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Constant advancement is what
God calls us to, ever pressing into the upward calling in Christ
Jesus. And in the books of 1 and 2 Samuel, we've been seeing that
God calls us upward in every area of life, even in things
like politics, which is what we're going to look at today
in 2 Samuel chapter 23. Now this is a passage that's
obviously out of order because it's going to continue to talk
about David and some of the things in his life. But it's out of
order very deliberately to highlight the importance of this passage.
Here God's word. Now these are the last words
of David. Thus says David, the son of Jesse.
Thus says the man raised up on high, the anointed of the God
of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel. The spirit of the
Lord spoke by me and his word was on my tongue. The God of
Israel said, the rock of Israel spoke to me. He who rules over
men must be just, ruling in the fear of God, and he shall be
like the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning
without clouds, like the tender grass springing out of the earth
by clear shining after rain. Although my house is not so with
God, yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and secure. For this is all my salvation
and all my desire. Will he not make it increase?
But the sons of rebellion shall all be as thorns thrust away
because they cannot be taken with hands. But the man who touches
them must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear, and
they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place. Amen. Father, we pray that you would
anoint my bringing of the word and each one of us as we hear
and interact with that word. And may the thoughts and meditations
of our hearts be acceptable in your sight through Jesus Christ.
Amen. Well, the first thing that we
notice in this passage is that these are the last words of David,
and very typically the last words, when they're a planned speech,
are considered to be very, very significant and important words
by the person who is making them. And then the fact that the author
of 2 Samuel is putting this up a ways, out of order, indicates
that he's doing something important with this passage as well. It's
something that he thinks is very critically important. So before
we dive into the text, let me place it in its literary context. Now we've already seen that chapter
22 and the first seven verses of this chapter are the heart
of a four-chapter chiasm that the author has been laying out. Now I guess I should define a
chiasm for you. A chiasm is a Hebrew literary
device where instead of like in our modern Western format,
we tend to put the theme sentence, you know, at the beginning of
the paragraph. If there's a paragraph chiasm,
the theme will be right in the middle or we'll put a theme paragraph
at the beginning of a chapter, whereas if there was a chapter
chiasm in Hebrew, you would find that central theme right at the
beginning. So it's an A-B-C, C-B-A kind
of a structure with the C representing the very heart and the most important
part of what he is talking about. Now, after you've looked at the
chiasm structure under the introduction to your outlines, you can throw
that away. Oh yeah, I forgot to bring the outlines. I totally
rewrote the sermon last night, so it doesn't matter anyway.
You would have had to throw the outlines away. But what I was
going to say is if you saw that chiasm under your outline, you
would notice that the beginning of chapter 21 parallels the end
of chapter 24. And the list of heroes in chapter
21 parallels the list of heroes in chapter 23. And then the song
about kingship, David's kingship in chapter 22 parallels this
song about kingship in chapter 23. And all four chapters give
important lessons for the culture wars that we are facing. Okay,
the beginning and the ending sections show the various ways
in which even Christian cultures can become a stench in God's
sight, can become an offense to God, and how we can undo that. You see, when David, who was
a friend of God, had two times in even his reign, when God is
offended and he's bringing discipline into a kingdom, we should not
be surprised when the same things happen in our culture. The B
sections of the chiasm deal with how imperfect heroes, okay, there's
all of these long list of heroes, how imperfect heroes can advance
the cause of Christ even though it's imperfectly being advanced.
God can use them and we're going to be seeing important lessons
from those. It's an issue of direction, not
perfection. But the heart of the chiasm is
found in these two songs that celebrate how even imperfect
kings can serve the Lord. Now, the song in chapter 22 was
especially celebrating, and it was David praising God for his
faithfulness and his gospel and his grace that had been working
through his own kingship. And then this chapter, the first
seven verses, is applying the same kind of gospel principles
to any king that may be out there in the future. Neither, and I
think really the way that this is structured, the whole four
chapters, it shows us how we ought to approach these culture
wars through grace. It helps us to have balance in
the cultural mandate. Neither David nor his men were
perfect exemplars of God's law, and so they demonstrate the need
of grace in politics. And they show us how to apply
the gospel to politics. And yet all of the passages rigorously
hold David and his whole administration to the law of God, and they hold
the entire country to the law of God. Just as one illustration,
in chapter 24, God is going to kill 70,000 citizens because
of the sin of David. You know, David was numbering
Israel. And people think, what in the world is going on there?
Why would God judge 70,000 citizens when it's David's sin? That doesn't
seem fair at all. But we talked about Junius Brutus's
book, A Defense of Liberty Against Tyrants. He goes through this
and many other passages. And he shows that the citizens
cannot wash their hands of David's sin because they have a responsibility
to this civic covenant. They are directly accountable
to God to how they relate to their king. And if they don't
hold their king accountable, then God says, you are part of
the guilt. You're going to share in part
of the guilt, and we'll get to that in a little bit. I don't
know how many Sundays, I won't make any promises, but we'll
get to that passage later. But in any case, chapters 21
through 24 give, I think, very, very important lessons for kings
and citizens as we approach election time. We must keep both grace
and law in view when dealing with politics, and otherwise
we will go to extremes on either end of the spectrum. Well let's
take a look at the first section, verses one through five. It's
a two-part sermon. Hey, first time in ages you guys
got a two-part sermon. A lot of sub points, but two-part
sermon. And the first part is really
talking about how God is calling our nation to unashamedly be
one nation under God. under his law, unashamedly. A
few years ago there was a lawsuit brought by Newdow, I forget his
first name, against the Congress, and the claim of this fervilous
lawsuit was that the words that we have on our money in God We
Trust is unconstitutional. Well, it really is nonsense.
But whatever you think about the Constitution, that ought
to be true. We need to trust in God, have
our full faith in God, and submit ourselves as a nation to God. Now, first of all, we find that
God raises up rulers. Who put David on the throne?
Look at verse 1. Thus says David, the son of Jesse,
thus says the man raised up on high, the anointed of the God
of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel. Now he's going to
be wording this in a way where we cannot dismiss it as being
a theoretical, idealistic thing that nobody's going to be able
to measure up to. Now he's describing King David,
the son of Jesse, okay? He was not a perfect king. But
his heart was loyal to the Lord, but he had major mess-ups in
his life. And the reason he is a good role
model for us is because we're sinners just like David was,
and we can relate to God's grace and even overcome some of the
sinful obstacles to godly politics if we will do just as David did. And I think that this passage
warns us against perfectionism. that some people take toward
politics, but I want to first of all demonstrate that there
are some minimum qualifications that David sets forth. And we
can't write these off and say, oh yeah, yeah, that's a perfect,
but we don't have an ideal perfect world. No, we're talking about
David, who was not a perfect candidate, and yet he says these
are the minimum that we need to be at least shooting towards. First is the issue of calling. Whatever else David was, he was
anointed by God and he was raised up on high by God. God called
him to office. Just as an uncalled man should
not serve in the office of elder within the church, an uncalled
man should not serve within the office of the state. Okay, any office in the state. Now sometimes they do. And until
they are impeached as being unqualified, the office still must be respected.
But this issue of calling, I think, is a very important one when
we are choosing candidates. Has God really called him? What was the name of our speaker yesterday? Marshall Foster. Can't believe
it that I couldn't think of that. Marshall Foster, you know, is
quoting from Daniel Webster, and you read the area that he
was quoting from, and he said this issue of calling is a mandate
of scripture. It's absolutely important, and
that's why he said, as for himself personally, he could not vote
for anybody that was not a Christian, okay? But not just a Christian,
a Christian who was called to office. It was very, very important
to him. Romans 13 speaks of a legitimate
civil magistrate as one who was a minister of God and a servant
of God. Now, the word for servant is
the ordinary word for servant, diakonos, what you would call
a deacon. But the word for minister in
verse six is the word we get liturgy from, liturgos, and it
was a word that was used for priests and is very much tied
up in this idea of calling, calling to office. And his usage of that
term indicates That a legitimate ruler is a ruler who has been
called to God to be a minister to God Every bit as much as I
have been called by God to be a minister to you as his people
So it implies calling and there are some people in government
who have the office, but they shouldn't because they aren't
called, they're not qualified, and until they are impeached,
we should respect their office, but even citizens should consider
the issue of calling. It's implied in the word anointed
in our chapter here, it is applied in the word laeturgos in Romans
chapter 13. Now the second thing that is
implied in our verse here is accountability to God. An elder is held accountable
by God for how he handles the flock. How is he treat them? We're going to be answerable
to the way that the church is run before the Lord and it's
an awesome responsibility because those who are teachers are going
to receive a far greater. My mind is not giving their far
greater. Accountability. Yeah. Anyway, we will be judged
much more severely than others will be. So if he's accountable
to God, he must be a spokesman for God and not for special interests. OK, that's that's the point here.
He must be a spokesman for God, even though he serves man. His
ultimate calling is to serve God in his office. So there's
calling. There's accountability that is
implied. But if God raised him up and God appointed him, it
also means that God is his authority, okay? And it's more than just
a theoretical authority above the king. Now, what do I mean
by a theoretical authority? Well, that would be a king who
says that his word is God's word, but he's unable to prove it.
Okay, this is what the king of England did when he advocated
the doctrine known as Rex Lex, you know, where the king's word
becomes law. If he tells you to stand on your
head, you better stand on your head because he is the representative
of God. Now, he wouldn't call you to
stand on your head because it would begin to appear how ludicrous
that would be. But in theory anyway, whatever
the king commands, it is God commanding, but there's no objective
You know, revelation, he can point to to say why what he is
commanding truly is coming from God. You just got to take his
word for it. OK, that would be a theoretical concept. There's
no way of proving what he says to be. Well, the Puritans show
that this claim was nonsense in the scripture because the
scripture disapproved of many, many things that kings commanded
and even commanded citizens to disobey their kings when their
kings commanded them to do something And there's many other arguments
that the Puritans had, but they also pointed out it's really
ludicrous on the surface of it because it's so nebulous and
theoretical that there is no substance to it. There's no way
of testing whether or not that theory was true. And so the very
idea that God raised him up and anointed him implies that David
was accountable to obey his superior by obeying his word. If the king
can do anything he wants and there is no law above him, then
God's really not his superior, is he? Now there's a fourth thing
implied in these words, and that is that the king's own authority,
if it is a legitimate authority, is a limited authority, a delegated
authority, and an authority that is specified by God and not by
his own imagination. The king is not a God himself,
so he has to derive his authority from somewhere else. He has to
derive it from God. So automatically, Implied in
these words is that it is a delegated and a limited authority. This
keeps the state from deifying itself. Well, if we took it all
seriously, the first four implications of this passage for rulers, then
I think we would try to elect, at a minimum, Christians. We'd
try to do that. And did you know that this was
the pattern in most of the states long, long after the Constitution
was ratified? Delaware required the following
oath of office after the ratification, long after the ratification of
the First Amendment. I do profess faith in God the
Father, and in Jesus Christ, his only Son, and in the Holy
Ghost, one God, blessed forevermore, I do acknowledge the Holy Scriptures
of the Old and New Testaments to be given by divine inspiration. Now that was required in Delaware
until 1792. I would love to see the ACLU
talk about that. Well, they might say that that
was just one state that somehow got away with it, but look at
some of the other states. Maryland's Constitution of 1851
required of public officials, quote, a declaration of a belief
in the Christian religion. You could not even be in office
if you held the ACLU's position on the First Amendment. In 1876,
almost 100 years after the Constitution was ratified, the North Carolina
Constitution still stated and still enforced, quote, that no
person who shall deny the being of God or the truth of the Protestant
religion or the divine authority of the Old or New Testaments,
or who shall hold religious principles incompatible with the freedom
and safety of the state, shall be capable of holding any office
or place of trust or profit in the civil department within this
state. And Pennsylvania and other states
had similar requirements. And it just shows you how far
we have fallen. Now, we're holding up a model
here that some people think is such an impossible model to follow. That's the reason I'm quoting
these quotes. These things continued on for
a long, long time, even after some of these states were beginning
to not be as Christian as they should have been, but it was
still enforced. And so this is something that is achievable.
It's not just an idealistic pipe dream that is out there. Now,
back to our passage. Verses two through three show
that God speaks to those whom he calls. Well, it makes sense,
right? If he's calling somebody to do
something, he's going to tell them what to do, right? He speaks
to those whom he calls. David says it's not enough to
acknowledge that God has appointed public officials. Those public
officials need to listen to God. They can't just say, okay, I'm
appointed and I'm going to do whatever I want to do. No, they got to
listen to God. and God does speak through the
scriptures. Anyway, look at verses 2-3, "...the
Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue.
The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me." So He
spoke by me, that would be His prophetic function, He spoke
to me. This would be through other prophets and the scriptures
that he heard. So he was a prophet, he received
divine instructions on occasion, but by far the vast majority
of the times he was being spoken to by God through the scriptures
or through prophets like Nathan and others who came along. Either
way, he was willing to listen. Now that phrase, hear what the
Spirit says, is used in front of quotations of Scripture. You
know, in the New Testament, it'll quote a Scripture and say, hear
what the Spirit says, or the Spirit has said, okay? So it can apply to a direct revelation
such as, David received on behalf of the nation. It can receive
a direct revelation from Nathan to David or it can speak to any
revelation that God gave in the scriptures to David and other
kings. And it's not just Israelite kings.
Proverbs 8, 15 through 16 has personified wisdom speaking and
saying, by me kings reign. and rulers decree justice. By
me princes rule and nobles and all the judges of the earth."
He didn't say all the Jewish judges, all the judges of the
earth. If those we elect into office
are to rule effectively they must listen to God. And so Deuteronomy
17 says that every king was to be familiar with the Bible. In
fact, I'm going to read that section for you from Deuteronomy
17 because this says that reading Scripture and reading it regularly
was a precondition to ruling in the fear of God. Okay? It's
a precondition to the later points that we're going to be seeing
that a king must be just. He must rule in the fear of God.
Okay, so this is Deuteronomy 17, 18 through 20. Also it shall be when he sits
on the throne of his kingdom that he shall write for himself
a copy of this law in a book and it shall be with him and
he shall read it all the days of his life that he may learn. It's not just at the beginning
of his reign and then he forgets about it for the next 30 years.
Now he's got to read it all the days of his life that he may
learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all
the words of this law and these statutes and that his heart may
not be lifted up above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from
the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that
he may prolong his days in his kingdom." Now can you imagine
how long it would take to write out by hand the first five books
of the Bible? There's a lot of words, a lot
of words in the Pentateuch. And you might think, well, a
king's just way too busy to be able to do something like that.
Surely God's going to be OK with a scribe doing it for him. And
the scribe can report, OK, it's done. You're in. You're okay.
No. God did not allow for that. He
wanted the king to write it out personally so that his heart
could interact with every word of the Pentateuch and he would
not miss any precept that God had given to him. He wanted that
word to grip him. He wanted it to be a part of
him. And not only was he to write it out one time, he was to let
that word dwell with him every day of his entire life. He was
to be saturated in the word of God. It's a precondition to proper
ruling. They got to be conversant in
the scriptures. Next, God is the only security of our nation. It's not the military. Not a
balanced trade agreement. It's not good treaties. It is
God. In verse 3, David says, the rock
of Israel spoke to me. A rock was a natural fortress
as well as being a strong foundation. And so this is another feature
we should look for in candidates to office. Do these candidates
find their own personal security in God or in idols? Very, very important question.
Psalm 33 verse 12 says, blessed is the nation whose God is the
Lord. Now our money still declares
in God we trust, and I think we used to trust in God. It's
a lie now, but I think we used to trust in God. And Benjamin
Franklin warned Congress that their only security was as they
trusted God. Now to me it is a shameful rebuke
that it takes an unorthodox person who was tempted by deism. He
wasn't a pure deist and he became a little bit more orthodox, but
he was never orthodox. It's shameful that it takes a
person like Benjamin Franklin to warn the Congress that they
had better be trusting in God rather than in themselves. You
know, there are a lot of orthodox Christians he was rebuking. And
we need a rebuke as well when we think that we can run a country
leaving the scriptures out of it, making it secular, and still
have the blessing of God upon him. Anyway, here's Franklin's
words. In the beginning of the contest
with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers
in this room for divine protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard,
and they were graciously answered. All of us who are engaged in
the struggle must have observed frequent instances of a superintending
providence in our favor. And have we now forgotten that
powerful friend? Or do we imagine we no longer
need its assistance? I have lived, sir, a long time,
and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this
truth, that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow
cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that
an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, sir,
in the sacred writings that except the Lord build the house, they
labor in vain. that build it. I firmly believe
this, and I also believe that without his concurring aid, we
shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders
of Babel." Well, brothers and sisters, we actually live in
a Tower of Babel. We live in a Tower of Babel time,
and God's judgment is imminent. And if there is not a turnaround
of our country, we are going to be in trouble. And this is
why we cannot just be laxadaisical in our prayers for our nation.
This is why we cannot be laxadaisical in our efforts to try to influence
our nation. We can't do much. Dr. Fugate
and I had our first meeting this past week with a pastor who was
very well received. But we're wanting to go all around
Nebraska, trying to convince pastors of the importance preaching
the whole counsel of God even as it applies to controversial
subjects like politics. And begging these pastors to
be in prayer about the important issues. Taking on the idols that
are facing our nation. We are living in a crisis situation. The tipping point is here. And
I would encourage you to pray for us that God would give us
success. That God would give us hearing ears. And that God
would raise up others to do things. We have no idea what God is going
to do with what we're doing. We say, duty is ours, results
are in God's hands, but we've got to reach out and do something.
Well, David goes on to say in verse three, he who rules over
men must be just. I want you to notice that word
must. If you have a candidate who is
the lesser of two evils but is still unjust, God says you should
not choose him. Okay? Just write in a candidate. Pragmatic considerations cannot
trump God's must. He who rules over men must be
just. Now, who defines justice? Obviously
can't be the state because God criticizes states for being unjust. Who defines justice? It's God. Through what? Through the scriptures. Okay? So this is not just advice
for who rules over ancient men. I want you to notice how universal
this is. He who rules over men must be just. And if God's law
is the definition of justice, we are in trouble in the United
States of America. The ancient church father Augustine
said, without justice, what are states but great bands of robbers? Now we gave the Fuller quote
of that a number of Sundays ago where he went into great detail
and showed this actual quote where there was a bandit who
was taken by the emperor and the bandit said, hey, I'm not
doing anything different than you're doing. You just are a bigger
player on the field. He didn't say it exactly that
way. But I think this is a very important quote, and he's not
allowing the state to define justice. The definition of justice
comes from outside of the state. Let me repeat Augustine's quote,
because it's a very important statement on civics. Without
justice, what are states but great bands of robbers? Do you feel robbed by the state?
I certainly do. I definitely do. But Augustine's
point was that if God does not limit government with biblical
principles of justice, then there is no limit to the tyranny that
the state can engage in. He becomes, you know, the definition
from which you cannot appeal, basically. Ultimately, only Christ,
the King of Kings, is perfectly just, but it is by His grace
that He enables rulers to rule in justice. Isaiah 42 prophesies
of Christ saying, Behold, my servant whom I uphold, my elect
one in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon Him.
He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles. He will bring forth
justice for truth. He will not fail. It's a lot
to be discouraged about, isn't there? Jesus ain't discouraged.
He says, He will not fail nor be discouraged till He has established
justice in the earth and the coastlands shall wait for His
law. Now the mention of discouragement
shows that there is opposition in this world to Christ's justice
but gradually over time Christ will establish justice in the
nations of the earth and it has to come from His grace or it
will not happen. The only thing really that's
going to be lasting on earth in our lives personally, in our
families, in this church, in the state, anywhere, the only
thing that will be lasting is what has come from heaven. Thy
will be done on earth as it is in heaven. How does that happen?
Thy kingdom come, right? Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven. If that's not happening, then
all of your labors to try to establish something political
are in vain. They are in vain. It's got to
be heaven invading earth through, yes, us weak, miserable creatures,
just like these other heroes that we're going to be looking
at in this chiasm. They were weak, they were sinful, yet they
were sold out to Christ and Christ's grace worked through them in
advancing the cause of Christ on planet earth. Was it then?
No. It was Christ's kingdom coming
on earth as it is in heaven, His will being done on earth
as it is in heaven. For a king to be pleasing to
God, he needs both justification and sanctification. God must
see the king as positionally perfect in Christ, and then he
is, by his grace, making him, by sanctification, more and more
conformed to the perfection of Christ. But it's through Christ
that the scriptures over and over again indicate that it's
through Christ that kings reign, okay? So it's Christ's reign
as prophet, priest, and king that all things are being accomplished
on Earth that are going to be of any significance, any lasting
value upon planet Earth. In other words, the gospel is
needed for any ruler to rule a right. Now our founding father
said that this republic would stand only so long as the people
are a moral people. Well I would go way beyond that
and I would say it'll only be pleasing to God as long as Jesus
is its Lord and Savior. The following words are inscribed
on the Department of Justice building in Washington, D.C.
Justice in the life and conduct of the state is possible only
as it first resides in the hearts and souls of the citizens. Now
we could go a step further and say it can only reside in our
hearts, that's sanctification, if we are already standing in
Christ's righteousness. That's justification, okay? So
brothers and sisters, we've got a lot of work before us. before God is going to be pleased
because we do not have justice in the state of Nebraska. We
do not have justice in our nation. The evil of homosexuality is
called good, and God blasts all of those cultures that call evil
good and good evil, that call light darkness and darkness light,
and that is what is going on on a daily basis in our nation,
the IRS. And the other agencies are unaccountable.
Land is confiscated from farmers. We live in a topsy-turvy world
in which there is no justice. And the reason is because we've
abandoned the law of God. Do not expect justice if the
law of God has been thrown out of the courts and out of the
schools and out of every aspect of our public life. You cannot
have justice without God's definition of justice, which is the law
of God as it's given in Scripture. New Jersey used to have on its
official seal Righteousness exalteth a nation. And the rest of the
verse says, and sin is a reproach to any people. Well, our text
goes on to connect justice with the fear of God. And so the third
part of verse 3 says, he who rules over men must be just,
ruling in the fear of God. And I believe this is probably
the most fundamental problem in America. Our nation has no
fear of God. Rulers and judges have no fear
of God. And even many Christians who
are in political office fear their constituents far more than
they fear Almighty God. Some of you have McGuffey's readers
in your homes, and I was taking a glance at the one in our library.
In his fifth eclectic reader, he says, erase all thought and
fear of God from a community Selfishness and sensuality would
absorb the whole man The two go hand in hand a man without
the fear of God will eventually fall into any sin Proverbs 16
verse 6 says by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil and
we see people going to Washington just as an example who when they're
first being elected they're opposed to homosexuality and by the end
of their term they are a supporting, even aggressively supporting
homosexuality. And you wonder, what has gone
on in their lives? Well, they have no fear of God,
or at least they fear man much more than they fear God. And
so when they're around this group, they fear us, the conservatives
who are putting them into power, and they play to what? Please
you. When they're over here in Washington,
D.C., they fear the negative opinions of people who are speaking
in favor of homosexuality and against them. Because the fear
of man is the idol that grips their hearts, they're going to
be changing. It should not be a surprise at all. And the only
remedy for the fear of man is an even greater fear of God.
And so David says, he who rules over men must be just ruling
in the fear of God. It's not an option for any ruler,
and that ought to inform our voting. This is why Patrick Henry,
whom I consider to be one of the most consistent of the debaters
at the Constitutional, well, he wasn't at the Constitutional
Convention. He critiqued it, right? But he was one of the
most consistent Christian debaters of that time, one of my heroes.
He was an anti-federalist. You know, the Federalist Papers
were pretty good, just as a side note. But if you want to get
real good, look at the anti-Federalist Papers. You want to get real,
real good, you know, read some of the early colonial writings. Wow, they will blow you out of
the water on some of the things that they had to say. And I think
that Pastor Peter Allison kind of introduced us into that subject
yesterday. But anyway, here's what Patrick
Henry says. It cannot be emphasized too strongly
or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists
but by Christians. It is when a people forget God
that tyrants forge their chains. A true patriot as well as a genuine
leader must always take the higher ground of what? must always take the higher ground
of God's law when confronted with the evils of man's law. Now that's an interesting phrase
there. He is saying some civil laws are evil, must be opposed. We're not being faithful to Christ
if we do not oppose those laws. That was Patrick Henry. So he
said a true patriot as well as a genuine leader must always
take the higher ground of God's law when confronted with the
evils of man's law. Government is not the enemy,
for it is ordained of God. The enemy to freedom is tyrannical
government that presumes to take the place of God." And I say,
amen. Bring it on. Patrick Henry, I
mean, this is really a fundamental issue. Do rulers fear God? And this is becoming more and
more my prayer request. Lord, make the rulers to tremble. Bring such judgments that they
will tremble at your word, that they will fear your name. Without
the fear of the Lord, we can never be restored as a godly
republic. And I believe Our republic was
blessed beyond measure because we did have generations of people
who feared the Lord. Okay, next point. Blessing comes
to a nation that is under God in very concrete, measurable
ways. And it only comes upon a nation
that is characterized by the things that we've just gone through.
So look at the beautiful description of blessings promised in verse
four to such kingdoms. and kings and he shall be like
the light of the morning when the sun rises a morning without
clouds like tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining
after rain. That's a poetic description of
blessing and happiness that God will give when rulers rule in
the fear of God with justice. Now I fear that the blessings
that America has enjoyed for so long will soon run out unless
the Lord brings our nation to repentance. Daniel Webster said
in the early 1800s, if we abide by the principles taught in the
Bible, our country will go on prospering and to prosper. If
we in our posterity shall be true to the Christian religion,
if we and they shall always live in the fear of God and shall
respect his commandments, we may have the highest hopes of
the future fortunes of our country. If we in our posterity neglect
religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal
justice, trifle with injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy
the political constitution which holds us together, no man can
tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all
our glory in profound obscurity. Pray that our nation will embrace
not just the blessings but the whole package. You cannot have
the blessings without the whole package. Now, we are living still
on the fruits that came from the godly roots, but those roots
have been so withered up, we're going to lose the fruits as well.
Next point. David brings a hint that even
he himself had not lived up to the description of a king that's
just been given here. Verse five says, although my
house is not so with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting
covenant. Now if you have an ESV Bible
you will notice that it says the exact opposite of what I
have just read to you. And I've looked at the Hebrew
and I'm kind of mystified by how they got to the exact opposite. But they say, for does not my
house stand so with God? And I might say it's the very
opposite of what David said and what God himself said in 2 Samuel
chapter 7 when he gave this covenant that he is talking about here.
God spoke of chastening David's house with a rod of men and the
blows of men. And David said, Who am I, O Lord
God? What is my house that you have
brought me thus far? He knew that he had not been
living up to God's expectations as a king. In that chapter, it
speaks of God's mercy on David's house, and 2 Samuel 7 makes it
crystal clear that apart from the gospel of Jesus Christ, and
Acts quotes that passage in 2 Samuel 7 and applies it to Christ, apart
from the gospel of Jesus Christ, unless God saw David as united
with the King of kings and the Lord of lords, you know, ruling
through David, apart from that, he would have been rejected.
And again, he needs the gospel if he is to rule in a way that
is pleasing to God. So David is not saying that he's
been blessed because he's been so good, because he's been so
faithful. No, that's the way three translations
translate it. Let me give that. Here's some
versions that word it the way it should be
worded. I'll just skip over the others. New King James Version
says, although my house is not so with God, yet he has made
with me an everlasting covenant. The ASV, verily my house is not
so with God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant.
Web translation, most assuredly my house is not so with God.
yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant." Knox paraphrases this
rather loosely, what worth has my kindred in God's sight that
he should make an everlasting covenant with me? Now what difference
does it make how you translate that? Well, first of all, I think
the others are bad translations. But anyway, it does make a big,
profound difference to me. This is a statement that brings
comfort and some hope for our nation. God's mercy rests upon
kings and nations who submit themselves to his rule. It is
mercy, not what we deserve is mercy. We have sex scandals in
Washington, but so did David. But the difference is David ran
to the gospel. Now he did it rather slowly.
And he almost got dethroned as a result, right? But he ran to
the gospel. We have chapaquidics in Washington,
but so did David. We have lies and deceit in Washington,
but so did David. We have oppression in government,
abuse of spending, overtaxation, but so did Solomon, David's son.
God recognizes that even in government, we are not perfect, and the only
way he can bless governments is through the mercies of Jesus,
who alone is the perfect King of Kings, Lord of Lords everything
in life needs to be seen through the eyes of Jesus including the
government there is no sacred secular dichotomy all of life
must be put under Jesus now even with the gospel we're gonna see
in chapter 24 he was secure in Jesus but in chapter 24 there's
still discipline for his ungodly ruling right so even with the
gospel there is loving discipline that comes from the hand of God
so don't think today that things are hopeless. The Davidic Covenant
that David speaks of here brought tremendous encouragement to the
Reformers because it means that God can rule and God can bless
nations despite imperfections if they will confess their sins
like David did. If they will turn to the Lord
like David did. if they will look to his scriptures
like David did. See, what God is interested in
is a covenantal relationship with Christ. Are we a nation
willing to covenant with him, willing to have him rule over
us? Verse 5 indicates that salvation and the gospel must be applied
to politics. Although my house is not so with
God, yet he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and secure. For this is all my salvation
and all my desire. Will He not make it increase?
And that increase, I believe, speaks to sanctification and
growth in the application of God's law and gospel in a ruler's
life. Will He not make it increase?
Now, what are the alternatives to such a total submission to
King Jesus? Not very good. Look at verses
6 through 7. But the sons of rebellion shall
all be as thorns thrust away, because they cannot be taken
with hands. But the man who touches them must be armed with iron
and the shaft of a spear, and they shall be utterly burned
with fire in their place. This is the destiny of all rebel
rulers." Now, I'm not going to spend a lot of time on these
verses, mainly because I quit writing at 11.30 last night.
When I got up at 4.30 this morning, there just wasn't enough time.
You're probably glad since it's, what, 1205. But there are some
quick, quick points that I want to make as application from these
verses. First of all, I think it's worth
asking if your vote is promoting a son of rebellion when God wants
him thrust away. David says in our passage there
can be no neutrality. We are either for Christ or we
are against him. Now certainly he's a merciful
king. Certainly he has blessed our nation richly despite our
repeated sins against him. But there comes a time when he
says, enough is enough. He says, but the sons of rebellion
shall all be as thorns thrust away. So it's not enough for
you to vote for a person who has the best economic plan, or
who can debate the best, or who has the best plan for some pet
project that you like. If you are voting for a man who
is a rebel against Christ's kingdom, who is determined to destroy
Christ's laws, You are voting for thorns destined for God's
judgment. And if Christ wants them thrust
away, how on earth can you think you are pleasing Christ with
your vote when you are choosing such a thorn for a ruler? You
don't embrace a thorn. A thorn hurts you. He goes on
to explain. because they cannot be taken
with hands. Why can't they be taken with hands? Well, in the
physical realm, it's obvious. You take a thorn by your hands,
that thorn goes right through your hand. It hurts you, right?
But in the political realm, the same is true. And so the answer
to liberal humanistic politics is not conservative humanistic
politics. They are both thorns to be thrust
away, and I think we've seen it in America. You've seen the
squabbling between the Democrats and the Republicans, and both
of them give us the same thing, okay? They've both advanced collectivism
and statism, which is one of the biggest idols that needs
to be destroyed in America, and we're hurting for it. We've got
to get back to a scriptural perspective on politics. The conservative
and the pragmatic approach to politics has not worked. We have
tried it for how many generations? It has not worked because it
violates God's spiritual laws of harvest. If you insist on
planting thorns, you're going to keep getting more thorns.
I don't care whether they're conservative thorns, liberal
thorns, Marxist thorns, they're thorns! And thorns must be thrust
away. Now, of course, when he speaks
about hands, he does imply that humans are involved and we're
kind of fallible. We make mistakes when we choose
rulers, you know? And so our hands are involved
both in impeaching and in bringing in, in choosing. They're involved
in that. But God wants our judgment of evil men to be the same as
God's judgment of them. But the man who touches them
must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear, and they shall
be utterly burned with fire in their place." In other words,
once kings turn into rebels, it is very rare that they turn
good again. Only judgment, interposition
removes them. They won't step down on their
own. And when citizens are unwilling to get rid of their treasonous
kings through lawless means, God has to resort to providential
judgments. And he often uses humanistic
man to judge humanistic man. He used Babylon to punish Judah.
And then he used Persia to punish Babylon. Then he used the Greeks
to punish the Persians. Why? Because they wouldn't repent,
right? And so there is very literally these swords, these wars that
come, and many times wars are judgments that come from God's
hand. Now, I'll hasten to remind you that judgment by the sword
is not a foregone conclusion. Remember David's statement, although
my house is not so with God, yet he has made with me an everlasting
covenant. King Josiah, Hezekiah, and others
turned from the paganism and radical paganism of their fathers,
their parents, and returned to the Davidic covenant spoken of
in verse five, God's covenant over politicians. Nebuchadnezzar
is another example. The Davidic covenant gives a
basis for mercy in the face of political rebellion. Now we may
grow hopelessly depressed as we look at the state of affairs
in America, but remember that politics is not your savior.
And there have been several times in past history when things,
honestly, they have looked worse than what we're facing. People
think, how could they be worse? Yes, they've looked far worse
than what we are facing. Things were actually worse than
this in England prior to the time that God raised up Wesley
and Whitefield and many historians believe that if it had not been
for that first great awakening, they would have had a bloody
revolution just like France did. God had mercy because there was
repentance that came and transformed society. That is why 2 Chronicles
7 says, it is the church which is key to averting God's judgment
upon a government. If my people who are called by
my name, that's the church, will humble themselves and pray and
seek my face and turn from their wicked ways. Then I will hear
from heaven will forgive their sin and heal their land. So we are in a time of crisis
and the only hope for our nation, I believe, is another reformation
such as we have never seen before. A reformation of church, a reformation
of culture that I do think that there is hope. There is hope
if we will repent like David, pray like David prayed, return
to the scriptures as the foundation for politics as David returned
to the scriptures, and if we will insist on only choosing
rulers that meet the criterion of this song. You might not have
very many candidates to vote for. Don't worry about it. You've
done your responsibility. The duty is ours. The outcome
is God's. But let's seek to do everything
that we can to advance his cause. Amen. Father, we thank you for
your word, even when it steps on our toes, even when it hurts
us, because we want to be more like Jesus. His life to be lived
through us. And we desire, Father, that His
life would be lived through Christian magistrates, Christian judges,
those in the legislatures, in the executive office, those who
are in the sheriff's positions. We desire that Jesus would live
His life through these people, bringing illumination of their
understanding so they can see how the Scriptures apply. Pouring
forth your gospel grace into their hearts father, please bring
about a reformation in the Church of Jesus Christ that pastors
Might be pastors indeed accountable to you preaching your whole counsel,
unafraid of what people think, seeking by your gospel and by
your law to bring the kind of conviction that is needed. In
ourselves, Father, we feel weak, and yet your word is not an idle
word. Your word is sharper than any
two-edged sword, and we have a trust in it. We want to bring
it into the public sphere. We want to bring it into our
families. We want to bring it into every corner and nook of
our lives and see it doing its marvelous work. And so we pray,
by your word, you would examine our hearts, stir them up, and
give us a faith and a hope to expect great things from you
and to attempt great things for you. And we pray this all in
the strong name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.
David's Advice for Election Day
Series Life of David
The Bible gives minimum requirements for imperfect rulers. This is contrasted with the minimum requirements that most Christians have. This sermon serves as a shocking paradigm for the 21rst Century.
| Sermon ID | 9953162023190 |
| Duration | 53:18 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | 2 Samuel 23:1-7 |
| Language | English |
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