1 Samuel chapter 7, this chapter and what goes on here in the Davidic covenant is probably the whole point. The whole point of David's life, the whole theme, important message of 1 and 2 Samuel. The Davidic covenant, what David's gonna realize is what I think we all realize when we grow in our faith to come to understand that God is in control of all things. And it's the Lord that brings about an end and a purpose and a meaning to all things. And that yes, while the Bible teaches a human responsibility and when you see those verses that give commandments and directives to be responsible for what the Lord has given you, then absolutely you do it with all your might as if everything depends upon what you do. But then you come to passages of scripture where everything's completely out of your hands and God is in control. And God is going to make His will come to pass. God is gonna carry out His purposes in the world, in creation. And brother and sister, we come to realize that God is carrying out His plan and purpose in our life. And He's working behind the scenes providentially. He's working in a way to unfold a purpose and a plan that He's been in control of since all eternity. And as we grow in our faith, we begin to realize, Lord, you're doing all this. You're in control of all this. And I'm just walking in obedience, and I'm just receiving your blessing. And I haven't earned it. I don't deserve it. I didn't figure it out. Lord, it's all of you and all to your glory for everything that I am as a believer, everything that is meaningful and with purpose in Christ and what he has done in his salvation. The whole point of creation is to glorify God. And that's really what David realizes and what we see in the whole point of David's life. And I've been making this emphasis that when the Bible says that he sought a man after his own heart, the emphasis is not the fact that the Lord saw in David an obedient man, a loyal man, a faithful man, and chose him because David was such a good man that he knew he could entrust with David his plan. And David would carry it out because he was a man after, he's chasing God's heart. That's not what that implies, that's not the point of it, that's not where you begin with that. Certainly David was all of that. Every godly person ought to be that. But that when the Lord said he would seek a man after his own heart, it was a man according to God's will. That God would choose a man and unfold in that man his plan and purpose. And that man that God chose would be nothing more than a recipient of the blessings of God. And that's what we're seeing come to culmination with the Davidic covenant here, the covenant God made with David, and David realizing, Lord, you've been doing this all along in my life. This is the whole point of why you anointed me and called me, to bring me to the place that you would give to me this blessing, give to me this covenant. Make a covenant with me, Lord. David is gonna realize this in this chapter. So for our scripture reading, I'm gonna read verses one through three, and we'll get right in that message. We're gonna see how the Lord established an eternal, unconditional, that's the key to this, unconditional covenant with David. Let's read 1 Samuel 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 his enemies all around, that the king said to Nathan the prophet, see now I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside tent curtains. Then Nathan said to the king, go do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. Let's have a prayer blessing as we begin our message. Lord, as we look in here to this covenant that you made with David, Lord, see that Jesus has fulfilled this covenant, and he is the one who is the son of David, the one whom you have set upon your throne, the Lord that we must go to to believe that he died on the cross and rose again for us, that the Lord Jesus Christ is both Lord and Savior, and that he grants us entrance into his kingdom, the kingdom that you gave to him. Lord, I pray that all here have put their faith in Christ, and have seen Him, come to recognize, come to believe, and call upon Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Son of David, who fulfills the covenant you made with Him. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Verses one through three you see, the Lord granted David rest in Israel, and so then David desired to provide rest for God in Israel. It's somewhat reciprocal, it says right there in verse one, it says the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies. Now, I'm this way, I've made this a point, David is a heroic man, a very strong man. All the men here desire to be like David, a man of God who's faithful, who's a warrior for God. who fights God's battles. And you see him as faithful. And we saw him make so many right decisions. In fact, at this point in his life, it's just right decision after right decision. And in the victory that he's had over the enemies, there's a recognition here that the Lord is the one who had given David rest from all his enemies. That the Lord was behind David in a way that was above and beyond what David did. Now David makes this reference that the ark is in tents. The point is the ark was not in what we call the tabernacle. I made that a capital T in the notes. The tabernacle of Moses that was built in Exodus, the book of Exodus as they were coming out of Egypt. That tabernacle you recall is in the city of Nob. It had been moved later to Gibeon. We have reference of it later. But that's where David fled to and he took the sword of Goliath, ate the showbread. The ark had been removed before that. We studied that. when it would have been moved to Karath-Jerubim and then later now David has moved the Ark into Jerusalem. But the tabernacle that Moses had built in the Exodus is still setting in, probably got moved from Nobes. You can imagine after Saul's devastation to the priests there, yet I'm all put to death, the idea is probably the tabernacle and all its contents were moved to to Gibeon after that sometime. And the ark is there, excuse me, the tabernacle is in Gibeon, but David had moved the ark into Jerusalem and he erected a tent for it. Could have been somewhat similar to what the tabernacle was, but probably not, just some kind of a tent that he put it under to try to match what the commandment was to put the ark under a tent. And that's what he's referring to. It's a tent that David built. Let's start to sink in now as I get our theme here. David built a tent for it in Jerusalem and put the ark in there. David's recognizing something. You know, I can do better than this. I can do better than this for the Lord. It's just a tent. The Lord deserves something more. He understood the tabernacle was in a different place and all he did was build a tent for the Lord. After all he's done for him, David could do much more for the Lord, couldn't he? Now I think behind that, I mean that's the human level, behind that David's understanding something theological. He understood that it was God's plan to give Israel an eternal rest in the promised land. David's seeing these promises being fulfilled. There's a promise that the Lord made to Abraham to give him a land in Genesis 17, 7. You can read about that. He says, I give this land to your descendants. Abraham was promised a land, and we believe that's quite literal today. God's people are promised a land, the land of Israel. But along with the land, he promised Abraham a descendant. Yeah, he said the descendants would number the sands of the seas and the stars in the sky, but the point being a certain descendant in the singular. You know, that was fulfilled initially by Isaac, the one son, but there'd be a greater son that Abraham would have. And in Genesis 13, 15, the Lord says, for all the land which you see, I give to you and to your descendant forever. Now, if you look up Genesis 13, 15 in your Bible right now, you'll see it's in the plural. But do you recall there's a greater lesson we could teach here that that word can be plural or singular? Do you remember who took that interpretation and said that Genesis 3, 15 is talking about a singular descendant? And it was the Apostle Paul in writing Galatians, it said according to your seed. And the understanding was always that the seed of the woman, a one descendant, one man, a son would be born. And God would fulfill all the promises to mankind and to Israel. The promises he made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in one man. He promised land and he promised a ruler to rule over the land. And David is seeing that the Lord chose him as the anointed. And he's seeing what God is doing through him. He is conquering the land. He's defeating the Canaanites and all of the enemies in the land. And David understood that the Lord later, it's in Genesis, later from Abraham, also made a promise that the one ruler that would come to rule over God's inheritance, to rule over the land, would be from the tribe of Judah. And David understands full well he's that chosen. Genesis 49 is the promises were given to Judah. It says, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes. That's a reference to Jesus. And it says, And to him, speaking to the Messiah, and to him shall be the obedience of the people. And David is recognizing at this point that he is fulfilling these promises. That the Lord is doing something through him as king and ruler over the land. David's putting all of this together. Now in chapter 4, Excuse me, chapter seven, verse four, we're seeing the response as David said, I can do better than this. The Lord's fulfilling all of his promises. I've only put the ark in a tent. I can build something better for the Lord. His heart's in the right place, but I want you to notice something about what the Lord responds to that plea of David that he would build a permanent place. Okay, Nathan initially, the prophet says, go do all that's in your heart. Obviously, you're the chosen of God. Now, Nathan said that, but he hadn't heard directly from God. Verse four on down, the prophet now hears directly from God. Verse four, but it happened. Let me see, I'm gonna read down to verse 11. Now, it happened. But it happened that night that the word of the Lord came to Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David, thus says 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 of Israel 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 of cedar? Now therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the sheepfold from following the sheep to be ruler over my people over Israel. And I have been with you wherever you have gone. You have cut off all your enemies from before you and I have made you a great name like the name of the great men who are on the earth. Moreover, I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more. Nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them any more as previously, since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel and have caused you to rest from all your enemies. Okay, we'll stop there because that could have been a good verse break at the end of 11 there. You see what the Lord is saying. Now I'm gonna sum up what's read and you can go back and hopefully you have your note. You can go back and take a closer look at this passage. But the Lord is saying when he asks a question, did I ever say to build a house for myself? What's the implied answer? No. Go back in your Old Testament. He never did say, I need a permanent temple. That's the whole end goal of this thing. He never did. The Lord never specifically commanded that. And ready? We understand a little more. A lifeless building. It was never about a building. He didn't say build a building. The Lord never specifically commanded him to build a temple or just a building, a lifeless building built for him. And the point he's making is because he had already dwelt in a living building in David. See, he's making the point that he had never did command that. The Lord never intended that you could just put up a building, everybody could point to it and say, there's our God right there. It was never meant to be that way. The tabernacle was only to point to the living God. But look what he says about David. And he's trying to get David to think about it. Why would you think that you could build me a building and I would dwell inside a building? And he's trying to get David to think, when I did this for you, ready? Take a closer look back in verse eight. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I took you from the sheepfold from following the sheep. You were just a boy and you were a shepherd. You were nothing, right? I took you from that to be ruler over my people Israel. And he's trying to get David to think, did you really have anything to do with that? Could you really have planned that? Did you connive that back when you was a boy and you step by step? And if we recall going over David's life, he didn't know what was going on at some times. He was totally on the run. And the Lord says, look what I did already. You think you can build me a house, but look what I've already done for you. Took you from following a sheep to be ruler over Israel. And look at verse nine, look closely. And I have been with you wherever you have gone. Haven't we seen that demonstrated? I've already been dwelling in you. I can't taper off on this theological concept, but the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the indwelling of the Son, the indwelling of God in the heart is not only a New Testament idea. There is an Old Testament understanding of the indwelling of God in the hearts of people. And he's saying here, you know, I have been with you wherever you have gone and cut off your enemies from before you and have made you a great name like the name of the great man. See, he's saying all this and the idea is why do you think you could build me a temple when I've already have a temple? My temple is you. My temple is Israel, the people. and everything that I've done for them. I don't need a physical building because I have something better. A building made without hands. I have souls. I have people. And that's the real point that God is driving. That's why he has never said to build a building. Because God intends to dwell in people. This is the connection here. This is an Old Testament connection to the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, indwelling of God right here. Now, in going on, He then says about the house, okay? He doesn't say, so don't build me a house, that's ridiculous, I don't want a house. Well, the Lord is unfolding a revelation and so like the tabernacle and the ark points to God, the Lord is gonna allow a temple to be built that's gonna point to him, but the Lord's making a specific point about David saying, I'll build it, I'll build it. Ready, and let's get into that. Verse 11 at the end. And the Lord also tells you that he will make you a house. The Lord never takes second place. See, you're not saved by works. You're not gonna go to the Lord and do all of these good works, religious works, and say, Lord, see what I've done for you. Now, don't I deserve and have earned your approval? That is the way that humanity works with all of the false religions, but that's not the way our Lord works. Our Lord works this way. I provide for you. The Lord is the creator. The Lord is the giver. We are always the recipient. You want to get yourself in the right mind frame to get saved? You need to start seeing yourself as a complete recipient of everything that the Lord has done in your life. That the Lord is in complete control of every detail and aspect of your life. And just as we saw the Gideon testimony of the man who was in jail and he lost his daughter, and when he found out he lost his daughter, all of his life came crashing down and he fell on his knees and he said, Lord, I'll serve you. Because the Lord was in complete control and he realized the Lord can take it all away in a moment. My very next breath is dependent upon the Lord. And the Lord says to David like this, you can't build me a house. There would be no house sufficient enough. I already have a dwelling place. But in fact, David, I'm going to build you a house. God's going to do something. We have to step back and understand God is always doing something greater. And when we do serve him, it's always reciprocal. Do not put the cart before the horse and think you're doing something for God, therefore He now is going to do something for us. Brethren, sister, Christians fall into this way of thinking. Here we have in the Bible again, it's the Lord is a starting point. He tells David, I'm gonna make you a house. Verse 11, I'm gonna make you a house. Tells you I'm gonna make you a house. Now, as we go on for that, that's what we see here. Now David didn't ask for a house. Now let's back up, we gotta make this point along with that. He was just a shepherd, do you remember that? He didn't think, oh, you know, I'm gonna ask the Lord to make me the king and an eternal house and children and all, no. David in his life never asked for what the Lord's about to give him. And so remember that, David didn't ask for a house for himself, but God provided one for him. God says, I'm gonna build you one. Okay, now, put it together here. God did not ask for a house for himself, but God will provide his own house for himself. Okay? So you parallel it, David didn't ask for a house, but God gave him one. God didn't ask for a house, but David will give him one. Logic is blown out of the water with God, the Bible. David didn't ask for a house, but God gave him one. God didn't ask for a house, but God's gonna give his own self a house. Only God is worthy to build his own house. David, you could never build a house worthy of me. And, you know, when you see that understanding, remember, even when Solomon, okay, did build the temple later, you can read about it in 1 Kings 6, 7, and 8. Remember what happened after Solomon built the temple and the glory filled the Lord in it? The temple and even the priests who were there doing the sacrifices, the glory pushed them out because your sacrifices don't please God Himself. God is pleased with His own name. and he's not dependent upon these sacrifices. His glory pushed them all out of the temple that had been built, and it filled the whole temple, the Holy of Holies and the whole temple. And Solomon's response when he understood that God had allowed him to build a temple in Jerusalem that he might dwell in His glory, he said, but God indeed, will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain you, he prayed. How much less this temple I have built. That great truth teaches us that God dwells in so much more and greater than a temple built with hands. But nevertheless, when the Lord says, now we're gonna get a play on words here. Start to think about the play on words. The Lord says, I'm gonna build you a house and I'm gonna build me a temple. The Lord's gonna do all the building. The house for David and the Lord's gonna build his own self a house, okay? We start to get a little bit play on the words and we're talking about what the temple is. Solomon did build the house or the temple for the Lord to dwell. It says in verse 12, when your days are fulfilled, David, when you die and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you who will come for 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. He, in verse 13, is directly referring to Solomon that I just mentioned. He'll build a house for me. But there's something greater going on, because Solomon even said, well, this is just stone made with hands. It can't really contain God. It's an inadequate house. If the Lord was to build a house, think about it. If the Lord was to build a house on earth that was really worthy of his glory, now, if you understand that, could you begin to imagine the architecture? What would you do to make a house say, no, the Lord, he'll certainly like it here. The Lord's not impressed with architecture and stone and wood. And Solomon realized this. The Lord allowed him to build a house. The point of it was not that they could all stick their chests out and boast that we had built a house and look, now the Lord's with us, but that no earthly hand-built building or house can contain God, is worthy of God. That's the lesson of the temple that is built. But the Lord did indeed have Solomon build him one. Now, then now he gives the covenant, okay? The covenant starts in verse 13. Build my house, establish your stone kingdom forever. Part of the covenant is conditional. Look at the condition. Verse 14. 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 son of men. When you know you have a condition, you have the word if. Let me ask you something. Did Solomon commit iniquity? You could read ahead and realize Solomon disqualified himself with his iniquity. But it says here that if he does the condition, and he did, I will chasten him with the rod of man, the blows of the sons of men. Solomon suffered for his iniquity. The kingdom was divided. All of the different descendants of David, those kings suffered. The people suffered for the iniquity of the kings. The Lord certainly fulfilled his condition in verse 14. He did chastise. with a rod of men and the blows of the sons of men. So much so that at one point Babylon came and destroyed the temple and the city and carried away their king. So the Lord did fulfill the conditional aspect because of their sin. Now part of the covenant with David is also unconditional. There's the unconditional part in verse 15. If he does sin, I'll chasten him. Verse 15, but my mercy shall not depart from him as I took it from Saul whom I removed from before you. You see, God didn't owe David, God didn't owe Solomon, God didn't owe the descendants of David anything. In fact, they did sin and God chastised them and deserved the punishment of God. But the Lord said, because he's sovereign, because he's doing a sovereign work, he says, I choose for my namesake not to remove my mercy, to not remove them like I did Saul, but to keep a descendant of David upon his throne forever. That's what he's saying. He would not take it away from David's house as he did from Saul. That's God's choice. That was God's sovereign choice to do that. It's an unconditional promise. The Lord said, no matter what you do, no matter how you sin, I will not remove a descendant of yours from the throne. David was promised then to have a son forever. And there's the real nugget, the real central, in verse 16, you can sum up the whole covenant. Unconditional, ready? And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. According to all these words and according to all the visions, so Nathan spoke to David. Now, there's three aspects to look at real quick. You see, the covenant has a promise of a house. Your house has a promise, number two, of a kingdom, and a promise, number three, of a throne forever. The Lord promised to David an everlasting house. That includes the descendants of David, all the way down to Joseph and Mary, by the way. But it culminates in a descendant, the one descendant, a son. They called Jesus the son of David. And then there's a promise then for an everlasting kingdom when you're talking about a kingdom You have descendants a kingdom has to have people a kingdom has to have a realm. What does he rule over? What land is the kingdom? belong to so there's a realm and and you know that that in the kingdom when they when the people understood Jesus as the son of David and they on the on the triumphal entry. They cried their hosannas. They cried out. They said, blessed is the kingdom of our father David. Because there's a coming king and he's the son of David and he'll rule over the kingdom and rule over Israel and all of our land. People understood the fulfillment of that. So you can see a promise of a house or a descendant. You have a promise of a kingdom or a realm, a land, and a promise of a throne. And that's the power to rule. A throne represents the power. You know, without the power, you can call yourself a king all day long, but you can't implement anything. Nobody listens to you. You don't have any power over a place. You have nothing without a throne, without the power to rule. And Jesus has been given this power by virtue of His resurrection. Jesus rose from the dead and the Father seated Him at His right hand. He said, tell I make your enemies your footstool. When I say, you will go back and I will destroy all the enemies of Israel and you will sit on the throne of David. And God will do that. The Bible says that God said to Jesus, tell I make your enemies your footstool. And Jesus understood that the Father was gonna make him king, just like the same promise here to David. It was an unconditional promise that God the Father would establish a descendant, a son of David, as king, and God would do it for his own name. Now, look at David's response in verse 18. Then King David went in and sat before the Lord. And he said, who am I, Lord God? What is my house that you have brought me this far? Yet this was not a small thing in your sight, O Lord, and you have also spoken to your servant's house for a great while to come. Is this the manner of man, O Lord God? Is this what normally happens to people? Normally, if you go out in the world with people, you have to earn your own way. You take a kingdom by your own hand. You have the destiny in your own hand of your own life. You establish your own way. People respond and reward you for your hard work. That's the way that it is. But David realized, and this is what we gotta realize in getting saved, just like David did. Lord, you're in control of everything. that all I am is a recipient. In fact, all I have done is failed. All I have done is sin. And I make no boast in any of my accomplishments, because any accomplishment I do have, any good work I have done, is by your power, by your giving me the ability to do it, by you opening doors and giving me the opportunity. And when I obeyed you, it's because you blessed obedience and you made it happen. And that's what he's saying here when he says, who am I, oh Lord, and what is my house that you have brought me this far? I don't know if them words sound familiar. Do you remember last year and our New Year's Eve, excuse me, our New Year's service, the first Sunday of the year in 23, Wayne Johnson, Pastor Wayne always comes on the first Sunday of the new year. Do you remember we did the Lord's Supper and we sang Amazing Grace, do you know why? Because when John Newton wrote the song Amazing Grace, at first it was a poem. And he wrote it on New Year's morning, January 1st, 1773, 250 years ago in 2023, January 1. And we remembered this. And he based it off this text, the song Amazing Grace. Now he took it from First Chronicles, but it was this text. And he said this quote, and he always preached a sermon with a song that he wrote, or a poem. He said these words right here, like verse 18, he said these words lead us to a consideration of past mercies and future hopes and communicate the frame of mind which becomes us when we contemplate what the Lord has done for us. Now you can tell if somebody's really saved because all they can talk about is what the Lord has done for them. Again, sometimes in our testimony, we talk about, you know, kind of what the Lord's done, but we talk about how he's helped me here, and I was able to do this, and I was able to do that, and from then I got through that, and I did this. And what we really talk about is, you know, I'd be a dead man without the Lord. I'd be on my way to hell. I would be lost. All I did was sin. I had failure after failure. The successes I had, I realized I didn't do them for the Lord. I realized the Lord brought them about. And I realize all that I have all that my life is dependent upon the grace of God I'm nothing without him and I don't want to take any more credit. I won't take any credit. I You say the same response David has who am I? Oh Lord God verse 18 and what is my house that you have brought me this far? That's what the song amazing grace is about Now look, let's go ahead and take the time to do it. We'll honor the word of God, but I want you to see three things in here. David praised the Lord for surpassing wisdom and a saving power. You can see that in his prayer, the Lord's wisdom and saving power. And you can also see in this prayer David made, you can understood that the Lord did not bless him to reward him. but that the Lord blessed him for his own name and glory. The Lord did it for himself, not for David, not for us. Let me read verses 20 down to the end of the chapter. Now what more can David say to you? For you, Lord God, know your servant. For your words say, according to your own heart, you have done all these great things to make your servant know them. Therefore you are great, O Lord God. There is none like you, nor is there any God beside you, according to all that we have heard with our ears. And who is like your people, like Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem for himself as a people, to make for himself a name, and to do for yourself great and awesome deeds in your land before your people, whom you redeemed for yourself from Egypt, the nations and their gods. For you have made your people Israel, your very own people forever, and you, Lord, have become their God. Now, our Lord God, the word which you have spoken concerning your servant and concerning his house, establish it forever and do as you have said. So let your name be magnified forever, saying, the Lord of hosts is the God over Israel, and let the house of your servant David be established before you. For you, O Lord of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to your servants, saying, I will build you a house. Therefore, your servant has found it in his heart to pray this prayer to you. And now, Lord, O God, excuse me, now, O Lord God, you are God, and your words are true, and you have promised this goodness to your servant. Now, therefore, let it please you to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue before you forever. For you, O Lord God, have spoken it, and with your blessing let the house of your servant be blessed forever." You start to get a hint of what a salvation testimony sounds like? You're talking about what God has done. When we talk about our part, we just talk about, well, I realized I was lost. Well, let me tell you how I did, but what the Lord has done for His name. Let's go through this quickly here. Let's turn to 1 Timothy 3. I've got to set this up. We're just about done. 1 Timothy 3. We're going to see how Jesus fulfilled all of this. That prayer of David gives us a perspective of the human response. The Lord's gonna do this great work. He's gonna build himself a house. He's gonna be the one that fulfills the covenant to set a man upon the throne of David over the kingdom forever. It's gonna have to be the Lord's doing, all of it. And he did that in Jesus Christ. The Davidic covenant will be literally fulfilled by Christ. He is the son of David, a rule over David's kingdom from David's throne. Now look, in Luke 1.32, the promise was made. It says, the angel said to Mary, he will be great and will be called the son of the highest, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. That promise was made that Jesus was just gonna come and do that. Apart from any help from mankind, the Lord would fulfill this in Jesus Christ. And then, so he fulfills all the idea of being the son of David, the kingdom and the throne. Now, he's going to fulfill one more thing. Solomon built a temple made out of stone that even he said, this can't contain God. There's no way it's worthy enough for God. God intends to build a house, and the Son, the true Son, the true descendant of David did build a house, is building a true house for God, and it's not made with hands, and it's not earthly. Remember, Jesus alluded to this when He said, He pointed at the Old Testament temple, and He said, destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. The Lord was talking about the temple of His body. You guys remember that now. I probably just caught you off guard. The Lord was talking about the temple of His body. Where will God dwell? What's worthy of God to dwell in? It's not a temple made with hands. It's not made of stone. Jesus talked about His body as a temple. And the promise is when we are saved, when God comes to dwell in our hearts to the Holy Spirit and the person of Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 619 says, are you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, whom is your own, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? Lord God is indwelt in Christ and his body, his physical human body, and the Lord means to indwell people as a temple. And he's promised that believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit as a temple of God. Now, by extension of that, gathered together here, Think about this question before I read it. Is he talking about our beautiful sanctuary with this nice wood, or is he talking about the people? Look at 1 Timothy 3, 15 to see the house that Jesus is building. He said, but if I'm delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth. What house was it that the true son built when he refers to that? Yeah, the people, we always like, it's the church, right? It's the church building. No, it's the people in the church building, isn't it? The Lord is building up a house. The Son of David did and is building a house, and it's individual believers that come together to form the church. The Bible says in Ephesians, the church is the temple of God, where God dwells. Here this morning, not because of our building, no building can contain God, But in the souls and the bodies of people, God dwells. And we come and gather together here to make this gathering a place where God dwells, becomes a house of God. Jesus fulfilled everything the son of David was to fulfill, including building for God.