God's Big Promise to God's Needy People

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

Good morning, Watermark.

Yes, today we're going to read 2 Samuel chapter 7.

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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 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.

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.

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 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.

In accordance with these words,

and in accordance with all this vision,

Nathan spoke to David.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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

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

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

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