1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,600 2 Samuel 7 2 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:12,680 David was a man with a great heart for God. 3 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:16,900 He desired to build a house for the Lord. 4 00:00:16,900 --> 00:00:26,640 He dwelt in a house of cedar, and God dwelt in a tent. 5 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:32,000 However, God said no to David's desire. 6 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:40,360 God said it in a loving, compassionate, and even an appreciative tone, but nonetheless 7 00:00:40,360 --> 00:00:42,880 God said no to his heart's desire. 8 00:00:42,880 --> 00:00:46,160 Has God ever said no to you? 9 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:52,720 Has God ever said no to you regarding something that you wanted to do for Him? 10 00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:54,880 It's disappointing. 11 00:00:54,880 --> 00:00:56,640 It's something you have your heart set on. 12 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:59,200 It's a vision that you have. 13 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:01,120 It's a calling that you sense. 14 00:01:01,120 --> 00:01:03,920 It's a project that you envision. 15 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:08,880 And God just shuts the door. 16 00:01:08,880 --> 00:01:14,160 When God shut the door on David, He did it with wonderful promises. 17 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:23,360 God promised him a seed, a descendant, verse 12, who would come after him. 18 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:25,480 God says, I will establish his kingdom. 19 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:27,920 He shall build a house for my name. 20 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:35,760 Of course, the direct fulfillment of that is Solomon, David's son, who was the one 21 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:38,560 responsible for the actual construction of the temple. 22 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:41,160 David gathered the materials together before he died. 23 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:44,760 It was Solomon who constructed it. 24 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:48,080 He was that fulfillment of that promise. 25 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:54,440 However, the greater fulfillment of this descendant, this seed, is the one who is greater than 26 00:01:54,440 --> 00:02:01,120 Solomon, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David. 27 00:02:01,120 --> 00:02:08,720 God also promised David a kingdom, an everlasting kingdom, one that would be established forever, 28 00:02:08,720 --> 00:02:09,720 verse 13. 29 00:02:09,720 --> 00:02:16,800 And then again in verse 16, your house and your kingdom shall endure before me forever. 30 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:20,000 Your throne shall be established forever. 31 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:23,920 And so God just underscores forever, forever, forever. 32 00:02:23,920 --> 00:02:28,880 I will give you a kingdom and a throne. 33 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:36,440 That could not have been fulfilled only in the historical kingdom of Israel. 34 00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:42,640 There has to be something future here because God said forever, and God is faithful to His 35 00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:44,280 promises. 36 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:50,960 And so the kingdom that is really in view is beyond that of ancient Judah, but it is 37 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:58,600 that future kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ, embracing both the earthly kingdom, the thousand-year 38 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:06,120 reign of Christ, the millennium, as well as the eternal kingdom of the Savior. 39 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:11,520 And David will be, of course, resurrected from the dead, along with all of the Old Testament 40 00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:18,840 saints, and there are Bible scholars who believe that in His resurrection, David will share 41 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:24,200 in his reign with his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. 42 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:32,080 So God said no to David, but He gave him some very wonderful promises when He said no. 43 00:03:32,080 --> 00:03:37,920 God's promises to David far surpassed the scope of anything that David could have hoped 44 00:03:37,920 --> 00:03:40,520 for or asked for. 45 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:46,920 We need to keep in mind that when God does shut the door, when God says no, it's because 46 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:51,800 He has something greater in mind than we could envision at that point. 47 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:57,400 What the Apostle Paul says about the Lord is still true today. 48 00:03:57,400 --> 00:04:04,480 He is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we could ask or think. 49 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:14,200 Now when God says no, when that initial disappointment hits the heart, how is it that we should respond? 50 00:04:14,200 --> 00:04:22,840 When we've prayed for healing and no healing comes, when we've prayed for that job interview 51 00:04:22,840 --> 00:04:29,160 and it doesn't come through, when the college closes its admissions before we have an opportunity 52 00:04:29,160 --> 00:04:35,160 to be accepted, when we have a need and the money doesn't come through like we expected 53 00:04:35,160 --> 00:04:43,680 that it would, how do we respond when God chooses to say no in our circumstances? 54 00:04:43,680 --> 00:04:48,600 We can learn a lesson from that by watching what David did. 55 00:04:48,600 --> 00:04:57,320 David did not mourn, he did not pout, he did not complain, he did not become angry at God, 56 00:04:57,320 --> 00:05:04,280 but rather he humbly and gratefully accepted what God said. 57 00:05:04,280 --> 00:05:06,920 David's response to God's no was two-fold. 58 00:05:06,920 --> 00:05:12,600 In the first place, there was praise for God's person. 59 00:05:12,600 --> 00:05:16,320 We begin reading about this in verse 18. 60 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:21,420 And the lesson that we see in watching David here and listening to his words in prayer 61 00:05:21,420 --> 00:05:30,040 is that in our deepest disappointments, when God has said no, we must remember in that 62 00:05:30,040 --> 00:05:35,280 moment to praise the Lord. 63 00:05:35,280 --> 00:05:40,760 Praise is that which gives us victory, it is that which even lifts our hearts. 64 00:05:40,760 --> 00:05:44,120 God inhabits the praises of His people. 65 00:05:44,120 --> 00:05:49,300 So in that moment when God has said no and disappointment begins to flood us, we need 66 00:05:49,300 --> 00:05:52,480 at that moment to praise the Lord. 67 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:58,600 Notice that King David went in and sat before the Lord. 68 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:02,180 That does not necessarily mean that he sat in a chair. 69 00:06:02,180 --> 00:06:09,880 This was a customary way for an oriental to worship. 70 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:19,600 And it pictures his kneeling actually and then sitting back on his heels before the 71 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:20,600 Lord. 72 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:22,000 And this is what he said. 73 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:25,520 Notice how he praises the Lord for who He is. 74 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:30,240 He says, Who am I, O Lord God? 75 00:06:30,240 --> 00:06:35,800 And what is my house that Thou hast brought me this far? 76 00:06:35,800 --> 00:06:40,520 And yet this was insignificant in Thine eyes, O Lord God, for Thou hast spoken also of the 77 00:06:40,520 --> 00:06:46,000 house of Thy servant concerning the distant future. 78 00:06:46,000 --> 00:06:49,960 And this is the custom of man, O Lord God. 79 00:06:49,960 --> 00:06:55,000 The first thing he does is to praise the Lord for His unlimited grace. 80 00:06:55,000 --> 00:06:57,240 He says, Lord, who am I? 81 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:01,960 And what is my house that You have even brought me this far? 82 00:07:01,960 --> 00:07:10,200 Remember that David was the least of his family, the one that was least suspected when Samuel 83 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:15,400 knocked on the door and said, Jesse, one of your sons will be anointed to be the next 84 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:16,680 king. 85 00:07:16,680 --> 00:07:18,320 They left David out in the field. 86 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:22,080 He was the redheaded runt in the family. 87 00:07:22,080 --> 00:07:23,400 He was the youngest. 88 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:27,600 He was the baby of the family. 89 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:32,040 But he was God's choice by grace. 90 00:07:32,040 --> 00:07:33,840 And David says, Who am I? 91 00:07:33,840 --> 00:07:36,960 What is my house that You have brought me this far? 92 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:40,920 But more than that, what you've done in the past, Lord, isn't even compared to what you're 93 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:43,080 going to do in the future. 94 00:07:43,080 --> 00:07:45,160 You've spoken about the distant future. 95 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:48,840 And David's talking here now after he's dead. 96 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:54,700 He's saying, Lord, You've given me promises that go beyond my brief lifetime. 97 00:07:54,700 --> 00:08:00,600 He praises God for His grace revealed in His eternal plan. 98 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:08,240 Now, who of us cannot testify of the same thing as we sit here tonight? 99 00:08:08,240 --> 00:08:15,360 Whatever our circumstances may be, maybe you are right in the very heart of a disappointment. 100 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:20,680 Can you not honestly look at the grace of God in your life and see where God has brought 101 00:08:20,680 --> 00:08:23,880 you from? 102 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:29,720 Do you feel low tonight, but were you not low before He found you, took you out of the 103 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:34,560 miry clay and set you up on a solid rock? 104 00:08:34,560 --> 00:08:42,520 And think of where you would be tonight had your life taken its natural sinful course. 105 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:47,280 Think where you would be apart from the grace of God. 106 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:52,000 Can you not this evening, however low you may feel because of disappointment, praise 107 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:55,840 God because of the grace that He has manifested? 108 00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:05,360 And not only that, but think of what God has promised to you in the future. 109 00:09:05,360 --> 00:09:11,400 For the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to even be compared with the glory 110 00:09:11,400 --> 00:09:20,240 which shall be revealed to us in the future through Jesus Christ. 111 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:25,920 Eye has not seen, ear has not heard, neither has entered into the heart of man what God 112 00:09:25,920 --> 00:09:30,880 has prepared for those who love Him. 113 00:09:30,880 --> 00:09:38,880 My friend, God has a marvelous plan and destiny for you as His child that is all based upon 114 00:09:38,880 --> 00:09:40,760 His grace. 115 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:43,840 His grace is unlimited by time. 116 00:09:43,840 --> 00:09:47,640 It is unlimited in its quantity. 117 00:09:47,640 --> 00:09:49,400 And it's vast in its quality. 118 00:09:49,400 --> 00:09:56,720 He has saving grace, He has strengthening grace, He has dying grace, He has serving grace. 119 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:58,620 God has any kind of grace you need. 120 00:09:58,620 --> 00:10:02,640 He has all you need and it is always good. 121 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:04,480 God's grace never gets stale. 122 00:10:04,480 --> 00:10:07,360 It's never outdated. 123 00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:16,400 God's grace is always fresh, always vital and brimming with potential for you. 124 00:10:16,400 --> 00:10:23,320 We can praise God for His unlimited grace even in the time of bitter disappointment. 125 00:10:23,320 --> 00:10:28,080 Then in verses 20 and 21, David praises God for His unutterable love. 126 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:32,220 He says, and again, what more can David say to thee? 127 00:10:32,220 --> 00:10:37,360 For thou knowest thy servant, O Lord God. 128 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:44,360 For the sake of thy word and according to thine own heart, thou hast done all this greatness 129 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:46,800 to let thy servant know. 130 00:10:46,800 --> 00:10:50,440 David seems here almost to be at a loss for words. 131 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:52,880 He says, Lord, you know me. 132 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:57,260 And of course, God did know David just as He knows each one of us. 133 00:10:57,260 --> 00:11:00,620 God knew that David wasn't a perfect man. 134 00:11:00,620 --> 00:11:04,160 God knew that better than David himself did. 135 00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:07,880 And yet God saw David as a man after his own heart. 136 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:11,520 That has already been God's estimation of this man. 137 00:11:11,520 --> 00:11:16,760 You say, well, God didn't know what was going to come, the sins of David's later years. 138 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:19,840 Yes, God knew all of that, friends. 139 00:11:19,840 --> 00:11:24,920 God knew the end from the beginning of David's life. 140 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:29,840 Isn't a marvelous thing that God chooses not to dwell upon the points of failure in our 141 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:36,600 lives, but He forgives and cleanses those, and that God chooses rather to look at the 142 00:11:36,600 --> 00:11:39,200 bent, the tenor of the whole thing. 143 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:41,680 That's the way it was with David. 144 00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:46,800 God forgave the iniquity of his sins when he fell, just as He does for you and me. 145 00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:51,560 And as God looked at the bent of his life, as God looked at the whole of it, God said, 146 00:11:51,560 --> 00:11:57,020 now here is a man after my own heart. 147 00:11:57,020 --> 00:12:02,440 I would pray tonight that that would be God's estimation of each of us. 148 00:12:02,440 --> 00:12:05,040 David says, Lord, you know me. 149 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:11,200 And he says, for the sake of thy word and according to thine heart, thou hast done all 150 00:12:11,200 --> 00:12:13,280 of this greatness. 151 00:12:13,280 --> 00:12:16,360 My friends, so it is that God has done things for us. 152 00:12:16,360 --> 00:12:19,400 It is according to the love of His heart for us. 153 00:12:19,400 --> 00:12:25,960 I'm reminded of Paul's words in Ephesians, the second chapter, as he expresses what we 154 00:12:25,960 --> 00:12:27,600 are in Jesus Christ. 155 00:12:27,600 --> 00:12:35,320 He says this, but God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved 156 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:44,160 us even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ and raised 157 00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:51,480 us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus in order that 158 00:12:51,480 --> 00:12:59,120 in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in His kindness toward 159 00:12:59,120 --> 00:13:01,160 us in Christ Jesus. 160 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:04,680 And all of that flows out of His love for you and for me. 161 00:13:04,680 --> 00:13:09,040 It is a love that is unconditional. 162 00:13:09,040 --> 00:13:11,080 It is a love that knows no boundary. 163 00:13:11,080 --> 00:13:13,080 It knows no end. 164 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:21,160 The songwriter has put it this way, if we with ink the ocean fill or were the skies 165 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:30,000 of parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill or every man a scribe by trade, to 166 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:37,520 write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry, nor could the scroll contain the 167 00:13:37,520 --> 00:13:42,440 whole though stretched from sky to sky. 168 00:13:42,440 --> 00:13:47,440 That was David's thought as he thanks God for the unutterable love. 169 00:13:47,440 --> 00:13:53,120 He was just at a loss for words to express his gratitude to God for the love which He 170 00:13:53,120 --> 00:13:57,640 was manifesting to him. 171 00:13:57,640 --> 00:14:01,680 And then he praises God in verse 22 for His unparalleled greatness. 172 00:14:01,680 --> 00:14:03,640 There is none like God. 173 00:14:03,640 --> 00:14:10,360 He says, for this reason thou art great, O Lord God, for there is none like Thee and 174 00:14:10,360 --> 00:14:18,760 there is no God besides Thee according to all that we have heard with our ears. 175 00:14:18,760 --> 00:14:24,400 He's not saying there we haven't heard everything yet. 176 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:30,000 Primarily the revelation of God was passed down verbally at this point. 177 00:14:30,000 --> 00:14:38,440 The fathers to the sons, to their sons' sons, written copies of the Old Testament's revelation 178 00:14:38,440 --> 00:14:40,840 were not common. 179 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:47,000 And so David is saying, everything that I have heard about You, Lord, all of the revelation 180 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:51,720 that You have revealed tells me how great You are. 181 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:53,000 There is none like You. 182 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:55,920 There is no God besides You. 183 00:14:55,920 --> 00:15:01,880 Psalm 86 10 says, for Thou art great, and doest wondrous things. 184 00:15:01,880 --> 00:15:06,560 Thou art God alone. 185 00:15:06,560 --> 00:15:11,720 If only men could realize the greatness of God. 186 00:15:11,720 --> 00:15:18,120 I tell you if we could get just a little vision of how great God is, it would change the way 187 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:20,360 we live. 188 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:32,040 But think what it would do in our skeptical, blasphemous, irreverent generation. 189 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:38,520 Think what it would do to the carelessness about spiritual things in our society if only 190 00:15:38,520 --> 00:15:44,560 a little bit of this unparalleled greatness of God could be grasped. 191 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:47,380 There is no God besides our God. 192 00:15:47,380 --> 00:15:49,360 There is none like Him. 193 00:15:49,360 --> 00:15:51,360 He is great. 194 00:15:51,360 --> 00:15:52,920 He is great. 195 00:15:52,920 --> 00:15:56,160 David praises Him for His greatness. 196 00:15:56,160 --> 00:16:04,920 We sing that wonderful hymn, a familiar one and beloved by us all, how great Thou art. 197 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:09,920 I'm sure that if David could hear that today, he would regret he didn't write those words 198 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:14,960 because he was so overwhelmed with the greatness of the Lord. 199 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:21,480 And then finally in verses 23 and 24, he praises God for His unfailing faithfulness. 200 00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:30,640 He says, In what one nation on the earth is like thy people Israel, whom God went to redeem 201 00:16:30,640 --> 00:16:38,760 for Himself as a people, and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for thee, 202 00:16:38,760 --> 00:16:45,160 and awesome things for thy land, before thy people whom thou hast redeemed for thyself 203 00:16:45,160 --> 00:16:49,520 from Egypt, from nations and their gods? 204 00:16:49,520 --> 00:16:56,960 For thou hast established for thyself thy people Israel, as thine own people forever, 205 00:16:56,960 --> 00:17:00,040 and thou, O Lord, hast become their God. 206 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:03,800 Finally, he praises God for His faithfulness. 207 00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:09,760 Witnessed in Israel's history, he reminds himself and the Lord, as if God needed to 208 00:17:09,760 --> 00:17:13,400 be reminded, of the history of the nation. 209 00:17:13,400 --> 00:17:18,460 He says, You delivered Your people from idolatry and from their wanderings. 210 00:17:18,460 --> 00:17:20,800 You redeemed them from Egypt. 211 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:25,040 You kept them from the nations and brought them into the land. 212 00:17:25,040 --> 00:17:26,040 Why? 213 00:17:26,040 --> 00:17:30,640 Because Israel was so faithful and obeyed God all of those years? 214 00:17:30,640 --> 00:17:31,800 No. 215 00:17:31,800 --> 00:17:33,200 No. 216 00:17:33,200 --> 00:17:37,320 Because of his own faithfulness, that's why. 217 00:17:37,320 --> 00:17:42,560 Israel is his people, and my friend Israel is still his people today. 218 00:17:42,560 --> 00:17:50,080 Now, granted, they are set aside from God's direct dealings at this particular point in 219 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:54,480 this age because of their unfaithfulness. 220 00:17:54,480 --> 00:17:59,480 They have been judged as a nation, yet God is pleased to call some Jews in Jesus Christ 221 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:01,840 to be a part of the church. 222 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:05,400 But it does say that Israel is his people here forever. 223 00:18:05,400 --> 00:18:09,040 God has not permanently set aside His people. 224 00:18:09,040 --> 00:18:14,240 There is a time yet coming when God will take a hold of that nation of Israel, and He will 225 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:17,680 make them great upon the earth again. 226 00:18:17,680 --> 00:18:25,240 And He will make Himself a name through His people and prove His faithfulness to all the 227 00:18:25,240 --> 00:18:28,680 nations of the earth through the nation of Israel. 228 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:35,360 But by way of application, let's remember that today God is making Himself a name, think 229 00:18:35,360 --> 00:18:39,960 of this, through you and me. 230 00:18:39,960 --> 00:18:47,960 What God is about is calling out a people for Himself to make Himself a name in the 231 00:18:47,960 --> 00:18:48,960 earth. 232 00:18:48,960 --> 00:18:50,360 What does that mean, to make Himself a name? 233 00:18:50,360 --> 00:18:52,960 Well, His name is His nature. 234 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:54,760 It is who He is. 235 00:18:54,760 --> 00:19:00,560 In other words, God is desiring to advance His reputation. 236 00:19:00,560 --> 00:19:06,880 God is desirous of expressing the knowledge of Himself through you and through me, even 237 00:19:06,880 --> 00:19:07,880 with our failures. 238 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:11,400 And there are many, aren't there? 239 00:19:11,400 --> 00:19:13,840 You say, how can God ever do this? 240 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:17,520 I'm such a failure, I feel like, in my Christian walk. 241 00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:25,280 Listen, God will do it because of His faithfulness, not because of your faithfulness or mine. 242 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:28,000 Ours is very short, it seems. 243 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:30,080 But God's is eternal. 244 00:19:30,080 --> 00:19:31,080 It's unfailing. 245 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:33,600 And David recognized that. 246 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:38,600 David knew that the people of Israel had failed God miserably time and time again. 247 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:46,800 But he praises God for His unfailing faithfulness, which had been expressed to the nation. 248 00:19:46,800 --> 00:19:53,520 So when you and I are disappointed, when God has said no, how do we handle that? 249 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:59,520 We handle it by doing what David did, by remembering to praise the Lord. 250 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:07,000 Now, there's a second response that David gave, and that is a response of prayer, verses 251 00:20:07,000 --> 00:20:09,400 25 to 29. 252 00:20:09,400 --> 00:20:11,200 And from this we see this lesson. 253 00:20:11,200 --> 00:20:17,000 Not only do we praise the Lord in our disappointments, but in those disappointments when God has 254 00:20:17,000 --> 00:20:25,440 said no, you and I can claim God's promises in prayer. 255 00:20:25,440 --> 00:20:31,160 When God has said no, we can still claim the promises of the Lord. 256 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:34,440 David prays in verse 25, and what it boils down to is this. 257 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:36,240 He says, Lord, fulfill Your word. 258 00:20:36,240 --> 00:20:38,040 Look at what he says. 259 00:20:38,040 --> 00:20:43,700 Now, therefore, O Lord God, the word that Thou hast spoken concerning Thy servant and 260 00:20:43,700 --> 00:20:50,160 his house, confirm it forever, and do as Thou hast spoken. 261 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:55,000 Basically what 25, verse 25 is, is a signature. 262 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:58,120 God is here establishing a covenant with David. 263 00:20:58,120 --> 00:21:01,000 God has laid out the covenant. 264 00:21:01,000 --> 00:21:03,200 David's first response was to praise the Lord. 265 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:09,180 Now, verse 25 is a verbal signature where he says, David accepts. 266 00:21:09,180 --> 00:21:14,000 He says, Lord, confirm it and do as You have spoken. 267 00:21:14,000 --> 00:21:21,480 Basically, he says, Lord, I trust these promises. 268 00:21:21,480 --> 00:21:24,160 You and I never do wrong to do that. 269 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:29,040 Our prayers are always right if we begin at the promises of God. 270 00:21:29,040 --> 00:21:37,280 Dr. Albert Barnes said, the promises of God are the true guide to the prayer of His people. 271 00:21:37,280 --> 00:21:47,660 We may dare to ask anything, how great soever it may be, which God has promised to give. 272 00:21:47,660 --> 00:21:54,120 God is searching throughout the earth for that man and woman who will say, Lord, in my life, 273 00:21:54,120 --> 00:21:55,120 fulfill Your word. 274 00:21:55,120 --> 00:22:00,720 It's a step of faith to do that when God has just said no, when God has shut the door, 275 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:05,040 when God has given us that disappointment. 276 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:07,520 But we say to Him, Lord, fulfill Your word. 277 00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:10,620 I claim this promise. 278 00:22:10,620 --> 00:22:15,480 God seeks those who would dare to believe Him and claim them. 279 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:23,440 And notice in verse 26 that secondly, David prays in essence, magnify Your name. 280 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:33,320 He says, that Thy name may be magnified forever by saying, the Lord of hosts is God over Israel, 281 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:39,400 and may the house of Thy servant David be established before Thee. 282 00:22:39,400 --> 00:22:45,440 David is saying, Lord, fulfill Your word, Your promises, resulting in Your name being 283 00:22:45,440 --> 00:22:47,760 magnified. 284 00:22:47,760 --> 00:22:51,200 God, magnify Your reputation. 285 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:57,120 God, He says, cause Your testimony to be brought near to people. 286 00:22:57,120 --> 00:23:01,360 That's what magnification does, isn't it? 287 00:23:01,360 --> 00:23:05,360 You look into a microscope and it makes that little speck seem big. 288 00:23:05,360 --> 00:23:08,560 I can remember the first time I looked into a microscope. 289 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:11,600 I must have been about 10 years of age. 290 00:23:11,600 --> 00:23:18,360 And a man who lived next to where my cousin lived invited us over into a little something 291 00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:19,360 on the back of his house. 292 00:23:19,360 --> 00:23:20,880 I can't even describe what it was. 293 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:26,520 It was almost like a little greenhouse kind of thing. 294 00:23:26,520 --> 00:23:31,520 He went down to the creek that flowed behind the house and got a little bit of water and 295 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:34,320 brought it up, made a slide of that and stuck it under the microscope. 296 00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:39,560 And I remember how amazed I was at all of those things crawling around in that water, 297 00:23:39,560 --> 00:23:45,440 which you could not see with the naked eye, but magnified, there they were. 298 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:49,600 My friend, that's what God wants to do through us. 299 00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:52,760 He says, Lord, make yourself close to people. 300 00:23:52,760 --> 00:23:59,960 May they see the reality of You in the way that You fulfill Your promises in my life. 301 00:23:59,960 --> 00:24:03,040 That's what God wants to do. 302 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:06,840 God seems so distant to some people You work with. 303 00:24:06,840 --> 00:24:12,120 Some of those people You study with at school don't even believe in God. 304 00:24:12,120 --> 00:24:18,880 What God wants to do is to magnify Himself, to make Himself appear big and close, near 305 00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:20,640 to those around You. 306 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:27,720 And David says in the midst of his own disappointment, Lord, fulfill Your promises to me and magnify 307 00:24:27,720 --> 00:24:33,760 Yourself. 308 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:41,040 Psalm 72 verses 18 and 19 says, Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only 309 00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:42,560 doeth wondrous things. 310 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:45,920 And blessed be His glorious name forever. 311 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,000 And let the whole earth be filled with His glory. 312 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:51,360 Amen and amen. 313 00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:59,760 Psalm 115 verse 1, not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory for 314 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:04,480 Thy mercy and for Thy truth's sake. 315 00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:08,080 We just need to be a little more concerned perhaps that it's God's name who gets the 316 00:25:08,080 --> 00:25:10,080 glory instead of our own. 317 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:15,840 That it's He who is magnified and not we. 318 00:25:15,840 --> 00:25:23,880 Psalm 119 verses 27 and 29, David responds by praying this, Lord, bless my house. 319 00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:28,960 For Thou, O Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, hast made a revelation to Thy servants, saying, 320 00:25:28,960 --> 00:25:32,280 I will build you a house. 321 00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:34,640 Remember David said, Lord, I want to build you a house. 322 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:35,880 God said, No, David, you can't. 323 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:38,640 You're a man of war, but I'll build you a house. 324 00:25:38,640 --> 00:25:42,080 And what God meant was a dynasty. 325 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:48,400 Therefore, Thy servant has found courage to pray this prayer to Thee. 326 00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:55,560 And now, O Lord God, Thou art God, and Thy words are truth, and Thou hast promised this 327 00:25:55,560 --> 00:25:57,120 good thing to Thy servant. 328 00:25:57,120 --> 00:26:04,280 Now therefore, may it please Thee to bless the house of Thy servant, that it may continue 329 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:06,760 forever before Thee. 330 00:26:06,760 --> 00:26:12,400 For Thou, O Lord God, hast spoken, and with Thy blessing may the house of Thy servant 331 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:16,120 be blessed forever. 332 00:26:16,120 --> 00:26:20,040 David here is suggesting his own personal commitment to the will of God. 333 00:26:20,040 --> 00:26:26,320 He's saying in essence this, Lord, if that's the way you feel, if that's what you want, 334 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:29,000 then that's fine with me. 335 00:26:29,000 --> 00:26:30,000 That's great. 336 00:26:30,000 --> 00:26:35,200 And then David prays for his descendants to enjoy those promises that God had given to 337 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:36,240 him. 338 00:26:36,240 --> 00:26:38,240 He prayed for his family. 339 00:26:38,240 --> 00:26:40,920 What a good thing for parents to do. 340 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:47,000 Pray for their family that they may enjoy the promises of God, know the blessings of 341 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:48,000 God. 342 00:26:48,000 --> 00:26:54,400 I tell you, I wonder if there are any more powerful forces in the life of a child than 343 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:59,600 the prayer of mom and dad. 344 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:02,160 David says, Lord, bless my house. 345 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:08,760 I surrender to what you say gladly. 346 00:27:08,760 --> 00:27:12,800 How have you responded to God's no's in the past? 347 00:27:12,800 --> 00:27:17,440 It may be that right now God has said yes to you, and you're riding high. 348 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:18,600 You're charging on. 349 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:20,720 The victory is yours. 350 00:27:20,720 --> 00:27:21,720 You're on the mountaintop. 351 00:27:21,720 --> 00:27:25,640 Well, let me guarantee you one thing. 352 00:27:25,640 --> 00:27:30,160 There is going to come a day when God's going to say no to you again. 353 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:32,480 God has a way of doing that. 354 00:27:32,480 --> 00:27:33,800 Not because He doesn't love you. 355 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:36,680 He loved David too. 356 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:43,760 Not because He doesn't appreciate your vision even for Him or the project you want to accomplish. 357 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:46,120 He does. 358 00:27:46,120 --> 00:27:52,760 Not because He feels that you're worthless and washed up. 359 00:27:52,760 --> 00:27:53,920 No. 360 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:55,360 God has a purpose for you. 361 00:27:55,360 --> 00:27:59,680 But when God says no, remember He has something better in store. 362 00:27:59,680 --> 00:28:05,080 And therefore you can respond by praising Him for who He is. 363 00:28:05,080 --> 00:28:12,020 You can respond by claiming His promises, surrendering to Him. 364 00:28:12,020 --> 00:28:17,640 Praise God and thank Him for His unlimited grace, His unutterable love, His unparalleled 365 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:21,480 greatness, His unfailing faithfulness. 366 00:28:21,480 --> 00:28:25,320 And ask Him to fulfill His will in your life. 367 00:28:25,320 --> 00:28:30,960 Ask Him to magnify Himself through you. 368 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:35,740 Then commit yourself to whatever God has said. 369 00:28:35,740 --> 00:28:42,240 And if you do that, you, like David, will be a man after God's own hearts. 370 00:28:42,240 --> 00:28:53,080 Lord, make us that kind of people. 371 00:28:53,080 --> 00:29:00,400 I say this and I think I mean it, and I trust others here will join me in it in saying, 372 00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:08,400 Lord, do what you need to do in us to make us that kind of people. 373 00:29:08,400 --> 00:29:11,200 Make us people after your heart. 374 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:19,280 Thank you for graciously and mercifully forgiving our sins. 375 00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:25,360 And likewise, in your grace and mercy, judging our lives on the whole of it in our walk with 376 00:29:25,360 --> 00:29:29,440 you. 377 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:36,120 And Lord, when your ways seem mysterious, when we don't quite understand all that 378 00:29:36,120 --> 00:29:45,040 you are doing in our lives, in those times when we face disappointment because of a 379 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:53,160 door that you have shut, I pray that we will be able to respond as David did. 380 00:29:53,160 --> 00:30:16,000 In Jesus' name, amen.