Sermon: A Covenantal God

Alright, let's pray before we open the word together this morning.

Well Father, we come before you this morning confessing our desperate need

weary pilgrims along the path. We need your strength, those who are ailing in heart. We need the balm of your word for minds that are distracted. We need the focus of your word for all the voices that are within and without that are accusing us and sowing lies. We need the truth of your word. We pray this morning that as this word is read and as it's preached, that you would indeed speak to us and speak to each of us as we have need in this room

as only you can do as the living God. And we pray that we would hear that strong voice in every part of our being and we pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen. Two Samuel chapter seven verses one through 17. This is the holy ander sufficient word of God.

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. 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?

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. 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 now therefore, thus your sa 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 have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you and I will make you a great name like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will point 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 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 when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your father's. 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. 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 wr 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 in your house, in your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me your throne shall be established forever in accordance with all these words, in accordance

with all this vision. Nathan spoke to David though the grass withers and the flower fades, the word of God is forever think. Speak to God. Amen.

David is as Samuel says, quote, he is enjoying rest from all of his enemies. And this is um, a new day in the history of Israel. This is a new day under the reign of King David. He is at rest. He's not alone though because as we're told in the text that Nathan, the first time we meet Nathan in the book Nathan the prophet is with him and they are resting together and we don't know what this scene looked like. Were they resting on couches? Were they resting at a table?

Were they resting, playing ping pong? We don't know but we know that they were at rest and that margin that the Lord had given to David and that he had given to Israel gave David a moment to be reflective. And you see it there in verse two. He says, I dwell in the house of Cedar but the Ark of God dwells in a tent by saying that David is implying that there is a problem. The problem is he's in a house, God's arc of the covenant.

That thing that we have seen as we've gone through the scriptures is a sign of God's dwelling among his people that itself did not have a house. Whereas David as the king had a house. And so he sees a problem. And so he implies not only the problem, he also implies that there needs to be a remedy to this problem and he is going to go after it. Nathan, a prophet of God responds in essence understanding the implications of what David is saying.

And he says in his essence, go and do it David. Go build the place for the Lord, the house for the Lord. And it makes sense David. He knows to be godly. This is a godly desire and as he says God is with you David. It makes sense. Our first to four points this morning, our covenant keeping, God is with us. Our covenant keeping, God is with us. What is interesting is that Nathan, though a prophet of God, David though a man after God's own heart

and both of them having though the right desires have chosen the wrong thing, they've come to the wrong conclusion. Why? It seems to me that when you and I in life are trying to decide whether to do this or to do that, whether we should engage in this or engage in that, it seems like to me that the people of God, usually they're not choosing the right path. They air in one of two ways. One is a kind of super spirituality.

This is when a Christian thinks about doing something for the Lord but they never actually do anything for the Lord. 'cause they say, well I'm going to pray and I'm gonna wait upon the Lord. They're always praying, they're always waiting. They're never doing. It was a movement years ago that had a slogan in it. Let go and let God, let go, let God. It's a super spirituality that is an unbiblical spirituality. We don't let go and let God.

We do not abandon effort as Christians. The kind of mindset usually is a kind of individual personal way of getting ourselves out of any responsibility and somehow presenting ourselves as more spiritual than everybody else in the room are to we to wait upon God. Are we to be people of prayer? Absolutely. But it's also true over and over and over through the scriptures that God is emphasizing that he's given us a good mind.

He's given us a conscience. He's given us the ability to reason and he gives us commands to effort. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. Be strong, be courageous. We are constantly called to action by God, but the other error is to be all action. And that's the error of David and Nathan in this text. And frankly I think it's where most of us tend to dwell.

We're much more prone to this. The Lord has given us good minds. We're reasoning being we have the right desire to honor the Lord and so we just charge ahead. Reason is good, but not when it supplants prayer. And David and Nathan did what we so often do. They saw a problem, we are going to fix it because this makes sense, but they did not consult God. If the former is super spirituality. This is a kind of super zealousness.

Proverbs 19 two, zeal or desire without knowledge is not good and whoever makes haste with this feet and misses the way and we do not have knowledge and we do not have wisdom if we do not have God's guidance, God's people are to lean into action but always in a spirit of prayerfulness.

Now it's not always easy to discern do I do this? Do I do that? How do I decide whether I do this or do that? Sounds great Pastor Jason, but what? What do I actually do? So here's the advice. You pray, you wait, you seek counsel and then you get after it seems to be a biblical way. David did the latter parts. He sought counsel, he began to take action, but he forgot to pray and wait upon the Lord. Reasons helpful. But prayer is essential.

Were God's people and so we seek after God and God makes this abundantly clear and Nathan told David, go and do. And now God tells Nathan verse four, go and tell. Go and tell David that he's not going to build my house. Why? Because the Lord's with us and when he's with us, if that is a reality, then we are to be a people of prayers seeking him constantly. Our second point, our covenant keeping God is so with us that he identifies with us our covenant keeping.

God is so with us that he identifies with us. The Lord gives David a reason for stopping his intended action of building a house for Lord. But it's not what we see in other texts in the Old Testament where he says that he is not to build it because David is a man with blood on his hands. That's not what God says here. Here God says in verse six, I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day.

That is the Ark of the Covenant. God's presence with his people never had a permanent home. It was always kept in a tent in the tabernacle. And he says there in verse six, I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. Well why is that? God, why have you been doing that? Verse seven, because I have moved with all the people of Israel and oh my goodness, there is a a world of beauty in this idea.

You see what the Lord is saying to David, my people have been on the move, so I've been on the move. My people were going to that place. So I was going to that place. My people are here, so I'm here. My people were sojourners, so I was a sojourner.

God identifies himself with his people

Still Ralph Davis commenting upon this text asks, he says, can you not see the astounding condescension of our God here? How can this revelation fail to overwhelm us and move us to adoring tears? What amazing condescension,

this is a poor illustration, but I was thinking about it this week when I was in Dallas at seminary, um, one of the renowned scholars at the seminary I was at, his name is Darrel Bach. And Darrel Bach is considered widely one of the greatest New Testament scholars in our day. He is one of the, if not the leading authorities on the gospel of Luke. And at the time that I was in seminary, he was the president of what's called the Evangelical Theological Society.

The Evangelical Theological Society is a organization, it's a gathering of the most preeminent scholars in evangelical circles. And he was the president of it.

At the same time, Chuck Swindle, who is a preacher, was the president of our seminary to help raise money for the seminary. Just a preacher like me, not a scholar, uh, in scholarly circles as preachers are not quite there, we use them, they seldom use us. But I went to the church, Lee and I went to the church. The, uh, Darryl Bach went to, he was a, an elder at this church and we were in a Sunday school class and he was leading the Sundays who class

through the Gospel of Luke. It was just conversation about the gospel of Luke. And there was one Sunday we got there early and we sat in the back row and this older woman, woman walked into the classroom and she walked up to him and she said, Hey Darrell, I was listening to Chuck Swindle the other day on the radio and he mentioned a Darrell and I said to myself, I know a Darrell. And then he said, your name Darrell Bach.

And I said, I know a Darrel Bach. She said, Darrell, do you actually know Chuck Swindle?

And Dr. Bach wonderfully just said Yes. He signs my paychecks.

I thought she doesn't even know she, she's just in class with Darrell. She's just studying the Bible with Darrell just taking it for granted what I was paying thousands of dollars to do.

He was just so identified with that class.

It's easy to take for granted or God identifies with us.

It's gotta be one of the most astounding realities in all of the universe and we can miss it.

Remember the first time I was struck by it was reading in the Old Testament and you get to that name that God will use of himself over and over and over where he says, I am the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.

It's astounding. He identifies himself by his people.

That'd be like me going around and having business cards in my back pocket that I'm handing out and it says, Jason Grayson's daddy. But when I go to Starbucks and they say, what is your name? And I say, Grayson's daddy or I'm introducing myself to you as you're visiting the church or you're coming in and I say, oh, what's your name? Oh, I'm Charles. Great and and who are you? I'm Grayson's daddy. It's so, so identified.

I'm the god of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He says, I'm the God of Brian and the God of Gabe and the God of Luke, the God of Jason. He identifies himself with his people. You remember when Saul Tarsus is on that road, the Damascus and he has been persecuting Christians and then he has struck blind on the road and then he hears that voice from the heavens Saul soul, why are you persecuting me?

Saul's never met Jesus,

but he's so identified with his people. You're persecuting me.

My people have been on the move. So I've been on the move. My people have not had a permanent dwelling place, so I have not had a permanent dwelling place that that's stirring. It should rattle your soul with delight.

Third, our covenant keeping. God is always with us. You notice God's approach to David. First he reminds him of what he has done and who he has been to. David verse eight, I took you from the pasture from following the sheep that you should be my prince over my people Israel from Boy Shepherd to King of Israel. I did that says the Lord. Verse nine, I have been with you wherever you went. I've cut off all your enemies from before you.

This is who I am. This is who I have been to you. This is what I have done for you. And that is so often what God does in the scriptures before he gives any command to his people or he gives them any promise, he reminds his people who he is and what he has done for them. It's always grace. First

I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep that you should be my prince over my people Grace. That's in part why he does not allow David to build the house for him, the temple. David, I'm getting ready to enter into a covenant with you and it's not gonna be based upon what you do. It's grace. First,

remember what he said to the nation of Israel and giving to the 10 commandments. I'm the Lord your God who brought you outta the land of Egypt outta the house of slavery. And then he says, you shall have no other gods before me first who I am, what I have done for you. Now this is the command to do. He does the same thing with his promises. He reminds who he is, what he has done. And then he reminds of the promises. So example, Isaiah 43, 1, 2,

but now thus says the Lord He who created you. Oh Jacob, he who formed you. Oh Israel, this is who I am. This is what I've done Grace, first fear not for I have redeemed you. And now he gives the promises I have called you by name. You are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned and the flame shall not consume you.

This is who I am, this is what I've done and this is now what I promised to you. Yesterday's God and yesterday's doings by God are promises for today and for the future. He does this over and over.

That's what he's telling David. That's what he's telling us. It's not because of who you were. It was all grace. That's who I am. And when grace is the foundation, God's promise of future presence with and for his people is on absolutely solid ground.

Because if it was your doing, then in the future you can undo it. But if the foundation is grace, if it is who he is and what he has done first, if it is grace first, then you have future security because you can't undo it.

Covenant keeping. God is always with us if we're his people,

how else do you know Jason? Well, not only because of the evidence that's rooted in the past and grace and he's promised it, but but it's this. It's that God cannot lie and he's promised this, that he's always with us.

Our final point, our covenant keeping. God is always with us forever. Our covenant keeping. God is always with us forever. When he identifies himself as the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. It's more than simple identification with us. This is covenantal language and we see that covenantal promise in this passage, the promise that has already been articulated. God entered into a covenant with Abraham in Genesis seven 15,

and then he gives a sign of that covenant in Genesis 17. That was a clear though, and just a more detailed testimony, a reflection of the promise of God. In Genesis three 15, you go all the way back to Genesis three 15. You remember when God is cursing at him and he's cursing Eve and he's cursing the ground and he's cursing the serpent. In the midst of that, in Genesis three 15, he will articulate what we call the progel,

the first gospel. And in the articulation of that first gospel, he says that there shall be a seed that is born of the woman that shall crush the head of the serpent. And that promise just becomes more clear when we get to Abraham and it just becomes more detailed. God promised by grace to give Abraham a land to make him a great people to be with him.

I love how Jaunty Rhodes summarizes those three principle blessings in the covenant, what we call the covenant of grace. It's place people presence. God promises place, he promises people and he promises presence. God promises a land of safety to Abraham. He promised to Abraham, I'll make you into a great nation. And he promises that he will be with him wherever he goes, God will go As we continue through biblical history.

In Exodus 20 to Exodus 24, for example, we have an even clear and greater articulation of the covenant of grace and what we call the mosaic covenant. And there at the foot of the mountain, God promises the same things. He just goes into greater detail. He promises that he's going to give them a place. He says in Exodus 23, I will bring you to the place that I prepared and I will set your border from the Red Sea to the sea

of the Philistines and from the wilderness to the Euphrates. And then he promises to give them as a people, to make them a people. Exodus 23 verses 26 through 30. And then he promises his presence among them. He gifts them the ark of the covenant and the tabernacle. He will be with them. Same covenant. Just more detailed, just more clear, very general in Genesis three 15, well, well, where is the seed coming from? It's coming from the seed of the woman,

but out of all the people in the ah, it's gonna come through Abraham. That seed is going to come into the world and there's going to be a promise of place and people and presence of God. But you go on, you go, okay, but but what of the descendants of Abraham? Well now we see it's going to come through this line in the line of Abraham. It's gonna come through the line of Israel, through the line of Jacob. People place presence

in our text.

You see it again. But all of these promises, all they're doing is undergirding that great promise of Genesis three 15. All the way in the beginning there would be this seed that would be born of the woman that would crush the head of the serpent. And our T covenant of grace becomes even more detailed in what we call the Davidic Covenant.

God's promises are not only going to flow through Abraham, they're not only they gonna throw through Jacob and Israel, but now we find that they're going to flow through David and through his line God promises. David, verse nine, I will make you a great name. It's a word play in the Hebrew. David wants to build a house for the name of the Lord and the Lord says, no, no, no, no. I am going to make your house a great name

verses 10 through 11 place. So that's people place verses 10 through 11. I will plant Israel in their own place and they will have peace. It's a place of rest, it's a place of security, it's a place of prosperity, a kind of paradise, same promise place. So he's gonna make him into a great house people. He's going to give him this place a place of rest of security them verses 12 through 16, David shall have a son that reigns forever, presence,

place, people presence as one theologian said. Now we know that there will quote be an inseparable connection between God's kingdom and David's throne presence. But it's even clearer than it was before. And we see in verses 12 through 16, David will have a son that will build the house of the Lord and his kingdom will be forever.

Now you have to think through this. You gotta put on your thinking caps.

There are multiple things going on in this text. It's what theologians call telescoping telescoping. Rick Phillips defines telescoping this way. This refers to the way in which prophecies speak of distant events, but also include a near and typological fulfillment in which many features of the ultimate fulfillment are discerned.

David's son, Solomon is the typological fulfillment of the greater son of David to come. Solomon, as we see here, he reigns, he will reign over Israel, he will also build a house to the Lord. And during Solomon's reign there will be peace and land and Israel will grow. There will be people, there will be place and there will be presence.

And you'll notice though verses 13 and 14 in which we read though that God will discipline him. And we're told in one kings 11 that God did indeed discipline him. Quote, when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart after other gods and his heart was not holy. True to the Lord, his God in Solomon's kingdom will fall. His two sons, Ray and Rabbo will divide the kingdom and the kingdom will never recover. But the text says that the son of David will reign forever.

So is the covenant keeping God always with us forever or not? Do his promises stand?

They do that promises there will be a son of David who's throne is established forever and he will serve as a mediator between God and his people. As verse 13 says, twice forever, I will establish the throne of the kingdom forever.

Why is it that when you get to the opening of the New Testament and the gospel of Matthew and then Luke does a very similar thing, why is it that Matthew spends so much time at the beginning of the New Testament with a long genealogy that traces back to Jacob and traces back to David and traces back to Abraham? Why does he spend so much time on that? Why is it that Psalm one 10 out of all of the Old Testament scriptures, why is it

that Psalm one 10 is the most quoted Old Testament passage in all of the New Testament where David, the king of Israel, is crying out and he says, the Lord said to my Lord, David saying this, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool. Because there was a son of David that was promised and yet to come. Who would reign forever? When the angel appears in Luke one to marry, she's

conceived a child in her womb.

This is what the angel says. And behold, you'll conceive in your womb and bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and he will be called son of the most high. And the Lord will give to him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom. There will be no end forever.

And what's the picture you get at the end of the scriptures in Revelation five? All in heaven, all on earth, all under the earth, all in the sea are all crying out with one voice to him who sits on his throne and to the lamb be blessing and honor and glory and might for and ever

Christ, a son of David and the son of God is the ultimate fulfillment.

And in him we find place, we find people and we find presence

and him, we find our dwelling place now and eternally does he say, he says, come to me all you who are wearing heavy laden and I will give you rest. What is the land signify? Rest.

Peace. What does Paul say? Christ himself is our peace. It signifies abundance and life. What does Jesus say? I am the way and the truth and the life. No one has life apart from me. He who drinks of me shall never thirst again. He who eats of me shall never be hungry again. If you abide in me, you bear much fruit apart from me, you can do nothing. It is in him that we find our dwelling place. That's what makes heaven heaven.

We're in him forever place.

Also in him is people in him. We are the very people of God. He who knew no sin became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God. Paul will say, therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold the new has come. What are you called throughout the scriptures? Dear Christian, you're called the body of Christ. You're called the bride of Christ. You're called the sheep of the pasture of Christ.

You are Christ, you are his people because you are in him.

Place people and presence.

Philip Asman John's gospel. He'll walk up to Jesus and he'll say, uh, Jesus, show us the Father. That'll be enough for us. Do you remember Jesus' response? If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. I'm in the Father and the Father is in me.

What does Paul say for God? Who said, let light shine out of darkness as shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And what did Christ himself say? He said, lo, I am with you always, even to the very end of the age. And what happens at the end of the age when we get there? Is he somehow gone? Oh no, he makes us home among us forever. And you and I shall gaze upon the glory of God in the face

of Christ day after day after day after day after day after day forever. Because he reigns.

Paul understands all this, and he erupts in second Corinthians one 20 saying this For all, for all the promises of God, find their yes in him. All the promises of God. Find their yes in the Son of David and he conquers.

We are at presbytery, as I told you this weekend, and one of our own that we sent out, uh, pastor Andrew Cheeseborough, different guys are standing up front taking their exams and you know, anybody on the floor can ask a question. Anybody. You can ask anything you want. And Pastor Andrew Cheeseborough asked a question, uh, of the men that were up there. He said, what importance does covenant theology actually make? And I thanked Andrew later.

I said, you helped me with my sermon. Uh, because as soon as he asked that I, uh, took out my phone. I just started, what, what I, what would I say real quick? Wrote down, what importance does covenant theology actually make?

This is what I wrote down real fast.

It means it's one story from beginning to end. It's a story of grace.

It's a story of grace given it's a story of grace given in the promise and person of Jesus, the son of Abraham, the son of Isaac, the son of Jacob. The son of David. And what does that mean?

That means that our God is with us now and he's with us forever,

practically. You get to think through that for all of eternity.

Hope that's true of all of us in the room. Great God, great covenant keeping. God, let's pray.

Our Father, we are thankful you are a covenant making and a covenant keeping God and oh Son, how we give you praise that you are willing to secure our redemption according to the covenant and oh how we give you praise of spirit, that you make us new creations according to the covenant promise. And you seal us unto that day when we shall gaze upon the glory of you, our triune and God in the face of Jesus Christ, and give him praise even now that he reigns

and he will forever reign.

You are worthy of all of our praise in Thanksgiving. Thank you for being our God and for making us your people. In Christ's name, amen.