I invite you to open your Bibles with me to 2 Samuel chapter 7. 2 Samuel chapter 7. If you're using the Bibles in the seats, you should find that on page 259. We have a 1st and a 2nd Samuel. It seems likely that it was originally written as one book on two scrolls. It certainly is a transition between the judges and the kings. Samuel, who's introduced in the 1st Samuel, was the last significant judge. Saul was the first king. He was a king after the people's heart. And then we have David given as a king after God's heart. At the end of 1 Samuel, Saul dies and David takes up the kingship in 2 Samuel, though he'd been anointed, you'll remember, back in chapter 16 of 1 Samuel. David takes the kingdom and he defeats his and God's enemies. And the question before us in the text here, about which we sang in both selections from Psalm 132, is who will build God's house? Who will build God's house? And let's read what God says and then consider it together. 2 Samuel chapter seven. 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 moved with all the people of Israel, did I 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 rods of men, but with the stripes of the sons of men. But my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, who 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. 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 have brought me this far? And yet this was a small thing in your eyes, O Lord God. You have spoken also of your servant's house for a great while to come, and this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God. And what more can David say to you? For you know your servant, O Lord God, 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 beside you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be His people, making Himself a name, and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before your people whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods? And you established for yourself your people Israel to be your people forever, and you, O Lord, became their God. And now, O Lord God, confirm forever the word that you have spoken concerning your servant, and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken. And your name will be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of hosts is God over Israel, and the house of your servant David will be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, have made this revelation to your servant, saying, I will build you a house. Therefore, your servant has found courage to pray this prayer to you. And now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this good thing to your servant. Now, therefore, may it please you to bless the house of your servant so that it may continue forever before you. For you, O Lord God, have spoken, and with your blessing shall the house of your servant be blessed forever. This is the very word of God. Let us seek him in prayer. Oh Lord God, we do ask that you might instruct us by your word, by your spirit, and that we might see Jesus. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. We are continuing to look for Christ, and I might encourage you to write in your notes two words that start with T, two words that start with P, and two words that start with C. Not just any six words, but words that I've reminded you of week by week. Ways that we can look for Christ in the Old Testament. And here we have a narrative, we have a prayer. It's a little bit interesting to me that in this prayer, David repeats again and again, oh Lord God. And I think sometimes we find when people pray that way in sort of our prayers together, it seems a little repetitious and redundant. We certainly have grounds for it. I don't know that we have to, not every prayer we find in the scripture has that repetition, but it's not a bad reminder. David was reflecting on God and himself, and I think in that context, to him the repetition, oh Lord God, Oh, Yahweh, who is the only God, was an important repetition. In some ways, in the first half of the chapter, the second half, we have that prayer. The first half of the chapter, we have a narrative in three acts. Two of them are given to us directly, and one of them is spoken about prophetically. And so let's consider what God tells us through his word. At the beginning, we have the declaration or the desire or the intent that David would build God's house. David desired to build God's house. And it's interesting that he raised the question to Nathan the prophet, but he didn't literally say, I want to build God's house, but it was clear to Nathan, that it was clear to David that he wanted to build God's house. And in the context of that, we have this reality that the king had come, that David had been established on his throne many years after he had been anointed as king. and he'd been established on his throne, and he was a king after God's heart, and he was a king that had been given rest from his enemies. All through the book of Judges, all through the book of 1 Samuel, the enemies of God's people are fighting against them, and yet we're told here at the beginning of this chapter that David had been given rest from his enemies. Enough rest that he had built his own palace. He had built a house of cedar for himself. And yet even though he was settled in a house of cedar, he was unsettled. And he was unsettled because God was tenting with his people still. God was tenting with his people. He was in a tent. He was inside tent curtains. He lived in the tabernacle. You'll remember it was a tabernacle that God had given instruction for. He had said that his people were to build a sanctuary for his name, that he might dwell among them. And so as they traveled, God dwelt with them, and God traveled with them. Some of you, I think, are campers, and you like to get out in the wild, and you like to be in a situation that's not sort of your normal home, but you like to do that together. Maybe some of you are primitive campers, and maybe some of you are not so primitive, but there can be something pleasant, and there can be something unifying about that time together. Our second son, Zachary and his wife are in the process of trying to have a house built in Lafayette, Indiana. It's going to take about a year. And so they've decided to buy a Class C motor home and travel the 48 contiguous United States in this next year. Zachary works from home. They homeschool their daughters. And so they're getting ready in the next few months to launch an adventure. I suspect it will be an adventure, but I suspect there might be times during those months that they long for home, that they long for permanence. They'd like to be in a house where when somebody rolls over, everybody in the camper doesn't feel it. And yet God was camping with his people. He had continued with them as they moved from here to there, as we see in verses six and seven. God's glory was in his place of dwelling, and David wanted that to be a more permanent place. David knew that the tent that they had built could not contain God, and Solomon, who would build the temple, knew that not even the temple could contain God. In fact, not even the heavens could contain God. But David was unsettled because God was tenting with his people. And so David, the king, says, would build your house, God. He wasn't upset that God had been tenting, but there's a sense, as you read the account, that that's not good enough now. We're settled, we're established, we're here in the land that you've given us, and God's house needs to be a permanent dwelling place. And we can be encouraged with David's motives. He cared for God's house. And we can ask ourselves in the context of that, do I care for God's house? Do I care for God's house more than I care for my house? Do I care for God's people, for the bride of Christ, for the people with whom I've covenanted together in membership in this church? And Nathan tells David, and we'll look at this more this evening and consider whether this is a A general principle, do whatever's in your heart. In verse three, the Lord is with you, but it was not to be. Though David desired to build God's house, and though David was following after God, God intervened. Maybe you've had that experience in your life. You were heading a certain direction, you had plans to go a particular way, and God intervened. That happened to us about a year and a half ago. as I was happily enjoying my work at the seminary, and God, through your call, intervened, and I'm thankful for that. We have here David's desire, and then we have, but God, or literally in the text here, but the Lord said to Nathan, And we see that all throughout the scripture, but God, but God. But God remembered Noah and his family in the ark. You intended this for evil, but God intended it for good, Joseph to his brothers. And of course, the greatest of those dramatic interventions by God is spelled out to us in Ephesians 2, where we are told that we were dead in our trespasses and sins, in which we used to walk. that we deserved God's wrath, that we were by nature children under wrath, but God, who is rich in mercy, because of the great love which with He loved us made us alive with Jesus Christ, even though we were dead in our trespasses, you have been saved by grace. And so not in quite as dramatic a way, but in a very dramatic way nevertheless, David wants to build this house for God and he makes his plans known. But the Lord intervened and gave a different direction. The different direction was that God would build David's house. David wanted to build God's house, but God said, I will build your house. And so God says to David through the prophet Nathan, the king will come. You are not the king who will build my house. You are the king and I have established you. I've given you peace from your enemies. But you are not the king who will build my house. Instead, it will be your offspring. And I suspect that we read that without much thought to the context of the fulfillment of that promise. I know I've read it that way. We know that David was a king after God's heart. And yet there was a major failure in his life. And the king that would come would be the son of Bathsheba, whom David took in adultery and put her husband to death, where sin abounds, grace super abounds. The king will come. Your offspring will build a house for my name. We can only wonder about what might have been and it's not good to spend a lot of time with what might have been. But I wonder had God warned David here if there might have been a different path and yet this was the path that God intended for good though David acted evilly. And so where sin abounds, grace super abounds. Solomon, David's son, was anointed in 1 Kings 1. You can turn and read about that. But here in our text, not only will the king come, but God will settle his people. David specifically would be settled by God, and David's house would be built by God. Not simply his physical structure, because he had already built that, But a dynasty, that was what was promised. A family, a generation of kings that would come from David's line. All of God's people, you see it there in verse 10, all of them would be established. They would no longer be moving from place to place. They would be settled. That sense when you're on vacation or when you're camping and you just want to be home in your chair. You just want to be home in your bed. And God said he would settle his people. He would settle them. He would establish them. And God the Lord would build David's house. David said, I want to build your house, God. And God said, I'm going to build your house, David. And your son will build my house. Your son will build my house. There in verses 12 and 13. I will build your house. And from your house will come one who builds my house. This dynasty, this dwelling place of God, And yet God uses the words in verses 13 and verse 16 of an eternal house, an eternal king, an eternal kingdom. Solomon became the king, and he built a house for God. But Solomon died. And in fact, just before Solomon died, because he had gone astray and followed after the gods of the nations, God said to him, I will tear the kingdom from you, but not entirely. I will leave a remnant, and your descendants will rule over that remnant. And we can read of that remnant, some of those kings good, though most of them evil. And from time to time, we read of that remnant and of their wickedness. And yet God says, as he said in the life of Abijam, the king, But for the sake of David, the Lord his God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem by raising up his son after him. We see kings that are wicked and that God has promised to establish an eternal line. Jehoram who was wicked, the most wicked of all the kings of Judah and yet God said for the sake of his servant David, the Lord was unwilling to destroy Judah. Hezekiah who was a reasonably good king but was under attack by the Assyrians in 2 Kings 19. God says I will defend this city and I will rescue it for my sake and for the sake of my servant David. Even though God gave David physically an incredible dynasty, more than 400 years of kings who followed in that physical line, it was not enough. And so the thought remains as we come to the end of this second section that the king will come. But we know that the King has come. And Jesus is building God's house. Jesus is building God's house. Jesus is the eternal King who is a descendant of David that God had promised. The King has come. Solomon was but a type of Christ. He pointed to an eternal king with an eternal kingdom. And that was the context of God's covenant promise with David. And so we read in the first verse of our English Bibles the accounts of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David. Those wise men came to find the one who had been born king of the Jews. Quoting the prophet Micah, Matthew writes in chapter two, God's covenant promises with David are fulfilled in Jesus. God promised, verse 13, he promised an eternal son and he promised that this eternal son, if he strayed, would be disciplined with the rod of men. Would he be disciplined with the stripes of men. And Jesus, though perfect, became sin for us so that we might become in him the righteousness of God. And he was disciplined with the rod of men. He did have that crown of thorns placed upon his head, not because he had strayed from following after God, but because in a way that's really beyond comprehension, he became sin for us. And so he hung on that cross. And above his head, they put the charge against him. This is Jesus, the king of the Jews. The eternal king promised by God to David is Christ himself. The king has come. And it's this one who says, I will dwell with you forever. For the promise that the virgin would be a child and bring forth a son, and they would call his name Emmanuel, which means God with us. The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory of the one and only from the Father, full of grace and truth. Jesus came to this earth and for a time Jesus tented among us, but it was not enough that Jesus would come and tent with his people, that he would come and live with his people in a temporary way. For though he was put to death on the cross, we know that he did not stay dead. He was raised from the dead and ascended to the right hand of his father in heaven. and he promised his disciples that he would make with them not just a tent, but a permanent home. In my father's house, he says, there are many, how do you translate that word, mansions, rooms, there are many permanent dwelling places. It's not a tent, it's a permanent place of dwelling. And then later in John 14, that same chapter, he says, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our permanent dwelling place with him. Jesus says, I will dwell with you forever in a permanent home, not just a tent. And he dwells with us now, and he will take us one day to dwell with him, and he will be with us forever. The great glory of the fact that the king has come is that he dwells now with his people, not just in a temporary dwelling place, but he dwells now with us in a permanent dwelling place and will one day take us to be with him. Jesus would say in Matthew 16, he asked his disciples, who do people say that the son of man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, others Jeremiah, one of the prophets. And he said to them, but who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. Blessed are you, Jesus answered him. Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, Simon, son of Jonah. For flesh and blood is not revealed this to you, but by Father who is in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter. And on this rock, I will build my church. And the gates of hell will not prevail against it. So Jesus says, I will build my house. Solomon's temple, when it became built, was a wonder. And when it was torn down because of the Israelites' failure and their rebellion, many wept. And when it was rebuilt in the time of Ezra, many wept because it was smaller than the original house. But God's people were told that the glory of that house would be greater than the glory of Solomon's temple. And we know the reason that it was greater was because Jesus himself would be in that smaller temple. Jesus himself would be in that temple. And so he is the one. His house is God's house and only in Christ do we see the promise made to David fulfilled. And so we have this drama and it's three movements. And then we have the response. The response of David. and the response of us. What should be our response to this good news? I picked three, I might have been able to pick 20. But let me pick three from David's response that ought to be your response and mine as well. And the first is who am I? Who am I that God would save me? Who am I that Christ would suffer to die for me? Can anyone who understands the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ say, look at me, look at me. There's a variation of what we believe to be the true doctrine of the scripture that says God looked ahead and he chose us because we were gonna choose him. And that makes us somehow the ones that are special, the ones that are wise and valuable. But instead, the believer says with David, who am I? Who am I? God. What wonder that you chose me to be yours in Christ. What wonder that you would make me a part of Jesus's house that he is building. Who am I? And then I think the natural response that flows out of who am I is who is God? God, you are great. Who am I in verse 18? God, you are great in verse 22. And might it be that as we reflect on the wonder of salvation that we join with David and we say, God, you are great, that we declare the greatness of our God. We read about that in our Old Testament reading that a pagan king would declare that God is the only God and is worthy of praise. How much more then can we who have been saved by his grace declare God is great and is greatly to be praised? But again, and this maybe comes back to who am I? Verse 24, we have this reality. God is our God. God is my God. You see, that's what this flows toward. Who am I? God, you are great. And you, the great God, have chosen me to be your people. You, the great God, have chosen us to be your people. God is our God. God is my God. And that's the declaration of faith of a believer. God, the living and true God, is my God. When I talk to someone who I don't know very well and I'm learning about their understanding of God and of the gospel, I'm listening for words like, Jesus died for my sins. Not just the declaration that Jesus died for sins, but in a sense the ownership of that. Jesus died for my sins. I am a sinner worthy of condemnation. I'm nothing, and God in his great grace chose to save me in Christ. God is my God, and I am one of his people. And if God is not your God, then your house will fail. If God is not your God, You face what the Bible warns is an eternally deserved punishment in hell. And so we say with David, bless your house, God. Bless your house for the sake of your servant, David. Bless our church, God, for the sake of David's greater son. Please pray with me. Father in heaven, would you bless this portion of your house for the sake of David's greater son, Jesus? Would you bless our houses individually as we seek to walk with you by faith, wondering in amazement, who am I, who are we that you have saved us? And may we delight in not only knowing the greatness of God, but declaring the greatness of God to all who will listen. Our God is great, and He saves sinners like me. And so God, build Your house. Build this house at Springs Reformed Church, we pray, in Jesus' name.