The Promise Produces Worship | 2 Samuel 7

You're listening to the Bridgetown Church Podcast with

Pastor Chris Ochoa, where our vision is Jesus, our mission is

people, and our cause is love. Thanks for tuning in.

Let's dive in. Good morning Bridgetown.

We find ourselves this morning in Part 2 of Second Samuel

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

Chapter 7. I don't know if you've noticed,

maybe you have. You've been here since day one

of our series Heart. We've been in First and Second

Samuel for a while now. It's been a year, over a year

and some change now. It's been a long journey, but

rest assured, we're almost through.

We'll complete this sermon series heart Second Samuel this

year. It does beg the following

questions, though, as we've been in this Old Testament book this

long. Why do we study the Old

Testament at all? Chris?

What in the world has this got to do with me?

I'm not a king. I don't live in ancient Israel.

What exactly has this got to do with me?

And I excitingly respond to you with a resounding everything.

This has everything to do with you and what you believe today

as a Christian. This is why it's so important to

study. You see, when we were studying

the Old Testament, it is tempting to reduce these

Scriptures merely principles of Christian living.

And that is true. There's, there's godly wisdom

here. It does contain wisdom for

practical living. There is a whole genre of the

Old Testament called wisdom literature.

These are literally the words of God on how to live, on how God

has created you. So yes, there is wisdom in these

Old Testament passages, but they're more than that.

It's more than just helping you live a certain way.

It's telling a story. It's telling a narrative.

You see these Old Testament scriptures, they're woven

together to tell a story that is in search of a conclusion in the

New Testament. These passages, they're actually

foundational to your understanding of the New

Testament, the New Testament story, Jesus, who he is.

Therefore, these passages are crucial.

You think about John chapter 5, Jesus and His debating with the

John 5 · chapter mention

Pharisees and religious leaders of the day.

He tells them you search the Scriptures because you think

that in them you have life, but it is they that bear witness

about Me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.

Jesus by his own affirmation says these Old Testament

Scriptures, that was his Bible of the day, these Old Testament

Scriptures. He's saying you search the

Scriptures because you think life is in them.

No, they point to me. This Old Testament is going to

set the stage for the New Testament who and who Jesus

would eventually be. So if these Old Testament

scriptures were important to Jesus, then they also ought to

be important to us, his disciples.

And there's a quite legendary quote by theologian AW Tozer.

Write this on the forefront of your mind.

Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.

Nothing less than a whole Bible can make a whole Christian.

And that's what we believe here. We love the scriptures.

We believe they're inspired by God and they're profitable for

doctrine, for teaching, for training and righteousness that

we would be complete equipped for every good work.

So every year we have the worst 30 seconds of our lives.

The most embarrassing 30 seconds of your life happens every year.

Do you know what moment that is? It's your birthday.

Why? Because it's your birthday.

All eyes are on you. The worst, most embarrassing,

cringy 30 seconds you experience every year is the happy birthday

song. You dread it.

You dread it, this, this idea of everybody in the room looking at

you just to spoil you. They're all here just to spoil

you because they love you that much.

When we don't know what to do, when all eyes are on us, it's

like, where do I put my hands? I don't know what to do.

There are some egotistical maniacs over there that are

like, oh, yes, lay it on me. But I think for every rational,

sane person, it's a hard 30 seconds.

Oh, shoot, don't look at me. And it gets even worse.

It's amplified if they do it at a restaurant, because now all

eyes in the restaurant, all the servers, all the cooks, the eyes

are on you. Isn't it funny how humanity, we

crave attention, we crave to be noticed, but when all eyes are

on us, we don't know what to do about it.

You're made to image glory, but when you actually get the glory,

it's like, I don't know what to do that center of attention, all

eyes are on you. It, it becomes a lot to handle.

David kind of feels like that today on our story in our second

part of Second Samuel Chapter 7, we're going to focus on David's

2 Samuel 7 · chapter mention

response to the promises that God has just made him in Part 1.

If you remember last week, we we, we talked about the first

part of Chapter 7. God makes these series of

promises to King David that it's what we call the Davidic

covenant. God makes a covenant with David,

binding himself to David, saying, here's what I'm going to

do for you, David. I'm going to build you a house.

I'm going to build you a family dynasty, and there's going to

come an offspring from you. You're going to have a son and

he's going to reign on the throne forever out of your

Kingdom. There will be no end.

David says, what? Who?

Me? That's what we're going to study

today. We're going to study David's

response to the promises, the unmerited promises of God last

week. So here's our sermon road map.

Here's our three points that we'll go over today.

OK, one, I want you to understand that the promise

produces worship. The promise produces worship. 2,

the promise produces a people. And then three, the promise

produces courage. In addition to that, this

morning church, I'm hoping to connect some dots in the

Scriptures for you. Again, like I said before, I

don't want to just give you principles of Christian living.

There will be at meditation and application.

But what I also want to do is connect some dots for you in the

Old Testament as they build to the story of who Jesus is.

I want you to see how these covenant promises lead to Jesus

and a future hope for you, his people.

It's about God and his people, us the church.

Prayerfully, it will result in our own worship of God because

he's just that good. That's what we want to do today.

So let's get to it. Second Samuel Chapter 7, verse

2 Samuel 7:18

18 says, then King David went in and sat before the Lord and

said, Who am IO, Lord God, and what is my house that you have

brought me thus far? And yet this was a small thing

in your eyes, O Lord God, you have spoken also of your

servant's house for a great while to come.

And this is instruction for mankind, O Lord God.

And what more can David say to you?

For you know your servant, O Lord God, because of your

promise, and according to your own heart, you have brought

about all this greatness to make your servant know it.

Here we get to eavesdrop on a special sacred moment.

This is a prayer between King David and God.

In this prayer, this is David's response to the covenant

promises that God had just revealed to him.

David is so overwhelmed by God's kindness and generosity that he

appropriately falls to his knees in prayer.

He begins his prayer with who? Who am I?

Oh my goodness. Some things I want you to to

notice here in David's prayer. He's presumably presumably in

the tent that houses the ark. Remember chapter 6?

A couple weeks ago we talked about Israel under King David's

leadership, moving the ark from a house to the center of

Jerusalem so that God occupies the capital of Jerusalem, the

capital of Israel of Jerusalem. David now is presumably in that

tent. It says he went in and sat

before the Lord. Now, if you remember in chapter

6, what was chapter 6 about? It was about Ouza touching the

ark. What happens to Ouza as he

touches the ark? He's dead.

What chapter 6 is showing us is the holiness of God, that being

around him is dangerous, that the area around him is sacred

space. If you were going to enter

sacred space, you must be holy, you must be pure.

So the question I have here in the text is how is David able to

approach the presence of the Lord without any consequence?

Think about it. How is he in the tent?

Well, one thing I want you to notice.

I want you to notice David's posture in the presence of the

Lord. He's sitting.

He's sitting. Do you remember what I talked

about in chapter 6 about the holiness of God being his

nature? He is holy in His nature.

That holiness of God is glorious, and all that word

means in Hebrew, glory is weighty, heavy.

So that's why anybody that interacts with God in all of His

Holiness, the glory of God, they're in that space.

This is why they all fall to their knees, because the glory

of God is weighty. I'm in front of the Holy One who

created everyone and everything. David's posture in the presence

of the Lord is sitting. He is exhibiting humility before

God. After all that, he's seen and

heard of God. David sits on the floor and he's

overcome. He's overcome by the words of

God and what God has told him. Isn't this amazing, what we do

here when we study the Scripture?

We are responding to the words of God.

We're responding to the words of God.

The reason it's such a holy moment is because these are the

very words of God to you, his church.

And we ought to respond in the same way when we hear the word

of God preached and taught. We ought to respond with the

same humility that David has on our knees in worship, thanking

God for even speaking to us because he has something for us.

Isaiah chapter 66 verse 2 says this.

Isaiah 66:2

God says all these things. My hand is made everything so

that all these things came to be, declares the Lord.

But this is the one to whom I will look, He who was humble and

contrite in spirit and trembles at my word and trembles at my

word. David is exhibiting, exhibiting

humility. So it may very well be that

David's humility and his faith in God is what's preserving him

in the tent, foreshadowing of what it takes to be in

relationship with God. Humility and faith.

David's prayers starts off looking back to the past and

God's past faithfulness. He says this, he says, who am IO

Lord God, and what is my house that you have brought me thus

far? And yet this was a small thing

in your eyes, O Lord God. He recalls his past here and

here. He remembers where he came from.

This is an improbable, improbable under underdog story

to to say the least. If you look at David's life,

there is no way he becomes king without divine intervention,

without God sovereignly leading his life.

He understands it. He says, who am I?

What is my house? This is a confession from David

that he is nothing special. He is clothed in humility.

Think about it. He was a shepherd boy who

becomes a giant Slayer, who becomes the king of Israel.

This is an impossible journey through merely human means.

Think about it. He's not even the first born in

his family. He's the right.

He's the last one. He has no claim to the throne.

He shouldn't be the king, but God says this is the one Goliath

out of 1 he should have won nine out of 10 times.

It it, this isn't a muster of courage in myself, I'm going to

defeat Goliath. No, it doesn't work without God

divinely intervening. Goliath wins 9 out of 10 times.

Jerusalem itself, the capital. Remember that city, Jebus, the

impenetrable city of the Jebusites?

It sat unconquered for over 500 years.

How is this little shepherd boy able to conquer it?

Many have tried, many have failed.

It got to the point where Jebus said let David try the crippled

and the blind will ward him off because this fortress is

impenetrable. And it happens his life up to

this point. He recalls his past and he

recognizes I am nothing special. You've been the one leading me

this whole time. He recognizes that it's God

who's led him there. The sovereign hand of God has

been working in David's past to prepare him for this present

moment. This is the same for you and I

today. This is the same truth.

Church, what I ask you to do is to consider your past right now.

Take a moment. Just just consider your past.

Who did you used to be before you met Christ?

How much has changed in you? You all have a story now.

Do you believe that this transformation that's taken

place in you happened by accident?

No. You could have never have

imagined that you'd be here today.

God has been working behind the scenes in your life, and each

one of you has a story. Now, that past story is your

testimony. What is the testimony testifying

of? It's testifying of God's

faithfulness. God's faithfulness, just like

David. And so for us believers here

today, with that past, with that story, instead of running away

from it and shame, we praise God of how he's redeemed it and he's

using it for his glory. We ought to embrace our story

and share that story for the sake of others so that they too

can understand that nobody is beyond the reach of God's

redemption. Your story matters.

You see, the way I want you to look at your life is like you're

on a journey, navigating the a journey, on a voyage, on the

sea. In this voyage of life, the past

faithfulness of God becomes an anchor that's going to stabilize

you in your present storms. I want you to be practical as

well. Let me ask you a question.

How do you remember the faithfulness of God in your

life? How do you remember it?

If you recall Scripture, I don't know if many of you know this,

but the idea of a book, we don't, we kind of take this for

granted. This book is an invention.

A book was an invention. There weren't any books back

then. At the time of King David,

Scripture was oral. It was oral.

That's why the Shema in Deuteronomy begins with the

Shema is this saying, this repetition, this act of worship

that Jews would say to one another.

It begins with here, O Israel, hear the word of the Lord here,

here. Because it's oral tradition, it

required memorization and remembering.

So how do you as a Christian, remember the faithfulness of God

in your life? David as a king was commanded in

Deuteronomy to actually keep a handwritten copy of the Torah,

to read it over and over and over again.

How do you remember the faithfulness of God in your

life? Well, some practical

application. Do you write it down?

Do you keep a journal maybe of what you're going through and

how God has brought you through all these circumstances that

could help. Maybe you have some sort of

trinket or something that you dedicate to the Lord, something

maybe, maybe a necklace, something that you can relate to

a certain situation in your life of all that God has done for

you. Whatever it takes, you want to

commemorate and remember the faithfulness of God because that

past faithfulness of God is going to stabilize as an anchor

your current circumstances. David begins his prayer looking

back at his life and says, I don't know how I even got here.

You've been so faithful to me. This is so important to remember

the past faithfulness of God. But there is more than the past

faithfulness of God. Listen to David's prayer as we

continue. He says, you have spoken also of

your servant's house for a great while to come.

And this is the instruction for mankind, O Lord God, David says

in his prayer. God, as if it wasn't enough that

you took care of me in the past, you've gone above and beyond,

and you've now promised to take care of me in the future too.

I called this. But wait, there's more theology.

But wait, there's more theology. I have a little story here for

you, a reading from author FW Borum.

He was a Australian essayist, and I just thought it was so

beautiful and I want to share it with you, he writes.

One afternoon a man chanced to pass a tourist agency and saw in

the window a colored representation of Niagara Falls.

He entered, secured a copy of the advertisement, and pasted

across the foot of it. It read More to follow.

Could anything be more to the point?

However great the demand that the Falls may make upon the

river, there is always more and more water to come.

However great the man that my needs have upon the divine

grace, there is always more and more at my disposal.

This vision of grace, overwhelming and overflowing,

rebukes the paltriness of my appropriation.

FW Boram can say with David that the grace of God, like a river,

is inexhaustible. He's been faithful in the past.

He will be faithful in your present, and he will be faithful

in the future because his grace is not ever exhausted.

You see, God is the source of all things good, and His grace

will continue to flow in the lives of his children.

We only need to ask. We only need to ask.

This is what James is getting at in James chapter 1 when he says

James 1 · chapter mention

if any of you lacks wisdom, you can ask him at any time and he

gives freely with that reproach. He goes on to say in chapter one

that God is the source of all things good.

He's the giver of good gifts. Every good and perfect gift

comes down from him. He loves to bless his kids.

Do you believe that, or do you think in your mind that you've

send His grace away? That temptation hits our minds

every day, does it not? We must put that to death

because the fact of the matter is, God, his grace, is

inexhaustible, and there's always grace upon grace, an

unending flow of grace into the lives of His children.

We need to only ask. He has been faithful in the past

and He will be faithful in your future.

Returning to that analogy of the voyage of our life as we're

sailing on the seas, I want you to understand as well that the

past faithfulness of God is not only an anchor for your

president, it's also the sail that enables you to continue on

in on your journey. His past faithfulness enables

you to continue on your journey full of encouragement and faith

that He's going to take care of you.

If he has been faithful in the past, will he not continue to be

faithful in the future? He can't deny himself.

Last week, I, I, I brought up this idea that in the nature of

God, in all of His Holiness, do you realize that there are some

things that God can't do? There's some things he can't do.

One of the big things he can't do is he can't be faithless.

He has to be. And So what David's banking on

here is the character of God. He's made this covenant promise

with me. I know he's not going to stop

then because he's going to be faithful to me.

He, he can't say no to himself. This is just who he is, what he

does. Now, an interesting thing I

wanted to note in the text here, David says, is this not

instruction for mankind, instruction for mankind?

This. There's actually two ways to

translate this text in Hebrew. And I think both are important.

I think both are important and so I want to share both of them

with you. There's two varied translations

here. 1 is instruction for mankind, and you'll find this in

here in the ESV. It's more of an exclamation.

David's saying, Oh my gosh, is this not instruction for

mankind? The way that God deals with

people? These Old Testament scriptures,

they're recorded for our instruction today.

You think though we live under the new covenant established by

Jesus, it's essential that we are acquainted with these

scriptures that set the foundation for what we believe

in the New Testament. You look at what Paul writes in

Romans chapter 15, verse four. He says for whatever was written

Romans 15 · chapter mention

in former days was written for our instruction that through

endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures,

we might have hope. So what instruction is there,

David? What exactly is God instructing

us on? Well, this passage reveals

truths about who God is, His nature.

He's the faithful one. It reveals who we are as humans.

It also reveals our sinful predicament that we find

ourselves in, and they reveal a need for redemption in our

hearts. That's why we studied the Old

Testament. That's the first way to

translate this instruction for mankind.

The second way, you'll find it in the New King James Version,

maybe the NET version, if you use that, it reads, is this the

manner of man, O Lord God? Rather than an exclamation, it's

actually a question. David hit with the reality of

what God's doing in his life. He's astounded on it.

And he says, God, is this your ordinary way of doing things?

I, I am floored. Well, I want to tease it out.

We'll get back to this. We'll come back to this point,

this translation, but I want to tease it out.

Is this God's ordinary way of doing things for humanity?

No, it's not. It's not God's ordinary way of

doing things with humanity. This is a special sacred moment,

a sacred bond, and we'll come back to that.

I just want to tease it out real quick.

Moving on to verse 21, David continues and he says because of

your promise and according to your own heart, you have brought

about all of this greatness to make your servant know it.

Now remember, David opened his prayer with who am IO Lord God,

His acknowledgement that he's nothing special.

So then why the covenant? Why would God make these

promises then if he's nothing special?

If David's done nothing to earn it, What God, why are you making

this promise to him? Why would God make this pledge?

Recall from last week, what did David do to merit this promise

from God? Nothing.

He was just a shepherd boy. God broke into his life just

like he's broken into our lives. So then it begs the question,

what motivates God to make these promises to David?

What's motivating him? Well, the answer is in the text.

It says here according to your own heart.

According to your own heart. If I was to ask you, why does

God do what he do? Why does God do what he does?

What motivates him? You think if he's the God that

owns everything, I created everyone and everything, he

says. I'm not even going to tell you

if I'm hungry. I own everything.

What do you give to the God that owns everything?

What motivates him to act in such a way to David?

Well, God does what he does for his own good pleasure, for his

own glory. That sounds crazy.

God does what he does for his own glory.

Now, lest we think that God is an egomaniac who demands

worship, let's parse this out real quick.

Think with me. If God does all things for his

own good pleasure, then what brings him good pleasure?

The answer is glory. Glory brings him good pleasure.

What is glory? The worship and exaltation of

His Holiness. So if God does all things for

his good pleasure, what brings him good pleasure?

Glory does. Now if glory brings God good

pleasure, it begs the question, what brings Him glory?

Here's the amazing answer. You do you bring him glory.

You who believe in him bring him glory.

Isaiah 43 chapter. Isaiah chapter 43, verses 6:00

Isaiah 43 · chapter mention

and 7:00 Bring my daughters from afar, my sons from the end of

the earth, Everybody who's called by my name, who I've

created for my glory, Everybody who's called by my name, who

created, I created for my glory. Here's the amazing fact of the

matter. If God is glorified and His

people will, then he not, Will He then not go out of His way to

take care of these same people that bring Him glory?

He loves to bless His people. David, you know why he's doing

this? Not because you deserve it.

He loves you, You're His, and you bring Him glory.

God does what He does for the glory of His name and the joy of

His people. God glorifies Himself by

bringing good pleasure to His kids, to His family, and this

magnifies His name. So then it begs the question,

what can we possibly give to God in response to this

faithfulness? We give Him glory through

worship, just like David did in his prayer.

You see, God is looking for worshippers.

This is what Jesus tells the woman at the well in John

John 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4. Remember He tells her, but the

hour is coming woman, and is now here when true worshippers will

worship the Father in spirit and in truth.

For the Father is seeking such people to worship Him.

God is spirit and those who worship Him must worship in

spirit and in truth. Now what is worship?

Worship is more, is more than just singing.

We have one of the most amazing worship teams in the world up

here that lead us into the presence of the Lord with

praise. But I want you to understand

that worship is more than singing.

And that's a good thing because some of us have terrible voices.

We're we're we're challenged in that way.

I want you to see that worship is more than singing.

Worship really means worth ship worth ship.

You're showing worth. You're ascribing worth to

something. Worship.

This is my prized possession and my life revolves around it.

What is worship? It's the giving of ourselves

over to God and loyalty and declaring that He is our prized

possession. That's worship.

And that includes singing. That includes the living, That

includes sacrifice. It includes giving what worship

is. It's the changing of the

framework of our lives so that our lives are centered around

God. When we make the conscious

decision to deny ourselves and live in obedience to Him and His

Word, we are worshipping. And that entails more than just

singing. It's just this life change.

It's my life is built around him.

This is the appropriate response to the faithfulness of God is

worship. David in his prayer falls on his

knees in worship because of the goodness of God to Him.

We ought to learn from David. God has been so good and

faithful to us. Has he not been?

It warrants, it is appropriate, it demands our worship, and he

is pleased with it. He's pleased with it.

Now David starts to take his prayer in a different direction.

He expands it from himself to a people.

And I want you to see that here in this text starting verse 22.

Therefore you are great, O Lord God, for there is none like you,

and there is no God besides you, according to all that we have

heard with our ears. And who is like your people,

Israel, the one nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be

his people, making himself a name and doing for them great

and awesome things, driving out before your people, whom you

redeemed for yourself from Egypt, a nation and its gods.

And you established for yourself your people, Israel, to be your

people forever. And you, O Lord God, became

their God. And now, O Lord God, confirm

forever the word that you've spoken concerning your servant

and concerning his house, and do as you have spoken, and your

name will be magnified forever, saying the Lord of hosts is God

over Israel. And the House of your servant

David will be established before you.

Here David realizes that God has been working in more than just

his own life. This covenant promise is

expanded to Israel, the people of God.

David remembers, and he recalls that Israel's very existence as

a nation is in fact the product of God's loving faithfulness.

God's loving faithfulness? No, in the text, I want you to

see it, says David prays. Here you went, you, God went to

redeem for yourself a people. Now why?

Why Israel? Why would God redeem Israel?

Well, we actually have the answer in the Bible.

Deuteronomy Chapter 7. Listen up with all your might.

Deuteronomy 7 · chapter mention

Deuteronomy Chapter 7. God says, For you are a people,

Deuteronomy 7 · chapter mention

that's Israel, holy to the Lord your God.

The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His treasured

possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of

the earth. It was not because you were more

in number than other people that the Lord set His love on you and

chose you, for you were actually the fewest of all people.

You're the weakest. But it is because the Lord loves

you and is keeping the oath, the promise that He swore to your

Father's. What I want you to see in

Deuteronomy is that God, he elected or chose Israel as His

people for two reasons. He made a promise with her

forefathers. He made a covenant with Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob. Two, He just loved them.

He is the faithful promise keeping God.

So let's do a little bit of theology real quick.

What does it mean to say that God chose or elected Israel as

his people? You'll hear that term thrown out

frequently. Election.

What does it mean to say that God chose a people to redeem for

himself, his, himself, Israel? While we need to understand this

idea of choosing an election against the backdrop of these

covenants that we are studying. You see, remember covenants with

God, they're never cancelled. They are only fulfilled.

God cannot deny himself. He needs to fulfill these

covenants, and right now this Davidic covenant is third in the

biblical storyline. Can anybody remember the other

two previously, the two instances where God has made a

covenant with his people, Moses and Abraham?

Moses, Moses and Abraham. So this is third in the line of

covenants. Now let's work backwards real

quick, and then we'll understand this big idea of election.

Why would God choose Israel? Well, let's go to the Mosaic

Covenant at the base of Mount Sinai in Exodus chapter 19.

Exodus 19 · chapter mention

You can go read this for your own studies.

God calls Israel to be a Kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

I'm going to be your God. You're going to be my people.

You are a Kingdom of priests, a holy nation.

Now what do priests do? Priests intercede on behalf of

somebody, and they teach the people the word of God.

Now understand, if God is calling all of Israel to be a

priest, a royal priesthood, who in the world are these priests

interceding for or teaching? Well, let's go back to the

Abrahamic covenant. You'll find this in Genesis

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12 through 15. God tells Abraham, and you

through your offspring, through your children, shall all of the

nations be blessed. So let's combine these things.

Israel. Here's the answer.

Israel is chosen to vocation as God's servant to carry His name

to the nations in the future hope that the nations would be

brought into the family of God. According to the Mosaic

Covenant, Israel is a royal priesthood who intercedes and

teaches the nations far off the way of Yahweh.

Here's who our God is. God's plan of redemption is

revealed throughout the entire storyline of the Bible in these

covenants. Remember last week I talked

about these covenants as being like mile markers on a journey.

We're heading to a destination. Well, where's that destination?

It culminates in Jesus. This was his plan of redemption

from the very beginning. A new family of God, the church,

Israel, plus the nations reconciled together in one

family of God. This prayer of David, this

promise of the Davidic covenant to David is for more than just

him. And David recognizes that it's

about a people. It's about a people, Israel plus

the church. Now, remember, previously I

teased the second translation of Instruction for Mankind.

Remember that? Let's work this out real quick.

That second translation, David, remember, questions God, and in

some translations it says, is this the manner of man, O Lord

God? And if I could paraphrase it,

David is asking God, is this the way that you ordinarily treat

humanity, God? No, it's not the way that God

ordinarily treats humanity. This is special.

This is the covenant of love of God, and this covenantal love of

God is experienced and enjoyed in the lives of His family, only

His people. This is in the context of His

covenant family. Please understand this biblical

truth Church. If you are outside of the family

of God, if you are not His, then you are outside of His

covenantal love. You're outside of this

generosity of God biblically. And the way that I, I, I like to

bring out an analogy, if I, if I May, is if I'm walking in the

park or if I'm walking in the mall and some random little kid

comes up to me, tugs on my pants and says, Hey, hey, Mr. buy me

an ice cream cone. What am I going to do for the,

the little kid? I'm going to be like, where are

your parents? Stranger danger?

Don't come talk to me. I'm not, I, I can't give you an

ice cream. I don't even know you now

reverse it. Switch it.

If my daughter came up to me in the park and said, Daddy, buy me

an ice cream cone, my response to her is anything you want

sweetheart, anything you want, anything you want, you must be

in the family to experience this covenantal love of God.

You see, our natural disposition as humanity is enmity with God.

We are his enemies. We seek our own glory instead of

His. Influencers on social media are

preoccupied with building their own empires rather than

furthering the empire of God. Politicians are so concerned

with building their own empire rather than following the will

of God. We in our natural state are

enemies to God, seeking our own glory instead of His.

Something must be done to us to bring us into the family of God

to experience this covenant blessing.

You think about Isaiah chapter 59.

Isaiah 59 · chapter mention

God says my arm is not too short to save you, my ear is not too

dull to hear you, to hear your prayers, but you are separated

from me because of your sin. Something must be done about

your sin. Now we at Bridgetown, our desire

is that strangers would become family would come to experience

the covenantal love of God. So how can somebody move from

being a stranger to God to being in the family of God and a full

recipient of this endless grace, a full recipient of this

covenant to love answer. It is through the Lord Jesus

Christ through his gospel. How do strangers become family

through the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Jesus is the way into the family of God.

He is the one that fulfills His covenants.

Isn't it interesting You go to the Gospel of Matthew, the

Gospel according to Matthew. Matthew was written for a Jewish

audience. Out of the four gospels, this

one specifically was tailored for Jewish believers.

Isn't it interesting? The very first verse, Matthew

11, begins this way, The book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ,

the son of David, the son of Abraham, the son of David, the

son of Abraham. Do you hear what Matthew's

saying? He's the one.

He fulfills this covenant. He fulfills the covenant to

David. He fulfills the covenant to

Abraham. He is the fulfillment.

He is the offspring that will reconcile the nations back to

the Father as he establishes a new Kingdom.

Paul goes off on this in Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2 · chapter mention

I want to read it to you. Remember you.

Remember that you at that time were separated from Christ,

alienated from the Commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the

covenants of promises, having no hope, and without God in the

world. But now in Christ Jesus you who

were once far off have been brought near by the blood of

Christ, for He Himself is our peace.

He has made us both 1 and broken down in His flesh the dividing

wall of hostility, by abolishing the law of commandments

expressed in ordinances that He might create in Himself one new

man in place of two, so making peace, and might reconcile us

both to God and one body through the cross, thereby killing the

hostility. And he came and preached peace

to you who were far off, and peace to those who were near,

for through Him we both have access and one spirit to the

Father. Paul is saying to you here, who

are non Jewish, you did not inherit these covenant promises

in Christ. You who were strangers who were

far off, you've been brought near.

You've now inherited these covenant promises.

David understands this. It's not just a promise for him,

it's a promise for a people. This is yours.

Now that Kingdom that God promised to David reaches its

culmination in Jesus. Jesus establishes it and he says

in Luke 1232, Fear not little flock, it is the Father's good

pleasure to give you the Kingdom.

It's yours. Through the gospel of Jesus, we

enemies of God are redeemed and reconciled to God as his kids.

We become inheritors of this covenant promise.

But wait, there's more. There's more grace to be had.

Genesis chapter 49 verse 10. Jacob prophesied to his son the

Genesis 49:10

the 12 tribes, the 12 tribes of Israel.

Jacob says this concerning the coming ruler, the scepter, this

rod of iron, this symbol of authority.

The scepter shall not depart from Judah.

What line was David from Judah? The scepter shall not depart

from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,

until tribute comes to him, and to him shall be the obedience of

the nations. This is a prophecy about King

David and the covenant promise, and it reaches its fulfilment in

Jesus. Jesus has the scepter, He has

the obedience of the nations. Check this out Revelation

Revelation 2:26

chapter 2, verse 26. This will blow your mind to the

one who conquers. This is Jesus speaking to the

one who conquers, who keeps my works until the end.

To Him I will give authority over the nations, and He will

rule them with a rod of iron, as when earth and pots are broken

in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my

Father. Do you see it?

The future faithfulness of God, the future grace, the future

hope of the family of God is ruling and reigning alongside

Jesus. For some reason God gets glory.

It pleases Him to share authority with his family.

That scepter that was prophesied in Genesis chapter 49,

Genesis 49 · chapter mention

Revelation, Jesus comes and says, I'm giving it to you.

And so I've always thought like, you know this, the old worship

song, we fall down, we lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus.

We lay our crown down and Jesus says, thank you so much.

But here you dropped this. It's yours.

Does that like chafe you to think that God's going to share

authority with you? It seems like almost like who am

I? Oh Lord God, you feel how David

feels. There is future grace yet to be

had for believers. Now lastly, as we end for you, O

Lord of hosts, the God of Israel have made this revelation to

your servant, saying, I will build you a house.

Therefore your servant has found courage to pray to you.

David has courage to pray. He has courage to enter the

tent. He has courage to be close to

the ark. Though he saw what happened to

Ouza, he knows this is dangerous.

He has courage to approach the ark.

Where does that courage come from?

The promise God made him, a promise.

He knows he's not going to kill me.

He promised me that he's going to take care of me.

There's 10 times in this prayer that David calls himself your

servant, your servant, your servant, your servant, your

servant. 10 times he says it. He has this relational communion

with God. David is close to the presence

of the Lord and he is no longer afraid.

He's actually in the safest place he can ever be in relation

to God. He's full of trust and he's full

of faith because he believes in the covenant promise of Jesus.

Understand that Jesus is the one.

He's made our way to the Father. What happened that day?

He hung there on the cross in the temple.

The veil tore, the veil torn where the presence of God

dwells. The veil is torn because of

Jesus, because of his perfect life and his perfect death.

We too, like David, can have courage to approach God because

Jesus is our confidence. He's brought us into that family

of God. And what does God get All the

glory from blessing his family. There is no more fear.

There is no more fear. There is now therefore no more

condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Hebrews chapter 4 verse 16 says this.

Hebrews 4:16

Let us then with confidence, this confidence that David has,

draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy

and find grace to help in time of need.

You can come near to God now because of Jesus.

You can have courage to pray. You can have courage to worship

through whatever you're going through because of what Jesus

has done. He has fulfilled these promises.

He's the one that brings us into the family of God.

As I as I wrap up some points of meditation and application, I

want you to remember that God's disposition toward his people is

kindness and overflowing with grace.

He's so kind, His grace toward his family.

You who believe is unmerited, and it's unearned because it's

unmerited, because it's unearned, that means you can

never lose it as long as you keep believing because you

didn't start it in the first place.

He did. This reframes our suffering and

hardship in life when we go through hard times.

It's not punitive. He's not angry at you.

There's now, therefore, no condemnation for those in Christ

Jesus. When you walk through suffering

and hardship, when He guides you through those valleys, it's

meant to be transformative, not punitive.

We cannot send His grace away. In the same way that you cannot

stop Niagara Falls from flowing. You cannot stop the grace of God

from ending, from from unending. We can however, continuing

belief David is only safe in the presence of God because he

believes the covenant promises of God.

He has faith and the author. Of Hebrews goes through.

Painstaking detail to make sure you, the reader understand that

what? Brings somebody close to.

God is faith, how can? You encounter the living God.

And not die. Faith.

Faith that he loves you. Faith that He's there for you.

You must believe second. Point of application is that

this. Overflowing grace of God should

move His people to worship. When we understand that.

This inexhaustible source of grace, it's ours.

And that our God is inexhaustible.

It should move us to respond in worship.

Worship is more than singing. It's the conscious.

Reorienting of. Our lives to center around God

we recognize. That God is.

Holy and that He's called us to live holy in our lives.

And here's what worship can look like. 3 simple ways.

Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for what he's done

for me. Sacrifice.

He's given me everything. I'm willing to sacrifice for

somebody else because my source of all things good is unending.

3rd it results in praise you. Are so good for what you've

done, God. Luke 1232 Fear not little flock.

It's your father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.

Do you believe that today that you who believe the Kingdom is

for you? As we head into a time of

communion, we have the communion table up here, the bread and the

wine. On the night Jesus was betrayed,

he. Actually instituted a new

covenant. Here's how it all connects.

Again, what? Why?

Why study the Old Testament? Because the New Testament is

founded on it, Jesus says. Here's the blood of the new

Covenant. Here's what I want to understand

about this new covenant. That Jesus has inaugurated sin

is forgiven. Your sin is forgiven.

Death has been. Defeated.

Righteousness is ours, eternal life is ours, and this is.

Grace Beyond. Measure.

That's what the. New Covenant is about.

Founded on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

And guess what? Like Niagara Falls, this

covenant, the blood of Jesus shed to inaugurate this

covenant, is unending and it will flow forever.

He no longer has to die to make. Atonement for your sin you are

forgiven for you in the family, you who've trusted and put your

faith in Jesus. For those of you who.

Haven't had Never. Heard this before, would you

consider who Jesus is? Would you consider the way that

you're living your life? Are you experiencing this

covenant love of God? Please realize understand that

until. You give in.

God's your enemy. He's just waiting for you to

give in. He loves you.

Would you consider that? We hope you enjoyed this message

and we'd love. For you to join us in person

every Sunday at 10:30 AM. For more information and

updates, visit wearebridgetown.com.

Thanks for tuning in and we'll see you next week.