We continue our look at the life of David. We're going to look at 2 Samuel 7 this morning. This is a passage of scripture that records God making a covenant with King David. which we'll see ultimately reaches its fulfillment in the birth, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the true King of Kings. We're going to read verses 1 to 17. And I would encourage you to keep your Bibles open. We do like to engage with the text, and also we may flip to other portions of the Bible throughout the sermon. 2 Samuel 7, beginning in verse 1. Now when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent. And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, Go and tell my servant David, Thus says the Lord, Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day. But I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling in all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel. I did not speak a word with any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, Why have you not built me a house of cedar? Now therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place, and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over My people Israel. and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men. But my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. and your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever in accordance with all these words and in accordance with all this vision." Nathan spoke to David. This is the word of the Lord. John's gospel records a conversation between Jesus and a group of Jews in chapter 5. In verse 39 of that chapter, Jesus says this to those men, you search the scriptures And he's talking about the Old Testament scriptures. You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life. And it is they that bear witness about me. Jesus says the central theme of the Old Testament from Genesis to the end is about Him. This is an important, though often misunderstood, truth. The focus of all of Scripture is not divided between Old and New Testament, but it is steady, it is singular, it is united, and it is Jesus Christ. Genesis chapter 3, right at the beginning, reveals to us that a daughter of Eve will bear a child who will crush the head of the serpent, thus ending his reign of evil on the earth. It's not the law that's going to be given by Moses that's going to end evil. You see, before the law even came, back in Genesis chapter 3, our hope is placed not in something that we can do, but in someone who will bring salvation to us. A child of the woman. Now, this is a very general and broad promise, the most broad that we have in all of Scripture. So, there's a child. Well, how will we know which child is to be our Savior? There's this seed of anticipation that's planted, and it's interesting. Go to Genesis chapter 5. Great Sunday afternoon reading. It's a genealogy, and I know you love genealogies. But think about what's going on. So Genesis 3, there's a promise of a child to be born. So what is Israel starting to do? Well, who is this child going to be? Turn with me to Genesis 5 real quick. This begins to chart the genealogy of Adam. And it's written in response to the promise of a child given in Genesis 3. And you remember what the name Eve means? In that chapter of death and darkness, it's about the children of Adam receiving due punishment for their sin. And what's the punishment for their sin? If you eat, you will? Die. It's about death. And what does Adam name his wife? Mother of the living. Why? That's interesting. It's all about death. We're now recipients of the curse. It's going to be bad for us as the human race, but there's this seed of hope, this child of Eve who will bring life. Genesis 5, the genealogy. We read and I'm not gonna read through the whole thing But we follow this the same pattern verse 3 when Adam had lived a hundred and thirty years. He fathered a son is this the child and Then we're told and he died And then Seth fathers a son, and he died. Then Enosh fathers a son, and he died. Kenan fathers a son, and he died. Do you see what's happening here? We're starting to want to find the one who doesn't die, the one who lives forever, the fulfillment of the promise. Where does this end? In Matthew 1.1. That's when someone is born who never dies. One who reigns forever. One who is a life-giver instead of a life-drainer like Adam. So which child will this be? The Old Testament begins to put us on this path of searching for Jesus. You search the Scriptures. What are you looking for? Jesus. The focus begins to narrow in Genesis chapters 12 to 21. We find out that yes, the whole human race, we're expecting a child, but now we're told that he's going to come from the tribe of Israel, the nation of Israel. He's going to be a descendant of Abraham. Abraham is promised a child who will bring blessings to all the nations. But which Jew? There's 12 tribes. How do we know which one? And it's in our text today that the focus narrows even more. This is a child who is going to come from the royal line of David. Look at our text, 2 Samuel 7, verses 12 And 13, when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you. And it's interesting that this is singular. I will raise up your offspring after you who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. Is it Solomon? No, and he dies. Is it Rehoboam? And he dies. No, it must be someone else. And then he says at the end of verse 16, your throne shall be established forever. an eternal kingdom will come as a result of this offspring, this child, this Messiah who will be born. These bits of information are utilized by the New Testament authors to authenticate, shouldn't put author and authenticate too close together in a sermon, these authors to authenticate Jesus Christ as the long-anticipated Messiah. Do you know what the opening lines of Matthew 1 are? Keep in mind what we've just talked about, this progression of God pointing us and preparing us for His Savior. This is what Matthew tells us. The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Whoa! The son of David, the son of Abraham, this is the one that the Old Testament has been preparing us for. This is the seed of the woman who's going to bring life, and an eternal kingdom will rest upon His shoulders. All of that Old Testament anticipation comes to fruition in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment of the covenant promise made to David here and other covenant promises made throughout the Old Testament. What we need to understand is this, that the Bible, old and new, tells us one unified story of creation, fall, and redemption. Both the Old Testament and the New Testament are saying the same thing. The Old Testament prepares us, prepares us for the coming Savior through promises, through ceremonies, and through types of the Savior. The New Testament is done preparing. The New Testament presents us with that Savior who was promised. That's why Jesus so often, and the author of Matthew so often says, thus it is fulfilled what was written. Why is David a shepherd? because he's meant to foreshadow and be a type of the true shepherd. Why is David a king? Because God intends him, his purpose for David is to give the Israelite people a glimpse of the kingdom reign of Jesus, his son. Why David and Goliath? to just give us a little foretaste of what Jesus is going to do to the devil on the cross. So, we are anticipating the Savior King through the Davidic covenant made in 2 Samuel 7. I want to look at this and draw out some points of encouragement for you from the covenant. First of all, God's covenant with David. What is a covenant? Well, a covenant is a formal binding relationship between God and His people. with vows or promises and the expectation of loyalty by both parties. Comes in a very familiar formula, I will be their God, they will be my people. And then that relationship is safeguarded by certain promises. And we'll come to look at some of the promises made in this covenant with David. It elevates the level of commitment and security of the relationship. Now, think about it. There is a great deal of difference between the expectations you can have in a date. If you ask a girl out for a date and you go to McDonald's or Chick-fil-A, whatever, the expectations are pretty low. Is this friendship? Have we had a define the relationship moment? We don't know. All I know is he's buying me a Big Mac or whatever. There's a big difference between simply going on a date. You could just be friends. There may not be any chemistry between you. Big difference between that and standing up on this platform And before God and these witnesses, making covenantal vows to bind yourself to this man and this woman in exclusive loyalty. Who can be more secure about their long-term relationship status? The casual date? or someone who has made it legally binding, a legally binding commitment. That's what God is doing. He's not interested in playing games with us. He wants us to understand that there is some security. He is legally binding Himself to us. And that's good. If I have a relationship with God, I would rather it not be casual, but very formal, and with some teeth to it. The covenant provides that. Now, God is promising certain things to David about the continuation, the stability of his kingdom. Saul didn't have that. How long did Saul's kingdom last? One generation. How long does David's kingdom last? Eternally. Eternally. because God is true to His promise. Now let's look at some of the divine activity and the human passivity in this chapter. It begins with David taking the initiative. David says, Nathan, I want to build God a house. And Nathan says, okay, do what your heart desires, go for it. But then God changes the tone fairly quickly. Verse 4, God comes to Nathan that same night, and he says, Go and tell my servant David, thus says the Lord, would you build me a house to dwell in? David, you got this all wrong, buddy. I'm going to build you a house. And the rest of the chapter, starting in verse 4, it shifts from what David is going to do, David initiating, to David basically being sidelined. He is just sitting back, and he is passive. He's a passive agent in the rest of the discussion. The rest is God saying, I will do this, I will do this, I will do this, I will do this, I will do this, and I will do this. Over and over and over again. Sounds a little bit like the new covenant promises made to us. I will do this. I will do this. I will do this. This is a covenant of divinely initiated grace in the life of God's servant, David. He bestows promises and makes a commitment to bless David and to expand and secure his kingdom. It is initiated and accomplished by God and God alone. David is passive, and we'll see in the second point why that is encouraging and good news for us. So, verses 8 to 17 gives us the real meat of the covenant. It is full of divine activity. I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be my prince. David, he didn't have a clue of God's plan for his life. God plucks him, the least of the children of Jesse, and God appoints him and anoints him as the chosen king. God initiates the origin of the relationship. Verse 9, I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies. So David looks back and he thinks of how he delivered his father's sheep from lion and bear. How he defeated Goliath on the battlefield. How he defeated the Philistines time and time again in some pretty miraculous ways. And God says, listen David, the reason you had success is because I was with you the whole time. It was me on those battlefields, in the wilderness, with the Philistines. It was me. Why did the saints persevere to the end in our theology? Because He is with us every step of the way. Verse 9, I will make your name great. Verse 11, I will give you rest from your enemies. Verse 12, I will raise up your offspring after you. Now he's starting to teach him about this descendant of David's who the kingdom will focus on. Verse 13, I will establish the throne of his kingdom. Divine action, twelve divine actions or promises made by God in this covenant. What is required of David? Well, nothing in this chapter except for his response to God's goodness. From His selection and anointing to the establishment of the kingdom and the future guarantee of kingdom success, God is the main actor. God is the piece that holds it all together. It is a work of God. And that's the same for the covenant promises He makes to us. How do we respond to God's covenantal promises? Well, David gives us an example or some instructions. Look down at verse 18. We didn't read this, but it follows the text. And the first thing we need to be is humble. As Christians, especially those who have a high view of the covenants in the Bible and the sovereignty of God in salvation, we should be the most meek and humble people that there are. But you know what often is the case with Reformed types of guys? They're the most combative, judgmental and critical types. I'm not saying that Baptists aren't that way. I'm sure they are. I'm not saying that Pentecostals aren't that way. But let me just ask you guys, think about the theology we hold so dear to. How could we be that way if we really understand it? How could we be arrogant? How could we be judgmental and critical? Look at what David says in verse 18. Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that you've brought me thus far? That's the spirit. That's the spirit we need. Oh, my gosh. You know, we stand here today, and in spite of all of the things that could keep us from worshiping, we are here. Because we want to know our God more. We know that He speaks to us through His words. What an amazing thing. Because we were dead in our sins and trespasses. We were blind to spiritual things. Who are we that God would give us a heart for Him? Humility. But then the second is praise. The covenant gives us reason. It should instruct us in worship. Look at verse 21. Because of your promise and according to your own heart, you have brought about all this greatness to make your servant know it. Therefore, you are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you, and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. Praise. reflecting upon God's promises to us, His faithfulness to keep it, our unworthiness, we praise our God. So we see the covenant. We see the nature of the covenant and how dominated it is by God actions and not man actions. The second thing I want to see, and these are tied together, it's the security and the comfort that the covenant provides us. I want you to put on your Bible thanking caps for a minute. Can you think of other times in the Bible that God initiates covenants with His people? What are the covenants of the Bible? We're going to look at a few of them. And the reason we're going to do that is I want you to pay attention to the timing of biblical covenants. We're going to look at three. We're going to look at the covenant made with Noah, the covenant made with Abraham, and the covenant, the new covenant made with us. But the timing of it and when it was made. And I want you to maybe begin to grasp God's pastoral purpose shepherding his sheep in the timing of the giving of covenants. God often initiates covenants with his people in times when our faith has been or is about to be severely shaken. Covenant with Noah. What has God just done? Evil had reached a point in the earth where he said, enough is enough. And God floods the earth. He only saves Noah and his family and the animals that are with him on the ark. He destroys everything. It's catastrophic in nature. Why did he destroy everything? Because of the wickedness of the hearts of men. So what are we thinking is about to happen? God is destroyed. He's starting over. He's going to deal with the wickedness of the hearts of men, right? That's not going to be an issue anymore because He wants something better for the world. Well, that's not the case. In Genesis 8, 20, when God initiates the covenant, The flood came because of the wickedness of men, because the wickedness of men was great on the earth. But look at, in Genesis 8, 21, this is what is recorded for us in God speaking to Noah. God says, I will never again curse the ground. Well, that's good. I will never again curse the ground because of man. Okay. Maybe he's changing man. That's the problem. Man was a problem, he'll change man. No. I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Will evil continue in the earth? Uh-huh. Yes. So, think about this. God initiates a covenant promise. Even though, Noah, you're going to see evil, don't worry about me destroying everything. I'm just setting the tone of judgment for people to come. This story will be heard forever. It will be a type of my final judgment, but I'm not going to do it again until that time. So, chapter 9, Moses gets drunk. And you think about Moses. He knows that that's sin. He knows that that's not acceptable with his God. He has acted wickedly. His heart has acted wickedly. What do you think he is going to start to do the next time the thunderclouds start to form in the sky? Uh-oh. It's over for me. And the rain is going to start to fall, and he's going to be thinking, uh-oh, when is this going to end? And it ends, and a rainbow appears. And he says, why did I doubt? Because God had made a covenant with me that he would never do this again. Then you move just down the road in Genesis to the story of Abraham, which begins in chapter 12. God, there's a couple of significant things. Chapter 15, the covenant is made. Chapter 17, the covenant sign is given. In both of those chapters, there is a crisis of faith going on with Abraham. You remember what he does right at the beginning of chapter 15? He says, Lord, are you going to give me a child? Can I not use my nephew as the child, because I'm getting old, and my wife is getting old, and you seem to have forgotten your promise. to give me a child. So God cuts a covenant. And then He says, well, okay, this isn't working, so I'm going to get Hagar, and we're going to fulfill the promise on our own terms. Instead of God being the active agent, Abraham says, I'm going to be the active agent. And what does God do for him in chapter 17 after he's worried again? God, have you forgotten? He gives him the covenant sign to remind him, just wait and trust, and I will provide. And then the new covenant. Jeremiah 31. If you know anything about the history of Jeremiah, he is a prophet to the exiles. So, what's in the mind of the exiles? What's their failure? They broke covenant. They've been kicked out of the land. What makes them have any confidence in a second covenant being given to them? God says, look, I am going to cause you to do what you couldn't do. I'm going to cleanse you from the things that you are going to fail to do. This is a new covenant that is going to be based and established in my work on your behalf. The timing is so important, and it's no different here. God stoops down to His people as an act of comforting grace when He makes a covenant. It is meant to strengthen our faith and to give us greater security because it depends not on us but on Him. That's the key. What is your hope of salvation? Isn't it the fact that it doesn't depend on you? Yes. So what is about to hit David in 2 Samuel? What's about to be the dominant theme the whole next 11 chapters starting with his sin with Bathsheba? Failure, wickedness, poor decisions, dysfunction in his family. Why does God give the covenant right before all that hits? To give him some sense of security and comfort It's interesting how it's worded here. What happened to Saul when he failed? He didn't have the security of the covenant, did he? In 1 Samuel 15 11, God says this, I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments. Boom, I'm getting rid of him. I'm rejecting him. I'm dethroning him. God removes his spirit from Saul and rejects him as king. Will the same happen to David when he begins to fail morally? Look at verse 15. But my steadfast love, that's the covenantal love, my steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul. Saul was just a casual dating relationship. David is a legally binding commitment, and therefore it's lasting. The covenant gives us security in the midst of our own spiritual inability, our tendency to wander and to go astray. The covenant tells us that God will secure its completion. And this is ultimately fulfilled in Christ. All of the Bible covenants reach their climax and their fulfillment in Him. Did you know that? The covenant of works made at creation. Do you know that we're saved by works? but not our works, Christ's works. He fulfills the covenant of works for us. That's what's going on when he's treated like Adam, when he is taken out into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights, and the devil tempts him like he did Adam three times, but the difference is he accomplishes what Adam failed to do for us. He stabilizes and upholds creation, which is the covenant made with Noah. He is the promised child of Abraham who brings blessings to the nations. He is the long-awaited King who reigns eternally as promised here to David. He wins for us all of the promises of the New Covenant that we discussed a little bit last week. And those are the promises that are ours in Christ. All spiritual blessings are ours in Christ. You are a covenant people. God has bound himself in covenant and he does everything necessary to secure your relationship with him. Your response is to be humble and to praise him. Amen. Let us pray. Father, we thank You for Your Word, and we thank You for the security of covenants that You make throughout the Old Testament and into the New. And we pray, O Lord, that You would help us to respond by being loyal followers of You, to respond as a people who give ourselves as living sacrifices to do what pleases You, knowing that You are working in us and through us to accomplish those things. Knowing that that same power that was at work in Christ, raising Him from the dead, is at work raising us to new life, creating us new in Him. O Lord, we stand in awe and wonder, what is man that You are mindful of him, and yet You are. We thank You for Your blessings to us that are ours in Christ. Amen.