Okay, let's take our Bibles and we'll turn to 2 Samuel 7. 2 Samuel 7. If I were to ask you, what is the most important chapter in all the Bible, what would you say? Would it be John 3, 16, for God's love of the world? Would it be the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ of Matthew 26 and 27? Would it be Romans chapter eight, how that we have access to God? Would it be the creation? What would it be? John 3, 16 is one of the favorite verses, but personally, but there are several passages in the scripture that are turning points. One of them is back in the chapter where God talks to Abraham and he says, through you and through your seed, all the world will be blessed. We see that in chapter 12 and then reinforced in chapter 15 of the book of Genesis. We call that the Abrahamic covenant. And as a result of that, the Jew from that time on has a very special place in God's economy. And we know, as we said this morning, studying the book of Daniel, prophecy centers around the Jew because of that very covenant that God made with Abraham. Out of all the people in the Old Testament that is used as an example of faith in the New Testament, you'll see them in the book of Acts, you'll see it in Romans, James, Peter, other places. Abraham believed God and it was what? Counted unto him for righteousness. And so we see that Abraham was the foundation. He was a great turning point in history as far as God now settling in from what he had told Eve that through her there would come a Messiah, the seed of a woman. And so we see that now God has narrowed it down to a nation. And now we're gonna see that God narrows it down to a family, to a man. And in fact, from the time that we start here in chapter seven of 2 Samuel, David and his throne is gonna be very prominent through the rest of the Bible. In fact, just keep your finger there before we start reading. And let me show you, turn to the very last passage in all the Bible, chapter 22. Chapter 22. And notice what it says just a few verses before the very end. In verse 16, I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning star. So we see that now the strain of history, the thread goes through one man, David. Now with Abraham, we look at him and we look back to our faith and Abraham believed God and he's using an example of what it means to trust the Lord. and as far as salvation is concerned. With David, we're always looking to the future. He shall reign forever and ever. So we look back to Abraham, but we look forward through David, the son of David, or Jesus, the son of David. So we'll begin reading in verse seven with that setting, or chapter seven, verse one. Now it came to pass when the king was dwelling in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all of his enemies around, that the king said to Nathan the prophet, see now I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the Lord dwells inside that tent, that tent curtain, inside tent curtains. Then Nathan said to the king, go do all that is in your heart for the Lord is with you. But it happened that night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, go and tell my servant David, thus saith the Lord, would you build a house for me to dwell in? For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought the children up from Egypt, even to this day, but have moved about in a tent and in a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about with all the children of Israel, have I ever spoken a word to anyone from the tribes of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, why have you not built me a house, a house of cedar? Now therefore, thus shall you say to my servant David, thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to the ruler of my people over Israel, and I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you and have made you a great name, like the name of the great men who are on the earth, Moreover, I have an appointed place for my people of Israel and will plant them. that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more, nor shall their sons, the sons of wickedness, oppose them anymore as previously, since the time that I commanded the judges to be over my people, Israel, and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Also, the Lord tells you that he will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up a seat after you who will come from your body. I will establish my kingdom. He will build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. but my mercy shall not depart from him as I took it from Saul when I removed him before you. For your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. According to all these words, according to all this vision, so Daniel, excuse me, so Nathan spoke to David. Now, Father, we pray that you would bless the reading and the preaching of your word this evening. We need your help, Lord, just to realize that your promises are never broken, that if it hasn't come to pass, it will. Lord, that you're in control and you're the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Nothing escapes your notice here on earth, whether it's personally or nationally or globally. So, Father, we realize that you guide, that you control, the affairs of men. We thank you that you love us and that the promises that you gave to David are still true today. Many of them haven't been fulfilled yet, but they will be because you said it. Lord, we thank you for the fact that you tell us that whosoever believeth in you would not perish, but have everlasting life. that we will live with you forever. So Lord, we thank you for that forever, for those promises. That even as you have not fulfilled them totally in David yet, yet Lord, we realize that this old house, this old world's not our home, we're just a passing through. And our hope is laid up somewhere beyond the blue. We realize, Lord, there will be houses that you're building for us. as you built for David. Now thank you, Lord, for what you're doing and what you're going to do as we look into your word tonight now. In Jesus' name, amen. And so my message tonight is when God says no. Now notice that David in verse one, the setting, it says, and it came to pass when the king was dwelling in his house and the Lord had given him rest over all of his enemies. Remember he now has conquered the Philistines. There's those great breakthroughs and so forth. He has had a great deal of success in establishing his kingdom. But David, you'll see three different times. He has trouble with downtime. He has trouble when things are after the victories. And here we see that he wants to build a house. Nothing wrong with that. But we'll see that he's wanting to do something rather than just sit around, which is good. Then we'll see another flurry of activity between chapters eight through 10, where he does a lot of conquering. But then in chapter 11, one of the saddest chapters in all the Bible, we see that David was bored and he was up on a rooftop, wasn't he? And then we see all the way through how all that came out and he finally had rest and victory over Absalom and all the rest that was going on. But he got bored toward the end of his life and he numbered the people. And God brought some real calamity on his life at that time. Be careful after the victories. Be careful after God is giving you great rest. that you don't become restless and turn your eyes away from him. Now, in this instant, David said, you know, what can I do for God? Isn't that a great thing to do? Once you have the victory, you say, it's over with. Now that's a good thing. Okay, Lord, now that you've given me this time, I don't want to rest on my laurels. I want to do something for you. David, in this case, was just saying, I want to serve God better. And how many times do I see, and I've talked to pastors, and people will, after they finally have made their fortune and they move off to Arizona or Tennessee or Florida or whatever, then many times they won't even go back to church. I mean, they've done it all. And yet they were great workers there, but all of a sudden they have nothing else to do. And yet, folks, until the day we die, we have a testimony to uphold and a service to the Lord, do we not? And so we see that, now, I'm not saying it's wrong to retire or whatever, I'm saying that what do you do, what's the first question you ask when God gives you rest? Okay, I'm gonna go out and just have a fling. No, there's nothing wrong with going out and having a good time and saying, thank you, Lord, but what do I do next? And so it's always onward and upward, looking to what God wants us to do. And someone said, I'd rather wear out than rest out. And so David now has rest. And we see that he's agitated, he wants to do something. Praise the Lord, he wanted to. And notice as he goes on, he says, and David had given him rest, or God had given him rest, over his enemies around. And this is the first time we've seen Israel with some good rest since the days of Samuel. I mean, they've just been through it. And so now I dwell in the house of Cedar. So Hiram, back in chapter five, remember Hiram from Lebanon and Syria had sent him all this material to build his own palace. with cedar and with, I mean, this was a big, nice king's mansion, a castle, if you want to call it that. We don't know exactly what it looked like, but it was something that was impressive. And it would be something noteworthy that any king on earth who visited Israel would say, you know, he's up there with us. And so it gave him status. It gave him some real prestige in world affairs. He says, I've got all this, but you know, there's, why then is the Ark of the Lord, remember we said last week that that Ark is so important. He says, I've brought it into Jerusalem now, but it's still in a tent. And I want to build a palace for it. I want to build a temple. And by the way, you won't see the word temple here until later on in Solomon's time. It's not even called a temple. It's the house of the Lord. And so we see that, so he says, see that I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the Lord abides in tents. But then we see Nathan. Nathan is one of those interesting prophets. We see he's a successor of Samuel. And we'll see the prophets all the way through the rest of the books of Samuel and first and second Kings. They were the power, they were the rebuker of the Kings. They were the ones who come and said, thus saith the Lord. They spoke truth to power, I guess is what we would say. But here we see that even Nathan, though, it shows the limitations of human office. We see that he just automatically says to David, he says, you know, this is great. He says, Nathan said, go and tell my servant David, thus saith the Lord, would you build up me a house to dwell in? And so, excuse me, let's go back to verse two. It says, go and do all that's in your heart for the Lord is with you. Now he just said that, but he really hadn't conferred with the Lord. And sometimes we have to be careful as pastors or leaders or mothers and fathers to say God's gonna be with you before we talk to God about being with you. Amen? The Lord told me to do this. Okay, well, there again. When you say that, you better take responsibility for the fact that you've talked to God about it. How many times have I heard people say that the Lord told me, and all it is was a feeling that they had. Well, here, Nathan has a feeling. Oh, you've been doing well, so I'm gonna give you some human advice. But notice what we'll see. Thus saith the Lord. And that was the prophet's job. But it happened in verse four, that night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan. And it's saying, go and tell my servant David, thus saith the Lord. Now you said something to David, but I'm gonna correct you. Now, Nathan was a very interesting prophet. Later on, he had no problem telling David after in chapter 11, you're the man. You've got a problem. God is gonna judge you. And so we see that he was, you know, he did speak truth to power, but he learned something here, I think, is don't speak before the Lord speaks. And I think that as a pastor, as I told you this morning, you know, there's certain things that I could say, thus saith the Lord. And it's because God has revealed it through his word. And we want to explore what God says through his word. But I will tell you, and I think it's my opinion, like those 1,280 to 90 days or whatever, I don't know what they are. But I'm not gonna tell you this is what it is if I don't know what it is. And of course, a lot of people will argue about what it means and all that, and some people think they're smarter than others. But there again, if I don't know, then it's not my job to tell you other than what I think. In the same way with certain situations in your life where we pray about it, but I can't tell you this is what God wants you to do, other than the fact that if it's something that it violates, what God wants you to do. I mean, God will never, the Holy Spirit will never lead you against his word. Never. Because his word is truth. And truth is reality. But here we see that he spoke ahead of time, but that God corrects him. He says, go tell him, you told him something, but tell him what I tell you. He says, for I'm not asking anybody to build me a house. I haven't asked the prophets, I haven't asked anybody, all the way from the time of Israel coming out of Egypt, all the way through the judges and the tribes of Israel, I have never asked my people, saying, why have you not built me a house? At the end of verse seven. And so yeah, you're wanting to build me a house, but who's building whose house? I've got a different perspective than you do. Who's gonna be building whose house? And notice what the Lord says about this. And so we see now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant, and this is what we'll see. Notice in verse 18, then David went and sat before the Lord and said, who am I, your servant? So David realized he was a servant of the Lord. And it's interesting that God calls him as a king. And by the way, you'll notice all this, the king, the king, he doesn't call him David at this time, but he calls him a servant, my servant, David. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, I took you from the sheepfold. You were out there in the middle of nowhere when Samuel came by. From following the sheep to be the ruler of my people over Israel. and I have been with you wherever you have gone. And we saw 13 chapters of the Lord being with David wherever he went, not knowing when he was gonna be king. He says, and I've cut off all your enemies from before you. I was the one who gave you the victory. He says, and I've made you, notice now three different things. I've made you a great name. How many people, we got three or four different people, three right now that I think of, but three people that name David in our congregation. It's interesting how that pops up. But I made you a great name, like Abraham, like Daniel. He says, I'd like a name of the great men who are on the earth. So you're one of the greatest men, you're gonna be a very famous man on earth. Moreover, I will appoint you a place. So you got a name, and I'm going to appoint a place. for my people, Israel. Notice I'm gonna appoint a place for my people. He didn't say, I'm gonna tell you to build a building. He says, you're gonna get the place. And at the end, one of the last things that David does is buy the field where the temple would sit on. So he found the appointed place. He says, and we'll plant them that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more. The temple, the tabernacle's not gonna move anymore. And even though the temple is gone, where does everybody still want to go back to? Jerusalem. And of course, it's a fought over place. The Jew is still wanting to build that temple back, aren't they? And so that's the place. Nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore. So you're gonna have peace. Now, has that come? No, but as we know that it will come one day. It came for a while, especially under Solomon. By the way, Solomon's name meant peace. Shalom comes from Solomon. And so there was peace in the land almost immediately, well, immediately into Solomon's reign. As previously, since the time, notice the time that I commanded the judges to be over. my people of Israel. So he says, I was already planning this. David, you're getting ahead of me. I got a name and I got a place and I'm gonna bring peace to Israel. And he says, and I've caused you to rest from all your enemies. So I gave you rest and I will give Solomon rest. Rest for our souls. So we see a name, a place, a peace, and a rest. God has said, I will give. Notice he didn't say, I will do it through you. He says, I will give you the place. And notice the next thing he says, and also the Lord tells you that he will make you a house. David, you're wanting to build me a house, but I have not asked anybody to build me a house. But David, I promise you, I'm gonna build you a house. Now, isn't it interesting? David's outlook was all, what can I do materially? The Lord says, David, I'm gonna do something for you. I'm gonna build you a house. but it's not going to be a material house. I'm gonna build you the house of David. And when we think of the house of David, what do we think of? A kingdom, the start now of something that is gonna last for eternity, the house of David. And of course, we're not talking about buildings, we're talking about a kingdom and a kingship. He says, this kingdom, and he goes on, he tells us in verse 12, and when your days are fulfilled and you rest with your father, so you're not gonna see this, I will set your seed after you. Much like we saw Daniel this morning, Daniel was not gonna see all the things that God told him was gonna happen. So go ahead and have your rest, Daniel. We'll take care of the rest for you. You're gonna build your seed, and you will, it will be from your body. There's another important fact, from your body. Jesus Christ came in a human body, from a human seed. Of course, the seed of a woman, but when we talk about that, of course, that's a spiritual seed from the womb of a woman. but the idea of offspring. He said, and I will establish his kingdom and he shall build a house for my name. Okay, so we're talking about two, a double type of prophecy here. So yeah, there's gonna be a house built for your name, for my name, but it's not gonna be you. You're gonna be dead and gone when it's built, but it will be built. And it's gonna be through your seed or from your offspring. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom, how long? Forever. forever. So here we have the unbroken fact that the kingdom is going to last forever. Now we know that there's two ways that it could happen. Either a seed that is continually unbroken offspring or one person who lives forever. And so what do we have? We have the seed of unbroken offspring to the Lord Jesus, do we not? And this is why it's so important. Matthew opens up with that seed of the offspring, David. It tells us about from Abraham to David, and then from David right on through to Mary. And so the New Testament opens up with the fact that this seed was from directly from David. That's very important. It begins with that, the promise to David, that it would be through a seed. But then that seed, of course, we know it had to trace through those men that weren't kings, Zerubbabel and all the men, all the way up until to Joseph, who was the legal. And then if you turn over to Luke, it tells you Joseph's offspring is in chapter one of Matthew, which tells us he's a rightful heir. But then in the book of Luke, it goes through Nathan. You'll see how it changes. Nathan, David's son, not Solomon. And it goes through Mary there. And of course, it's Luke who tells us about the virgin birth, isn't it? And so again, we see how that is so important. But Mary was just as much of the seed of David as Joseph was. And yet politically, it was fulfilled through Joseph. Biologically, it was filled through Mary. God always keeps his promises, doesn't he? But his seed was gonna last forever. But was there any seed after that? There is no need of seed because he lives forever. Amen? Is Jesus living today? And you know, all the way through now for the rest of the history of Israel, you're gonna see those kings are up and down. They've got righteous kings, unrighteous kings. It gets down one time to a six-month-old baby who's preserved. And yet, from that, the Messiah came. And so we see that God keeps his promises. And that's what he says, I will be a father and he will be my son. And if he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with a rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. And we see all that, how that God blessed certain kings and he cursed others, he punished them. But notice my mercy, my loyal love, my everlasting love shall not depart from him as I took it from Saul. Now, when he's talking about mercy here, he's talking about did the Lord take the kingdom away from Saul? Yes. And he said, but my mercy, this loyal love, will not depart from David's line forever. And you look now at all the way through 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, there were some scoundrels that were kings. And many times God says that he would have destroyed them except for his covenant that he made with David because the seed passing through that evil man was still more important. The promise was more important than the person. And so the Lord, through the rest of the book of 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, deals with the kings of Israel and how that, in the end, the Lord Jesus would come from them. Then you get into the book of Ezra and Nehemiah, you have people like Zerubbabel. And Zerubbabel was right there in the middle of that. Everybody know who Zerubbabel is? I like that name for some reason. It's another one of those like Obededim, Zerubbabel. There's just something that kind of rolls off my tongue. I like them. But he was right there in the middle. In fact, you can find him right there in the middle of the genealogies of the book of Matthew. He was one of the first people that Daniel knew that was going to go back to Jerusalem to restore it. And he was of the kingly line. but he was never gonna be king because now the glory has departed until the Messiah would come. And so we see all these things happening. He's gonna live in his kingdom, his throne forever, and he tells us, but my mercy shall not depart from him because I promised it to you. Has God ever done away with the Jew? No. Did they go through, have they gone through horrible history? Yes, but God still has a very special place for the Jew. Will God do away with his church? No, because he says the gates of hell will not prevail against it. We might get small, we might get, there's ever, someone said ever decreasing circles as far as our influence is concerned in the world, but God is preserved. his church, and he will until the day that he takes us home. When God promises something, he always fulfills. It might get down to a six month old baby, but God is going to fulfill what he says. And so when he says forever, he means forever. And so when the Lord tells you that you will be with him forever, how long is that? Forever. Will there ever be, will it be broken? No, that's the reason we call it eternal security. But you wanna make sure you have it. If you got it, you'll never lose it. But you wanna make sure you have it. So work out your salvation with fear and trembling, as the Lord says. It's the most vital decision, it's the most important possession you'll ever have in eternity. Yes, what have you done with the Lord Jesus Christ? Because that's your forever. It's your turning point. It's from heaven to hell. And so that is the crux of it. He that hath the Son hath life. And so we see that when God says forever, it's forever. And so he says, and your house and your kingdom shall be established, there's that word again, forever, before you, and your throne shall be established, how long? Forever. And so he shall reign, how long? Forever and ever. Boy, just messed that one up, didn't he? But Revelation 4 and 5, all the way through the book of Revelation, we see the king on his throne. He might be on the throne looking down and judging the earth, but the king is on the throne. And who is he? The Lord Jesus. And who, and what house is he from? The house of David. And so we see that it's interesting. Abraham is implied, but he's never mentioned in the book of Revelation. But David is. And David is prominent throughout the book of Revelation because we look forward to what God is doing because it's forever. And so we know that the kingdom that God has said that he's gonna bring is gonna come. And by the way, that temple is gonna be rebuilt because God said it would. And we love talking about how God's got, like David had all the materials ready. He couldn't build it, God didn't let him build it. And we'll see that in the rest of the chapter. But he had it all ready for Solomon to build. Solomon had a cakewalk. He didn't have to gather any of the materials because his father already had it. We understand now that most of the materials are there for the temple to be rebuilt. It has to be if it's gonna be rebuilt in tribulation, isn't it? And so, essentially, it's exciting to hear about certain things that might be happening. Don't get your hopes up too much if you hear that they found something here or there, you know, because it could be another 100 years. But I hope it's in my lifetime, because that means that I'm already in heaven watching it be rebuilt, because the Lord's coming for me when that temple's gonna be rebuilt. Amen? But then that temple is gonna be remade, and it's gonna last how long? Forever and ever. So aren't you glad you serve a God forever? Aren't you glad you have a forever God? His kingdom shall never end. And so when he tells us that we'll be with him, we'll be with him forever. And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. What a blessing, isn't it? Oh, that others will, I want a whole lot of people now that I know to say, hello, I talked to you. I don't watch a lot of television, but whenever I get enthralled in something, especially historical, it just, I mean, I get into it. And I had to watch all those episodes of that movie about the masters of the air, those B-17 pilots, and how many of them were just, I mean, it was the worst, it was the highest casualty rate in all of World War II were those B-17 pilots flying over Europe. They lost more people percentage-wise, and thousands of men died. Many of them were captured. And then one of the things at the end of the movie they were showing were these guys that were coming down, and all of a sudden they would see another one of their former crewmates, and they're over there on the other side of the wires, they're marching in. And all of a sudden, oh, there you, and boy, they just get so happy that the person they thought was dead was alive. Well, folks, it's gonna be great to be in heaven and see people, isn't it, that passed from death into life, and that we're gonna be with them forever. We're prisoners now of the things going on on earth, but one day we're gonna be loosed and we'll be with God forever. This old world's not my home. I'm just a passing through. And the one thing that those old soldiers and those airmen wanted to do, they wanted to go home. And folks, we're gonna go home one day, aren't we? To be with the Lord Jesus. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. We thank you for what it can mean to our lives, and Lord, the promises that you give that we're going to live forever with you. We thank you, Lord, that we can trust you. We thank you that you have examples of faith that you've given before us, and people like Abraham, and people of promise, Lord, like Abraham and David now, and how that you had it planned before we, when the world began. that you were gonna bring a Savior through a line, through a man, and through men, in a specific line, all the way to the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you, Lord, that you came in the flesh, in a body, to live and die for us. But Lord, we thank you for the promise that as we have accepted you as our Savior, We will live forever. Bless us, Lord, as we seek to have others with us when we go to meet you. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.