John chapter 17, we will begin in verse 1 and read through verse 26. Jesus spoke these words, lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may also glorify you. As you have given him authority over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him. And this is the eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. And now, O Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was. I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours. you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they have known that all things which you have given me are from you. For I have given to them the words which you have given me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I come forth from you. And they have believed that you sent me. I pray for them. Do not pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours, and all mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you, Holy Father. Keep through your name those whom you have given me, that they may be one as we are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name. Those whom you gave me, I have kept, and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes, I sanctify myself that they also may be sanctified by the truth. Do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me throughout or through their word. that they all may be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that you sent me, and the glory which you gave me I have given them, that they may be one just as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may be perfect in one, that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. Father, I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which you have given me, for you loved me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father, the world has not known you, but I have known you, and these have known that you sent me. And I have declared to them your name, and will declare it, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them. Our Old Testament reading is from 2 Samuel, Chapter 7, verses 18 through 29. Here we find David praying to God after God has given him the great promise of the Davidic covenant, that he will have a son on the throne forever and ever. Then King David went in and sat before the Lord. And he said, who am I, Lord God? And what is my house that you have brought me this far? And yet this was a small thing in your sight, O Lord God. And you have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come. Is this the manner of man, O Lord God? Now what more can David say to you? For you, Lord God, know your servant. For your word's sake and according to your own heart, you've done all these great things to make your servant know them. Therefore, you are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you. Nor is there any God beside you according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people, like Israel, the one nation on 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 have made your people Israel, your very own people forever, and you, Lord, have become their God. Now, O Lord God, the word which you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, establish it forever, and do as you have said. So let your name be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is God over Israel. And let the house of your servant David be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to your servants, saying, I will build you a house. Therefore your servant has found it in his heart to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you've promised this good news 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, O Lord God, have spoken it. With your blessing, let the house of your servant be blessed forever. Amen. You may be seated. But you found yourself, for whatever reason, standing in a throne room. You look down at your feet, and instead of a concrete floor, you see giant slabs of polished marble. The windows go up 20 feet, 30 feet on either side. And they're robed in bright scarlet and purple curtains. The ceiling is high and vaulted and ornate. And you are there because God has called you to be there. He's called you to be there because he has promises to make to you. He looks you in the eye and says, I want you to know that I am promising from this day forward that I am going to put my presence with you. My servants are going to watch over you. Every need that you have will be supplied. If you ever need anything, you come to me. You ask for it. And if it's something you need, and if it's good for you, I will give it. Now if you have this promise, Are you going to turn around and plead that promise to the king immediately? Are you going to say, don't forget, don't remember, or don't forget, remember, fulfill this promise now to me? Maybe. If you're like me and a little timid, you might be a little scared to go to the king. You might let months or years pass by before you ask the promise. Maybe never. Because you're worried. What might he do? Is he really going to come through? Does he even care? Maybe it was just a show. What does that say of your thought of that king though? Does it say that you trust him? That you think greatly of him? That you think he's a good king? Does it say you think he's an evil king? We see David here having received a great promise, a promise to his house, that just as God has been to David, with David, and giving David an office, so he's going to be with David's house, giving the sons of David, and ultimately the son of David, an eternal office to rule over Israel for her benefit. And what we find David doing immediately is both praising God for that promise, but immediately also pleading with God that he would fulfill that promise. And as we look at this text, I'd like you to consider, how do you use God's promises? Are they things that you're eager to go and plead with God for? Or do they sit in the back of your mind and you don't remember them? You don't speak of them to God. You don't use them as grounds to ask God for those things that you need. Well, we're going to see how David uses these promises, and hopefully they will instruct us and show us how we ought to be using God's promises in our own lives. As we look at this prayer David brings, it comes really at the pinnacle of David's life. He has, for many years after being anointed, been fleeing away from Saul, living just moments away from death at times, wondering, am I ever going to be king? Am I ever going to ascend this throne? And yet, David has been faithful. He has trusted God. He has not struck down Saul. And God has been faithful to David. God has slowly protected him, kept Saul from getting him, kept the Philistines and other enemies from killing David. He's even protected David from his own foolishness, as we saw in the events surrounding Nabal. And now, we finally find David on the throne. And he has now established his house in Jerusalem, and he has brought the ark to Jerusalem, And he's desired to build God a house for worship in Jerusalem. But God said, no David, you're not the one to build my house. You're not the right one. Your son Solomon will be, but you are not. But I want to give you a promise. A promise that we call the Davidic Covenant. A promise that says that there will be a son of David sitting on Israel's throne to eternity, forever and ever. And that God will be with David's line. He will not abandon David's children down the line, even as God has been to David. And so we stand really at a pivot point in history. A point where it seems like everything shifts. We learn something about what Messiah will be. We learn Messiah will be a king. Not just any king, but a son of David. That he will have a throne that rules eternally. for the sake of his people. And so now, having heard this, David comes to worship God and to pray to him, reacting to this great promise that God has given him. Now, as we look at this prayer, I want you to think about if you've ever read a really good piece of literature, something that's really rich and thick and dense, what you find is there's many, many different elements running all through it, different themes that are developed, different images that are used. This prayer is an example of really good literature. There's many themes and ideas that are developed. And so as we go through it, I'm not going to be able to hit every single one of them. But as David looks at God's promises, two things are very evident. Is David talks about the expansion of God's promises. And he talks about God's work in election. And so as we go through this text, those are the two themes I'm going to use to follow how David develops this prayer. and to touch on what he is communicating. But as we look at this text, the first thing we find is that the Christian worships God for his promises. We find this in verses 18 through 24. But we'll start in verses 18 and 19, where David says, Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my help that you have brought me this far? And yet this was a small thing in your sight, O Lord God. And you have also spoken of your servant's house for a great while to come. Is this the manner of man, O Lord God?" So the first thing I want you to see here is that David recognizes that in this promise, God has expanded the promise he has given David. He promised David, I will be with you, I will make you king. He's taken this promise and said, David, this promise of my presence and this promise of an office as king, leader of Israel, is not going to stop with you, but I'm now going to extend this promise to your family, to your line. And so even as God blessed David by being with him, day in and day out, we read in verse 14 of the same chapter, excuse me, in verse Yes, in verse 14, I will be his father and he shall be my son. This idea of God adopting and bringing in his children close, making them his own. And if he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rods of men and with blows of the scythes of men. But my mercy shall not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And this here, God is saying, I'm gonna be with, even as I was with you, David, even as I chastened you, as God will chasten David in the events with Bathsheba, yet he will not abandon David's line. And then also, the same office, the office will persist. In verse 16, in your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. So again, the promises that God gave David that God has fulfilled in David's life. He's saying, I'm now going to extend these and stretch them out to apply to your family. And just right here, there's a point we should consider. It is normal for God, when he makes promises, to expand their reach. He doesn't work just with individuals, but he works in communities and groups. He likes to expand how his promises reach. I would ask you to consider Deuteronomy chapter 7. Deuteronomy chapter 7, verse 9, where we read that I have a sticky page. There we go. Therefore, know that the Lord is your God. He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy. for a thousand generations with those who love him and keep his commandments." We see that same principle when we read in the second commandment that God shows mercy, again, to thousands who love him and keep his commandments. That God is pleased in families to expand his promises, not just to parents, but to then take those same promises and extend them to children, because God is pleased to work that way. Then even as we look at the New Testament, we see God expanding. He gave the promise to Israel, and promised the king to Israel. And yet, when Christ came, and when the Spirit came, He expands those promises. Even as we see Israel then becoming the source of blessing in Christ, to all the world, God expanding his promises out. So we should keep these things in mind, especially that this expansion is ultimately seen in Christ. Christ is the one who brought that promise to be reached to a great multitude, of which we in the church here are but a small portion. But not only does David praise God for his expansion of the promise, He also praises God for God's electing work. Beginning in verse 20 we read, Now what more can David say to you? For you, Lord God, know your servant. For your word's sake, and according to your own heart, you have done all these great things to make your servant know them. Therefore, you are great, O Lord God. For there is none like you, nor is there any God beside you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And so immediately in verse 20, David doesn't focus on what he is, what he's done, what he deserves, but he says, you, Lord God, know your servant. We should remember that this term know in scripture doesn't just mean an intellectual knowledge. It's not just that I went to the dictionary and I read up about everything that David did. When God says he knows someone, that implies close and intimate knowledge. choosing someone out to be special to him. Even as we see, it is said of Adam and Eve. Adam knew his wife and conceived Cain and Abel. And so, it's a rich, it's a knowing, it's an intimate relationship. God picked out David for that. David recognizes here. He says, what more can I say? You did this, I didn't. But then we also, in verse 21, see God's motivation. First, it's for your word's sake and according to your own heart. God is doing this. God makes this promise to David as a part of working out his promises to Israel, of working out his promise even to Adam, that there will come one who will crush the head of the serpent. This is part of God fulfilling his word. So God chose to extend this promise as a portion of that great covenant story of him bring a Redeemer for His people. But according to your own heart, and here the only thing we can say is that when God elects, when God chooses, when He chooses to extend these promises and make these covenants, He's doing it because He wants to. Now, that seems obvious, but consider this. God has chosen whomever He's going to save, He's chosen to save you. not because he was somehow forced to, not grudgingly, but because he wants to. If we were to put it in human terms, it's like saying it pleases God, it makes him happy to choose to bring those into his house, to know them, to save them, to make them his own. It's a great beauty of the election we miss. It's not just that it's a mechanistic God choosing, disinvolved, there is great desire to bring those in. to have relationship with those who he makes his children. It's a beautiful point of election that you shouldn't miss. And then finally, to reveal himself. You've done all these great things to make your servant know them. And in my text, you'll notice that in the New King James, you'll find that them is in italics, and it may be in your text as well. It's because it's a provided word. literally just reads, to make your servant know. I think here we need to consider that what David seems to be saying here is, you knew me, you did these great things, and as a result, you're doing them that I might know. That is, know you, know God, who is doing these works. So again, that one of the great ends of election is that we might know God, that we might have knowledge of Him, not just intellectually, but spiritually and relationally, that we might walk with God, see Him face to face as we are promised in Revelation. But what is the ultimate end of all this? Where is this going? Well, in verse 23 we see Therefore, you are great, O Lord God. There is none like you, nor is there any God beside you, according to all that we've heard with our ears." So first, God's works here in this election and these promises and all he's doing show to us that God is great, that he is truly God, that he deserves our worship. But notice also There is none like you, nor is there any God beside you. And consider this, when you consider what you know of the gospel, when you consider what you know of God's promises, can you think of any God of man that promises a great salvation like our God promises? That says, God in the second person of the Trinity, very God, very man, came and lived on earth as a man, humbled himself, died on a cross, But that wasn't the end, that he rose again, that he ascended into heaven, that he's crowned in glory, and that even as he speaks, he's calling in his people, making them his own, that there will come a day when he'll come in triumph and victory, that even as we live in this time on earth, he fills us with his spirit and enables us to live pursuing after him. Does Allah promise that? Do the Hindu gods promise that? Do the material things of this world, which man so easily worships, promise that? They don't even promise it, let alone fulfill those promises. And so God's promises, and of course his carrying through of those promises, sets him apart, sets him up for worship, unlike anything else that we have ever heard with our ears. He is God, and there is none like him. And so we see that as we set our mind on God's promises, as we consider the expansion of His promises throughout the earth, what a stunning thing that God would not just promise to one of you here and there that I will be with you, that I'll extend my promises of salvation and presence to you, that He extends it to families in His covenant, that He extends it to the whole world in the Great Commission. It should bring us to great awe and great worship. But also look at those promises and seeing how nothing in this world compares to them. And how God, it's all of God's work and His choosing, should bring us to worship Him and to be amazed that He would be willing and pleased and joyous to do these things on our behalf, that we might know Him. And it should encourage you to seek to know God better, to seek Him in your times of prayer, in your times of word, in your times of reading his word, not out of just mere sense of duty, but because that's what he's called you to do, and because it's a glorious thing to know such a God as this. But not only is David excited about these promises given to him, he's excited about the promises as they apply to God's church here in the Old Testament known as Israel, but applying to the New Testament as you, God's people, God's Israel. Verse 23 says, 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 have redeemed for yourself, from Egypt, the nations, and their gods." And again, notice, it's that same theme of election. God choosing out a people. One nation. This nation will be my nation. doing unique actions. I will call them out of Egypt and away from Egypt's gods in ways that has never been done before and will never be done again into a unique relationship. I will be their God and they will be my people. What other nation in the Old Testament could make that claim? None of them could. If you were to worship God, if you were to be God's people, you had to come in and become an Israelite. There was no other way. Does that not resonate? Do those things sound familiar? Think of God's church today. A people God has called out to be his own. One people, the only people that are his own. Unique actions. Christ on the cross, dying and rising again, has never happened before and will never happen again for the sake of his people. A unique relationship. God is still our God, and we are still his people. And so, I would encourage you to think highly of God's church, to notice this unique, called-out sense of which God's church stands. to be aware of speaking badly of any branch of God's church, for they are his people. And we should see this. Remember that they are the bride of Christ. And we should speak well of them and want their best, because God has spoken well of them and has done much for their best. But also, David notices an expansion. He sees God's promises are expanding. In verse 24, So first there's an acknowledgment. That promise you said, that I will be their God and they will be my people, you've now fulfilled that. But what is amazing is that in promising an eternal king, whom God will make his son. He's promising an eternal people, a people that will always be God's people. And so David recognizes that God has now said, there will be a people of mine forever. This promise, this covenant relationship isn't going to end. It's going to expand temporally into eternity. As long as there are people on this earth, there will be people to call on God's name under God's king. But David is not content to stop here. We think, of course, this is exactly right. God has given great promises, we need to worship him. Of course we need to do that. And David does that, that's right and good. But he recognizes that he shouldn't stop there. And so the prayer continues. We now find David entreating God on the basis of his promises. First, he entreats God on the basis of God's own glory. In verses 25 and 26 we read, Now, Lord God, the word which you have spoken concerning your servant, and concerning his house, establish it forever, and do as you have said. So 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. And first, David argues, that by fulfilling his promise to David's line, God will bring himself much glory. Fulfill your promise, why? That your name might be magnified forever. And when you see these things are bound up, that when God made promises to David, to his line, he was making promises to Israel. By promising a line, a stable line, that God would know, he was saying, I'm promising a stable government that I will know, and I will know this people. I'll be with them. And David recognizes that in these words, God has now bound up his glory in the success of his people Israel. blessing of David's line. Maybe not in the ways we look for blessing and necessarily in the fruitfulness of the land, but the fact that God will never, ever, ever leave them or abandon them. So that even in the Babylonian captivity, God was still with them and still working out his promises. But God has now bound up his glory in this promise. If this promise fails, we will have reason to speak badly of God. So David is not shy. He says, Lord, fulfill this promise, for your glory now depends upon it, even as you have said. And not only that, but David says, not just for my house, he said, but raised first for Israel, but also for his own house. Again, seeing these are bound up. Please fulfill your promises. And so, when we think of how we pray God's promises, think specifically, parents, how you would pray for your children. Think, or how you would pray for the success of Mission Works and the expansion of God's gospel throughout the world, how you'd pray for the church. Argue with God on the basis of his glory. Pray to God for the sake of your children on the basis of God's glory. How glorious it is to God's name to see godly families, to see children growing up and coming in to make public profession of the faith that is now their own. and to see Christ's church expanding throughout the world. These things bring great glory to God. Because He's made the church Christ's bride, the glory of the church, the growth of the church, is glory to God. And so you should be eager to say, God, do these things for your glory. Give my children great things to do for your glory. Give your church and enable her to do great things for your glory. Not as the world sees great things, but as God has promised. But then moving forward, we also see that David argues on the basis of God's faithfulness. In verses 27 through 29, David says, And so immediately, we see David not just saying it's for your glory, but because David says to God, I know what kind of God you are. You are the Lord of hosts, so you are the Lord who commands hosts of angels. You have great power behind your name. And if you command the angels, you can do anything you want, is the implication. God has great, great power. But not only are you the Lord of hosts, you're the God of Israel. And we need to think in terms of what it would be when Israel would think hearing this, the God of Israel. The God who has been faithful to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Joseph, to the people in Egypt, all the way down to this day. God has a history of being faithful. And David mentions that. He remembers it. That is a reason he is eager to pray. Not only that, but in verse 28, And now, O Lord God, You are God, and Your words are true. and you've promised this goodness to your servant." So David doesn't just argue that God has been faithful. He says, God, you are God, your words are true. It's in your very nature to fulfill, to follow through on what you've said. God isn't like we are. We forget. We are weak. Sometimes we can't do what we promised to do. Other times we can do what we promised to do and we forget to do them. Other times we can do it and we remember, we just don't do it. God doesn't forget, he's not weak, and because he's God, he does what he says he's going to do, and David argues with him on that basis. And then finally, I think we shouldn't miss that David argues with him just on the basis of his words. God, you said you were this way, you have revealed yourself to be this kind of a God, and you have put your word on the line. So I ask you, please fulfill these words. Please bless the house of your servant. Let it continue forever. He just says the promise right back to God. Let it be. For you have spoken it. Bless the house of your servant. Make it blessed forever. And so as we look at this prayer that David makes, I think there's some things we should consider. First, don't miss that in the Davidic Covenant, we have some amazing promises. Promises that Christ will reign forever. That Christ will not only reign forever, but he will do it for the benefit of his church, the benefit of you who sit here as his congregation. We have seen these things begin to be fulfilled. But we need to join our own hearts and our own voices with David, praying to God that He would fulfill these things ultimately. That He would bring it to consummation. That Christ would finally be manifest to the nations. That all would bow to Him who is the King. Why? Because God has promised it and He's faithful. Because that will bring great, great glory to God. But also, considering any of God's promises, we see David, he is bold. He is not afraid to approach God and to plead the promises God has given him. Even as God has just said this promise, it's like David's reminding him. You know, you parents, if you tell your child, you know, I'm going to give you a sandwich in 15 minutes, you're going to get annoyed when they come back a minute later? Hey, where's that sandwich? Father, can you give me that sandwich? We think we'd be scared to come back to God that quickly, but David isn't. And if David's not, we should follow his example. To be bold, to remind God of his promises, and to plead with him for those promises, whatever those promises may be. I think also we should take note of those themes of election and expansion. One, that God has chosen people to be his own. that He has gone out of His way. He made Him happy. He made Him pleased to give promises to His people, to call them to Himself and make Him His own. But no, He was not pleased to pick out just individuals. But He picked out individuals. He picked out Abraham and extended that promise hundreds of generations, all the way down the line, into the nation of Israel. And that promise went and was fulfilled in Christ. We are now living in the benefit of the expansion of that promise to Abraham to the entire world, geographically. And God also expands His promises through families. So we need to understand that God works that way, and we should pray along those patterns. We should pray, pleading with God, as you've expanded this promise, and you have promised that you are merciful to thousands of generations, be merciful to my children, be merciful to my grandchildren, on down the line. That's how David prays, and we should follow his example. And finally, Maybe most importantly, we need to be in the habit of praying. We need the habit of setting God's promises before us and just praying them to God. In our prayers, not just praying for those things that we think we want or need, but locating those things that God has promised. You will never be wrong to ask for God to be with you, for Him to give you wisdom, as James tells us, for God to give you grace against sin. These are things He's promised He will give you. His word is on the line. And our prayers should focus on those things He's promised. So He's promised when we are ill that He will use that as something to sanctify and to grow us, that He's not going to abandon us in that time of need. He may not choose to heal us, but He'll be with us in that circumstance. And so whatever your prayers are, I urge you to get into the habit of knowing God's promises and finding how they apply to your situation praying them back to God. And that will give you, even as David had great boldness, to pray to God, seeking what he needed. It can give you great boldness, because if God has promised it, you know that He will bring it. He's not promised an easy life, but He's promised His presence with you. He's promised that He will bring you to the end. And so those are the kinds of promises that need to fill our prayers, day in and day out. Let us pray. Father, we thank you for these great promises you've given to us in David. We thank you for the ways you've begun to fulfill them in Christ. And Lord, we plead with you even now because you are faithful and because it is your glory that we might see these promises consummated in Christ, that we might see the day when Christ comes and sets his power over the nations when every knee bows, and when our time on this earth in trial and tribulation is over, and victory is won, because Christ rules for our benefit. We thank you for these things, and we pray that you would help us to pray to you as you have taught us to pray, that you would teach us to pray to you on the basis of your promises. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen.