Sermon: Kingdom Come

You take a copy of God's word. This morning, we're gonna turn open to the book of second Samuel, second Samuel, chapter eight this morning. If you want to use a pew Bible, you can turn right there to page 2 6 0 in the pew Bible 2, 6 0 this morning. This morning we are looking at Second Samuel chapter eight in verses one through 18. This entire chapter, uh, this morning, uh, will be our last sermon here in second Samuel

before we hit the summer. Uh, in a couple weeks we'll start looking at First John together and then we'll return, Lord willing return back to Second Samuel in the fall. So, um, this morning second Samuel chapter eight, and we will look at this entire chapter this morning and let's pray. Before we hear from God's word,

our Father, we are thankful that you have given us a word that is breathed out by you, that is attended to by your spirit. That is the very living word of our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus. And we pray this morning that as it is read, as it is preached, that it would accomplish your purposes in the world as you've promised that it would not return void. We pray that it would cause our hearts to be stirred within us and that we would find like those disciples, that we know

that we have been with the Lord Jesus today as we hear his word read and as we hear it preach to your praise and to your glory. In Christ's name, amen. Two Samuel chapter eight, verses one through 18. This is the holy and err sufficient word of God. After this, David defeated the Philistines and subdued them and David took methe, a ma outta the hand of the Philistines and he defeated Moab and measured them with a line making them lie down on the ground.

Two lines he measured to be put to death and one full line to be spared and the Moabites became servants to David and brought tribute. David also defeated Hey dad, zer, the son of Reho, the king of Zoba as he went to restore his power at the river ies and David took from him 1700 horsemen and 20,000 foot soldiers and David hamstrung all the chariot horses, but left enough for a hundred chariots. And when the Syrians of Damascus came to help, hey dad,

EZR king of Zoba, David struck down down 22,000 men of the Syrians. Then David put garrison's an A of Damascus and the Syrians became servants to David and brought tribute and the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. And David took the shields of gold that were carried by the servants of Hayad Ezer and brought them to Jerusalem. And from beta and from Phi cities of Ed's Ezer King David took very much bronze When Toy King of Hamath heard

that David had defeated the whole army of Haad, ezer toy sent a rum to King David to ask about his health and to bless him because he had fought against Ada Zer and defeated him for Ada. Zer had often been at war with Toy and Jordan brought with him articles of silver, of gold and a bronze. These also King David dedicated to the Lord together with the silver and gold he dedicated from all the nations he subdued from Edem,

Moab, the Ammonites, the Philistines Amalek, and from the spoil of Hayad Zer, the son of Reho, king of Zobo. And David made a name for himself when he returned from striking down 18,000 Edomites in the valley of salt. Then he put garrisons in Edem through all Edem he put garrisons and all the edomites became David's servants and the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. So David reigned over all Israel and David administered justice and equity to all his people.

Joab, the son of Zeriah was over the army and Jehosaphat, the son of Ehud was recorder and Zadak, the son of Tu and Amalek, the son of Abby Ahor were priests and re was secretary and Benet, the son of Jehova was over the Cherith and the palates and David's sons were priests. Though the grass withers and the flower fades, the word of God is forever. Thanks be to God. Amen.

When Saul became king, you may remember as the first king of Israel, he defeated many of the enemies of Israel. He defeated the Philistines and the Ammonites. And yet as time went on during King Saul's reign, he became more concerned about the enemy that he saw within than the enemies without, instead of chasing the enemies of Israel that were all around Israel, he chased David who he is envious and proud of, or envious of and jealous of.

He chased him all around the nation of Israel and as his focus became upon David, instead of the enemy surrounding Israel, as is bound to happen, these enemies around Israel began to bolster in strength and become stronger and stronger so that when David becomes the second king of Israel, he enters into the kingship and quite a tenuous situation where all of these surrounding nations have become more of a threat. They are no longer subdued,

but God had made a promise to King David. Our passage at the beginning may be a little confusing because the text begins after this. It's confusing because you see after this and you think it must be a historical kind of demarcation that says that, look, these things that are happening in two Samuel chapter eight must have followed after the events of two cha chapter, uh, two Samuel chapter seven. But that's not the case.

He, he says after this, I think in a way of trying to tie together what we are about to see in Second Samuel chapter eight, that it's tied to Second Samuel chapter seven, that as David goes out and he conquers these enemies, he conquers these enemies after this, after what? After the promise that God had made to David in two Samuel chapter seven in the covenant that he had entered into with him. So we're not sure the period of time

that this chapter covers, but it appears that David was engaged in conflict with the surrounding nations for an extended period of time. He's conquering the land now. He's conquering the land that God had promised long ago to Abraham. When he entered into that covenant with Abraham, he said to Abraham, to your offspring, I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates. And now David following on the heels of Abraham where this,

this promise to Abraham had been repeated throughout the generations of Israel leading up to David. And now this promise is given to David, the son of Abraham and to David's sons and he is going out to secure this land that God promised it's a promise for David and his offspring and David and David's sons Solomon will eventually reign over all of this land. So first let's see from this text that the kingdom has enemies, the kingdom has enemies.

As we enter into this chapter, we're given a picture of the fact that there are enemies on every side of the nation. The first enemy highlighted are the Philistines. They were a seafaring people that were on the western side of the land of Israel and they are the first that we encounter here. These are ancient foes of Israel and we're told in verse one that they were subdued as David Tor takes the fortress, a method, a ma.

In fact, David's subduing of these Philistines is so complete and so dramatic that we seldom hear about the Philistines again as we go through the Old Testament narrative. The second in enemy of the kingdom, he has now dealt with the west, the Philistines. The second enemy of the kingdom we encounter is to the East Moab. Verse two and following, and Moab is by David made subject to Israel. They're sled and they're forced to offer tribute to David.

And we get a picture in these verses of a pretty severe David where he takes up all the people of Moab and he puts them in those three different lines and two lines as he forces them to lie on the ground, he will put them to death and one line he will allow to survive. And we aren't sure of the reason for this. Why is he so severe with Moab? Uh, it's especially strange because if you think about David, David has Moabite blood in him.

His great grandmother was Ruth the Moabite. And we also know that his parents spent time in Moab. We see that in in one Samuel. There's some Jewish tradition that reports that when David's parents were living among the Moabite people that the Moabite people killed David's parents. And so some have said, well this must be David bringing justice to bear upon these Moabites for having killed his parents. We don't know. But what we do know is

that Isaiah prophesied their destruction Isaiah 16 long before by saying that they would be destroyed due to their quote, arrogance pride and insul. And they were destroyed by David West East. Now the author turns to the enemies of the kingdom in the north. Verse three, Zoba is far to the more to the north. David faces off against the great king, Hey dad, zer who had chariots were, which were like the Sherman tanks of the ancient world.

And not only that but the Syrians from Damascus come out behind the army of Israel. They're going to help Hey dad Zer. And so David is caught between these two great armies and he defeats both told that he hamstrings the horses that pulled those chariots, he cut the tendons of the legs of those horses except for a hundred and no doubt this was a thing of necessity because he couldn't take all of these horses with him and he didn't wanna have

to face these chariots in battle again. But as spoil, he takes the shields of gold and he takes much bronze. We are told. So we've seen David defeat his enemies to the west and to the east and to the north, and as he does so, his name begins to gain recognition throughout all of the land and beyond the land. So much so that the king of Hamath toy over a hundred miles from Damascus verse nine and following sends his son as a representative to David.

He is going to make peace with David. He is going to subject himself to David and give him tribute and he offers gold and silver and bronze as his tribute for a king. And then the text takes us to the south verses 13 and 14, Edam not recognizing the might of David, he has defeated all of his other foes. They rise in the south and they begin to attack Israel. And David defeats the mite striking down 18,000 from west to east, from north to south.

David has secured the kingdom from all its enemies.

But don't miss it though. That's true. The victory is not attributed to David in the text, the great summary verses verse 14, and the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. And then the same statement is made back in verse six. And the Lord gave victory to David wherever he went. It's God's doing.

God secured what God had promised. Yes, David was king, but David is just a servant and David is just the means by which God is accomplishing his promises in the world.

David understands this will be David as a psalmist who writes in Psalm 20, Psalm, trust in chariots and p summon horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord or God enemies everywhere. We trust in the Lord.

Let's consider a few things from this text. First, this side of glory, the servant of of God will be engaged in conflict, the side of glory. The servant of God will be engaged in conflict. If you think about David's life from the very start, not doing to any, not owing to anything that he had done, David is persecuted, especially by Saul and he is chased all over the place and he is constantly suffering and and this was God's appointment.

He had done nothing to deserve it, but it was God's appointment. And so it is often for the servants of the Lord, as has been said, the cross before the crown there. There is suffering before you arrive,

but you might think hasn't the time for the crown come David's king, the kingdom has come and yet David's middle years that what are supposed to be the best years of your life where you've arrived, he's arrived in his position, he has the prestige, he has all of the security and he's in his middle years and yet still in his middle years, he's consumed with conflict. He has the crown.

Why is he constantly in conflict? Because though the kingdom has come, he's still in this fallen world. And in these few verses we're chronically not just days we're no doubt chronicling years, he's, he's not stirred away in Jerusalem. He is not feasting at his table. He's still in the world. And so the fight still goes on.

It's always been the way since the fall. God's servants always are engaged in conflict until they are home in glory.

You could say even now that's true of you and I. If you're a Christian this morning, you, you've received the crown. Paul will say that you and I, we are seated with Christ and in the heavenly places we have a crown. You're seated with him now as you sit in this room this morning, you are also seated in glory because you're united with him. You are enthroned above

and yet we're still in this world. And so we still continue to engage conflict sin the world, Satan death, their defeated enemies, but they are still enemies in this world. The kingdom's here, but it's not yet. It's not what it shall be. Christ reigns. It's true. But his reign has not been fully consummated where his kingdom has come into all of its fullness. And that's why we pray thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.

And so we fight on, you have to fight on, you're engaged in conflict. You're in the world. You see, it's when David forgets that as we go on in two Samuel, it's when he forgets and he becomes lax and he just kind of settles down like Christian on pilgrim's progress. When he lays down for a nap and his scroll goes rolling down the hill, it's then that he falls into some folly, into some kind of sin, usually that his enemy gains strength around him.

You are in conflict as long as you are in this world. You are in conflict. You're on the battlefield

with continuous kingdom subjects to engage in the fight. There's rest and it's coming. It's just over the hill, but it's over the hill.

So we continue to engage in the conflict. You fight the good fight to faith.

Second, the kingdom of God always ultimately prevails because God prevails. The kingdom of God always ultimately prevails because God prevails. There's a word that is repeated over and over in this text and this chapter is repeated seven times ESV translates it differently. And so you won't notice it unless you look at the Hebrew, but it's the same word and it translates it in your text that you and I are looking at this morning, it will translate.

It either strike down or defeated. David struck down. David defeated God promised to David a kingdom. And so David receives a kingdom. He strikes down, he defeats. He's trying to emphasize that over and over as you go through this text, why is it that David can strike them down? Why is it that David defeats each and either every single one of them because God promised David a

kingdom and God lives up to his promises. So David receives a kingdom. Another way to think about this is that where David's kingdom came, God's kingdom came. God promised it. So God provided it. No matter the number of enemies, no matter how many are surrounding, no matter how many create a coalition together to oppose it doesn't matter. God promised it. So God secures it.

Jesus will say them gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. The kingdom of God ultimately always prevails because God always prevails. Why? Because he's God. He's sovereign. There's nothing that can out flank him, that can overpower him, that can outdo him. He's promised it. He secures it often. Think about this, when we think about the cross, think about the the Lord Jesus nailed to that cross, the king of glory and and there he is

and all of creation it seems all the powers that there are in the universe have have come together in a kind of coalition to nail him to that cross.

You have Rome representing in all earthly secular political power. You have Pharisees representing all religious power. You have Sadducees representing all cultural power. You have the crowds representing all popular power. You have Satan representing all demon demonic power. They're all aligned, political, religious, cultural, popular, demonic. And he triumphs. Why? 'cause he's sovereign. He's king,

he's sovereign king.

And God promised David that he would have a son who would reign upon the throne forever after this. The author says he's trying to underscore to the readers, don't you understand we're, we're in Second Samuel chapter eight. You're going to watch David defeat all of these enemies, but don't get lost in the midst of it. That's why he repeats that phrase two times. The Lord did this. He wants you to remember after this, after what?

Remember second Samuel chapter seven, God promised this

and he always lives up to his promises.

A throne of David would be occupied forever. And what you and I are to observe is that when we see David going out and conquering these enemies and the kingdom going forward, yours and my minds are supposed to race. And we're supposed to think, ah, what of that son of David.

And in David's victories, we are to see his victories.

You're meant to see that when God promises a kingdom, his promises prevails. Psalm two we're told that God has set his son as king on Zion and he promises I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a wrt of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. And he has and he will. The kingdom of God always ultimately prevails because God prevails.

Third, notice that the king, the king receives all riches and glory.

The rider is chronicling all the wealth that David receives. Other kings are coming and bowing before him and they are bringing tribute. And there is so much renowned surrounding the name of David that it is spreading throughout the known world at that time. We were told in verse 13, and again, he is a type of the one to come. The the king receives oh, riches and glory, Philippians two. Therefore God has highly exalted him

and bestowed on him the name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus,

every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Glory at his knee, at his name, every knee bows he's king. All glory in riches. Revelation 21, the new Jerusalem is said to have radiance like a most rare jewel. It's walls we are told are built of jasper and the city is pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the walls are adorned

with every kind of jewel. The city, its streets are of gold. It's a picture of riches and of glory and beauty and safety and fruitfulness. Why? Why does that city, that new Jerusalem look like that? Because the king is in her midst. He receives all riches.

King David received riches in glory. How much more his son King Jesus.

And in Revelation 21, we're told that the nations shall come into that city and the kings of the earth will bring their glory to him. John says, and all will be offered to that one that sits upon the throne forever. That son of David, that son of Abraham,

and even the crowns that you and I are given, we, we will throw them at his feet. Why? Because he receives all riches in all glory.

He's conquered. In fact, we're told they're in Revelation 21. That in their, in that in that place there will be no night,

there will be no night. There'll be no darkness anymore.

It is from west to east to north to south. All his and our enemies are defeated, heated or subjugated or destroyed.

No more darkness. Then what, what, what should all be like? Jason? Oh, he tells us in Revelation 21 it'll be light.

Oh, the sun shall be shining so brightly. No, not that son, but the son, the radiance of the glory of God shall shine forth from his person and lu all of the heavens and the earth.

No darkness, just light.

There's so much in that little phrase which John says in Revelation 21, the Lord himself will be our light.

And then John says that you and I will will reign with him forever and ever. He's king. He's defeated them all.

And that's yours. That's yours. If you've come to him in faith.

It's interesting in our texts that you have this, this king kind of jammed into the middle. We've, we've gone to the west, we've gone to the east, we've gone to the north. Before we get to the south, before he subjugates all of these enemies, we get this king from toy that comes out of nowhere. And this king toy from Hamath, he approaches David through his son and he comes to David and he bows to him and he offers himself to him.

And you know what he knew? He knew peace.

A kingdom has come.

This is the time to come to him. You come to him and you offer yourself to him. You subject yourself to him. You give yourself to him.

This is the time the kingdom has come. When he returns upon the clouds in his second coming, he comes with a sword in his hand.

This king will receive all riches and all glory from every single person thanked place, all things he's king forth. Finally, notice that the king in his kingdom brings order. He brings order. The orderliness is detailed. David we're told verse 15, quote, administer justice and equity to all the people there. There's true justice. There's there's order in the legal system. Joab is placed over the army. There's order in the armed forces.

Jehosaphat serves as a recorder of secretary. There's order in the courts, zadak and Amex service priest. There's order in the church, the chaite and the para, uh, the pite mercenaries from Crete are made his bodyguard so that no tribe of Israel has the king's life in their hands. And so there is order in the house of God's servant. There's order, order, order, order, order. He's trying to emphasize it to the reader. Why, why are you told this?

Because as the kingdom of God comes, order comes with it,

God is a God of order.

It's sin that has ushered in disorder.

He administered we're told in verse 15, justice and equity to all the people that there's order.

This world is, is swirling in disorder.

I mean, you, you could take anything, you could turn on the news. You could open a newspaper. If you still ever get a newspaper, you could look on the internet. You could, you could stop any person on the street today and ask them their opinion. And they will speak about the fact that they see great disorder in the world and everybody wants to solve it. Oh, how we try our hands at it. We try so hard from political parties to prohibitions,

to legislations, to morality training to education, to medicine, to wars, to concerts to the United Nations. Some good, some not so good efforts. But none of them will establish order, not lasting order. There's only one that does that. That's why he came. The king overall establishes order.

David's unique that he was king of the covenant, people of God type of Christ to come. I'm not a king, you're not a king, but we're servants of the king whose kingdom has come into this world a king of order. And so I would encourage you and say to you that we're on very safe ground to say that as as David was laboring for the glory of God and did so in establishing order, right order in the world, you and I are to do the same.

We're not kings, but we represent him in labor for his kingdom. Paul will say that you and I are ambassadors for the king. We represent him and you know the order that he has brought. If you are a Christian, your life is now ordered. It's rightly ordered.

You are rightly looking up to your maker. You are rightly understanding that you were created in the image of God, but not just created in the image of God, but that you have been redeemed by this God and that your life is not your own. That you belong to him and you exist for his glory. There's a right orderness about your life and you attempt to try and live according to his decrees. You try and live according to his law.

You attempt to to live according to his promises. You put your trust in him. That's rightly ordered.

And as you and I go through this world, we seek his kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven. So, so think about this with me a little bit, right? Order comes as people are made right with the king who reigns. And that means that you and I as those servants of the king who has come and his kingdom has come into this world, that you and I are heralds of the fact that this king has come where Harolds of the reality that his kingdom has broken

into this world. And we are herods of this king because we want others to believe in this king and obey this king. And when that occurs, the kingdom advances.

Christ's kingdom is not the taking over of physical landmarks and boundaries like we see in this text, but the most valuable real estate that there is in the world, the human heart. He wants the hearts of men.

And you and I are members of this outpost of the kingdom, this local church and we are to be a visible manifestation of Christ's rule and reign. And we get to fight for his glory as heralds and ambassadors of this kingdom. And we do so by proclaiming his truth and by living according to that truth so that we manifest the ideal and the ethic of this kingdom.

You're a kingdom subject Christian.

All of life live to his glory and praise.

So whether you're a parent or a student or an electrician or a baker or a lawyer or a coffee barista or a grandparent

you serve, the king you're calling is to promote the name of the king, the labor for the kingdom to which you belong,

everywhere that you go. And as we do so, we are fend off the enemies of the kingdom and bring order wherever we go. And we do this primarily by making disciples.

If that's not the work that we're about, then we're neglecting the kingdom work. We've been called to,

I hope to God that's what we're doing as a church.

I hope to God that's what you are doing as a Christian in your life. That's what lasts. It's what matters.

You're in the fight

and you're secured by his promises. I mean, what, what soldier ever goes into a battle knowing one, that they're going to survive the battle and two, that they're going to have victory in the battle. You get that? Talk about the confidence that would give an army on the field of battle. That's the confidence you have.

It's not just as we go though, we bring the kingdom with us. I I want to think about it a little differently as well.

It's also where we're at.

For those of you that work outside the home like me or those of you that work inside the home, we're not just trying to outside the home, working outside the home to put meat on the table. We're not just working inside the home to try and keep our children from burning down the house. Though those things are important. It's not just that we're actually in our labor seeking the labor for the good of the king and his kingdom.

So as we go, we bring the kingdom with us when, when the Christian who is suffering from depression is laying in bed in the morning and that alarm goes off and that Christian sits up in bed and she says to herself, the mercies of the Lord are new every morning. This is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. And she gets out of bed,

she's pushing back the effects of the fall in the world. She's bringing order where there's disorder.

She's battling the enemies of Christ and as people, she, she's, she's dealing the, the kingdom of darkness. A blow. When you mothers that are homeschooling or homeschooling your children, you, you're not just concerned about teaching them two plus two equals four and yellow and green make blue. It's not that that that's not the core of what you are seeking to do. No, no. You are engaged in kingdom conflict. You are combating sin.

You are seeking to combat the effects of the fall, what we call noetic sin. The fact that the intellect and our ability to reason has fallen as a result of sin entering into the world. You're pushing back darkness so that they can worship the Lord their God with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength

wherever we go, whatever we do, or kingdom subject serving the great king, a great king who has conquered and is conquering all his and all our foes. They're all being laid as a footstool beneath his feet. He has the victory and you get to serve him

as king of our salvation. Oh, he is triumphed.

And when he returns upon the clouds as he told us and promised us when he returns upon the clouds with the angels and the archangels and his glory shines out across the world and every knee, bows in every tongue confesses that indeed this Christ is Lord, he's king as they kneel before him, all the var foes, every disease, death, every devil, every thing of destruction, everything of disorder is slain and gone and banished forever.

There is no more darkness from north to south, to east to west. There's just light

that's a kingdom worth fighting for and living your life for what a king you have been given to your Christian. I hope it's true of all of you in the room that you know him today as your salvation in King. Let's pray.

Our Father, we are thankful for so great a king and so great a salvation in this king and oh how we desire the name of Jesus to be known and to be on every lip because it is written upon every heart. Pray. It is true of every one of us in this room, and that is our great delight to be a servant, an ambassador, a herald of this king who has come and is coming and we say, come quickly, Lord Jesus. Come quickly, king of our salvation's.

In his name we pray. Amen.