God's Big Promise to God's Needy People

[0:00] Heavenly Father, as we come to your word this morning, we pray, God, that we will understand it correctly. We will understand what you're trying to say to us from your word, Lord.

[0:10] We don't wanna come to your word with our own ideas and try to read into your word what we want it to say. We wanna hear from you. So God, won't you help me to explain it?

[0:22] But God, more than just understand with our heads, we want to be edified in our hearts. We want to be encouraged to trust you, to hold onto you, to live by faith for you.

[0:33] And so God, I pray, won't you meet each one of us in the places that we're at, Lord. God, we pray for the many churches of Hong Kong this morning. Some facing great challenges, some in great stages of advance or good things happening.

[0:51] Lord, we pray more than anything else in Watermark, in all the churches, of all the languages, in all the cultures, that your spirit will be in our churches, that we will be a spirit-led people.

[1:02] As we listen to you speak to us through your word, shaped by the gospel, renewed by the gospel, enlivened by your spirit, God, we pray for really a sense of revival and renewal to come to Hong Kong.

[1:14] And we say, God, start with our hearts. God, come and renew us. Come make our hearts beat with love for you, God. Help us to see our own hearts, to confess our sin, to hold onto you. Lord, we need you to move in our midst.

[1:25] So we pray these things for ourselves and all our brothers and sisters across this great city of Hong Kong. Do this in your name we pray. Amen. Let's listen to CK. She reads to us from 2 Samuel chapter 7.

[1:42] Good morning, Watermark. Yes, today we're going to read 2 Samuel chapter 7. You may follow along the bulletin or refer to the screen. So basically today, David proposes to build God a permanent house, as you will find out later, to glorify God.

[2:00] Surprisingly, God's response to David's offer is to build David a permanent house, a permanent and secure Israel, and establishing a dynasty for the house of David.

[2:12] So starting in verse 1, let us read. Now, when the king lived in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.

[2:34] And Nathan said to the king, Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you. But that same night, the word of the Lord came to Nathan, Go tell my servant David, thus says the Lord, Would you build me a house to dwell in?

[2:52] I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word with any of the judges of Israel whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, Why have you not built me a house of cedar?

[3:17] 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.

[3:30] And I have been with you wherever you went, and cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make you for a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.

[3:43] And I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and 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.

[4:01] 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.

[4:22] 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.

[4:40] But 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.

[4:52] Your throne shall be established forever. In accordance with these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David.

[5:02] This is the word of God. Okay, great. Thank you, CK. Well, if you're new to Watermark, we are doing a preaching series where we are zooming out and looking at the whole kind of storyline of the Bible.

[5:19] It's very tempting to look at the Bible as just a collection of stories, you know, Jonah and the whale, David and Goliath, Daniel and Lion's Den, and think, what are the lessons, the life lessons we can learn from this?

[5:30] Or we think of the Bible as just a collection of wisdom to help improve our lives. But actually, the Bible has a storyline, a narrative arc. And in order to understand the message of the Bible, and especially the message of the individual parts, we need to know what is the storyline.

[5:45] So that's what we are doing. And so let me, and what is the main message of the Bible? I think the main message is this. God makes a promise and then works to act on his promise to put everything right again.

[6:01] If you look at the world, not everything is right. Our world is broken. People are broken. But God makes a promise right in the beginning of the Bible, and he's working throughout the Bible to be good to that promise, to put everything right again.

[6:16] And so let me recap the story. The story starts in Genesis with creation, right? God makes humanity, and he makes us human beings in his image to be in relationship with him, to know him and love him, to find our meaning and our identity and our security in him.

[6:31] And the pinnacle of creation, the essence of being human, is to know God and be in a relationship with him. That's where our meaning and our security and our identity is found.

[6:42] It's why the atheistic worldview can deconstruct faith, but it can't give you meaning and purpose in its place. It can tell you there's nothing meaningful in this world, there's no purpose, there is no God, but it can't give you something meaningful.

[6:56] Meaning and significance and purpose and identity are found in knowing the God that made us to be in a relationship with him. And so God creates us, but we as humanity, we turn our back on him. We reject his word, we reject his authority, we think we know better than him, and so we go our own way.

[7:12] And the consequences for the sin is disastrous. We come out from under God's rule, we are exiled from his blessing, we are no longer his people under his rule, no longer experiencing his blessing.

[7:24] But mankind's rejection of God doesn't do anything to his kingdom. It doesn't threaten his kingdom, it doesn't thwart his kingdom, it doesn't diminish his kingdom, God's kingdom still stands, just we, his humanity, are outside of his kingdom.

[7:39] So God's kingdom is still very secure, but we are now outside of it. And so God wants to bring us back. And so he comes with a plan. And he starts off with this promise, this promise to this man called Abraham, and he says, Abraham, I will bless you and all your descendants, your descendants will become a mighty family, they will become my chosen people, and through this family will become a one particular person, a Messiah, a king, and he will open up the doorway to the kingdom so that all people from all nations and all cultures and all time can come back into my kingdom.

[8:14] So God makes this promise to Abraham, I'll bless you, through you, the doors will be opened so that all people can come back under my rule and experience my grace and my blessing. And so God does that.

[8:26] And so Abraham's family grows and they get bigger and bigger, but then God wants to take this family of Abraham called the Israelites, and he wants to make them his distinctive set-apart people. So how's he gonna do that?

[8:39] Well, he brings them through a rite of passage, this profound experience that shapes and changes them forever. This rite of passage is the Exodus from Egypt. They are delivered from slavery and from judgment, and now they come out of Egypt, and they are God's distinctive people, set apart from him.

[8:56] The identity has been shaped by this rite of passage they've gone through. And forever now, they are God's people. They've been bought by him. They belong to him. They are his distinctive people.

[9:08] But then God, how's he gonna keep them, his distinctive people? Well, he gives them his instructions. We call this the law. It's what Neil spoke about last week. God gives them his instructions how to live as his distinctive people forever.

[9:22] And so he gives them these instructions. These are not harsh instructions. They're not legalistic. They're good. They're gracious. They help keep God at the center so that God's people can be under God's rule and experience his blessing.

[9:35] And so the storyline of the Bible is that God's people have been rescued and saved. They've been given God's instructions for life. And you think, okay, all is good. Go and live happily ever after. But it doesn't quite work out like that, right?

[9:47] As you read the Old Testament, you see God's people, they kind of follow instructions and they don't and they kind of do and they don't. And things go very up and down. And what's the key? Why do God's people do well and then do badly?

[10:01] What's the key at the top of this, the kind of wave and the bottom of the trough? Well, often it comes down to leadership. What kind of leaders they have. When Israel has a great leader, man, God's people are blessed.

[10:15] The whole nation does well. They flourish. But when there's a lousy leader, oh, things go down. And the whole nation kind of falls into disarray. And so the key is leadership.

[10:27] Leadership. Leadership. What God's people need is the right kind of leader. You see, the thing with God's instructions is they tell you what to do.

[10:37] God's law, they tell you what the sands are, but they don't actually give you the ability to do it. So they tell you, this is what it looks like to be a righteous people, a righteous nation. This is how to experience God's blessing.

[10:48] They don't give you the ability to actually do it. And so they know the instructions, but how do they do it? Well, they actually need a leader that's gonna help them to do it. And so Israel's story really depends on what kind of leader they have.

[11:02] And so at first they have Moses, and he's a pretty good leader. A couple of bad moments, but generally Moses is great, and God's people go forward. They get to the brink of the promised land.

[11:13] And then they have this leader called Joshua, and Joshua's a great leader. He's a man of God. He's a man of faith. He really trusts God. He defeats their enemies, and he brings them into the promised land, and things are looking good.

[11:24] But then Joshua dies, and things start to go down here. And so listen to what Judges says. Judges chapter two, it says, after Joshua, the servant of the Lord, died, there arose another generation who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel.

[11:40] So the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served foreign gods, abandoning the God who brought them out of the land of Egypt. And so this really is the storyline of the Old Testament.

[11:51] They have a great leader, things are doing well, the nation flourishes, oh, they have a bad leader, and things fall apart. And it's up and down. It's kind of like, and whenever there is a great leader, it's kind of like a sandcastle on the beach.

[12:04] You must have built a great big sandcastle, right? Amazing, wonderful thing. And you go back 12 hours later, 24 hours later, and it's gone. And that's what a great leader's like. They restore things, they revive things, they reform the nation, but after them, things just fall apart.

[12:21] And so the final verse in the book of Judges says this, in those days, there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in their own eyes. So when there's no king, things just unraveled to seems.

[12:33] And the nation of Israel falls apart. Everyone's doing what they want to do. And so what they need is a king, a righteous king, a good king, a godly king, a God-fearing king.

[12:45] And why is that? What does a king do? Well, in the Old Testament, a king does three things. He rescues them from their enemies. So whenever the king is the commander-in-chief of the forces, right?

[12:56] When an enemy is attacking, the king rallies the army and he defends them, he rescues them, he keeps the enemies out of the city or out of the nation. He keeps them safe and protects them.

[13:07] He also rules in a good way. So he rescues them and he rules. So in other words, he enacts righteous laws and good principles. He puts judges in place and magistrates that can rule for people.

[13:20] He rules with wisdom. And he establishes righteousness and justice in the nation. When there's a good king, justice kind of flourishes. The powerful don't take advantage of the powerless.

[13:32] The rich don't take advantage of the poor. Injustice flows in the nation. So he rules well. You could say a good king protects his people from the enemies out there but also the enemies within.

[13:47] The warring armies out there but also from injustice within the nation. He protects them. From the enemies without and the enemies within. He rescues and he rules. But the third thing a king does is he represents.

[14:00] He represents God to the people but he also represents the people before God. So in a sense, when the king is a godly, righteous leader, everyone who comes under him experiences the blessings that come to him.

[14:14] God's blessing flows to the king and all those who are under his rule get blessed as well. Now not everyone in the nation is righteous and good but generally the nation flourishes.

[14:24] There's justice. There's goodness. There's prosperity. Right? China's here. Everyone wants prosperity. Well, we need a good king. And so the king does these three things.

[14:36] And so the law could tell the nation what to do but they couldn't empower them to do it. But a king in some ways could empower them to do it. If you've got good laws in a nation but you've got a corrupt leader, what's going to happen?

[14:48] No one's going to obey the laws. And so the nation becomes corrupt. But if you've got good laws and you've got a good king or good systems or good magistrates and judges who enact justice, well, the whole nation flourishes.

[15:01] So what Israel needs is a king. And so that's the next stage in the journey. So there's creation. There's sin. There's the exodus. There's God's instructions. And God gives them a king. He gives them a king.

[15:12] And so the first king is this guy called Saul. Saul is the king that everybody wants but he's not the king that they need. Saul is just like them. He's insecure and he's jealous and he wants to build his own kingdom.

[15:26] Saul wants to rule God's people instead of God rather than under God. So Saul wants to build his own kingdom. And Saul's kingdom starts to unravel. And the whole thing just falls apart.

[15:38] And Saul's sorry reign comes to an end when he's killed one day in battle by his arch enemies the Philistines. And Saul's he's a terrible king. But God brings them another king.

[15:50] And while Saul's reign is starting to fray and stumble in the back waters of Israel some small little village called Bethlehem there's a shepherd boy and God is choosing him to be the king.

[16:02] And so God chooses this man called David. David is the king that nobody expects. Nobody thinks he should be king. He's a shepherd boy. He's the overlooked sibling. Jesse comes to his dad and says one of your sons is going to be king.

[16:16] Who should it be? And they pick all the other seven and they forget about David. He's overlooked. He's not very promising. But he's the king that they need. And he's got two things going for him.

[16:27] One he's chosen by God and two he's a man of character. He's God fearing. He's honest. The Bible describes him as a man after God's own heart.

[16:39] And so David becomes king and he rules with justice and with righteousness. And as soon as David is installed as king peace returns to Israel. He's the king that they longed for.

[16:49] The king that they really needed. He's not a perfect man. He sins pretty spectacularly. But he's deeply repentant. He confesses his sin like Jeremy Ledison earlier. He's a good man.

[17:00] He's a godly man. And good things happen to Israel. But there's one more problem. And that is that even the best king doesn't live forever.

[17:12] David is going to die. And so what Israel really needs is not just a king. They need a kingdom. They need a dynasty. A kingdom that is going to last forever.

[17:23] That's going to outlast even the best kings. Because you've got this amazing king David and he dies. But then what's going to happen? Things are going to fall apart. So you need a king and you need a kind of dynasty of kings that are going to continue forever to rule in righteousness.

[17:41] To bring goodness to God's people. So that through this people Israel finally heaven and earth true king can come and can open the way. And so that brings us to our passage today that CK read for us in 2 Samuel chapter 7.

[17:56] In this passage God takes David the king and he makes him a promise. And the promise is very similar to what he said to Abraham. He said I'll make you great. I'll give you a name.

[18:07] I'll give you a land. I'll bless you and through your descendants will come heaven and earth's true king the true Messiah and he will open up the doors for all people all nations and cultures and nationalities and Chinese and Filipinos and Africans and all people not just the Jews to come into my kingdom if they receive the king and receive my blessing.

[18:33] From you and your descendants will come the true Messiah king for all those who receive him as king. And so that's the promise that God makes to David. So let's look at this passage and there's two things that God tells David that we need to see in this passage.

[18:48] The first one is this. God not man is going to build his kingdom. God not man is going to build his kingdom. Okay let's see how that works out. So verse 1 Now the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies.

[19:05] Okay so David has just been installed as king he's sitting in his palace and life is good. Finally there is peace in Israel. After years of turmoil and internal conflict and almost civil war and conflict outside finally there is peace.

[19:21] peace from our enemies without peace within things are looking good. And David has brought the ark of God which is this big wooden box that kind of represents God's presence he's brought it back into Jerusalem so now Jerusalem is the center of Israel politically and spiritually God's presence is there things are looking good.

[19:40] And David gets thinking verse 2 David said to his sidekick Nathan the prophet see now I dwell in a house of cedar but the ark of God dwells in a tent so David has just refurbished his palace it's looking good but the ark of God is in this tent on the outskirts of the palace and David thinks this isn't right and so he has an idea what's his idea?

[20:04] He wants to build a temple massive great big temple for God where the ark of God can rest. Now why does David want to do this? Well on the one hand he wants to honor God he says listen I'm a mere mortal I live in this great big palace God is the supreme being of all creation it's not right that I live in a better house than his ark of the covenant so he wants to honor God but there's something else David also wants to secure God's kingdom and God's presence because it's pretty vulnerable out in the tent and so David thinks if I can build a big secure temple lock it away forever God's presence will be with us forever we will be blessed God's kingdom on earth will be firmly established so he's kind of thinking my kingdom is established now let's establish God's kingdom okay but God has other ideas God doesn't want anyone to think that his kingdom depends on David's brilliance or leadership or generosity look what God says verse 4 that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan go and tell my servant David thus says the Lord would you build me a house to dwell in

[21:18] I've not lived in a house since the day I was brought up by the people of Israel from Egypt I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling so God says David thanks for the offer but actually I've been a right for the last 300 years never mind the previous 13 billion years I think I'll be okay thanks okay then he says David just remind me how did you get to become king anyway oh yes I remember verse 8 I took you from the pastures from following the sheep he says remember you were a shepherd right and now you're king how did you get there oh yeah it was me that did that I made you to be prince of my people Israel I have been with you wherever you went I have cut you off from all your enemies before you he's saying David you're king and how was your kingdom established it wasn't your brilliance or your genius or your great military skills actually I was the one that's been doing this the whole time not the other way around

[22:20] I established your kingdom you don't establish my kingdom he says I chose you when you were nothing but a shepherd boy I have been with you and protected you from the lions from the bears when you were a shepherd from Goliath from Saul who hated you and wanted to take you out from the Philistines you've had countless enemies and who's protected you every time it wasn't you it was me I have done it so picture this imagine you in your company you hire a fresh graduate out of college and you hire them as a junior sales associate which kind of means very low rank fresh graduate junior sales associate and you train them and you teach them you coach them everything and you set them up and you you do role plays with them you show them how to make calls and all this kind of stuff six months later this division of which they're the most junior member lands a great client and makes a great sale okay and suddenly this junior sales associate starts walking around the office telling the vice president of global sales how to do sales right well I think you should just do this and let me just coach you a little bit and start giving instructions to the president of the company what are you going to say hey just pipe down son let's just remember where you came from right let's just remember who you are that's what God's saying to David okay I know you're king but let's just remember where you came from who got you there it was me

[23:54] God reminds David where he's come from and who brought him to the throne who's building his kingdom it's not the work of David it's the wonderful work of God and then God says well that wasn't just true of your past let's talk about your future verse 9 I will make for you a great name like the name of the great ones on earth I will appoint a place for my people Israel I will plant them so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed by their enemies no more verse 11 I will give you rest from all your enemies moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a great house so God's saying I'm going to do great things and who's going to do it I will do it not you David remember a few weeks ago Neil spoke about God's covenant with Abraham and he makes this amazing covenant promise and where is Abraham while God is doing this he's fast asleep right he's fast asleep what's God saying Abraham you contributing nothing to this promise

[24:54] I'm doing it all that's what God's doing yeah he's saying the same thing to David this is something I will do in spite of you not because of you look at verse 2 David says here in verse 2 I will build a house for the Lord what does God say in verse 11 no the Lord declares that he will build a house for you God is saying this is something I will do and years later David's son Solomon would write a psalm Psalm 127 anybody know it it's the first sermon I ever preached at Watermark David's son Solomon wrote the psalm saying unless the Lord builds the house those who build it labor in vain unless the Lord watches over city the watchman stays awake in vain it is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest eating the bread of anxious toil for he gives his beloved rest unless the Lord builds a house David your work is all in vain so God's promise to Abraham back in Genesis and to Moses and the Exodus and to Israel and Mount Sinai he's going to overturn sin he's going to take this broken world and he promises to make it right again through this people and now he gets a king called David and he says

[26:04] David you are another instrument a piece in the puzzle through whom my promises will go till finally the true king heaven and earth true king comes and he will burst open the doors so that all people can come under his kingship and experience my blessing and my grace David's kingdom in many ways is just the instrument through which God's promises come because through David's dynasty or the words of Samuel his house God is going to bring his kingdom God wants David to know and he wants us to know that this is not in response to David's great work it precedes it this is what God is doing but look at the second thing here there's a second thing that I think God really wants us to see and that's this God's kingdom is undefeatable I don't know if that's a real word but for today it is right it's undefeatable it will prosper look at verse 12 to 16 with me it says when your days are old and fulfilled sorry when your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers

[27:06] I will raise up for your offspring after you one 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 will be to me a son and when he commits iniquity I will discipline him with the rod of men with the stripes of the son of man but my steadfast love will not depart from him as I took it from Saul whom I put away before you your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me your throne shall be established forever if there's one thing we need to see here God is making this promise David through you and your dynasty my kingdom is going to come and this promise is undefeatable in the words of Dale Ralph Davis it is indefectable that means it cannot fail you can throw whatever you wanted it it cannot fail look at what he says here

[28:09] God lists a couple of the things that would derail most kingdoms right and he says let's think about that what about death okay I mean David is a great king great guy he's not going to live forever one day he's going to get old and die what will happen then are God's redemptive promises going to fall apart look at verse 12 when your days are old sorry when the days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers I will raise up your offspring after you who will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom he will build a house for my name not even death can annul it David's descendants will lie down in death and God will raise up a king who will reign forever and God will raise up a king after king after king until one day there will come a king born of his lineage of his house and dynasty that will never die one day there will come a king who will actually defeat the grave who will die but will rise from death and defeat death forever one day there will come a son a king from David's own lineage and he will defeat death forever not even death can stop God's kingdom what about sin

[29:18] I mean David's a good man he's a righteous man he's not perfect as we find out he sins pretty badly but he repents what about sin sin has a way of derailing even the most strongest kingdoms well look at what God says verse 14 I will be to my father he will be to me a son when he commits iniquity I will discipline him with the rod of men but my steadfast love will never depart from him as I took it from Saul whom I put away before you nope not even sin will destroy this covenant promise God's people will be disciplined but the judgment will never go so far as to destroy it forever David's family will never experience what happened to Saul it will never come to an end David's line will continue forever God will correct and deal with sin and he will continue continue continue until finally will come one king in whom there is no sin in fact finally this king will come and he will be punished with the rods of men and the stripes of punishment on behalf of those who deserve to be punished he will take their sin upon himself and he will swallow up sin so that sin no longer needs to derail

[30:29] God's plans he will put an end to sin's great power forever and what about time? we all know that what time does right? time erodes things time destroys things I was talking to a man this week he was walking up the driveway by our house and he was out of breath he was an elderly man and he said when I was young I used to do so much sport I could do anything but now I'm an old man and then he says to us old age comes to all of us what about time?

[30:57] is time going to destroy this kingdom? well look at what God says verse 16 and your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever your throne will be established forever for all eternity forever and ever and ever David's great descendant Jesus Christ heaven earth true king will be on the throne forever and 100 billion years from now he will still be on the throne and his kingdom will still stand and those who are under his kingdom will still be receiving his blessing and his grace it's almost like God's staring down any challenge and he says give me your best shot sin?

[31:31] I'll handle that death? I'll defeat that time? nothing for me my kingdom will last forever my promise will stand my wonderful work of putting right what is wrong with the world will come to pass it cannot fail so how should we respond?

[31:54] how should we respond? God makes this promise to David and the promise isn't so much for David it's actually for all of us he says David you are my chosen king and I'm going to establish your kingdom and through your descendants will come heaven earth's true kingdom and he will open the doors that all people not just Jews not just Israelites all people who receive him as king can come under his kingdom and will experience his grace and his blessing his righteousness and his justice and death will be no more and sin will be no more and tears will be no more and for all eternity those who receive him as king will experience his blessing and his grace forever so how should we respond?

[32:35] well let me give us three brief responses first one is this trust in the God of the promise friends why are all these stories in the Bible?

[32:46] why are they there? is it just to give us a couple of pep talks? is it to give us some advice? no it's to remind us that God made a promise thousands of years ago and he is good to his promise his promise will not fail trust the God of the promise trust him these are a multitude of ways of showing us what the entire Bible story is all about which is God's promise to put right what is wrong with the world to bring people back into his kingdom outside of Christ we are exiled we are under his curse and his judgment but as we come under him God will restore his blessing so friends don't trust in the kingdom of the HKD or the USD or the RMB or any other three letters you want to put in there right US dollars that kingdom is going to fail Hong Kong dollar that kingdom is going to fail your stocks crypto gold it's going to fail there is a kingdom that will last forever trust the God of the promise those things by the way they promise you a lot they cannot deliver their promises they cannot deliver they will fail he who promises faithful he will do it secondly rejoice in God's track record of faithfulness friends this week something bad is going to happen to you things are going to go wrong and you're going to wonder

[34:05] God where are you and this week God is going to make you wait for something and you're going to feel like I can't wait anymore I've been waiting so long and that's enough and God is going to make you wait longer and you're going to feel like I can't wait another day and you'll wait another month friends trust God's track record of faithfulness in the Bible God often seems like he's very slow it seems like God is doing nothing and you often think God what are you doing this is taking 300 years trust God's track record of faithfulness he has promised he will do it he is good and finally receive Christ as your king receive Christ as your king friends for those of us that are not Christians I'm so glad you're here this morning there are 100 places you could be you chose the best place to be maybe not this church necessarily but a church I'm so glad that you're with us this morning friends if you're not a Christian you need to understand very very clearly what this passage is saying there is a king his name is Jesus and those who come under him and receive him as king receive his blessing and his grace forgiveness of sin safety from the curse of sin in this world friends those that are outside are under God's curse and one day will face judgment

[35:24] Jesus Christ came and died on the cross to defeat sin and death so that you can come under his kingship and receive him friends if you're not a Christian this morning your life and your eternal existence is in deep deep jeopardy do you remember what God said to David in our passage he says I will put an end to your enemies friends if you're not a Christian this morning you are in some sense God's enemy you've rejected him you're rebelling against him you're saying I will do things my own way friends can I implore you can I beg you receive Jesus as your king surrender to him bow down to him say Jesus have your way in my life he will change your life forever you will never be the same person he will rescue you and save you and deliver you friends come to Christ follow him if you haven't done that and you want to do that today come and chat to me afterwards I would love to pray with you and help you receive him as your king but for those of us who are Christians let me ask is Christ still your king do you live as though

[36:31] Jesus is your king are there areas of your life to Jesus you can be king over this area but this area here I want to be king friends let Jesus be king over all let Christ be your lord why don't you come back to him today wholeheartedly give yourself to Jesus there are so many things in our city that are vying for your attention vying for your affection your worship your love those kingdoms will let you down Jesus made a promise thousands of years ago he was faithful and he will be faithful his kingdom will never fail let's come to him now let me pray for us heavenly father your faithfulness is so good lord god as we read the bible we see that you make promise after promise and you are good to your promise a descendant of David did come Jesus the son of David but more importantly the son of God and Jesus you've came to establish a house a kingdom that will last forever you will defeat your enemies you defeated death and sin partially on the cross one day they'll be vanquished forever god thank you for the good news of the gospel but thank you even more that you are such a good king and when we come under you we can experience life and life to the full god I pray won't you help us as a church help us as a people to surrender to you to welcome you as king to love you and trust you in your great name I pray amen amen