00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
We're going to be reading about
a prophecy of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ from 2
Samuel chapter 22. And this song and then the song
in chapter 23 are at the heart of the message on the kingdom
summary from chapter 21 through the end of the book. And this
is a long passage, but we're going to go ahead and read through
all of it. and ask God to give us insight
into what it is intended to teach. Then David spoke to the Lord
the words of this song on the day when the Lord had delivered
him from the hand of all his enemies, that's a very key phrase,
and from the hand of Saul. And he said, the Lord is my rock
and my fortress and my deliverer, the God of my strength in whom
I will trust. my shield and the horn of my
salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior, you saved
me from violence. I will call upon the Lord who
is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from my enemies. When
the waves of death surrounded me, the floods of ungodliness
made me afraid, the sorrows of Sheol surrounded me, the snares
of death confronted me, In my distress I called upon the Lord
and cried out to my God. He heard my voice from his temple
and my cry entered his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations of the heaven
quaked and were shaken because he was angry. Smoke went up from
his nostrils and devouring fire from his mouth. Coals were kindled
by it. He bowed the heavens also and
came down with darkness under his feet. He rode upon a cherub
and flew. and he was seen upon the wings
of the wind. He made darkness canopies around
him, dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness
before him, coals of fire were kindled. The Lord thundered from
heaven, and the Most High uttered his voice. He sent out arrows
and scattered them, lightning bolts, and he vanquished them.
Then the channels of the sea were seen. The foundations of
the world were uncovered. at the rebuke of the Lord, at
the blast of the breath of his nostrils. He sent from above,
he took me, he drew me out of many waters, he delivered me
from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too
strong for me. They confronted me in the day
of my calamity, but the Lord was my support. He also brought
me out into a broad place. He delivered me because he delighted
in me. The Lord rewarded me according
to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands
he has recompensed me, for I have kept the ways of the Lord and
have not wickedly departed from my God. For all his judgments
were before me, and as for his statutes, I did not depart from
them. I was also blameless before him
and I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore, the Lord has recompensed
me according to my righteousness, according to my cleanness in
his eyes. With the merciful, you will show
yourself merciful. With a blameless man, you will
show yourself blameless. With the pure, you will show
yourself pure. And with the devious, you will
show yourself shrewd. You will save the humble people,
but your eyes are on a hottie that you may bring them down.
For you are my lamp, O Lord, The Lord shall enlighten my darkness.
For by you, I can run against a troop. By my God, I can leap
over a wall. As for God, his way is perfect.
The word of the Lord is proven. He is a shield to all who trust
in him. For who is God except the Lord?
And who is a rock except our God? God is my strength and power,
and he makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet
of a deer. and sets me on my high places.
He teaches my hands to make war so that my arms can bend a bow
of bronze. You have also given me the shield
of your salvation. Your gentleness has made me great.
You enlarged my path under me so my feet did not slip. I have
pursued my enemies and destroyed them. Neither did I turn back
again till they were destroyed. And I have destroyed them and
wounded them so that they could not rise. They have fallen under
my feet. For you have armed me with strength
for the battle. You have subdued under me those
who rose against me. You have also given me the necks
of my enemies, so that I destroyed those who hated me. They looked,
but there was none to save, even to the Lord, but he did not answer
them. Then I beat them as fine as the
dust of the earth. I trod them like dirt in the
streets, and I spread them out. You have also delivered me from
the strivings of my people. You have kept me as the heads
of the nations. A people I have not known shall
serve me. The foreigners submit to me.
As soon as they hear, they obey me. The foreigners fade away
and come frightened from their hideouts. The Lord lives. Blessed be my rock. Let God be
exalted, the rock of my salvation. It is God who avenges me and
subdues the peoples under me. He delivers me from my enemies.
You also lift me up above those who rise against me. You have
delivered me from the violent man. Therefore, I will give thanks
to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles and sing praises to your name.
He is the tower of salvation to his king and shows mercy to
his anointed, to David and his descendants forevermore. Amen. Father, we thank you for
this word. And even though we're only going
to be able to have a survey of it, we pray it would be a scripture
that would grip our hearts and give us faith for the battles
that are before us in our own age. We love you and we continue
to worship as we submit our hearts to your word. In Jesus' name,
amen. There are different perspectives
on what this chapter is talking about and who it is talking about.
Before we can properly apply it, I think we need to dig into
some of that preliminary debate and discussion. There are some
who say that this is a survey of David's life and a theological
interpretation of his life, but there are sections, three sections
actually, in this psalm that give some people doubts. For
example, verses 21 through 28 portray the speaker as having
perfectly kept God's law, and with all of the faults in David's
life in the previous few chapters, some people think, how could
these words credibly come out of David's lips? Instead, they
see it as a prophecy of Jesus, and to buttress their argument,
they point to the fact that this psalm, that's recorded in chapter
22 here, this psalm is quoted two times in the New Testament
as being the words of Jesus. Verse two is quoted in Hebrews
2.13 as the words of Jesus as he converts people with the spread
of the gospel. And verse 50 is quoted in Romans
15.9 to prove that it's always been God's intention to include
Gentiles within the church as the gospel conquers the world.
And so there is a strong basis for their objection and saying,
no, this has to be the words of Jesus. It has to be a prophecy
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But the first group responds
that Jesus does not need a savior. And responds that verse one makes
clear it was David himself who was speaking these words to the
Lord. But when you study in depth the
usage that Hebrews 2 and Romans 15 make of this psalm, you realize
it's not an either-or situation. It's really both-and. It does
describe David, and it does describe the gospel of Jesus. How does
Jesus conquer the world in Romans chapter 15? He does so by preaching
his gospel through his ministers, just like the pre-incarnate Son
of God was preaching the gospel back then through David. Okay,
the gospel only has power in the hearers as those hearers
are united with Jesus. And it only has power in the
preachers as the preachers are united with Jesus. In fact, why
don't you go ahead and turn with me to Hebrews chapter 2 where
one of these quotes takes place. And I want to illustrate how
Hebrews makes it a both and situation just like Romans 15 does. Hebrews 2 and beginning to read
at verse 10. For it was fitting for him, that
is Jesus, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, he
is the author of all things, he is going to be the inheritor
of all things, in bringing many sons to glory to make the captain
of their salvation perfect through sufferings. By the way, David
was a type of the Lord Jesus Christ as being a captain who
would deliver his people. Verse 11, for both he who sanctifies
and those who are being sanctified are all of one. I want you to
notice it's not either or, it's a both and situation there. It's talking about both Jesus
and those whom he sanctifies being united. He goes on, for
which reason he is not ashamed to call them brethren. saying,
I will declare your name to my brethren. In the midst of the
assembly, I will sing praise to you. Now that quote from Psalm
22 indicates that Jesus is so united with those that he saves
that when we sing in the congregation and the assembly of the brethren,
Jesus is in that assembly singing with us, singing through us.
Okay, it's both and. And then comes the quote from
2 Samuel 22 and again, I will put my trust in him. And
again, here am I and the children whom God has given me. In as
much then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood,
he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death
he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the
devil, and release those who through fear of death were all
their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed, he does not give
aid to angels, but he does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore
in all things he had to be made like his brethren, that he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in
that he himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to
aid those who are tempted." Now I'm not going to get into all
of the nuances of that text and how commentators relate this
to 2 Samuel chapter 22. At this juncture, I just want
to mention two facts, and the first is that it's quite clear
in both this text, Hebrews 2, and in Romans 15, that 2 Samuel
22 is about both Jesus and those who were united to Jesus, including
David. Okay? So if they're saved in the same
way in the Old Testament as we are, it's all who are united
to Jesus, including David. And that's a key, I think, to
interpreting the passage. And then secondly, both passages
indicate that this chapter, that is 2 Samuel 22, is talking about
the gospel. The only way that David could
sing this song is as one who was united to Jesus. And so I've
titled, in the outline, I've titled the sermon, The Gospel
according to David and I've developed an acrostic, you might notice
that I didn't highlight the letters, an acrostic that has the six
points with each of the letters of the word gospel. And the G
of the gospel is God. Verses one through three indicate
that God is the only foundation we can have for our salvation. This is not a man-centered gospel
that glorifies man's free will. On the contrary, when quoting
this psalm, 2 Samuel 22, Romans 15 says that it is, quote, that
the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy, as it is written.
And then comes the quote from 2 Samuel 22. So because God alone
has anything to do with the foundation of the gospel, God alone gets
the glory. And so in 2 Samuel 22, verse
1, we see God's saving scripture. And in verses 1 through 3, we
see God's saving power. That's the foundation. Okay,
certainly David wrote these words, but every word of this psalm
was inspired by God and contained the message of God's deliverance. Then David spoke to the Lord
the words of this song on the day when the Lord had delivered
him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of
Saul. And he said, and then comes the song that both Hebrews and
Romans says are the words of Jesus speaking through David,
the pre-incarnate son of God was speaking through David. about
this message of God's power. Now look at all the reflections
upon what God alone could do for David or for any of us. Then
David spoke to the Lord the words of this song on the day when
the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and
from the hand of Saul. And he said the Lord is my rock
and my fortress and my deliverer the God of my strength in whom
I will trust. My shield and the horn of my
salvation, my stronghold and my refuge, my savior, you save
me from violence. And so it's very, very clear
in verses one through three that David was saved by God's provision
alone. David couldn't earn anything
in his salvation. And it's pretty clear from the
preceding chapters that we've gone through. He was a sinner,
just like you and I are. And so his battles are symbolic
of the great spiritual warfare for the souls of men in our own
age. And Romans particularly applies
it to the worldwide spread of the gospel. Were all enemies
put under David's feet? Yes, absolutely they were. And
Hebrews and Romans indicates all enemies are going to be put
under Jesus' feet. Did it take a long time for David
to do that, accomplish that? Yes. And Hebrews says it's going
to take a long time for Jesus to accomplish this. There is
a number of parallels between the two. And David ushers in
a time of peace when all enemies are put under him, and there's
just this long period of peace under his son Solomon. And in
the same way as scripture says, there's going to be a long time
of peace when the world is Christianized under the second David, Jesus,
as well. But it's all of grace. The G
is God, God alone is the foundation of our salvation. The O of the
gospel is the word only and shows how only faith in God's provision
can receive that salvation or that spread of the gospel. Verses
four through seven showed David's total inability to save himself.
I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, so shall
I be saved from my enemies. When the waves of death surrounded
me, the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The sorrows of
Sheol surrounded me, the snares of death confronted me. In my
distress, I called upon the Lord and cried out to my God. He heard
my voice from his temple and my cry entered his ears. David
couldn't handle his enemies. They were way too strong for
him. And he lists his enemies as death,
ungodliness, and the terrors of the afterlife. And those are
really the three main enemies that we continue to face today.
Has anybody ever been able to avoid death? No. And so the question
is, if we're all going to face death, who is going to deliver
us from death? Has anyone been able to escape
the floods of ungodliness that threaten to send us into hell? No. Some people fool themselves
into thinking that they are perfectly righteous in and of themselves.
In fact, I knew one person out in California who said that he's
never sinned in his life. Wow. That was a sin right there. Because you called God a liar.
God says that we're all sinners. But anyway, when God opens our
eyes, we are so confronted with our sinfulness that it feels
like floods are going to drown us. Our own sin nature is an
enemy. And then the third one, around
the world, people face the afterlife with nervousness, fear, if they
do not know the Lord. And these enemies make men feel
helpless and hopeless. And the helplessness can be seen
in the five descriptor words. The five descriptor words there,
waves, Floods, sorrows, snares, and distress. Now if you've ever
been on the ocean during a storm, as I have, when you feel like
you are being crushed by the weight of those waves, you know
the feelings of helplessness that David expressed. And he
speaks also of floods of ungodliness. When floods come sweeping through
an area, They take houses and lives and everything that you've
accumulated in a lifetime, and it's vaporized. And that's what
sin, the sin of the ungodly, will do to them in God's judgment. One of the first works of God's
grace is to open our eyes to see our ungodliness. And when
you truly see your own ungodliness, apart from the righteousness
of Christ, yeah, it can be terrifying, just like a flood can be. He
also speaks of the sorrows of Sheol. Now, Sheol was the place
of the dead in the heart of the earth. In the Old Testament,
it was lower Sheol was hell, upper Sheol was paradise. And
if it's the sorrows of Sheol, it's the bad place, right? It's
not the good place where people have nothing but joy. And so
there are sorrows here that He has so offended God that he deserves
such a fate. Now we don't know what time frame
in his life that the sorrows of Sheol confronted him. A snare
is the next word, snags its prey, will not let it go. So if you've
been snared by death, you are being sucked into Sheol with
no hope of escape. And this in turn brings the distress
of verse seven. And anybody who's experienced
the terror of facing God's light and his holiness in light of
verses four through seven knows that there is nothing that we
can offer God that would be of any worth to save us. Instead
what we say is, nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy
cross I claim. You cry out to God to save you.
And David's crying out for deliverance from physical enemies I think
is such an apt figure of our crying out for deliverance from
the enemies, the same enemies actually that are listed in verses
four through seven. So this paragraph starts and
ends with crying out to God alone. That's what faith is. It's crying
out to God alone in his provision. Verse four, I will call upon
the Lord who was worthy to be praised. So shall I be saved
from my enemies. So shall I be saved from my enemies. How? by crying out to the Lord
who alone can save us, who alone can get the glory in our salvation. Verse 7 does the same, it shows
when we cry out to God we will be saved, guaranteed. In my distress,
I called upon the Lord and cried out to my God. He heard my voice
from his temple and my cry entered his ears. Now, certainly David
was saved from physical enemies, but it's worded in such a way
that Hebrews and Romans rightly see this as applicable to our
salvation based on the finished work of Jesus Christ. In other
words, what happened to David is a type of the gospel. It's
a picture, it's a foreshadowing. God is the foundation for our
salvation. O, only faith can receive God's
salvation. S is for stand. We must stand
in total agreement with God's holy judgments. We don't run. We don't evade. We don't disagree
with God's judgments. And this is really the flip side
of faith, it's repentance. Repentance is confession. It's
coming into agreement with God's evaluation of our sinfulness,
with our evaluation of His judgment. We come into agreement with that.
And by the way, since faith and repentance are flip sides of
the same coin, you can't have a life of faith without a life
of repentance. We are called through our lives
to repent and constantly cling to Christ by faith. They're always
flip sides. Anyway, this is an incredibly
powerful description of God's judgments. And I'm not going
to read all of these verses again, but let me very briefly summarize
them. Verse eight describes heaven
and earth shaking because of God's anger. And why would God
not be angry over the sins of men? Verse 9 speaks of God's
anger being so great that smoke goes out of his nostrils, fire
comes out of his mouth. In other words, apart from safety
in Jesus Christ, it's not pleasant being around God. It's a scary
thing coming face to face with God. As Hebrews words it, he
is a consuming fire. Do not think that God's character
has changed in the New Testament. He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. Hebrews 12, 28 through 29 says, therefore, since we
are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have
grace by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and
godly fear for our God is a consuming fire. He's still a consuming
fire. Verse 10 speaks of God coming
down, coming down to do what? To mete out judgment, to mete
out his vengeance, his wrath against all sin. But then it
says darkness is under his feet, indicating that, you know, from
our perspective, we cannot always discern. His judgments are inscrutable. We can't figure out always why
and how God judges. And verse 11 speaks of God using
terrifying angels and whirlwinds to bring about his judgments.
He still has angels at his beck and call who do much of his providence
in human history. And again, don't think that's
just the Old Testament because remember Hebrews 2 and Romans
15 says this chapter continues to be relevant for the new covenant
age. Verses 12 and 13 swirling darkness and brightness verses
14 through 15 uses a metaphor of lightning flashes terrifying
thunder verse 16 shows how God's rebuke can reach to the deepest
channels of the ocean and Reach to the deepest recesses of the
earth. In other words, there is absolutely
no hiding from God's judgment now when confronted with such
awesome holiness and judgment the tendency of the of humans
is to try to cover their sin, to try to hide their sins from
God. And that's exactly what Matthew
says that the non-elect will try to do. They try to hide in
the caves and they would rather die and have a mountain cover
them if that would save them from God's wrath, but it doesn't.
No one can escape from God's judgments. And so if the natural
impulse is to hide our sins and to minimize our sins, the question
comes, Why does a true believer stand in total agreement with
God's judgments? Why is he not afraid to do that?
Well, the reason is clear. Salvation is never ever a sweeping
of sin under the carpet. OK, it is salvation from sin,
not simply salvation from the consequences of sin. God instills
in David's heart the same hatred for sin that caused God to create
a hell for sinners. Realize that David is praising
God for his judgments Okay, until we come to love God's holiness
and love God's judgments We give no evidence that we have tasted
of God's grace because God's grace causes us to come into
agreement With him grace removes all indifference to sin makes
us flee from sin and makes us long for holiness but in the
process The gospel of grace so unites us to Jesus our Savior.
We are no longer terrified by his holiness Instead, we long
to follow Him and imitate Him in holiness. And so, S means
that we must stand in total agreement with God's judgments against
sin. We don't run, we don't hide, we don't rationalize. And what
would give us confidence to stand boldly in the face of God's holy
judgments against all sin? Well, that's the next point.
The P in gospel is place. We must place ourselves and our
confidence 100% in Christ's finished work of redemption. Every phrase
in verses 17 through 28 must be seen within a Christological
framework. Jesus was our representative. That satan sought to destroy
and overcome but when the father rescued jesus from the grave
He rescued us from the grave. We died. We were buried. We were
raised with him. We ascended with him Ephesians
says we are seated right now with him in the heavenlies That's
why we can pray with such boldness because we're seated on the throne
of christ. We're united with him Okay, that's that's our destiny
for all of eternity is to be united with jesus It is only
because jesus conquered death that David or any of us can conquer
death. So let's look at verses 17 through
20. He sent from above, he took me,
he drew me out of many waters, he delivered me from my strong
enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too strong for
me. They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord
was my support. He also brought me into a broad
place. He delivered me because he delighted
in me. And because God delighted in
his only beloved son, he can delight in all of us who are
united to his son. And again, it's both and. Since
God hates all workers of iniquity, the only way he could love any
of us is if he saw us united to Jesus. Perfect in Jesus, right? So neither Hebrews nor Romans
are doing eisegesis when they apply these things to both Jesus
and believers. And likewise in verses 21 through
25, David could only say that he was perfectly righteous As
he saw himself in Jesus, look at the boldness with which he
speaks. Now, keep in mind, he is engaged in lying and murder
and adultery in previous verses. But look at how boldly he speaks
in verses 21 through 25. The Lord rewarded me according
to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands,
he has recompensed me. For I have kept the ways of the
Lord, and have not wickedly departed from my God. I mean, after all
of the chapters we've gone through, how can David say that? For all
his judgments were before me, and as for his statutes, I did
not depart from them. I was also blameless before him,
and I kept myself from my iniquity. Therefore the Lord has recompensed
me according to my righteousness according to my cleanness in
his eyes No wonder people say this has got to be the words
of Jesus. How could it possibly be the
words of David? How could David in any way base? Salvation upon his cleanness
his works. He could not he was just too
full of sin. I You know what? Even after the most horrible
sin of adultery and murder, second Samuel 12 verse 13 says this. So David said to Nathan, I have
sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said to David, the
Lord also has put away your sin. What a wonderful words. Incredibly
wonderful words a marvelous summary of the gospel. I can truthfully
say I have sinned and I can just as truthfully say Hey, I am a
saint. I am perfect I have done all
of the perfect deeds that the Lord Jesus Christ has done. You
are saints You are perfect in the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture
authorizes us to say that why? Because he has put away your
sin 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21 says, for he, that is God, made
him, that is Jesus, who knew no sin to be sin for us that
we might become the righteousness of God in him. David was righteous
in God's eyes because Jesus was righteous and if you don't interpret
it that way It makes absolutely no sense when Hebrews 2 and Romans
15 use this passage in the way in which they do Okay, David
was saved because Jesus legally credited to David's account every
righteous deed that Jesus had ever done that imputation of
Christ's righteousness is called justification when we're in the
courtroom There's nothing. There's nothing there. All God
sees is perfect righteousness in the courtroom of heaven. And
what justification gave David legally, sanctification begins
to work out experientially. And even with regard to sanctification,
it's Jesus alone who can say these words in the full sense
of the term. There's a lot of people think,
OK, we're saved by grace alone when it comes to justification. But we have to live by our own
striving, our own works of the law when it comes to sanctification.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Paul says in Galatians
2 20, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who
live, but Christ lives in me in the life which I now live
in the flesh. I live by faith in the son of
God who loved me and gave himself for me. What incredibly good
news. This means that Jesus starts
our Christian life. He continues our Christian life.
He finishes our Christian life. And then come the odd expressions
in verses 26 through 28. With the merciful, you will show
yourself merciful. With a blameless man, you will
show yourself blameless. With the pure, you will show
yourself pure. And with the devious, you will
show yourself shrewd. You will save the humble people,
but your eyes are on the haughty that you may bring them down.
Now, the words merciful. Blameless and pure all described
David at some point in the preceding chapters, and they actually all
describe us to anybody who is united to Jesus, who is a believer.
And then the words devious and haughty describe those who are
thinking outside of Christ. Now what kind of blamelessness
is compatible with the need for mercy? Because keep in mind when
he says here, with the merciful you will show yourself merciful,
it implies that the merciful are in need of mercy themselves,
right? So what kind of blamelessness and purity is compatible with
a need for mercy? What's going on there? Well,
let's think through each of these words. He says, with the merciful
you will show yourself merciful. The New Testament words it that
if you forgive your brother his trespasses against you, your
heavenly father will forgive you your trespasses against him.
And if you do not forgive your brother his trespasses, neither
will your heavenly father forgive you of your trespasses. Why do
we need to show mercy to each other? It's because we are recipients
of such incredible mercy. That's why Ephesians 4, verse
32 says, and be kind to one another. tenderhearted, forgiving one
another, even as God in Christ forgave you. David repeatedly
showed mercy to other people because he had tasted so deeply
of the mercies of God in his own life. God continued then
to pour out mercies upon him. When we start judging each other,
refusing to forgive each other, refusing to show mercy to each
other, we're beginning to be proud and arrogant against God's
grace. Only when we realize our need
of mercy do we feel the urge to show mercy. But the same verse
says, with a blameless man you will show yourself blameless.
Now how was David blameless? Only through the merits of Jesus.
I want you to take a look down there at verse 33. It says, God
is my strength and power and he makes my way perfect. Now the word perfect is exactly
the same word as the word blameless. With the blameless, he shows
himself blameless. Exactly the same word. So, in
other words, this is a blamelessness that comes from Christ and is
perfectly compatible with the fact that David himself was a
sinner in need of mercy, and yet he's blameless in Jesus. He makes my way blameless or
perfect. When you are blameless in Jesus,
God can show you the perfections of his blamelessness, and you
can still be secure. In fact, you're going to love
it. You're going to love his holiness. You want to be like
his holiness. The next phrase says, with the pure, you will
show yourself pure. When we are legally blameless,
legally pure in God's sight, we need not fear coming before
his perfect blamelessness or before his perfect purity. Now,
to an unjustified sinner, that would be sheer terror. coming
into the presence of God's holiness. But to those who are righteous
in Jesus, it's safe. We died to our old identity.
We're now hidden in Christ. And in Christ, we can say, he
has made my way blameless. He has made my way pure. And
therefore, I can stand in the presence of his blameless purity. Now, here comes the irony. If
we're devious and we don't own up to our sins, We pretend that
we are blameless and pure in ourselves. God will expose the
deception of our heart. It's only as we confess that
we are worthy of God's judgments that we receive and experience
his mercy. And with the devious, you will
show yourself shrewd. You will save the humble people,
but your eyes are on the haughty that you may bring them down.
The good news, according to David, means that we can never be haughty. We must cling to the cross of
Christ and his righteousness throughout our lives. Never stop
placing your confidence in the perfect righteousness of Jesus.
Now, in addition to humility, this gospel also gives us energy.
That's the E of the gospel. It causes us to energetically
pursue the upward calling in Christ Jesus with all of our
might. Now, this is the portion of our salvation known as sanctification. It's really too bad that so many
Protestants use the term, I got saved, to mean justification. Salvation is far more than that.
It starts in eternity past with election. But it moves on to
our conversion, justification, sanctification, resurrection,
glorification. It includes every aspect of our
lives. So sanctification produces obedience
to all God's commands, whether those commands involve warfare
or love, resistance or nurture. And verses 29 through 46, I think
are a wonderful testimony to living by grace every moment
of our lives. Verse 29 promises God's wisdom
to guide our path. Do you ask for God's wisdom every
day or do you just operate in terms of your own wisdom? Everything's
supposed to come from his throne. Verse 30 says, for by you, I
can run against a troop. By my God, I can leap over a
wall. Did the gospel relate to David's
physical warfare? Yes, it did. It related to all
that David did. He fought by grace. He had courage
by grace. He loved by grace. He ruled by
grace, worshiped by grace. In verse 31, David sees his security
as being in God alone. In verse 32, he rejects idolatry
and realizes everything has to be founded on God. And the following
verses speak of strength, power, maturity, joy, warfare, gentleness,
prosperity, rescue, spiritual warfare, taking dominion. Christianization
of the earth, rule and peace as all flowing from the gospel. Now this means it is utterly
foolish if we think of the gospel as only relating to justification
to getting saved. No, it includes sanctification
and everything that we talked about before, including guidance
and healing and the formation of a new heavens and a new earth.
Everything is part of the gospel. He renews all things. So Galatians
3 says, oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you that you
should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly
portrayed among you as crucified. This only I want to learn from
you. Did you receive the spirit by the works of the law or by
the hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the
spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you
suffered so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? Therefore
he who supplies the spirit to you and works miracles among
you Does he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing
of faith? It's by the hearing of faith, right? It is faith
in christ moment by moment trying to keep the law in your own strength
is useless. It's powerless It is only when
christ lives that law through you by his grace that you find
joy in the law paul's point was that nothing should be done apart
from the spirit's empowering So the good news doesn't just
rescue us from hell, it progressively rescues us from the power of
sin, the consequences of sin, and it gradually makes all things
new. And so as I said before, David
was a type or a picture of this great plan of Jesus, the greater
David. Just as all enemies were put
under David's feet, the New Testament says the goal of history is for
all things to be put under Christ's feet. In fact, earlier I read
from Hebrews chapter two and how it quotes and uses this verse. But if you read the two verses
before that, it's talking about God the Father giving everything
in planet Earth to Jesus and saying that all things are to
be put under his feet. But then it goes on to say that,
well, We do not now yet see all things put under him, but we
see Jesus, the captain of our salvation. And what does this
captain do? He's taking the conquest of planet Earth. And so there is a tight connection
typologically between David and Jesus and between Jesus and his
people. We're all involved in putting
everything in planet Earth under Christ's feet. Well, that's the
theme throughout the New Testament. First Corinthians 15 says that
Jesus must sit at the right hand of the Father until every enemy,
and really everything else in planet Earth, is put under his
feet. Nothing but the powerful gospel of Jesus Christ could
accomplish such an impossible thing. Nothing but the gospel
could do that. And yet, what does this psalm
say about God? Is he up to the task? Perfectly
powerful to do that. He is able to subdue Christ's
enemies under his feet And so Paul says he must reign till
he has put all enemies under his feet We shouldn't be surprised
that this is such a big-picture goal that God has given for the
gospel And we we actually blaspheme God when we make that goal too
small. No take it as impossible because
it is apart from his grace and When that is accomplished will
be unable to take the least bit of glory. I Like David, we will
sing praises to God who alone should receive the glory. And
so the L of gospel is lift praise to God and give him the glory. Let's read the tribute of praise
from verses 47 through 51. The Lord lives. Blessed be my
rock. Let God be exalted. The rock
of my salvation. It is God who avenges me and
subdues the peoples under me. He delivers me from my enemies.
You also lift me up above those who rise against me. You have
delivered me from the violent man. Therefore, I will give thanks
to you, O Lord, among the Gentiles and sing praises to your name.
He is the tower of salvation to his king and shows mercy to
his anointed, to David and his descendants forevermore. Now
that last verse indicates that this psalm was not just intended
for David. It was intended for his descendants, which includes
Jesus, right? And the two New Testament quotes
indicate that this includes spiritual descendants from among the Gentiles,
who would also become the seed of Jesus, who is the seed of
David. As Hebrews 2 words it, we are
all of one. We're all in this together in
the gospelization of the world. And so we too can sing the psalm
with a total confidence that all governments, all peoples,
all occupations will eventually bow their knees before King Jesus
to the glory of God the Father. Now sometime reread this psalm
with this, everything I've told you in its background, and put
these words as if they are your words being spoken by the power
of Jesus speaking through you. And I think you'll see it in
a totally new light. All of a sudden this psalm will
give you courage to take on any of the the giants that are in
our land today And there's a whole bunch of giants that are raising
their fist against almighty god but the whole church needs to
rise up with such faith Or we're going to go backwards. You either
go forward or you go backwards And I think that's one of the
reasons why things have gotten so bad in america. It's not because
god is not powerful It's because the church is not living by faith
in the comprehensive scope and the comprehensive power of the
gospel. We have moved from celebrating
a day of liberty based upon God's law and his word and his grace
to a day of fireworks. OK, that's about all we can celebrate
on July 4 anymore. We've lost almost everything
worth celebrating in this country. But you know what? We still should
not be discouraged. We can be a Gideon's band. who
can do impossible things by God's grace. We can be a David's band
who can do impossible things if we will live by faith. Don't
worry about whether the church out there is living by faith.
God will grant them faith in his due time. It is our calling
to live by faith right now, and we can see spectacular changes
in our country. There is nothing that can stop
the church if a church will live by faith. May it be so, Lord
Jesus. Amen. Father, we thank you for
this psalm. What a glorious testimony to
the power of your gospel, to the power of your grace. And
we desire that we too would be filled with your Holy Spirit,
that we would be filled with faith to be able to pray from
the throne in heaven, not praying lifeless prayers that lack faith
and confidence. but laying claim to your promises
and praying with the full confidence of those who are seated with
Christ in the heavenly places. Oh, Father, give us faith, the
faith of David, the faith of Jesus, to pray as we ought to
pray, to work as we ought to work. May everything we do be
done in the power of your Holy Spirit. You have called us to
sing in the Spirit, to worship in the Spirit, to labor in the
Spirit, to be guided by your Spirit. We want everything we
do to be done by the power of your Spirit. so that Christ,
by that spirit, is living his life, his kingdom through us.
May your kingdom come. May your will be done in our
lives, individually and corporately, more and more, that you might
be glorified and that the name of your son might be lifted up.
Father, we look forward with excitement to the time when this
nation bows its knees to King Jesus. We look forward with excitement
to seeing your gospel not just saving individuals, but your
gospel absolutely transforming every aspect of life. May it
happen, Father, even in our own lifetime, and give us the privilege
of being a part of bringing and subduing the enemies of King
Jesus under our feet, as well as under Jesus' feet, since we
are united with Jesus. We love you, Lord Jesus, and
we pray these things in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
The Gospel According to Jesus
Series Life of David
| Sermon ID | 9953162023180 |
| Duration | 46:30 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 2 Samuel 22 |
| Language | English |
Documents
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.