless God says otherwise, we're good. We can't blame him.
[13:33] The divine king should have a dwelling place that's beautiful. Not just a tent, right? That's our human instinct. How could we ever live in something as lavish as a house of cedar?
[13:47] It almost seems logical, honoring. And even Nathan's human intuition, whatever that word I want to say is, encourages him in this initiative.
[14:02] But here's where things get dicey. If our intentions lead, regardless of how pure our motives or intentions are, if our intentions lead, no matter how pure, we are doomed.
[14:18] And that is critical here in this passage. Why? Because our purest intentions can never replace God's will. It can never replace God's will.
[14:30] David's been learning this slowly, slowly but surely. And we saw him initiate the bringing of the ark of God back from Kiriath-Jerim that we saw last week, of which God intervened in the project.
[14:46] David's learning slowly about this. We saw that last week from verse 6 through 11. And this issue establishes tension in the narrative.
[15:01] This restlessness in a time of peace. And the word does come. As Nathan says, you know, unless I hear otherwise, we're good.
[15:13] Well, he heard otherwise. Verse 4 comes. But that same night, look with me. The word of the Lord came to Nathan.
[15:26] Quite a lengthy word here. Go and tell my servant, thus says the Lord, would you build me a house to dwell in? In verse 6, he sort of qualifies that in three different ways from verse 6 to 7.
[15:45] Would you build me a house to dwell in? In verse 6, after centuries of delivering Israel from Egypt to this day? Or in verse 6, after moving place to place in a tent and still being able to effectively guide my people?
[16:01] Verse 7, would you still build me a house to dwell in? A dwelling that God never once required of the shepherds of his people? Church, we ought to sense the implication of the words, to David here.
[16:19] He's essentially reinforcing through all these years, God has rescued. God has protected. God has guided Israel without needing a house and stuff.
[16:32] Why would you consider building one now? So he turns David's attention from verse 8 to 11. He says, essentially, through this passage, David, everything you have, your throne, your victories, your name, even your rest.
[16:51] I gave it. I gave it. And everything still to come that you don't even know about, I will give it.
[17:03] I will establish it. Church, the problem is that we, what we see David doing here, we instinctively do ourselves.
[17:18] Don't we? It's quite complicated because notice that David is not, like, rebelling against the Lord, right? Not building an idol or a golden calf.
[17:30] Praise the Lord. He's not rebelling. He's not resisting God here. He's actually trying to honor God. And that's what makes this so dangerous.
[17:44] Some of the most spiritually dangerous moments in our lives are actually not necessarily when we sin or when we want to sin, but when we want to serve God in the ways that he has not directed us.
[18:04] When we want to serve God in ways that make sense to us, logical sense or just rational sense. Many people today assume that if we are sincere in our actions, if we are moral, if we're trying to do good, then they must be right with God.
[18:29] They're okay with the man upstairs, right? As the saying goes. But the Bible shows us something very, very different. The problem is not only that we sin, the deeper problem is that we want to direct our own lives without submitting to God's ways or God's will.
[18:50] We resist, we suppress the truth, as Paul says in his letter to the Romans. As Christians even, being busy for God can subtly center upon ourselves of all the work and activities that we're doing, masking selfishness in devotion.
[19:08] This is a popular trend in the church. But for a Christian desiring to honor God in their labor, it must be done according to God's way as revealed in God's word or what we might refer to the Bible.
[19:25] The Bible has supreme authority over our actions. So God stands complete and sovereign in himself.
[19:35] He doesn't need anything from us. He doesn't need. It's a heretical, even heretical saying to say that God needs. He does not need our strength, but we desperately need his.
[19:51] Don't we? And that is why we yield and we trust, relinquishing our projects that aren't being led by the Lord and submitting to his, trusting in his.
[20:08] Not only that, we see in this second section, we see the promise unfold, what God determined to build. So David had his plan. Well, here's a promise.
[20:19] This is what God determined to build for David. We see this from the other part of 11 and on. In a complete turn of events, we see the hinge of this passage unfold.
[20:33] David's distinct, his instinct was, I will do something for God, but God here makes a promise. I will do something for you and something that you can never do, David.
[20:47] After reminding David of his hand in his life from verse 8 to 11, he continues, God continues, he says, moreover, sort of just like pressing into it even more, moreover, despite everything that I've done by my hand in the past, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.
[21:10] 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 your kingdom, his kingdom.
[21:26] He shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. Verse 14, I will be to him a father and he shall be to me a son.
[21:41] When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men and the stripes of the sons of man, but my steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul whom I put away from before you.
[22:03] I try to emphasize the I wills here. These are crucial in this passage. This section is pure, sovereign grace.
[22:14] God chooses, God establishes, God disciplines, but does not remove his steadfast love. And God guarantees permanence.
[22:26] In verse 16, it says, and your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.
[22:42] Church, something remarkable happens here and it's easy to miss if we move too quickly. David has just proposed doing something for God. Right?
[22:54] And God responded by making a covenant promise to David. In other words, he's saying instead of do, God says done.
[23:06] He's already in tomorrow and it's not related to anything of David's works. It's all according to God's sovereign will. Just observe the advancement in the magnitude of this significance.
[23:20] David offers to build a house. What God just offered is to build a dynasty. David thinks in terms of years.
[23:32] A couple years, you know, build a house for you to dwell. And God speaks in terms of eternity, timelessness. Church, this is covenant grace.
[23:45] This is covenant grace. grace. God binds himself to humanity to secure what no human could ever secure. Some call this sovereignty, some call this supremacy.
[24:01] Why can't we just call this love? Why can't we just call this God's love for humanity? Because that's what it is.
[24:15] That's what this covenant of grace is. Consider the permanence of God's faithfulness of verse 14 to 15.
[24:26] Even sin is anticipated. David doesn't know it. He's going to mess up royally coming up in these chapters. And his son, complete failure.
[24:40] Kingdom, divided after David and Solomon are long gone. This is staggering. Do you see what God is saying here?
[24:55] What good news this is for David? He's saying, David, your throne will not stand because you're perfect. Or your sons are going to be flawless.
[25:06] All of them are going to be a hot mess of garbage. And he says, it will stand because I am faithful on my end of the promise. David never built a house.
[25:23] Solomon's house was a hot mess. The kingdom was divided, the throne fell, and for a time, it seemed like God had forgotten his promise to Israel.
[25:42] And even today, we see those moments where pastors fail, whether it's through horrible sexual abuse in the name of discretion and keeping things under wraps because they're a pastor and they're untouchable, whatever that's supposed to mean.
[26:02] That's not biblical. Pastors who claim to lead God's flock and abuse the sheep, violate them, steal in God's name, there's moments where we sit back and we're just looking at another pastor falling, saying, this is why I don't want anything to do with religion, right?
[26:27] Look at how messed up it is. God is establishing something here, is about His relationship with us, being independent of how humanity, how the cards fall in humanity.
[26:47] He is faithful to us. For those today who have been persuaded otherwise about God, there is a promise that is personal for you today, it's persevering, it's not slightly contingent upon your flaws or the flaws of those around, but it's contingent upon a holy, sovereign God who loves you.
[27:15] He loves you. This promise God made demanded a greater son.
[27:27] If there's no hope in humanity, hope had to become human in Jesus. We stand on this other side of history and know the name of the son that God raised up, that being Jesus Christ.
[27:42] Not a son who merely ruled, but a son who reigns forever. This promise of the gospel is that by your faith alone, you see where our efforts get.
[27:58] There's reason why there's a lot of complicated passages and pages that follow this one. That's where our works get. We mess things up constantly.
[28:10] I mess things up. We all do. The gospel says, by your faith alone, by your faith in Jesus Christ, you are adopted into the covenant love of God.
[28:26] And I pray that you see your need today and relinquish your self-governed sovereignty and submit yourself to His. Regardless of what the culture says about submission, submission is actually a beautiful thing when the one you're submitting to is worthy of submission.
[28:46] This holy God is worthy and He loves you. And it winds down in verse 17. Nathan, given that big download, he's like, okay, I'll take this to David.
[29:07] And he spoke those words to David. And this had quite a jarring effect on David, and rightfully so. I believe that most of us can probably feel that quake.
[29:20] And David responds in section 3. We see not only the plan, the promise, we see the prayer, how faith responds when God builds.
[29:35] We see this from verse 17 all the way to verse 29. Here, we have to imagine David removing himself from his palace house of cedar, right, this beautiful house, and saying, all right, I'm going to the tent.
[29:58] He sits before the Lord in this passage in verse 17. In this tent where the ark of God is, he asks, who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me thus far?
[30:20] And yet, this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also to your servant's house for a great while to come in the future, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God.
[30:37] Verse 20, And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God, because of your promise and according to your own heart. You have brought all this greatness to make your servant know it.
[30:55] This is what happens when the Lord gives you your own sermon illustration with the things around your life. This is a moment when you look up at the vastness of the stars and planets at night, and you just feel small.
[31:16] David's feeling really small here, and for the glory of God he is. David humbles himself, recognizing that despite the grandeur of life and rest and peace, David recognizes himself only as God's servant, being bound to God, a declaration of submission to God's authority.
[31:44] He gets it, at least for now. In church, in the words of David, there is none like our God, there is none beside him. Even despite the sinful and cyclical rebellion of God's people, in verse 23 and 24, them wandering, God never left them nor forsook them.
[32:13] What God builds, no man can destroy. So David ends with quite a bold petition, verse 25 to 27, and now, O Lord God, confirm, 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 David will be established before you.
[32:48] For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, I will build you a house.
[32:59] Therefore, your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. Friends, faith doesn't shrink back when God promises.
[33:18] Faith leans forward when God promises. Maybe it's worth considering what David doesn't do, considering that the narrative is going to really go for a tizzy in a couple chapters.
[33:35] Let's consider, okay, David's not doing too bad. He doesn't go back and continue to the building department to get his plans stamped, get his permits. No.
[33:46] He doesn't negotiate with God, right? He doesn't suggest improvements maybe on the promise, kind of like spinning things a little bit, maybe making some amendments!
[33:58] Addendums to the specs on the house. Now, what does David do here? He sits, he worships, and he prays flat on his face.
[34:16] Total submission. I would invite us all today, believers and unbelievers alike, to come before the Lord in a way that David does.
[34:34] Not trusting in our strength or our ways or having all the answers to life. We're not going to have all the answers, but we do have his word.
[34:47] And if his word is true, this has very critical, a very critical impact on the trajectory of our lives.
[34:58] If this word is true. Let's not forget that something miraculous happened to David here. At the beginning of this chapter, we see David in action. David's planning, he's standing, he's speaking, but at the end of this chapter, David is sitting, listening, he's praying.
[35:20] Why? Because God's word was true to him then, and it is true to us now. May we allow the Lord to remind us to sit before him, to remember his word, and to trust his promise, a promise in King Jesus whose throne is forever, a promise in King Jesus whose steadfast love never departs, a promise in King Jesus who does not merely receive a place to dwell, but makes his people his dwelling place.
[36:04] will we allow God to build his dwelling place in our hearts?
[36:19] We can certainly know for sure in this passage that God's love will never leave us, he will never forsake us, because his promise is forever for those who receive it.
[36:31] you see, God's kingdom is being built his way. God builds the kingdom and we receive it by grace through faith.
[36:46] I want us to end considering the last two verses of David's prayer as his petition comes to the end and let his petition become our petition as we pray through the scripture together.
[37:00] Will you pray with me? And now, O Lord God, you are God and your words are true and you have promised this good thing to your servant.
[37:18] Now, therefore, may it please you to bless the house of your servants so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever.
[37:38] Amen.