Let's take our Bibles together and turn to the book of 2 Samuel, 2 Samuel chapter 7. This will be the last in a three-part series on the Davidic covenant. 2 Samuel chapter 7. While you're turning there, I invite you to stay for our Sunday school hour. The adult Bible class stays right here in the auditorium for our class. And we're looking at the importance of orderliness for the Christian. orderliness for the Christian. And I think that's a very important subject for us to address as believers and we will see that in the book of Numbers this morning later on in the Sunday school hour. Here in 2 Samuel chapter 7, David desires to build a permanent structure for God, for the Ark of the Covenant. Is that a good or a bad desire? It's a very good desire. In fact, later on in some of the other books of the Bible in the Chronicles, he has commended that that was in his heart. So we see that that desire of David was noble in verses one and two. But then in verses three to 11, God essentially says, no, David, I do not want you to build the temple. And there were many kings who followed David. David was a good king. Solomon was a good king to start with, then became a bad king. And then down through the years you had good and bad kings, but all of those kings were imperfect. The Davidic covenant looks to the perfect king. Who is? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the rightful successor to David's throne, as many New Testament passages make very clear. In fact, Jesus Christ is the one the Old Testament prophets anticipated. Jesus Christ, the King of kings, will visibly reign on David's throne during the millennium, which is yet to come. But when David is told no in verses 3 through 11, we see in verse 11, the last part of verse 11, that God says this, also the Lord telleth you. So David's desire was noble. God's response was no in verses 3 to 11, but in the last part of verse 11, God's response was also. And that's where the Lord says, David, you are not the one to build me a house, but I'm gonna build you a house. And I asked this question to you when we got to that point. Would you rather that you build a house for God or that God build a house for you? That's a pretty easy question to answer. I would much rather God built me a house. Not a structure, not a building, but a house as in family, a house as in descendants, a house as in lineage. Those were the sons of David, and there was the Davidic dynasty, if I may call it that, in Judah. In contrast to the Northern Kingdom, what was happening in the Northern Kingdom? Kings would come onto the throne, four generations later, they'd be cut off. Nine dynasties in the Northern Kingdom, nine different families. Southern Kingdom of Judah, one dynasty. that would be fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. This morning, I want us to look at how David responded to God's no, and to God's also. Because there's many times that we pray, even with a noble desire, something that we would say, this would please the Lord. I know it from scripture, this would please the Lord. And we pray, and God says no. Now, you're not going to hear an audible voice that says, no. But perhaps through circumstances, perhaps through somebody else who is advising or counseling, we learn, you know, that's not what God desires for you. It's a good desire, but it's not what He has for you. You can make many applications with that in your own life, because all of you have been told no by God. And I mentioned this, I said, Would you like to have everything you've prayed for? Not at all. I look back and think about the things that I prayed for, and I'm like, thank you, Lord, that you didn't answer that with a yes. And this is why, as Christians, we live this life by faith, because we say, God, you know the best. Your plan is best, not mine. But I'm telling you, when you've got that thing right in front of you and you can see myopically just a little bit in front of you, you go, wow, this is the best thing. And then when the Lord doesn't answer it, you might get upset. You might get a little bit bitter. But David's response was praise in verses 18 to 29. In fact, he's so overwhelmed that he assumes a prayer posture that should be noted. What was his prayer posture in verse 18? Let me read it. Then went King David in and sat before the Lord. And he said, Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto? What was his posture? What was he doing? Was he standing? Was he kneeling? He was sitting. He sat before the Lord. That same word is translated a different word in verse two. Dwelt or dwell. Again in verse five. So David is literally there in verse 18 dwelling before the Lord. He is spending some time before the Lord. He dwells or abides before the Lord. And through his prayer of praise that follows, verses 18 to 24, following that becomes a prayer of petition where he asks of God something. But I want us to see in verses 18 to 20, God's position. We see David's position, his posture in prayer was to dwell before the Lord. Look at God's position in verses 18 to 20. David acknowledges God's position by asking two questions. What's the question that is asked in verse 18? Who am I, O Lord God? Who am I? Folks, whenever you truly enter the presence of God, you will always be humbled and made to see your own unworthiness. Too often we rush before the throne of grace without even thinking about who we're praying to. David's response, oh, who am I? Who am I? Moses, in Exodus chapter 3, when God said, I'm going to send you to Pharaoh, what was Moses responsible? Who am I? Isaiah, in chapter 6, was essentially, who am I? Jacob said this, I am not worthy of the least of all thy mercies and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant. Genesis 32, verse 10. Interestingly, Just as Jacob, David also refers to himself as God's servant in verses 19 and 20. Last part of verse 20, thy servant, verse 21, thy servant, Lord, I am your servant. David acknowledges that God is his master and that he is God's servant. Who am I? Jesus likewise instructed his disciples to acknowledge God's position. When we pray Jesus, here's how I want you to pray. Our Father, which? Okay, if that's his position in heaven, what's your position? Our Father, which art in heaven? Going further, what be thy name? How do it be thy name? What does that make me? Totally unworthy to even come in his presence. David recognizes that although God's promise was large, to him it was large, but to God it was a small thing. Look at verse 19. And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, O Lord God, but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great while to come. And is this the manner of man, O Lord God? So verses 18 and 19, who am I? Notice the question in verse 20. And what can David say more unto thee? For thou, O Lord God, knowest thy servant. Here's the question, what more can I say? That's almost verbatim to what we might say today when we're at a loss for words. You ever been that way? You're talking to somebody, And they say something and you say, you know, what can I say? What can I say? But instead of saying nothing, he acknowledges that God is in the position to know what is in his heart. Lord, you know your servant. That's God's position. And David not only acknowledges God position in his prayer of praise, but also God's greatness. Let's just read verses 21 to 24. For thy word's sake and according to thine own heart hast thou done all these great things to make thy servant know them. Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God, for there is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible for thy land before thy people, which thou redeemest to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods. For thou hast confirmed to thyself thy people Israel, to be a people unto thee forever, and thou, Lord, art become their God. David acknowledges God's greatness, and it is seen in verse 21 in his display of preeminence. The greatness of God's promise to David is not because David is great, it's not because of who David is, it's because of who God is. We see here the preeminence of God's word in verse 21, for thy words sake. David knows the word of God, wouldn't you say? Who wrote most of the Psalms? David did, he knows God's word and therefore he knows how to pray according to the will of God. And he recognizes that this Davidic covenant, and we call it the Davidic covenant, But it's God's covenant with David. He recognizes that this covenant is not for his own sake, but for thy word's sake. In 1 Chronicles 28, verse 4, David refers to his election as king. The consequence of the election of Judah as ruler, the reason he as a descendant of Judah is there on the throne is because of God's providence, God's sovereignty. He is able to pray according to God's will because he knows God's word. Any application in there for us? Folks, when we pray, we are to pray according to God's will, not according to our will. So there's the preeminence of God's word. There in verse 21, and also the preeminence of God's will, according to thine own heart, is David's confession that it is the will of God, not his own that is preeminent. The true servant of God can sincerely pray. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. My kingdom come. Somebody better stop me. Somebody better stop me. My kingdom come, my will be done. Somebody stop me. Yeah. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, you are there in heaven. Hallowed be your name. I want your kingdom and thy will to be done. But you know as well as I do that we often want our own will. And we want our own kingdom. We want our names to be great. The true servant of God can pray, Lord, thy kingdom come. Thy will be done. And yet what a blessing to be chosen of God to accomplish His will. Especially as David says here, when God allows His servant to know His will, to make thy servant know them, he says at the last part of verse 21. So God's greatness is seen in His display of preeminence. Secondly, God's greatness is seen in His display of uniqueness. We see in verse 22 the uniqueness of his person, the uniqueness of God's person. Where in verse 22 do you see the uniqueness of God's person? There is none like thee, neither is there any God beside thee. Do you know any unique people? I can think of unique friends. I mean, there's none like them. I'm thinking of personalities. I'm thinking of things they would say. You know, that guy's really unique. And it's unforgettable as a result. Even as I'm saying that, I'm thinking of a guy. But I'm not going to say anything. Not here. Nobody here. But we all know unique people. There's none like them. And that can be a bad thing or it can be a good thing. Here, there is none like you, Lord. There is no God beside you. And that's the worshipful prayer on the lips of God's people. Lord, there is no one like you. There is no God beside you. After Israel had marched through the Red Sea on dry ground, they got to the other side. And then he began to sing this song in Exodus 15, 11. Who was like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who was like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? Lord, there's no one like you. They had just seen it. The Egyptians have their own gods. How did their gods do against the God of Isaac, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Their gods were obliterated. Who is like unto you, O Lord, among the gods? Hannah, in her joyful prayer as a new mother, said this in 1 Samuel 2, 2, there is none beside thee. as she prayed to God in thanksgiving for her son. That phrase, there is no one like you, is found in Isaiah. It's found in Jeremiah. It's found in Micah. Micah in 718 proclaims this, who is a God like unto thee? Folks, we can pray the same thing if you're worshiping the true God through Jesus Christ. Because Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. So as we worship God the Father through Jesus Christ, we can say there's no one like you. And the fact that God is unique in His person will draw attention to the uniqueness, secondly, of His people. Did you see there in verse 22 that God is unique? And who is like Him? Look at verse 23. And what nation in the earth is like thy people? A people who truly serve a unique God, listen folks, will be a unique people. So from the statement in verse 22 that says, there is none like thee, we come to the statement of verse 23 that says, and what one nation in the earth is like, thy people. The people who truly know God as unique will also be unique. There you are at work. And the boss needs something done. And out of all the employees, he points out the one who says, you know what? There's none like that guy. He's always on time. He works hard. He's got a clean mouth, although a boss may not say something like that. but he works hard, there's no one like him. Why? Because that one perhaps is one who serves the unique God. And folks, we ought to be unique. Today as churches are trying to blend in with society and become like the world so that the world will come in, so that the church is no longer unique, We try to adopt their music, we try to adopt their standards, we adopt everything from the world so that we lose our uniqueness. It's not like we're trying to be weird. We simply know what our God is like. Who is like unto thee, O Lord? Among the gods, who is like thee? David considers God's promises to Abraham and Moses as fulfilled. And that has caused for David to praise God in advance that he will fulfill the covenant to him, a fulfillment that David never will see in the flesh. He takes it by faith. And so by recounting God's gracious dealings with his people in verses 23 and 24, His gracious dealings with his people in the past, he verifies that God did indeed confirm to himself his people Israel to be a people unto thee forever, it says in verse 24. Which tells us something. God is not done with Israel. Yeah, I'm talking about Israel. That doesn't make them the people of God today because they have not come to God through Jesus Christ. And yet God has a plan for them. So in David's prayer of praise, he acknowledges God's position. He acknowledges God's greatness. And in verses 25 to 29, in his prayer of praise, David acknowledges God's promise. Verse 25, and now, O Lord, the word that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his house establish it forever, and do as thou hast said. And let thy name be magnified forever, saying, the Lord of hosts is the God over Israel, and let the house of thy servant David be established before thee. For thou, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house. Therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, O Lord God, thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised this goodness unto thy servant. Therefore, now let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue forever before thee, for thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it. And with thy blessing, let the house of thy servant be blessed forever. Did you know that David was a prophet? That's what he's called in Acts chapter two and verse 30. And everything he has said here, he may not have actually even realized the import of everything he is saying. You say, you mean there were some in the Bible who said things that they didn't know what they were saying? Yes. Trying to find that passage right now, it's 1 Peter 1. Let me just read verses 10 and 11 of 1 Peter 1. Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, to us. Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. They had to search those things up that folks you can just read about today. Nevertheless, when God, when David had asked God to let his house be established forever, that's the word used in verse 25, We better understand today by looking back all that David's perpetual house entailed. David didn't realize the full import. That's what I'm saying. You know, God's temple was not just of wood and stone. God's temple, as you see later in 1 Chronicles and in 1 Kings when Solomon builds the temple, is the presence of God with his people. And the presence of God is promised to where two or three are gathered together. And yet we don't even realize and understand the full presence of God here because It was culminated with Christ's incarnation when the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. God's dwelling with us or among us did not cease with the destruction of that temple that we read about in the gospels. That's why Jesus said this, destroy this temple. That was the temple of his body. And in three days, I will build it up again. And so Jesus Christ, God in Jesus Christ continues to dwell in the hearts of believers. Have you ever heard the phrase Christ in you? Have you ever heard a child pray the prayer, Lord Jesus come into my heart? Is that just some kind of an ethereal type prayer or is there something about the fact that Christ literally dwells within us? That's what he says in John 14, 23, I will be in you. in the person of the Holy Spirit. His dwelling among his people will be perfected in the completion of the kingdom of God at the end time in the city known as Jerusalem. not just Jerusalem, but the new Jerusalem, which will come down upon the new earth out of heaven from God as the true tabernacle of God with men. And this is worth you turning to so you can see it for yourselves in Revelation chapter 21 and be reminded of what's going to take place, which is yet future, that has to do with the house of David. In Revelation chapter 21, an easy book to find, the last book of the Bible, chapter 21 and verse 1. The apostle John says, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Note verse 3, And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold the tabernacle of God. is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and shall be their God. Then you read verse 4 which says, and God shall wipe away all tears. When God dwells among us and with us, then all of those tears shall be washed away. There will be no more death, sorrow, crying, pain. All the former things are passed away. when God dwells among us. The true tabernacle of God is with men. So you go back to 2 Samuel 7 and you read what David says in the last part of verse 25 when he says, Lord, do as thou hast said. And when he says to God, do what you have said, he is surrendering to God his own humanly conceived plans to build the temple. It's surrendered to God. And basically he's saying, Lord, please don't do what I said. Lord, please don't do what I had desired. I would rather you do what is in your will and in your plan. And that's why he could say in verse 26, let thy name be magnified forever. The foremost desire of David, as expressed in the sequential order of his prayer, is that the name of God, not his own name, be magnified, literally. God, I want your name to be great. You know something? Men who live to make their own names great are not great men. David was a great man. And it's because he didn't live to make his own name great. He lived to make God's name great. He says, Lord, your name be magnified. He is so certain that God is gonna fulfill his promise of his covenant. How? Because David links the attributes of God's promise with the attributes of God himself in verse 28. God is true. Now thy words be true. Let thy name be magnified. Then he prays this in the last part of verse 26, and again in verse 27, and again in verse 29, let my house be established. As you've said, Lord, let my house be established. That establishment of his house is predicated upon his magnification of God's name. He does not plead for God to do what he said he would do. Rather, he expresses the confident assurance that God will do what he has promised. And his confidence in God is still certain when he utters his last words. Did you know there's a chapter in the Bible that says, now these be the last words of David? Wouldn't you like to know his last words? Well, you're in the same book, 2 Samuel, go to chapter 23. in the last words of David. We see this in verse one of 2 Samuel 23, now these be the last words of David. Then you read throughout the chapter, but you don't have to go far before you get to verse five, and he says this. Although my house be not so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and, out loud please, sure, it is certain, for this is all my salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. God will do what he said, ordered in all things and sure. This chapter of 2 Samuel 23 that are the last words of David is very instructive because he knows the promise of God. He knows it is sure to take place. When you pray and have a promise of God, what is your response? David did not just simply sit back on his haunches and wait to die so that God could begin to act. God gave him a promise. God gave him a promise. I'm gonna establish your house. Your son's gonna build the temple. And this is very instructive for us because we read in First Chronicles chapter 22, And I would really like you to go there. And while you're turning there, I want to say this. We read in 1 Chronicles chapter 22, and even to the end of the book of 1 Chronicles, we read that long before he died, David was doing something. It's after God's promise there in 2 Samuel chapter 7. I'm going to establish your house. Amen, Lord. Thank you. I'm going to sit back and watch you do it. How many times have we come to the place where we realize that you don't just pray for things, you act upon the things that you've prayed for, or even that God has promised. God has promised to build his house. God has promised that his son Solomon will build the temple, and yet David is doing something. He was making preparations for the temple. Read throughout the Old Testament. Read about when David would defeat an enemy, what would he do with all of their spoil? He would take their gold, their silver, so many things, and he started laying things up. He started setting things aside. Even before the Davidic covenant in 2 Samuel chapter 7, he kept setting things aside because he had it in his mind he was going to build a temple for God. When God says, I'm going to establish your house, you're not the one to build my temple, you would think that David would take all of his riches and everything that he has attained and blow it on himself. Instead, he was laying it up for a structure he would never see with his own eyes. And so in 1 Chronicles chapter 22, he made preparation by providing, in verse one, the mount. You have to go back to chapter 21 to realize what's taking place in 22.1. He is on Mount Moriah, I believe, which has become the threshing floor, chapter 21, verse 28, of Ornon the Jebusite. He sacrifices there. And David said in chapter 22 and verse 1, this is the house of the Lord God. And this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel. And we know, we know this is where the temple was built, right here. David is making provision for the temple by acquiring the mount upon which it would be built. He purchased this threshing floor of Ornon the Jebusite on the very site where God had commanded him to set up an altar and it becomes the site of the house of the Lord. But not only did he make preparation by providing the mount, he provided the manpower. Look at verse 2 of chapter 22. And David commanded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel, and he set masons to hew rot stones to build the house of God. He's not gonna build the temple, but he's not just gonna sit back. He even acquires the masons there in verse two. In verse 15, he acquires the workmen. In verse 17, he acquires the princes. He gets the administrators. He is setting everything up for his son so that the temple would be built to get behind the work that Solomon would do. He provided the mount. He provided the manpower. Verses 3 and 4 of 1 Chronicles 22. He provided the material. We're not going to read these verses, but if you read verses 3 and 4, verse 14, verse 16, David provided iron, brass, gold, silver, timber, stone. That's all in those verses. In chapter 29 of 1 Chronicles in verse 2, David was able to say before he died, now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God. And he could have finished by saying, which I will never see. So he could say this, I love this in the last part of verse 16 of chapter 22. He says to the workman, arise therefore and be doing. and the Lord be with you. He provided the mount, the manpower, the material. The mandate, look at verse six of chapter 22. Then he called for Solomon his son, this is before he dies, and charged him to build a house for the Lord God of Israel. David gives his charge to Solomon to build the house. He does not take for granted that Solomon would just know what to do. or even that God would speak to Solomon. But David takes upon himself the burden of reminding his son about God's revelation to him some 30 years earlier. This is 30 years approximately after 2 Samuel chapter seven. David speaks to his son. He didn't pray, Lord, please speak to Solomon about this. You know how you often pray, oh Lord, that person needs to be saved, please speak to him. You do the speaking. That's what God has called you to do. And God had a prophet David. You speak to your son Solomon, and he did. With the mandate. Lastly, the master plan. David provided the master plan. Where did he get the master plan? Well, go to chapter 28. Note verses 11 and 12. Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlors thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat, and the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit. of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, and of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of dedicated things." Jump down to verse 19. All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by His hand upon me even all the works of this pattern. The architect was none other than God Himself. God gave the pattern to David to understand so that he could pass it on in writing to his son Solomon. So what did David do with the last 30 years of his life? He didn't sit back on his haunches and just rest in the fact that God made this great promise for me and I'm just gonna sit back and enjoy this. He got down to business and started providing for it. Folks, the things that you pray for, to which God says no, Sometimes means for God, God wants you to take his answer and his plan for you and get down to business and get to work fulfilling the promise. You say, well, God's gonna fulfill the promise. We work in cooperation with God. When we pray, we don't just pray for something for God to do without us getting involved. We get down to business. David's prayer response in response, David's prayer in response to God's covenant, is instructive for us because his prayer is God-focused rather than man-focused. He did not have his own glory in mind, but God's. God's plan was to use David to establish the kingdom, not to build the temple. David established the kingdom. Later, the temple was built, and it did not become known as David's temple, but whose temple? Solomon's temple. Why wasn't it David's temple? He's the one who made the preparations. It was Solomon's. Solomon built it. That's okay with David. It was a temple that glorified God. And he did not have his own glory in mind. His prayer is also instructive because it is genuine. Genuine, sincere prayer involves action on the one doing the praying. You see, David was made to see that God's timing was perfect. And instead of David becoming bitter, he recognizes God's answer of no, and that that was perfect, and he acts to see God's plan enacted. He trusts in the promises of God, and somebody who truly trusts in the promises of God gets down to business. Activity results. Let me illustrate it this way. We're going through the Book of Acts when we can get back to it. The Book of Acts is the Acts of? Your Bible say the Acts of the Apostles, but we know it to be the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles. Who's doing the work in the Book of Acts? Is it the Holy Spirit or is it the Apostles? The answer is both. Who's doing the work today? God is, but he's left you on this earth to do it with him, in conjunction with him. We are fellow laborers with God, is the way Paul puts it. When God says no to you, praise him for his own plan for you, and then stay busy with that plan. David's response was praise. May ours be as well. Lord, thank you for your word. This which took place in David's life, we now know it as the Davidic covenant. You made promises to David that were everlasting. You've made promises to us that are everlasting. You've promised everlasting life. to those who would put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Verily, verily, I say unto you, our Lord Jesus said, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting life. Lord, there may be someone here before me who does not have the promise of everlasting life because they're trying to attain it on their own. Lord, may they see through your word that everlasting life comes only through Jesus Christ. Thank you for your promise to us today of life eternal through Jesus Christ, your son. I pray in Jesus' name, amen. This is the invitation time.