The Crown

The Story - How the Bible Explains Everything March 15, 2026 2 Samuel 7:8-16 Notes

So far, we’ve seen God’s Rescue Plan in motion: from Creation’s beauty to the Catastrophe of sin; from the Covenant with Abraham to the Commandments at Sinai. Last week, we saw the Conquest of the land. But a land needs a leader. A people need a King. Today, we arrive at The Crown.

The CROWN, where God promised David that a King would come through his line who would sit on the throne of an eternal kingdom. God promised a true king in an everlasting kingdom. Deep down, we are all nursing a ‘leadership wound.’ We instinctively long for a King who is both perfectly powerful and perfectly good, but our experience tells us that kind of King doesn’t exist.

In 2 Samuel 7, the word of the Lord came to David through the prophet Nathan, that God would establish a throne through David’s lineage that would reign over an everlasting kingdom. We can place our trust in the eternal King that God promised to raise up from David’s line.

Audio

Transcript

It's so good to be with you today. My name is Stephen Combs. I'm the pastor of worship and youth here at Eastgate Church. And I'm honored to continue our series called the Story. But before we jump in, we have a really big day coming up in just three weeks, and that is Easter Sunday.

And I just want to talk a little bit about what we're doing. We've been preparing for this since the fall. We started talking about it because Easter is a day that people who don't normally come to church any other Sunday will come on Easter. And so we're preparing that day not just for a crowd. We're preparing for change lives.

And here's our goal. We have two campuses. This is the Wilson campus at our Rocky Mount campus. We're praying for 250 to attend. We're praying for 20 first time guests here in Wilson.

We're praying for 600 in attendance. We're praying for 30 first time guests. And these aren't just numbers to us because each number represents a name, each name represents a soul. And every soul matters to God. And that's why you saw on your way in this morning, hopefully as you took a seat, there were some invite cards sitting in it and Gathering Place, you probably saw it on your table, I'm guessing.

And there are two invite cards there for. We encourage you to take this home with you. We made it this small size so that way you could fit it in your purse, fit it in your wallet, and maybe just as you're going, just give them to people. It doesn't even have to be people. You know, one thing I did last time we did this was I was in the Taco Bell drive thru, went for my debit card and was like, oh, and just gave that to the person there.

So we're trying to make it really easy for you to invite people to church. You'll hear about it more later in the service. But we have this container down here for our. It's time cards and something. Maybe you've already done this before.

You've already written down names of people that you're praying for. Maybe something different you would do for Easter is that you would specifically write down people that you're inviting to church on Easter that you'd like to pray for. I mentioned Gathering Place a second ago. Hey there, Gathering Place. And that is a fantastic service that takes place at the same time as our worship center.

They're doing folk music over there, but they watch the same sermon. And so if you've Never attended Gathering Place. Know that that is. We purposefully built that to make room for more for big days like Easter. But as our church is growing, we need that space.

And so if you've never checked out Gathering Place, man, you don't know what you're missing. It's a fantastic. Maybe Easter would be the Sunday where you're like, all right, I'm going to check out Gathering Place that Sunday and make sure that we have room for all these people that are coming. You heard us talk about the food drive in the announcement video earlier, and that's starting this coming Saturday. What we're doing this coming Saturday is we're going to be going around in multiple neighborhoods, and we're going to be hanging grocery bags on people's doors, and it's going to have a little message on there inviting them to donate goods to the local Hope Station.

What we know from talking to Hope Station is that they rely on this every year. We've been doing it so long, we're one of their biggest donors. And so we're going to be going and dropping the bags off on the 21st, coming back on the 28th, and we're going to be picking them up and then putting door hangers there. This is an opportunity not for marketing, but for mission. And it's a small, easy way to participate with us in reaching the city for Jesus while we're going to meet their physical needs and we're going to hopefully open spiritual doors.

Now, we do have some left we've been hearing us talk about for the last few weeks that we have yard signs. If you go out in the lobby, on your way out there in the corner, there are some yard signs left. We encourage you to put those up in your neighborhood and as a way maybe to even identify, like, hey, I'm someone that goes to church. I'm someone that you can come talk to. But I find, too, it's actually helpful for me, when I come home at the end of the day, I see the sign.

It's a reminder to me to pray for my street. And so we encourage you to put those up. Easter is going to be a big day. It's only a few weeks away. I'm so excited about it.

It's a time for us for prayer. It's a time for invitation. We're going to have a baptism that day. And so it's a time for us as a church, to arrive to Easter ready to go, that you're going to invite people you're prepared for the day you're prayed up pray for people to come to Jesus on Easter Sunday. Amen.

So back into the story. I'm really excited to be continuing this series. We're kind of like dead center in the middle of it. It's a 12 part series and what you've seen us talk about is that we started at the creation and our goal in this series to talk about from creation all the way to consummation from beginning to end. And what we're looking for is we're looking for Jesus on every single page.

And you've heard us talk about creation's beauty, but then about the catastrophe of sin. You heard us talk about Noah and you heard us talk about the covenant God made with Abraham. You heard us talk about Moses and the Red Sea and the commandments. Last week we learned about the conquest of the land. But now the land needs a king and there arrives.

Today's message is called the crown. The crown where God promised David that a king would come through his line who would sit on the throne of an eternal kingdom. God promised a true king of an everlasting kingdom. Now last week my son Deacon, as I was coming to the lobby, he had one of these crowns on his head that our kids ministry gave out. And he was a cute, cute little guy.

You know, I look at the crown and I think about when you're a kid and how fascinating the idea of being a king, how fascinating the idea of being a queen is. And then you get older and you learn that crowns are like the most anti American thing that we can have. Like 1776 was we were trying to get away from this. And so the idea of a dominant ultimate ruler whose line would also continue, you don't get a vote on that is not something that sits well with us. In fact, I would say that maybe the idea of a king is falling on deaf ears for some of us this morning because you have a leadership wound we just had.

I mean, it's an election year this year and I feel like we just had an election and here we are doing it again. And with each election people get their hopes up like that my person is going to get elected and they're going to change everything and it's going to be so perfect this time. But then you have the opposition who thinks completely opposite of you. If we were to survey our two rooms here, the worship center and gathering place, I guarantee you we would have so much division over whose right to sit in that office. But no matter who we elect, they never do actually fix things in the way that we perfectly imagine they never do live up to our expectations, because in our heart, what we really want is someone who's perfect.

And the message this morning, the encouraging thing that I want us all to hear, is that there is one who is perfect. There is a king who we can all look to, who we can all find unity under, even though we might have disunity over who's sitting in office and it might scare us. There is one king who reigns forever, and that is King Jesus, the king of kings. And we can all come together to worship his name. Amen.

That's a king and a kingdom that will never end. And 3,000 years ago, the Israelites were looking for a king. God was trying to discourage the idea because he was saying, I'm your king. You don't need a king. You've got judges.

You don't need a king. But they insisted, and so he allowed them to select a king. Who'd they pick? They picked the coolest guy they could find. He was tall, he was good looking, he was strong, he was good with his words.

Man, the guy was charismatic. He was awesome. His name was Saul. And they were like, man, we've really done it this time. But no, Saul turned out to not be such a good king.

And so then the story picks up to God selecting a man named David. And we're going to talk all about him today. That at the age of 37, God spoke into David's life and he revealed to him a covenant that he wanted to make in and through him. We see in 2nd Samuel, chapter 7, the word of the Lord came to David through the prophet Nathan that God would establish a throne through David's lineage that would reign over an everlasting kingdom. What does that mean to us?

We might not feel like we can trust the person that's sitting in the presidency or in the senate or in the house, but we can trust this king. And we're going to hear three reasons this morning why you can place your ultimate trust and confidence in this eternal king. I'd like to invite you right now to stand to your feet as we read the Word of God together. We're going to be turning to the book of Second Samuel, chapter seven. Where is Second Samuel?

It's page 259. It's right after First Samuel if you're looking for it. We're going to look at verse 8, 2nd Samuel 7, verse 8. And I'll just kind of, you know, listen along. But when we get to verse 16, let's read it out Loud together.

So here we go. Verse 8. Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David. Thus says the Lord of hosts. I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel.

And I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies.

Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers. I will raise up your offspring after you. And you shall come who shall come from your body. And I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men. But my steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. Let's read this last verse together. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me.

Your throne shall be established forever. And may God bless the reading of his word. Amen. Amen. You can have a seat.

As I said, there are three reasons here that we see that we can trust in Jesus. The first reason we want to identify here is because in him we experience unmerited favor. In him we experience unmerited favor. Notice throughout the passage, the word I is said a lot. It's sprinkled all through it.

And what God's saying here is he's speaking of his own sovereign role in the fulfillment of his eternal plan. He's saying, I'm going to do it. I have done it. I'm going to do it. This is not reliant on your strength.

This is something that I'm going to do. And as we were reading this passage this week, we learned that this is actually the most that God has spoken in one setting since he spoke to Moses back at Mount Sinai, which is really cool. So God has something really big he's trying to tell us here. So let's pay attention. He says there in verse eight.

Now, therefore, you shall say to my servant David, who's God talking to? He's talking to the prophet Nathan. Why is he wanting to speak to David? Well, a little bit of context here. David, I said, was 37 years old.

He is king of Israel, king of Judah. And the ark, which had been stolen by the Philistines, has now been returned. And then you get the story of David dancing in the kingdom and just so excited that he brought the ark home. And then he's sitting there in the evening and he's looking around at his house, and he says to the prophet Nathan, man, here I am sitting in a house of cedar while the ark sits out there in a tent. This isn't right.

I want to build a house for the Lord. And so Nathan at first is like, yeah, that sounds pretty good. But then God, who knows what needs to happen, decides to intervene right here. And so what does he do? Here we pick up verse 8.

Now say this to my servant David. Say what? Verse 8. I took you from the pasture from following the sheep that you should be prince over my people, Israel. David was just a shepherd.

He wasn't looking to be king. He didn't seek this out. This isn't a contract that David asked for. It was a rescue from God to pull him out of that pasture. And to do what?

To send him to the prince's court. We call this covenant, the Davidic Covenant. And it's not built on David's resume, it's built on God's resolve. And what does he say in verse 9? I have been with you.

And this word been with is like the word abide. I've stayed stuck with you wherever you went, and I've cut off, I've killed all your enemies from before you. He's here claiming that every victory you had, I was behind it. I was the one who made it possible. So he starts by telling David, here's the things I've done.

Just to be clear, I did it. And now here are things that I'm going to do. And there are nine I wills in this whole passage. Granted, one of them says, the Lord will, but it's the same intent. He tells us nine things that he's going to do.

And as you read this, the way that it's spoken is meant that each promise is meant to stack on the other one. I'm going to do this, then this, then this, this, and this. And so as you read it, you read things like, I'm going to make for you a great name. I'm going to appoint A place for you. I'm going to plant your people in one place.

Finally, I'm going to give you rest. And then what does he say in verse 11? I'm going to make you a house.

Didn't this whole thing start by David expressing that he was going to build God a house? God turns that on its head and he says, I don't want you to build me a house. I'm going to build a house. Now when he says the word house here, God's not talking about a wooden structure that's going to at some point go away. He's talking about a dynasty here in David.

When he says, I'm building in you a house, he's saying that I'm going to build a household. You, a household that would last forever. And just like how God called David to be king and that he gave him this favor that was unmerited. We have another word for that. It's called grace.

He gave David this grace that he just did not deserve. This God has also called us into the kingdom of God. And it's a gift, and it's not because of our work. Look, in Ephesians, chapter two, it says, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing.

It is the gift of God, not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. So we read in verse 11, God says, I will make you a house. The gospel is right there, guys. We try to do things for God to earn our spot, but he's saying, stop trying to build me a house. Stop trying to work your way to me.

You can't do it. But I have already built a house for you. And the house is King Jesus. And he's calling us not to be subjects to his kingdom, but to be heirs to us, to be part of the household of David that he talks about right here. And we see evidence of that In Romans, chapter 8, where it says, for you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry Abba, Father.

The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and fellow heirs of Christ. Here God, through the apostle Paul in Romans is telling us, that household that I was talking about back there with David, that didn't. That's not just a bloodline, that's a spiritual bloodline that.

Guess what? You are part of that household that I was talking about back there. Now, each part of this series We've been kind of. Just as we're talking about each character, let's capture their story together and see how it speaks to. Like I said, we're looking for Jesus on every page.

And I mentioned earlier that David was king at the age of 37. Well, it didn't start that way. When David was around 12 to 15 years old. As I mentioned earlier, Saul had been a disappointment and God had turned away from him, and it was time for them to select a new king. And Samuel was still grieving over this because what a huge letdown.

Samuel was part of that whole process. And God's talking to Samuel, trying to encourage him. He's like, it's okay, I've selected someone else. I want you to go to the house of Jesse. Jesse's a shepherd.

Okay, that's fine. Go to the house of Jesse. And when his. When his sons come into the room, I'm gonna tell you which one is gonna be the future king. And so he goes to the house of Jesse.

And the first son comes into the room. And Samuel looks at him. He's like, man, look at that guy. Look how impressive he is. Is that him?

God says, no, second son comes into the room. He's like, surely that's. I mean, look at that guy. That's got to be him. God says, no, third son comes a fourth son, comes a fifth son comes a sixth son.

And then God still hasn't said yes yet. And he asked Jesse, is that all? Is that all your sons? And Jesse is like, well, I mean, there is another one, but he's David. And he's out there and he's tending the sheep.

And in Jesse's head, He's thinking he's 12 to 15 years, like he's a little teenager. Do we have any 12 to 15 year olds here in the room this morning? Like, that could be you he's talking about right now. Okay. And your parent is sitting there next to you, going, yeah, I probably wouldn't have sent you in there either to be king, you know?

But as soon as Samuel lays eyes on David, God tells him that's him. And so I kind of like this illustration right here that it shows maybe what this could have looked like. There stand the six strapping young men, his brothers, watching their little teenage brother get anointed as king.

And then what does David do? Does he get to go now to the king's courts? I'm king now. He goes back to shepherding. In fact, later on, King Saul, who God had put a spirit in him, that was a negative one.

It was conflicting. It was stirring him up in a bad way. And he's like, I need some music around here, man. Do we have any good musicians in the kingdom? And somebody was like, I heard from the house of Jesse that David's a pretty good musician.

So he sends for David, who is supposed to be king. But Samuel's afraid to tell Saul because Saul will probably kill him. And so David gets sent to the courts of the King Saul. And now he's his musician. He's sitting there with a lyre.

He's sitting there with like electric guitar, you know, and he's just playing music. Now when he's around ages of 15 to 18. Do I have any 15 to 18 year olds in the house? Yeah, just imagine this. He's playing in the courts for the king, but he's also still got his duties as a shepherd.

And so he's back and he's tending the sheep. When the Israelites and the Philistines, their lines have been drawn and they're getting ready to have this big battle. And all of a sudden comes from the line of the Philistines, this beast of a man named Goliath. And it said that he was over nine feet tall. It said that his armor itself weighed about 125 pounds.

He's just a monster. And he comes stepping out and he's like, if any one of you can strike me down, then the rest of us will be your servants. And immediately the Israelites ran.

And so then the next day they come out and he declares it again. And they just cower in fear and don't do anything. This happens for 40 days. And finally David's father, Jesse says, hey, I want you to bring some food to your brothers, you little anointed king. I want you to bring some food to your brothers.

And so he leaves the sheep and he goes to his brothers to bring them food. And there steps out Goliath again. And Jesse's like, who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of God? And the brothers are like, hush, you. What are you doing right now?

And David just can't let that go. And so he goes to King Saul himself and he says, look, I've had to fight bears, I've had to fight lions. This guy's no different. I struck them down. He's going to fall just like they did.

And so Saul says, well, okay. And he gives his armor to David. The king's armor now is sitting on David But David decides not to wear that now. Man, like, that was like students. Like, that was the greatest aura, like, you know, you could have possibly had, you know.

But he says, no, I can't wear this, it's too restrictive. And so he takes off the armor and he goes down to a brook, which is a little stream, and he gathers five smooth stones because he's going to take his slingshot to fight Goliath. Now, when I say slingshot here, when I was a kid, I always imagined Dennis the Menace with a little like, oh, this is going. I'm going to put his eye out, you know. No, this is what this thing was like.

That is terrifying.

How in the world are you accurate with that thing? I have no idea. And you gotta imagine there probably were some other slingers there that were like, they could have tried this. But you gotta remember there's this beast of a man with a javelin and a spear running at you. And you have to somehow hope and pray that you hit the guy, because if you don't, you're gone.

And David approaches him and, I gotta read this. This is so good. He says, where is it at? You come to me with a sword and a spear and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you had defile. He takes this sling, wham.

Hits him right in the forehead, knocks him down. It says, the stone sunk into his skull, grabbed Goliath's sword, chopped his head off. You read this story and you're like, man, how great of a man is David? But God now at the age of 37, is correcting him and saying, you know, I know when you were like 16 years old, you struck down the giant. I did that.

You didn't do that without me. Most of us here maybe are living on the treadmill of performance. We think that in order to stay in God's good graces, we have to be the best employee, we have to be the perfect parent, we have to be the most put together Christian. But the Davidic covenant says that the king's favor for you is unmerited. You will not earn it, you cannot earn it.

That to be right in God's eyes is not something you can do or have done, but it's only by grace that God has decided to give you. So quit trying to earn the favor of the king. Quit trying to reach heaven based on your resume, because God's offering you his and it is perfect. The same God who made a shepherd into a prince. Is inviting us sinners to be children of God.

The second reason that we can trust Jesus is because in him we serve an eternal kingdom. In him we serve an eternal kingdom. Now, in verses 12 to 13, we're getting to the heart. I think of the matter here is that kings will come and go, nations will rise and fall. But God is establishing something altogether different here.

He's established, he's promising an eternal king and an everlasting kingdom. And this is going to give us, as a church, the purpose and permanence that we could never experience apart from the kingdom of God. In verse 12, he says, when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, basically, David, you're going to die one day. I'm going to raise up your offspring. And this is important.

He doesn't say this in a singular or like a plural sense. He says it in a singular sense. Offspring is meant to say the word seed without an s at the end. Why does he say it that way? Because in Galatians 3, we read this now, the promises that were made to Abraham and to his offspring, it does not say to offsprings referring to many, but referring to one, and that's to your offspring who's Christ.

So right here, here he is talking to David, and all David was trying to do is build him a temple. And he's saying, through your offspring. And David, I'm sure, is thinking about his son, his sons. But here, God is already talking about Jesus. Isn't that cool?

And he says, 13, he shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. So right here, God's breaking the sad news to David. You said you wanted to build me a house. You're not going to be the one that does it. It's going to be your son.

Y' all know who the son is that builds the temple for God? Solomon. So his son Solomon is going to be the one who builds it. But it says he will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. If my history is right, that temple got torn down.

That kingdom, Israel was conquered. That's because God was speaking to something bigger than Solomon. Right here, he was speaking to a forever kingdom. So there was an immediate word here, and there was an ultimate word here. And the coming of Jesus depicted everything that God had promised to David.

As we look to the book of Luke, chapter one, you're going to see some parallel language here that I think is just amazing. In verse 30, it says the angel said to her, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have Found favor. There's that unmerited favor again with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. And you shall call his name Jesus.

He will be great, and he will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of God forever. And of his kingdom there will be no end.

There was thousands of years that went by there between David's covenant and now this new word to Mary. And here God is saying, I didn't forget my covenant. Here it comes. It's coming through Jesus right here. What does that mean to us, though?

It means that because Jesus is king, we now have a clear purpose in what we are to do. And that's to make disciples. Matthew 28, it says, and everybody should be hopefully familiar with this. If you've been around for any length of time with our church, this is the Great Commission. And Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. Maybe we don't focus on this last part as much as we are today, but listen to this. Behold, I am with you. There's that abide word he's saying, I'm going to be with you like I was David, always to the end of the age. So here God is saying to you.

And I. I said I would be with David. And I said the kingdom would last forever. It's same for you here this morning. This word in the book of second Samuel is a word for you. And I remember that God's authority is eternal.

Our mission is essential. God's authority is eternal. Our mission is essential. So when you pour into your kids or when you share the gospel with your neighbor, what's the gospel? That's like this scary word, right?

Like what is. How do I share the gospel? Where do I start? What is the gospel? Means good news.

Well, what's the good news? The good news is that I was dead in my sin with no way to get to heaven. No matter what I did, I couldn't work my way there. But God sent his son Jesus, to live the life that I just could not live. To die the death that I deserved.

To raise again on the third day, a thing that I couldn't possibly do, to ascend to heaven and establish a throne in which he will Call me heir and son and reign forever in him. That's really good news. Why do we over complicate this? Why can't we just tell somebody the good thing that God did for us? Maybe it's because we've over complicated what the word gospel means.

Go tell the good thing that he did. Why wouldn't you tell everyone about this? God's inviting you that this is part of your mission. Go do that. And here's the relief right here to me because I think I get so freaked out by like, what if I say the wrong thing?

Well, he says in Matthew 16, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. If you'll be the church, he'll build the church. If we'll be the church, he will build the church. So let's go be the church and let's serve a kingdom that will never end. Let's trust in a king who keeps his promises.

Speaking of keeping his promises, let's pick up where we just left off. David was 15 to 18 years old. He is 30 when he finally becomes king of Judah. So there's this window of time here between 18ish to 30, where here's what's happening. He kills Goliath.

And then the people of Israel began to sing songs about David and saying, Saul has killed his thousands, David's killed his tens of thousands. And this word gets to Saul's ears. And Saul, remember, he's not a good king. He's jealous. David's sitting over there playing his lute or whatever, you know, but maybe he's playing some violin, I don't know what he's playing.

And Saul just randomly just throws a spear and barely misses his head. And David begins to run for his life. The person who was anointed king, who had killed Goliath, was now running in fear from the king who he was trying to serve. And all the while in his head you got to assume like the promise of God was resonating. Like, was that true?

Did I do something wrong? Because now I'm living in a cave and I'm here with about 400 guys who are in debt, who are discontented, we're distressed, we're depressed. And these are the men that the Bible later calls the mighty men. These are my mighty men. These are the mighty misfits.

And I'm in a cave, not a kingdom. This cave that you see in the picture here is called the cave of Adullam. And that's where you read about these 400 guys living there. So here David is running for his Life for about 12 to, sorry, 10 to 12 years. And you got to imagine, I mean, I'm sure we would all be this way.

That little voice inside of you here that's talking to you, because guess who talks to me more than anybody. I talk to myself more than anybody else talks to me. And it's the same for you. We all talk to ourselves more than anybody else does. And here's the beautiful thing about David, is that he knew how to take that self talk and to turn it to no matter what it started out as.

He would speak promises and speak a redemptive word. So check this out. You gotta imagine this is the kind of thing you write when you're living in a cave. Psalm 13. How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? And then he begins his pivot. I love reading the Psalms because of this.

He begins his pivot. So I'm going to. I came to him honestly. Now here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to ask God, consider and answer me, O Lord, my God, light up my eyes lest I sleep in death, Lest my enemies say I have prevailed over him.

Lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. So he comes to God in prayer now. And now what is he going to do? He declares what he's going to do. Here's what I'm going to do.

I'm going to trust in your steadfast love. My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt with bountifully with me. What did David do to war against his bad self talk? He worshiped.

He sang. That's why we do stuff like what we're doing here on Sundays. Maybe you've even wondered to yourself, why do they sing music every Sunday? It's because of this kind of reason I need to be reminded the truths of God. I need to sometimes sing in order to get rid of that negative self talk that wants me to be isolated, depressed, angry, full of anxiety.

I have to let the word of God bathe over me instead of me bathing myself in negativity. So maybe this morning you're in a cave. Maybe you're here this morning and you're in a season of waiting and the delay to God's promise has caused you to Doubt whether it was true or real. Consider David, who was anointed king between 12 and 15 and didn't become king till he was 37. How long have you been waiting on God, and will you continue to trust him?

Maybe a good recipe for learning how to overcome this is to read Psalm 13 out loud as if it were you saying it. You've already accomplished what I would argue would be one of the best recipes for this negative self talking. I said go to church, hear the word of God spoken, sing a song together and come alongside brothers and sisters who you we need each other because otherwise the negative talk will take over. And then stop overthinking everything about what going and making disciples means. Stop overthinking.

I just want to know what my purpose is. We believe here that what we do on Sundays is of great importance in the process of making disciples. Otherwise we wouldn't be doing this. We're trying to follow the Great Commission here. And what that means is from the parking lot to the lobby to the kids ministry, to the kitchen to the worship center to the TED Booth, everything that we're doing here is a part of the disciple making process.

People come to Jesus here at church and people grow more like Christ here at church. This is the disciple making process. So if you're trying to figure out what you're here for, just take the first step. Can you hold a door for somebody? Can you go and sit as an assistant in one of our kids classrooms?

Can you hit the space bar on the computer, you know, and go the next slide? That seems insignificant. But God is using all these things to create this environment in which friends, he speaks to me, he corrects me, he gets some junk straightened me that needed to be straightened out. And then would you continue to serve? Don't give up.

God's given you something that he wants you to do. Don't give up on his calling. Remember that he will build the church. Remember that he's building an everlasting kingdom and it will not crumble. So keep investing in it.

Don't stop. Even though it might look tough right now, do not stop investing in that kingdom. Because if you live in a cave, you can live for a kingdom that never ends. And then finally we can trust in this king. Because in him we receive steadfast love.

In him we receive steadfast love. So Our scripture today 14 through 16, we've saved the best for last. This is the best news of all time. Here he is saying that there is one who will coming, that will endure the pain of the rod of men and suffer their strife, and that he's going to give us a steadfast love of a God who will never depart from us. So let's break this down a little bit.

It says in verse 14, I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. I have done something really weird with my notes here. There we are. We're back on. Back on track.

And so here he is. He's saying, I will be a father to these people. What do fathers do? Sometimes they say, no, sometimes the thing I'm asking for is not really the thing I need. My son Deacon will ask for milk and yogurt all day long.

Now it's cereal. He has the worst preference in diet of any human being, I think. And if I just go along with that, he's just going to be a nasty, milky man when he grows up.

Say, I'm going to be a father, I'm going to correct you. Which means, sometimes I need to discipline you. Sometimes I'm not going to give you the thing you ask for because you don't understand what you're asking for. And he's saying, that's the kind of relationship I'm going to have. But he's saying that to David here.

And then he says, when he commits iniquity, which means does wrong. And so that's clear, like, okay, he's speaking to my son here, and he's a human being. He's going to make mistakes. But if we're trying to argue this whole time that the promises he's making to David and to his son then extend to Jesus, how does that make any sense? Because Jesus didn't do anything wrong.

Jesus never sinned. How do we justify this? Maybe we're not talking about Jesus here. No, that's not true. Jesus may not have sinned, but check this out.

Second Corinthians 5, for our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Even here, when he's talking about the iniquity, that still applies to Jesus. Jesus took on your sin. He lived the perfect life and was sinless until he took on that cross. And then he became sin who knew no sin.

It says in v.14, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men. Now we kind of have another problem, because if you're thinking about Solomon, Solomon inherited the throne from David. He lives a full life to completion without ever having to face war. He never Took on the rods of men. He never took on the stripes of men.

This doesn't make any sense. Well, it's because this prophecy was to Jesus. Listen to this. In Isaiah 53. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

Yet we esteemed him, stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him. By his stripes we are healed.

This is what I love about reading the word of God. And this is why I want to be a student of this Word. Because this wasn't written by just like one great author, like, I love J.R. tolkien. Okay, great. This was written by the greatest author who wrote this book over centuries.

And you find these words like this pop up through the prophet Isaiah. By his stripes we are healed. There he is speaking of the thing that he covenanted with David. And he's not talking about Solomon. He's talking about Jesus here.

And then it just continues to get better in verse 15. But my steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put before you. Here he is saying, my love is anchored. It's not going anywhere. It's steadfast.

It will not depart from your line. And that line is us. He's saying, I will not depart, my love from Solomon. I will not depart, my love from Jesus. I will not depart, my love from you.

And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure before. Sorry, this verse 16. Your house will be made sure forever before me. Your throne will be established forever. As I said earlier, we know Solomon's temple was torn down.

We know that the kingdom of Israel was conquered. I'm confused by this. How does it rain forever? Check this out. John 2.

Jesus answered them, Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up. Well, every disciple is like, looking at the temple and going, it took us 46 years to build this temple. How are you going to raise it up in three days? He was speaking about the temple of his body that says that right there in verse 21. So this house that God was building, Jesus is saying, I'm that house now.

It never was about this. Ultimately, it maybe was at that time, but ultimately it was about this. But it doesn't stop there. Listen to this. When Jesus ascended to heaven, we became the temple.

First Corinthians 3. Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells within you? Thousands of years ago. He talks about a house that he was going to build that would last forever. Jesus comes and he becomes the house.

And now, because Jesus is with the Lord, I am that house. You are that house. This word is for us. And he's saying, you will live forever. You serve a kingdom that will never end.

You are my temple now, and you will not be destroyed, declares the king.

So David's around 37 years old. He was 12 to 15 when he heard when he was anointed. 15 to 18 when killed. Goliath lived in caves. Around the age of 30.

They actually did make him king over Judah, but Judah and Israel were separate, so he's still not really king yet. But around the age of 37, Saul was assassinated. And so then they made David king of Israel. All these years later, he's finally king at the age of 37. And so then God makes this covenant that we just read.

But David's life's not over yet. He still has a lot of reigning left to do. And David's going to test the promise. When God says, I will give you steadfast love, David's going to put that to the test. In the spring.

It says, when all kings go to battle, the warrior king, the killer of Goliath himself, doesn't go to battle. He stays home. And he's like, I think all of us are you at first. You're like, I just need some time off, man. And now he's bored.

What do I do now? So he goes up on the roof and he's just looking around. There's a woman bathing over there. He looks away and then he goes and does the long look again. There's a woman bathing over there.

And that wasn't good enough. David then sends for her, finds out that her name is Bathsheba. What a hilarious name to be named if you were taking a bath.

Finds out she's married. Okay, I'm married too. I'm David. I've got a few wives. And he sleeps with her and then sends her back home.

Alright, nobody needs to know about that that happened. Nobody needs to know. She reports back a few weeks later, she's pregnant. Oh, no. All right, what do I do?

What do I do? What do I do? My army's at war. Send for her husband, Uriah. Bring him home, and he'll sleep with his wife because he's home with her.

He's missed her. Uriah comes home from battle, sleeps on his front porch and says, how could I sleep in the bed of my wife when My brothers were out there sleeping in the dirt. Come on, man. Like that was the plan. I was gonna.

It was gonna be a cover up. Like you were gonna sleep with your wife, you're gonna stay with your baby. So what does he do? He sends for Uriah and he writes a note for Uriah to deliver to the general. And in that note, he commands, send Uriah to the front line.

And when you were at the heat of battle, pull back and leave him. And then he hands that note to Uriah, who delivers his own death sentence to the general. Now David has killed to cover up his own sin, but God knew about it. God saw it. And God told Nathan the prophet about it.

And Nathan came to David and said, the truth has found you out. The Lord knows what you have done. You may have hidden it before men, but he knows. And David, who is not like the king before him, Saul, who was unrepentant when he sinned, David repented. And this is beautiful right here.

He wrote down what he was thinking and feeling in that moment. When you look at the book of Psalm, chapter 51, it starts by saying, he said, this is after Nathan had confronted him. This is after he had sinned with Bathsheba. What does David write? Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love.

Oh, I got chills just thinking about that. I'm quoting the covenant back to you. God, according to your steadfast love. Would you, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin? Oh God, I've screwed up so bad this time.

You said your love was steadfast. Are you keeping your promise with me because I've really screwed up?

And then God delivers that same promise to you and I in the book of Hebrews 13:5. I will never. This is God and this is you. I will never leave you and I will never forsake you. His love is steadfast for you and I as well.

And maybe you're here this morning and you're like, boy, what I did last night is unforgivable. The thoughts I had on the way to church this morning were unforgivable. How could God love a dirty soul like me through his son, Jesus Christ? A death that we did deserve, but a grace we didn't. He gave that to you and I.

And he says, I love you in spite of you. I chose to love you before you existed. I sent Jesus a long time ago because I love you now. So Would you come to Jesus? He stayed through the nails.

He'll stay with you through your struggle, friend. We can trust in the King because his favor is unmerited. His kingdom is eternal and his love is steadfast. He's the only kind of king that does these kinds of things, by the way. He's the only kind of thing king that does things for us that we don't deserve.

He's the only kind of king that will build his own kingdom and ask us to come along with him and can build an eternal one. And he's the only kind of king that would love you unconditionally, steadfastly. You don't have to trust in the government of this world anymore. You can be a citizen to a kingdom that never crumbles. Citizen to a king who is perfect and his name is Jesus.

Pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, I don't deserve it. And I'm full aware of that right now. When I read the story of David, I feel like I'm Saul. I feel like I'm the screw up. But yet you declare to me this morning that this word is for me and that you love me in spite of me.

You've given me things that I don't deserve. And above all else you gave me Jesus Christ, who I did not deserve deserve. And I do not deserve to be called his son. I do not deserve to be called an heir. I do not deserve to serve a kingdom that never ends.

I deserve the little sandcastle kingdom I'm building right now. But yet you chose to love me in spite of me. Maybe you're here this morning and you've never given your life to Jesus, but you realize now is the moment. It's time for me to stop trying to wear the crown. It's time for me to stop looking to the crowns of earth.

I'm going to look to the crown of the King right now and I'm going to to give him my life. Would you pray this with me, Lord? I make you Lord, I ask you to be my Savior and to be the King of my life. Forgive me for my sin because I know that there's no way that I can work my way to you. Wash me clean by Jesus blood and love me forever like only you can do.

Maybe you're here this morning and you've given Christ your life, but you're recognizing right now that you've been putting some hope and expectation in earthly kings. You've been putting it into maybe your own little kingdom. And you're recognizing right now God before God that this little sandcastle kingdom you're building is going to wither away and it's not going well for you. Pray with me right now. God.

I realign my commitment right now to you. Forgive me for trying to do things on my own. Forgive me for being so lazy and not getting up and and letting you build the kingdom while I be the church. Lord.

I got to get back to work and doing the going of making disciples. You told me to do it. It's time for me to get back to it. To trust you with my life and trust you with the results. Would you?

I reinstate you as king.

I lay my crown before you now. Ask all this in Jesus name. Amen.

Audio

Transcript

Good morning, church. Thank you so much for being here today. We are continuing a series we started a few weeks ago called the Story. We're going through the whole Bible in 12 weeks and as you well know, that's pretty well impossible. So we're really just hitting some highlights as we go.

This week. We're going to be talking about some of the most famous parts of scripture as we dig into a bit of the life of King David and the Davidic covenant. Today we're calling this sermon the Crown. But before I get into that, you got some stuff in your seat. First of all, let me just talk about this right here.

This is a little tool for you to invite your friends, your neighbors, your co workers, your family members to church. And so this is just a little helpful tool for you because, hey, we want to, as best we can, share the gospel with them on Easter Sunday. We're making you a promise that really every week we're going to be sharing a clear gospel and presenting a clear worship of Christ. But on that Sunday, it's going to be very, very careful in particular as we look at the cross. That's where we're going to be in the story of scripture that week, looking at the cross and resurrection of Jesus.

So this is a great opportunity for you to bring your friends. And you know what you'll find is a lot of people will try out church on Easter that might never try it any other time. And so use that as a tool. And then if you haven't done this yet, if there's some names you've been praying for, some people you've been thinking about, please write in a few names right here of people that we can pray for with you, our staff, this past week, and we're going to do it again this week. We actually take time and pray for every one of these names over our staff time together.

And so if you've got some people in mind, family members, somebody like that, write their names in and put it in that little glass container as you're leaving or put it in these buckets. And we'll be praying for you this week because we're believing something here and we're going to be unapologetic about this. We're believing that God is going to fill the room on Easter Sunday so that his name would be prayed and so that the gospel would be out and put out clearly so that people would come to saving faith. I said this at the end of last service, but I truly believe this at the end of the day. I want to have an empty hell and a full heaven.

And I pray you want that, too. I pray that that's part of why you invite and why you're pumped about what God's doing, not only in your life, but in his church. And so let's dig in now to scripture. We've talked so far in our time together through the story. We've talked about the creation, we've talked about the flood, and we've talked about the covenant to Abraham.

We've talked about the commandments, and you can check all those out online. This week, we're hitting the crown, this King David story, and it's way bigger than King David. The promise that's given to David is clearly well beyond just its present intended meeting. It points all the way to a coming king, a true king who will have a permanent and everlasting kingdom. Now, that should be good news.

When I say to you, hey, God has promised a king. We know him as King Jesus. He's come and he's coming again, and he will shepherd in an everlasting kingdom where there is no sin, there is no death, there is no pain. He wipes away every tear. That should be great news.

But I have to admit, and you might feel this way, too, sometimes this message seems. Sounds good. It's like one day, but in this moment, it kind of falls on deaf ears. And I think perhaps the reason for that is we're a little bit exhausted with all of the leaders of our day. We're a little bit exhausted with the world scope for most of our lives.

And so when we hear this great news, we're like, okay, maybe one day. But right now, we're having a hard time envisioning how it helps us in this moment, because we've seen once in a generation, leaders flame out in some kind of scandal. It happens both politically. It happens in the church. We've seen bosses who we trusted leave us high and dry.

They promised one thing and delivered another. We've voted for change at times and just got more of the same. And we've experienced that deep down. I think we're all nursing what you might call some kind of a leadership wound. Some of us maybe have experienced this since we were very small.

We had an expectation of our parents, and they weren't quite the leaders that we needed. And some of us had that experience growing up. Maybe coaches, maybe bosses, certainly political leaders have been letting us down. We may have a little bit of a wound. And what this causes us to do is to settle.

We settle for the lesser of two evils all the time, rather than have an eager trust, hope and commitment to the true king who is currently the true king and will always be the true king, King Jesus. This message, I pray, will give you a lot of peace, a lot of encouragement, a lot of hope, also possibly challenge you in a few places. Because the perfect kingdom, friends, is not some kind of pipe dream. It's a reality that was first foretold some 3,000 years ago to David, then made more clear in Jesus 2,000 years ago, and has been further clarified through the Church and now to you. Now it comes to you today.

This is no longer ancient history. We are looking at our own citizenship and an eternal kingdom. So let's dig in together. We're going to be in second Samuel, chapter seven. What we see here is the word of the Lord coming to King David through the prophet Nathan.

And it's a reminder, in fact, a further clarification, that a king is coming who will reign in an eternal kingdom. And God has made a promise through David's line that this will happen. And what we know is that King has come and is coming again. His name is King Jesus, and we can put our trust there. And this scripture gives us some clear reasons why we can trust in King Jesus and having eager hope and expectation for him.

So let's dig in. 2 Samuel 7, 8, 16 it says, Now therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David. Thus says the Lord of hosts. I took you from the pasture, from the following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel, and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make you a great name, like a name of the great ones of the earth.

And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more, and violent men shall afflict them no more. As formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel, and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father he shall be to me a son.

When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men. But My listen to this church. My steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.

God bless the reading of His Word. Amen. I pray this encourages you today because there's some powerful things in this scripture that aren't just ancient history, they're current. There's some very important reasons here that we can trust the coming king that he's promising who has already come. King Jesus.

Here's the first reason we can trust him, because in him we experience unmerited favor. Unmerited favor. Notice something in verses 8 through 11, really throughout the whole text, but he establishes something right away. The word I, and more specifically, the word I will. Nine times in this text it says, I will or the Lord will.

He's making it full well known that the stuff that's happening, the stuff that I'm promising it's going to happen because I'm going to make it happen. I am in control of. I am the Lord. I am King of kings. This is the longest section of scripture where God is talking since Mount Sinai when he spoke to Moses, the Ten Commandments.

So what that indicates to us is something's shifting. Anytime you start seeing this long episode from God. He's telling us that the covenant, if you will, the promise, if you will, is progressing, that he's telling us more at Abraham. He walks the blood path and tells him, I'm going to keep this covenant to you. This is going to happen because of me.

I'm going to make you, your descendants, number the stars, and they're going to bless the nations, and God's going to do that. And then he tells Moses at Sinai and the people a little bit more that I'm making a covenant that's like a marriage covenant with you, that I will be faithful to you and you will be faithful to me, and you will set yourselves apart and be holy. You won't murder or steal or. And he has these 10 commandments and other things that. All right, I'm setting you apart now to David.

He's speaking in great detail and he's telling us something new. There's something new here. An eternal king. He hasn't been talking about that yet. This is the newness to King David.

I am going to bring about an eternal king who will sit on the throne of heaven's glory forever and ever. And he's coming through you. Your line, David. I'm going to bring him into the house of Judah, into the line of David. And one day we're going to know that name.

It's the name Jesus. The reason that I'm doing this is because I want to. This is what's crazy about this whole story. This is why right away, God says, I took you from the pasture. It doesn't say, oh, David, you were such a boss.

You were so good that I made you a king. It doesn't say that. It says, I took you from the pasture where you were just tending sheep and no one knew you. Your own father barely thought about you, as we'll see in a minute. And I took you there and made you a prince.

From the pasture to the throne. That's God. And he says, I've done that. Why? Because I want to.

Because I show unmerited favor. This is who God is. He does this constantly. Shows favor to people, shows favor to you and I, not because of our goodness, but because of his goodness. And here he says, I took you from the pasture.

I've been with you. I've cut off your enemies. And then I will. I will. I will make your name great.

He's doing that. To this day, we speak often of King David. I will make your name great. I will appoint a place. Jerusalem.

We still to this day, wars are fought over Jerusalem. I will appoint a place. I will give you rest. Now, that happens in David's life, but this ultimate rest hasn't happened yet. He says, then I will make you a house.

This is where this incredible story begins. This morning is this idea that David has come to this place now where he's fully king. He's king over Israel. And he's starting to try to figure out, all right, what is it going to look like? Most of my enemies have been dealt with.

There's a bit of rest in the kingdom. I have a house. I have a palace now. He's feeling something. All right.

The Ark of the Covenant, where God's presence is at. I want to build it. I want God. I want to build you a house. I want to build you a house, God.

And he tells Nathan this. And Nathan says, I'll do it. Yeah, whatever's on your heart, David, do it. And then that very night, God comes to Nathan and says, I didn't ask for that. Like, the boys are just getting together, going, we should build some stuff for God.

And God shows up and says, I don't want that. Not asking for that. Go tell David. No. Nathan probably felt a little humbled by that.

Like I sort of spoke out of turn. I thought I had that one right. But God says no. In fact, God has something really cool to say instead. He comes to him saying, hey, I never asked for a house.

Instead, I'm going to make you a house. And he's not talking about bricks and mortar. I'm going to make you a house. I'm going to build a household. In your line.

These are the words that are carried into the New Testament when we come to church every Sunday. We. That's technically not really the right way to say it. We are the church coming together in a building. This place is not what God calls the church.

He calls you the church, you and me. He says that the temple of God now resides in the hearts of men. This is why Paul says, take good care of this, because it is the temple of God. This is not new news. He's already telling David this, hey, I'm starting something new where I'm going to reside.

My presence one day is not going to be on the ark. It is going to be in you. And that is incredible news, believer. That is incredible news, church. He's not interested in houses.

He's interested in us being the actual heirs and household of God. And we're called into this kingdom simply by favor, by, unmerited by his gifting, not because of our works. We've done nothing, just like David. There's nothing incredible about our life. Even if we've lived really well and been really honest and done our best.

That's not why God invites us in. He does it by his grace and not our work. Ephesians, chapter two, it says, for by grace you've been saved through faith. This is not your own doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works so that no one may boast.

If you could do it on your own, then Jesus was completely pointless. His sacrifice on the cross was totally unnecessary. But we can't, and we completely needed him. We try to do things at times to try to earn our spot. Sometimes it's hard.

It's hard for me at times. I think I need to please God. I need to earn my spot in his kingdom. But that's not how any of this works. God is here saying to David, and now to you and I, hey, stop trying to build me a house.

Just be the house. Stop trying to do great things and be my hands and feet. In Romans chapter 8, he confirms this, that we don't apply for this kingdom, we're adopted into it. Romans chapter 8, it says, you did not Receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. But you have received the spirit of adoption as sons by whom we cry Abba.

Father. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. This is the incredible news of the gospel that's even better to you than it was even to David.

To David, he says, hey, I'm going to bring the king of kings into your line now. To us, he says, I'm going to make you children of God, coheirs in the kingdom. There's going to be some kind of restoration of Eden in the end of things. That heaven in its glory is going to be us yet again, shepherding in power and authority. We're made in the image of God.

And God is going to bestow this. He is inviting us into this. Why? Because he wants to. Because he loves, because he's creative.

Because he's at his heart. If you want to know who God is, He's a grace giver. That's who he is. So remember, just to make that so clear, the story of David's ascension that God is reminding him here of, I brought you from the pasture is even more demeaning for David even than just this one sentence. Samuel is told by God that I am moving on from King Saul.

There's a whole backstory there. Basically, the people come into the wilderness. The nation of Israel, they come into the wilderness. They're fighting battles. Battles.

They're winning conquests. And all throughout the book of Judges, they're making huge mistakes. And God is essentially telling them, hey, I am your king. Let me lead you. Let me rule you.

And the people keep asking, hey, can we have a king? Can we have a ruler? And God's saying, I am your king. But they keep asking. And finally God gives them exactly what they ask for.

Because they said this. We want a king like the nations. And God says, all right, I'll give you a king just like the nations. And so they get Saul. Saul looks good.

Saul's big, Saul's strong. Saul looks kingly. Of the line of Benjamin, Saul. And the people, they get behind him like this dude, somebody. Saul's got one pretty key character flaw.

He doesn't walk with God. There are moments where he does, but there's also moments where you see a ton of pride and you also see discouragement. You see a mess in Saul. God didn't pick Saul. The people picked Saul.

So God goes and picks this little dude named David. And the way this Story goes is in First Samuel, chapter 16, if you want to read this story. It's a great story. Samuel comes to town to make a sacrifice so that Saul wouldn't know what was happening because Saul would probably try to kill him. So he comes to Bethlehem there where Jesse is.

And Jesse's family, Jesse's sons, they make sacrifice there. And then he's looking to anoint the son of Jesse. And so Jesse brings out. Jesse has eight sons. He brings out Eliab and a couple of other boys.

The first one comes out, he looks good. Big, strong, mature. Samuel's thinking, that's the guy, that's him. And so the Lord speaks to him and says, hey, that ain't it. And here's why you're looking on the appearance, God looks at the heart.

That's a powerful verse in and of itself. But then one by one, son, two, son, three, all the way, seven sons. And Samuel's starting to get a little nervous. He's like, I thought, God, what, Jesse, do you have any other. You got any other sons?

Is this it? I don't know how the other seven felt. I don't know if they made him leave the room or if they're all sitting there like, well, I guess we're chop liver. I don't know how that went. You got any other sons?

Well, yeah, I got this one more boy. He's out there with the sheep. He's probably a mess right now. He's like. Most scholars think he's somewhere between 12 and 15 at this point.

He's a little boy. He's a little teen shepherding sheep. He comes in. The Bible describes him in an interesting way. It says he's handsome, he's ruddy, ruddy, not sure.

Rugged maybe. He's probably a little filthy. It says he has beautiful eyes. You know what it doesn't say? Big, strong, courageous, tough, manly.

They don't say none of that. He's a cute little kid. He's handsome and ruddy. And God says, that's the one. My spirit's upon him.

I picked him. Why? Well, the Bible does describe him at times as a man after God's own heart. But it certainly has nothing to do with his strength. See, God is not out here talent scouting.

Hey, that guy, he's got all the gifts. In fact, I'll be honest with you, those are some of the most dangerous people you run into that want to do great things for God, but in their own power, watch out. The kind of people that God is longing for. Not strong people, but Surrendered, people, this is what he wants. Not your strength, but your surrender.

And that's what's unique about David is I will go where God leads me. He will make mistakes, as we will see, but he goes where God leads. He surrenders, he repents. He's a faithful man. Later, God proves his favor to David in one of the most, probably the most famous story in all of the Bible, where a little guy fights a big guy.

We like the little guy fighting the big guy story. Everybody but DJ likes that story because he is Goliath. But Goliath's huge. He's a massive man. Bigger than you, bud.

We think at least that the Bible describes that he's six cubits, which cubit is about 18 inches. So he's somewhere around nine feet. Plus, he's huge. The Guinness Book of World Records has a man listed at somewhere around 8 foot 11. So even in modern history, we've got close to 9 footers.

This guy's an absolute giant. And he's massive. His armor's massive. It describes all this. He's got hundreds of pounds of weight on him.

He's carrying hundreds of pounds. He's scary. And he's coming out every day and telling the people, you guys are the worst. You're dogs. And just the people are terrified.

There's nobody standing up to him. And little bitty David, who's probably only like 5, 6, he's just a little guy. And at this point, when Goliath shows up on the scene, most scholars think he's somewhere between 16 and 18. So he's like my teenage son who is a scrawny little dude. I picture him in this story coming up and fighting David.

And I love the voice of David here. It makes no sense. This is how the spirit of God is upon him. The favor rests on him. He comes out and says, who do you think you are that you would defy the armies of God?

This day I'm going to feed your body to the birds of the air. Which is some pretty dope stuff to say.

This story is incredible. It's one of our favorites as a church. But David makes it very clear the reason for this victory is the right hand of God. It's not because he's the greatest stone thrower ever, although he's pretty rock solid. See the pun?

You like that? It's because of God's favor. It's because of God's unmerited favor. So he goes and he gets a sling. And it's not this kind of sling.

It's not a slingshot. It's more of this, like spinning, throwing it hard, smooth stone. He got five. There must have been other occasions when he was fighting lions and bears where he needed more. He didn't need more that day.

He was on the money. The Bible says he sunk a stone into Goliath's forehead. Sunk it in. In fact, if you read the story, it appears that he died on impact. So then when David walks over to him, because all David's got is a shepherd's staff and a sling, he has to go and take Goliath's sword, which I gotta admit is a cold way to take somebody out.

I will kill you with your sword. He comes and gets it. It weighs a ton. I can imagine him trying to lift it. Woo.

And then he does some really hardcore stuff and carries the head into Saul and says I'm the dude. Which is some hard. But all of that whole story, although it's cool, although David's pretty neat in the story, it's all we see the favor of God resting on him. And God shows favor to the faithful, not the powerful. He has a tendency to do this, that he takes weak things to humble the proud.

Most of us think that in order to please God we have to do some incredible works. And that's not so. What pleases God is surrender. What pleases God is faith. We think I got to be the best employee or the perfect parent or the most.

This one really gets us the most put together Christian. So we come into this place and we keep it all together. Lord knows, don't let me cry today, Lord. Don't let them see me disheveled. Don't let me accidentally let them know that I'm having trouble in life.

Because then they'll judge me. Then their love won't be for me. I'll fall out of God's good graces. The opposite is true. This is a place for healing.

This is a place for honesty to come in and let us really know. Because God knows you're not hiding here. The Davidic covenant tells us that kings favor is unmerited. At no point when you come in these doors does God say, all right, let me see your resume. Nah, you ain't coming in.

It's the opposite of that. You come in, here's my stuff. He's like, I don't need to see that. Here's mine, you can have it.

How incredible is this? This is why the gospel is good news. And it began way back here in Genesis. Now into Samuel. This is the promise of God.

Here's the second reason. Because in Christ and King Jesus, we serve an eternal kingdom. We serve an eternal kingdom. Now, that might not sound like a great point at first, but I trust that as we dig in, you'll see it. Because here's what we live in.

We live in a world where kings, leaders, presidents, kings come and go, nations rise and fall. There is chaos upon chaos. The Bible says you will know of wars and rumors of wars. It will be this way until Christ comes again. This is the nature of human existence.

For a lot of us in the room, we've barely known a single year of peace. For most of our lives we've been at war or there's been wars on the planet. And we're so connected. Now we know when there's a bombing in some random place in the world and everybody knows. I'm not confident this is a good thing, but it's the case.

We know of every little detail everywhere, at all times. We're so connected.

It's to a people like this that God says, I sit on a throne of an everlasting kingdom. I am perfect. I am favorable towards you. I am full of grace and love and mercy, and no one can dethrone me. And it's true now, and it will always be.

We serve an eternal kingdom on top of that, Believers, church. What this means is we now can experience a purpose and a permanence and mission that no one else on earth can experience. We have an objective that actually matters. There are people around us that we work with in our families. There are people around us that truly matter.

The mission is the people. And unlike any other thing on earth, any career path, even any other religion, our whole goal is disciple making. So now, because of this eternal kingdom, the people we bring beside us will go with us.

He says this to David in verses 12 and 13. He says, David, I got great news. Doesn't start great. He says, your days are going to be fulfilled. That's a nice way of saying, hey, David, you're going to die.

The promise to you isn't eternal. I'm not going to make your life eternal right now. Now glory is in the future. We'll deal with that later. But you're a human.

You're a mortal, David, you're mortal and you're going to die. And even the greatest king in Israel's whole history is just a temporary fix. But here's the good news, David. I'm bringing an eternal king through your line and I want you to get excited about it. Church we should be getting excited about it because he says in verse 12, I'm going to raise up an offspring, I'm going to raise up offspring.

And you might think, okay, he's going to make a long line. The word offspring there is singular. It's similar to a word we encountered a few weeks ago where we talked about the word seed. He said, I'm going to raise up a singular offspring who's going to have an eternal throne. He's not talking about Solomon there.

Solomon is his king. The next is his son. Who's the next king of Israel? It can't be Solomon, because Solomon dies and Solomon's a hot mess. We'll get into his life in a moment.

But here he says, I'm going to raise up a seed, raise up an offspring. And Paul picks this up in Galatians 3. He says, the promises that were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, to your offspring. Who is Christ to him?

He shall build a house. Now know this. There's a present and future promise here. Solomon does in fact build a temple for God. The son of David does build a temple.

It is destroyed some years later, and then it's destroyed again some years later. After that, they rebuilt it. It got destroyed again here. He's not just talking about the present. He's talking about one who's coming that he says will establish his throne and and a kingdom forever.

He will build a house. That house is us.

My dad used to say this. We be the church. Used to hear that growing up. The building isn't it. It's us.

The temple of God is now present in us. And God has built that in us. The coming of Jesus depicted everything that God had promised to David. Let's take a glimpse just for a moment in the Christmas story where this is put so plainly. Luke, chapter one.

It says the angel said to her verse, do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son. And you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. 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 his kingdom, there will be no end. You see it? King Jesus, the one promised all the way back in Genesis 3, further clarified to Abraham. Now really even clearer picture to David.

What does this mean for us? Oh, that's great news. That's great News. King Jesus, he's king now and king forevermore. And he's coming again.

I'm excited. Great news. How does that help me now? Because King Jesus left me with a mission. He left me with a purpose statement.

Some people come to me at times and like, I don't know what God wants from me. I don't know what the will of God is in my life. Well, I can give you at least one thing that I know is true. This is called the general calling of all people, of all the church. We call it the Great Commission.

It says in Matthew 28, Jesus came and said to them, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I've commanded you. And behold, I am with you, with you always, to the end of the age. So he's given us a purpose that's permanent, that has eternal value. This means some of the most important things that you're doing in your life right now are those little children that are sitting next to you right now, perhaps, or in that back room.

That's some of the most important work you're doing. It's more important than anything else you can do for them, is, hey, have you met my Lord and Savior, Jesus? The most important handoff we can possibly make is, here's my God, here's my kid. Meet him. It's more important than how well my kid does in school.

It's more important than how well my kid does on the field. I need to make sure my kid knows King Jesus, because if I get all those other things right, and I don't get this right, then all I've given him is a very, very temporary joy.

His authority then is eternal, which makes our mission essential. If you're hungry for meaning for purpose, you have it. You serve the King of kings. He has a job for you. And he put you, you specifically, not me, you in the family you're in.

And you can talk to him about that if you want to. Oh, my family. Something else, Jonathan. Well, he put you there for a reason. I could show up at your house and the plate won't be set for me, but it will be set for you, right?

They're expecting you. He put you where you work. Not me, not your neighbor. He put you for a reason, for a purpose. And it's essential.

We live in this already, not yet kind of tension of the kingdom we serve King Jesus, who has come and is coming again. He has empowered us. His Holy Spirit is present with us. This is all true, but he has not returned yet. So we live in this state where we're eagerly expecting his return, but we're still dealing with the nations rising and falling and kings coming and going.

What do we do in that time? I love this one story from King David in the cave, the cave of Adullam. One of my favorite stories in scripture is in 1st Samuel, chapter 22. And you see this anointed king, King. God has come with Samuel and said, you're anointed, you're going to be king.

But right away it doesn't look like it's even remotely going to be possible. Yes, he's come. He whooped Goliath. Yes. And this song starts going around because David, he's got a little group of men and they're out there doing good, they're doing work.

And this song starts coming to life of, hey, Saul's killed his thousands, but David's killed his tens of thousands. And Saul starts getting super jealous. And while David is in there playing a song for him, trying to ease his troubled mind, Saul just throws a spear at his head. That would be an interesting thing to happen to you just mid worship. All of a sudden, the people start throwing stuff at you.

Please don't do that. That'll blow us up. We're having enough. We ain't got enough going on up here. All right?

So he barely escapes. He runs off, gets in this cave, and the men that begin to that follow him, that begin to be with him. The Bible has great things to say about David's mighty men, but they aren't right here, right here in 1st Samuel 22, the Bible describes them in three ways. They show up in debt, distressed and discontent. His mighty men are his bummed out men.

When they first show up, they are not worth a lot.

You look into that and you'd say, well, that's supposed to be the future of the nation. But that looks more like a disaster. But David, what sets him apart, what sets us apart, is not the people that first show up, the mighty men that become mighty. It's not that. It's that David trusts he's faithful for over a decade.

He has to be on the run, in caves and running from Saul. It's a long time before God ever establishes him as king. Some of you in the room have been thinking, man, when are you going to finally do the thing? I felt like you were leading me to do the Calling on my life, or whatever it is you felt God was pushing you to do. And it's been a couple months.

It's been a couple weeks. Well, look, sometimes it takes a little while. Sometimes God's got to. He's got to build you up. He's even got to take you through valleys and caves sometime so that you'll become the person, the man, the woman of God that can do the role he's called you to do.

This is great news.

We all want to be a part of something that lasts. Do you count your life by the things you've accomplished? By the businesses, the titles, the legacy? Here's the thing. Everyone will hear what David, your days will one day be fulfilled.

We are mortal. What will we have to show for it? We serve an eternal king in an eternal kingdom. Let's stop building sandcastles here that just get blown over. Let's do something that counts.

And then the third reason is this. And this is by far my favorite, I'm going to be honest. It's just my favorite point. And the third reason is because in him we receive steadfast love. Verses 14 to the end.

Scripture ends with this best news, this wonderful news that one is coming and one now has come who will endure the rod of men and suffer the stripes. It says there in verse 14, in fact, that God says, I will be to him a father. He will be to me a son. There's something there about the familiarity there, but it's even bigger than that. We know Christ Jesus comes, known as the Son of God, as we just read.

And then it says, when he commits iniquity, I will discipline him. Now, this is fascinating because here's what actually happens. Solomon comes. And Solomon absolutely commits iniquity. He marries hundreds of women, turns to foreign gods that they've brought in, and at the end of his days, has really not seemingly walking with God at all.

And God removes the kingdom from him, splits it in two. And it's not long after that that Assyria takes the northern kingdom. And not long after that, Babylon takes the southern kingdom. And God exiles his people, really, to teach them a new lesson, because they'd completely fallen into sin. They had committed iniquity.

But here's what's fascinating about that. At no point in Solomon's life is he disciplined by rods and by the stripes of men. There's something else going on here. There's a timeless future principle that he will take on our iniquity. He will take on our stripes, the ones we couldn't bear this is why Paul writes to the Second Corinthians.

In Second Corinthians, he writes chapter five. He says, for our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. At no point was Solomon ever felt the stripes of the nations. But Jesus, who committed no iniquity, did. This all starts to point to this one really clear message.

We call this substitutionary atonement. You don't have to know that. But it's the idea that he took my place. He's beginning to tell them that. Here.

Just know this, friends. The Gospel is old good news. It might be new to you, but it's been around a long time. All the way back to Genesis 3, in fact, where he said, he will bruise your heel, but you will crush his head. That there will come one who will deal with sin and death.

Now we're getting more clarity on that. That there's one coming in the line of David who will suffer the discipline of men so that we can receive steadfast love. If you've never heard this clearly today, I want you to hear it clearly now.

The stripes that you deserve, the iniquity you've committed and I've committed, Christ paid for it once and for all. This is the good news of the gospel. That's so clear here. That one will come who will suffer the rod of man and will be crucified and bleed for you. Why?

Because of your iniquity. Because of mine. And it's way more often than I would ever wish that I think a thought that I lie, that I am angry, that I am unrighteous, and so are you. So he came to receive the discipline. So what Christ does in the line of David is he becomes the substitute for David's sin.

And for you and I, you and mine. If you've never heard that plainly today, I want you to understand this. This is why the gospel is good news. Because we are messed up. We are in big trouble.

But Christ has done it. He's paid the ultimate price. So now he can say. He can say, my steadfast love will not depart because he's justly taken care of it. In Isaiah 53, we get this clear picture.

Isaiah 53 says, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgression. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him.

And by his Stripes. We are healed. The stripes are why we're healed. He says then in verse 15. So now my steadfast love will never depart from you as I took it from Saul.

Oh, there's a fear there that we might be like Saul, but in Christ Jesus he says, I will never depart. David praised God for this. David understood this. We can understand this. Look what he writes in Psalm 103.

Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not all his benefits. Who forgives all your iniquity all. Who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.

This is repeated in the New Testament, maybe as plainly as it could be said. In the book of Hebrews 13, it says, I will never leave you nor forsake you. Why? Because of the blood of the Lamb. Because of the stripes.

The cross of Jesus. If anybody has had a case study on their life of what this looks like, it's David. So we talked about how cool Goliath was, how his mighty men showed up. A little bit bummed out, but he still led them and he was faithful. But if anybody can write something like he writes in Psalm 103, he forgives all iniquity, it's David, because, yeah, David's cool.

He's also a murderer, a liar and an adulterer. Some of the worst sins you can imagine, David's done them. There's this terrible scene. It's in the book of 2 Samuel. It's chapter 11.

If you go there, you'll see right away. The Bible basically gives you an indicator to let you know David's messed up. The indicator starts right away in verse one. It says, a time where kings should be at war, David stayed home. This is always a bad sign.

Ladies, if I can help you with something. It's always a bad sign when your husband has stayed home from work and he's not actually sleeping sick. He's just called out slick. He's probably going to have a bad day. He probably is.

Because the rest that he thinks he wants or whatever it is is actually going to lead to something else. This is David at a time where he should be at work, at a time where warrior kings should be with their army at war. He stays home. And what's he doing? He's going out on his balcony, man, look at this.

He's Sleeping in his own bed, he's eating good food when the rest of his mighty men are out roughing it. And what does he see? Oh, look. Hey, when you're in the wrong place, don't get mad at God when temptation shows up, okay? That's unfair.

We like to say, well, why did God put that in front of me? Why were you where you were? I was at a bar and I was tempted to drink. No kidding. Bet you wouldn't have the similar temptation at home.

Maybe you would. Maybe you need to get some things out of your house because they're too much. He's at a place he shouldn't be, and he's looking around. And some people like to say, well, Bathsheba was probably, like, purposely exposing. The Bible does not say that.

The Bible puts all of the emphasis on David's sin. I think in every way. David caught himself a good angle and saw through a window that he shouldn't have been peering into because you should have been at war. And instead he sees a beautiful woman and does this awful thing and he sends his servants to go and take her, the Bible says. And she sees.

She comes to him and he lays with her and she gets pregnant. It's a terrible story. So here we have lies, adultery. He's in the wrong place. He's being a complete dirtbag.

Oh, great King David. And then what does he do? Well, she gets pregnant. So he begins to conceive a plan and begins to lie all the more. We have a tendency to do this, don't we?

We go ahead and make a mistake. So let's make a worse mistake. And we just dig until we're finally at some depth that would go. I don't even know what's true anymore. He has Uriah, her husband, come home and he's hoping that he'll come and be with his wife in that way and that no one will ever know.

He'll assume it's his kid. But Uriah is a good dude and comes home and says, hey, how can I go and be in my bed and be with my wife when my brothers in arms are out there sleeping in fields and eating dirt? I mean, how can I do that? So he doesn't do what David wants. So.

Well, then what does David do? He has him sent to the worst part of the battle, the front lines. And he tells Joab, he says, pull all the men back. He has him killed. He has him murdered.

So here we have David. Liar, adulterer, murderer. And he thought he's gotten away with It. This is an aside believer, but you don't get away with stuff. God's watching, and he loves you more than that.

He's a good father. He doesn't want you to live in that dark place. He sends the prophet Nathan in to tell him a story. And David gets fired up about the story. Whoever that is, take them out.

And Nathan says, it's you. It's you for what you did with Bathsheba and to Uriah the Hittite. And for that, God's gonna. He's gonna take the son, the child that's coming to Bathsheba. He's going to take him.

So here's where David. Here's where David sets himself apart. And here's where David is considered a man after God's own heart. Not because of all this brokenness, absolutely not. But because in that moment, he comes in full repentance.

He comes in sackcloth and ashes and prays and fasts for seven days. The Bible says he does this. And God does take the child, the child made in sin. And at that point, it says that David washed himself off and went and worshiped the Lord. He knew he'd messed up.

He also knew what he wrote in Psalm 103, that God forgives our iniquities. He heals our diseases. Here's what God wants. He doesn't need our righteousness because we have none. He wants our repentance.

He doesn't need the strong. He's looking for the surrendered. See the difference? This is why David is in the Bible. He's a case study.

That God's love is indeed unconditional, but it's based around our faith and our repentance. So some of you are sitting here today and you're wondering, feeling kind of like Saul, you're convinced that if people, or if God only knew the depth of your sin, your iniquity. If he only knew my heart, he would never love me. He would never love me. But you've got it all wrong, friend.

He loved you long before he knew all of your mess was coming. He was fully aware. And he loved you in spite of that. He died years, years ago. And he was thinking of you when he did it.

And he was thinking of me. And I'm thankful for him. Don't be afraid of rejection, friends. Look to the cross. The king who took the rod of men, who now in him we can receive the heart of God.

His favor is unmerited. His kingdom's eternal. His love, my friends, is unconditional. It's steadfast let's spend some time in prayer together. Heavenly Father, we ask, we ask boldly that you would make us courageous.

That as we think about our loved ones, our friends, our co workers, as we think about our neighbors, Lord, that you would make us bold with the gospel. This great news that we talked about today, that God loves us in spite of us. That God loves us not because of our righteousness, but because of our repentance. That he gathers those together who would surrender to him, not try to be prideful and strong. God help us to be bold in this.

That when we come and minister to our friends and try to tell them about the goodness of God in our lives, that you would give us courage. Knowing that, Lord, you have done it all to set people free. And it's not up to us. We can be at complete peace and joy knowing that God, you will seek and save the lost. You merely call us to be obedient with the gospel.

God help your people, your church in here right now that they would have courage. Every single one of us in the room. We do desire to spend eternity with a holy God. We desire a heaven and a place that you've prepared for us. And we long that every single person we know and love would share in that glory with us.

Oh God, give us the opportunity to empty hell and fill heaven. Make us courageous. Dear friend, if you've shown up today and this gospel is clear to you today, maybe for the first time, maybe you've heard it before, but today it's making a lot of sense. That Christ Jesus took your stripes, took your iniquity upon himself so that you could be free. That Christ Jesus died on the cross for your sin and that God raised him from the dead.

If you're believing that today, I want to give you an opportunity to make a simple prayer of confession. If you'd pray with me this Lord Jesus, I believe today that you died on the cross for me, for my sin, my brokenness and God. I believe you raised Christ Jesus from the dead. And because of this, Lord, I'm putting my trust and my surrender to the King of kings, the one true king over an everlasting throne. And Lord, I'm asking now, would you guide my steps, help me to be courageous with my friends and neighbors and co workers of this faith that you've given me of this belief, of this now new walk in Christ.

God, guide me in these things.

Dear friend, welcome to the family of God. Thank you for praying that prayer. I pray the Lord would so guide you and shine light on your life that it would be obvious that God's presence is upon you and we're praying right along with you. Lord, guide us. Help us be bold.

Help our faith to be evident in what we see, say and how we work and the way we interact with people. Help the gospel to be faith forward and very evident to others. And Lord, give us opportunities. We pray. I pray courageously.

Lord, give us opportunities to share the good news of Jesus, our eternal mission. We pray all these things in Jesus name, Amen.

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