2 Samuel 7:1-17 • Shepherd's Covenant

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  (This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)

  2 Samuel chapter 7, 2 Samuel chapter 7, by some commentators identified as one of the weightiest chapters in Scripture.

  Why on a graduation Sunday would we go there?

  Well, these are graduates, and we have prepared them for weighty things.

  And here is a chapter dealing with a young king getting ready for some of the weightiest matters of his heart and ours, being prepared by God with a covenant that will not end even when the young man will have some struggles yet to face.

  Let's stand as we honor God's Word.

  And Samuel chapter 7, we'll look at the first 17 verses.

  In the first half of that, David is offering to God, "I'll build a house for you."

  God says, "Not you, but your son."

  But how about David, "If I build a house for you?"

  Verse 12 is that portion of the dialogue, 12 through 17.

  The Lord speaking through Nathan the prophet says to David, "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 and he shall be to me a son."

  And 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 all these words and in accordance with all this vision Nathan spoke to David." Let's pray together.

  Father, these were words to a king long ago, but this same Bible tells us that everything that was written in the past was written for us so that through endurance and the encouragement of Scripture, we might have hope, so teach us what is needed for our hope and our joy and our strength as we face a world that does not know you but hearts that still need you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Please be seated.

  How close would you be willing to cut to the heart in order to save a life?

  The question, how close would you be willing to cut to the heart to save a life is the stereotypical question when you picture in your mind the movie with John Wayne with the arrow sticking out of his chest. You know, how willing are you to cut to the heart in order to save a life? And of course because it's John Wayne, it has to be a rusty knife by the light of a campfire with a bottle of something medicinal to help him with the pain.

  But what if the pain and the arrow is from the evil one and the threat is not physical but spiritual? How close to the heart then are you willing to cut to save?

  Cambridge University, one of the most prestigious universities in all the world, has only recently done the research that indicates that so much of its prestige has been built on the profits of the slave trade years ago.

  And that message cuts so deep that there are plenty of alums who don't want to hear it.

  Thomas Jefferson, architect of this democracy with his Declaration of Independence, declaring "All men are created equal," built his beautiful Monticello on the backs of slaves.

  And that cuts a little close, as does the message that George Washington's Mount Vernon or Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, also built on the blood and the sweat and tears of slaves.

  Of course those are political figures, but it cuts closer when you go to the religious leaders of our nation and church, a Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mather, the Pilgrims, the Puritans, slave owners, the forefathers of this church in its denomination.

  And when this immediate denomination was formed, not only the sons of slave owners but fathers that we still know did much to establish this church not just on biblical orthodoxy but to maintain segregation in the South.

  And that cuts pretty close.

  We don't necessarily want to hear it at all, much less a preacher, say, son of West Tennessee.

  My forefathers were farmers and plantation owners and slave owners.

  And for some of my African American friends in ministry, they don't want to hear that. In fact, it cuts so close to the heart, they don't want to deal with me once they know it. And so I quickly bring up, and we were dirt poor farmers on another side of the family.

  But I don't have to go back generations.

  I can say there are other things that have enslaved even a present generation of my family.

  Alcohol, addictions, adultery, divorce, not just years ago, family, members, now.

  And people don't want to hear that from a preacher. We're supposed to be perfect. We're supposed to be all put together.

  But how close to the heart are you willing to cut to save?

  Because the reality is, if you do not see any spiritual danger, you will not perform the spiritual surgery that's needed. And there is no clear example in Scripture of a man who was resisting spiritual surgery than David.

  In this amazing chapter where God is making promises to a young king, it is a God who knows all the problems that have been and will be in this young king's life. And obliquely puts it all in front of us to make us know of a grace that we must know in order to perform the spiritual surgery that is needed for the days ahead. On a graduation Sunday, why go there? Because young people who just sang to us with conviction, "I will follow Jesus."

  No turning back.

  No turning back.

  Really.

  What might that require?

  But not just a promise from you, but a work of grace in your heart by a God who keeps His covenant even when we struggle. It's that message that's before David. It starts with a message we don't mind hearing at all. God promising His presence. The Lord stays close to those whose hearts are stayed on Him. It's the word from Isaiah who will come later, and we love it. God will keep Him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Him. What a beautiful message.

  Except what God is saying here is I need to caution you. I stay close to those who follow after me, who those who walk with me. It's the message of verse 6, earlier in the chapter of what I read to you, before I read to you, the later portions. God speaking through Nathan to David says, "You want to build me a house? I've 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." It's just the reminder of the Exodus experience. That God, when He brought the people out of Egypt Himself, went before them cloud by day, pillar of fire by night, and to exemplify His presence with them, in that tabernacle of fabric was the Holy of Holies with the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the law of God, but covering it on the mercy seat, the very presence of God. So wherever the fire and the pillar went, as long as the people followed after, God was saying, "I'm present with you. If you follow after me, I will be present with you. Wherever you go, I will be near. I am Emmanuel, which means God with us. That is who I am, and I will be with you as you follow me." And so I rejoice when graduates sing, when they're willing to say, "I will follow Jesus.

  No turning back wherever He requires, wherever He demands. I'll go there, and it may cost, it may be difficult, but I will follow."

  And a lot of us in the room know that may be very, very difficult.

  Al Mohler, the current president of Southern Seminary, says, "What every young Christian must face these days is that we are the new moral outlaws of this nation.

  For a lot of you, your parents and grandparents, if upon graduating from high school, whether you're entering the armed services, whether you're going to college, whether you're going into a career, if they declare, "I will follow Jesus," might have faced people who thought, "Well, that's kind of naive, or silly, or prudish, but it's probably not what you will face."

  If you say, "I will follow Jesus and His Word in matters of gender, and sex, and morality, and prayer, and salvation through Christ alone," there are people who will not consider you just silly and prudish, but hateful and bigoted, and we need to get rid of you to the margins of society.

  You have no more place, you have no more voice if you stand for life in all its stages as sacred. If you stand for biblical marriage as the Bible is explaining it, then you are automatically considered a bigot, even though you may think everything that's motivating you is a heart of love. You, you're in a different time, in a different place to sing the beauty of, "I have decided to follow Jesus," no turning back.

  What a blessing.

  We are so thankful and proud of you, and at the same moment, no, this is a hard path.

  And for that reason to know, wherever I go, God will go with me. He will be with me. That is His promise as He led the people through the desert, through the wilderness, through their enemies. He said, "I will be with you wherever you go." It is the message that we still need, and so that we know we need it, God gives the flip side of it as well, not just that He will be present with those who follow Him,

  but He acknowledges the consequence of not following. A distance from His power, from His blessing, from His glory. Verse 7, "In all the places where I have moved with 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?" God is saying, "When there was that period of the judges before the king, when everybody did what was right in their own eyes, did I say to those people, build me a house?"

  No.

  Because those who are saying, "I'll just do what's right in my own eyes," were not those that God wanted to represent Him in the world. Any resort to self-reliance, "I'll just do what I think is best. I'll do what the culture seems to think is best, but I'll just do what's best in my eyes." God is saying, "That is not what will honor me, and it's not where I promise to be present either."

  It is the warning of God's people. It's the recognition that we all face at this moment that God is saying, "Those who will be close to me will experience the goodness of my blessing in heart, if not in career, if not in money, if not in..." Maybe none of those things, but God's presence and care in the most important things that you will ever face.

  Transitions are important.

  Some of you are already recognizing that perhaps this will be the last summer that you spend under your parents' roof for life.

  And as a consequence, there are all kinds of decisions that are being made. What will happen next? What will be my spiritual death? What will be my spiritual orientation?

  Transitions are a great time for some reflection.

  What might I have stopped doing with Jesus?

  What might I ought to start doing with Jesus?

  At a time of new challenge, new opportunity, new places, new people, new starts.

  What might God be calling me to think about? What have I stopped doing? What do I need to start doing? What do I need to start that I've stopped?

  God calls us to understand, and to understand why that is important, He begins to express not only His presence, but the nature of His provision for those who would want Him present. He begins to explain the nature of His grace. Verse 8, Nathan speaking to David, "Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David, says the Lord, 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." What's the nature of God's grace on display? He says, "Remember who you were?

  You were out in the pasture, and I made you a prince of my people."

  We love the story, the Prince to the pauper and the life of David, that we forget what is actually made signified. But God who is saying, "I will take the unqualified, the undeserving, the ones who the world will look at and say, "You can make no difference, and I will use you for the greatest glory if you will walk after me." What does that look like? You may remember the story. Here is Samuel, the previous prophet. He's told by God, "I want you to anoint somebody in Saul's place, the king who is turned away from God." And so Samuel goes to the house of Jesse, and he says, "Show me your sons."

  And they begin to parade, seven of them, tall, dark, handsome.

  Wonderful men, obviously the ones who ought to be the next king of Israel. And what does God say to Samuel? Man looks on the outward appearance. God looks on the heart. What's in there?

  And none of the ones who have stature and looks are appointed.

  So Samuel says to Jesse, "Isn't there anybody else?"

  Well there's the kid.

  He's out in the pasture watching the sheep.

  Samuel says, "Let's have a look at him." So in he comes, smaller, sunburned, and stinking of sheep.

  And Samuel says, "That's the one of God's choosing."

  Why?

  He obviously is the least qualified, the least deserving, the least obvious, but God is making a point. What is His grace like but that He calls those who are undeserving, those who think, "I cannot qualify. I can't be used." And God says, "I take the weak things of the world to shame the strong, the things that are not to make nothing, the things that are."

  It's God saying, "I recognize that there are people who in their high school years, you know, are the popular, the attractive, the athletic, but do you recognize, those of you who are in the room a bit older, that for those that we sometimes saw in high school who were the most attractive, the most popular, the most athletic, their high school years were the high watermark of their significance in life.

  And so often those who go on or those who are learning to walk with God, to take the resources He has given, and God blessing that. This is more than a statement of nerd's rule, okay? It's more than that.

  It is saying God could do so much with a heart that's committed to Him, far beyond your impact and that you would ever thought if it's just self-reliance like those judges who only did what was right in their own eyes, and God's saying, "No, I'll take a shepherd boy to do my work."

  Stephanie Hubach is the current director of special needs ministries for the Presbyterian Church in America. This last week I heard her talking about what had moved her into that ministry, thinking of the significance of all who God has called into His church for His purposes. And she spoke first about her own son, a down syndrome child who she says gets up every morning, fixes his own breakfast, cooks it, and then every morning it gets cold because he loses track of time as he's praying for the needs of his church.

  And I think about the prophecies of the coming kingdom and the message that a little child shall lead them, that a heart totally devoted to God, that a mind that has sat on the Lord, that God is saying, "I use that far more than how the world may judge and estimate appearances." Stephanie talked about how her own heart was renewed for the ministry that God has given her as another down syndrome child in their church, had a reputation for just going to people in the atrium as they would come in and would say the same questions over and over again every Sunday. Do you love Jesus to anybody?

  And do you know that Jesus is coming back?

  Sometimes He would even go into the elders meetings and say, "Do you love Jesus?

  Do you know Jesus is coming back?"

  But on this particular day there had been the death of a child in the church, a brain tumor that had claimed the ability to walk and speak and see, and then life itself.

  And Stephanie talked about how her love for that family and her love for that child was so damaging to her unwillingness to serve God because of the early death of this child. She said even at the funeral she just had to go to the ladies room just to get away from the people and just to cry in grief for what is happening.

  And then as she came out of the ladies room, this young man with his questions who didn't exactly understand social space so he got right up in her face and said, "Miss Stephanie,

  Johnny loved Jesus and now Johnny can walk and he can talk and he can see and he'll come back with Jesus."

  Suddenly she recognized the beauty and the wonder of the gospel, not by the experts, not even by her own heart smidgen, but one who was the least of these who got the gospel and in ministering it to her not only ministered to the other family, but now ministers to you as God is saying, "I will take the heart that is set on me and I will use it for glory, for good. I'm not taking just what the world sees."

  The expanse of the blessing that God is promising to those whose hearts don't settle on Him is explained to David in the words that follow. Verse 9, "I have been with you wherever you went, cut off all your enemies from before you." Yes, yes, I've done things. I brought you from war to rest.

  David might think about that as something he had arranged. He'd been a great warrior. Remember the songs of the women?

  Paul has slain his thousands, but David has slain his tens of thousands. David might say, "Well, look at me."

  And instead God is saying, "No, I just didn't bring you from war to rest." This grace of mine is operating on different levels, the rest of verse 9, "And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth." I'll give you a name.

  You're not just going to be a digit.

  Not just a name on a diploma. Not just a name from your family. I know you.

  And I'm going to give you a name that has differed from all that for David. What must that have been? You look at the name of David as being something glorious.

  But if you only knew David's history, or your David, youngest son in a society that only honored first sons, not just youngest son, but the pasture boy, sheep boy, it gets worse.

  Great great great great great grandson of Judah, the great guy whose idea it was to sell Joseph into slavery.

  The one even after God's promise slept with his dead son's wife, whom he thought was a prostitute in order to produce the line from which David comes.

  And then ten generations later, one of those sons decides to marry a Moabiteus named Ruth. One of the most hated nations of Israel is now bred into Judah's line. And David has to recognize that for so many in Israel, he's not just the son of incest and prostitution. He is a halfbreed who's got a name.

  You're David.

  Do you recognize even today the nation of Israel identifies itself as the nation of David? The national symbol of the nation is the Tower of David. But David, you well know, will not just have problems before this point. He will have many problems after this point. And God says through Jeremiah, a following prophet, "I'll give to the nation a name.

  The Lord is my righteousness." That's the name by which Israel will be called. As God gives to David and his nation God's own name, and not just God's own name, but his nature. This is the name by which you shall be called. The Lord is our righteousness, not my righteousness, not my doing. I don't have that to claim David knew that.

  But the Lord providing me his righteousness, his status, his goodness. And for that reason, I don't just have a name but verse 10, "And I will appoint," says God, "a place for my people Israel, and I will plant them so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more." From the time that Abraham went into the Promised Land, God said, "I'll give you a place. I will give you the Promised Land." But the people so struggle to take control of the place. Now here's David saying, "I've taken control.

  It will be lost again."

  One of the reasons that Jesus would say to us, "I go to prepare a place for you."

  Something secure, something that's unshakable. And that we need to know as we go through a hard world where our name doesn't mean anything if there's not a place for us.

  I told you before one of the most significant events in my life was my trip to college with my father.

  Going to a city I had never visited, a campus on which I had never stepped foot, going from Memphis up Highway 55 to Chicago.

  And as we were driving, starting out that day, I was excited, which means I jabbered a lot.

  But the further we got on the trip, the closer we got to the college and the magnitude of what I began to recognize. Nobody there knew my name.

  I didn't know what was going to happen.

  And I got quieter and quieter. And finally my dad looked over at me and he said, "You're scared, aren't you?"

  I am.

  I'll never forget, I pray.

  My father pulling off to the side of the road, turning off the engine, and looking at me to say, "Now you look at me.

  You are my son.

  I don't know how you'll do at that school if you'll do well or if you do poorly.

  But you are my son and you will always have a place in my home."

  Did that take away all the challenges?

  It did not. What did it give? Confidence, security, peace of heart. Regardless of what would happen, my father had a place for me. I had a name. I was his son. I had a place. It's what we sang earlier, right? If you have a place in the father's house, that means you're the son of the father. He is calling you mine as much as Jesus is the father's child. So are we who bear his name. We are made right with God by his work and we have a place now. And the place becomes so important to know my heart is secure with God.

  When we have the rest that we want, but not always the rest that we need. Halfway through verse 10, "After the war is also promised this, and violent men shall afflict them my people 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." Now the people got part of that message. I will give you rest from your enemies. No more war, you can rest.

  But the rest is not just from external enemies.

  I will bring you rest from the judges, the violent men who ruled over you though they were your own.

  No rest is much more a betrayal to us than where we believe we are secure and we are endangered from those who are supposed to be shepherding us and loving us.

  The hard realities of life, one in four women will live in an abusive relationship in their own home.

  Where violence and abuse, where there should be rest and security in the place of God's provision is betrayed by the very one who's supposed to be in charge in the God's covenant plan.

  And worse, most of the time if there's abuse of the women, there will be abuse of the children by the same person.

  And the place that should be home is not safe.

  And then we need rest.

  Jesus promised, "Take my yoke upon you. Go where I call you to go and I will give you rest."

  Rest for your soul. Even when the circumstances are not what they ought to be. If it's not a spouse, if it's an employer, if it's a child who is turning, I will give rest for your soul. That God is saying, "Here's my grace when there's nothing that would qualify in what you do or what you can take care of. I still tell you, you are mine. I have given you a name. And I have given you a place. You are mine forever. You have a place here and in heaven itself.

  And knowing of my love, I give you rest for your soul."

  It becomes so important when you recognize what David would do or not do to keep the rest for his soul.

  God says, "I will give you a house." Did you catch that? Verse 12, "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 own body. I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name." This is not just the physical thing we're talking about. When God promises to David a house, it's a lineage, a royal lineage like we talk about the house of Windsor, right, for the English royalty. God is saying to David, "I will give you a house." Yes, your son after you, that Solomon, will build my house, the temple, but I will build your house. And it's not just going to be wood and stone. I am going to provide this eternal influence that is going to come through your family, through your line, David. Now you and I know where the story's going.

  The house and lineage of David was Jesus.

  But recognize where we are in the story right now. This is David who's receiving this shepherd's covenant from God. I'm going to build you a house. I'm going to give you royal lineage.

  David is anointed by Samuel before he beats up Goliath.

  Before he qualifies, he gets the promise of the anointing.

  And here he's not just promised the kingship, he's promised an eternal kingdom.

  But if you would flip just a few pages over in your Bible going forward, you'll find out that the anointing for king came before Goliath. But the promise of a kingdom comes before Bathsheba where the same David, whose heart is set on the Lord, will have wandered so far that he will sleep with a beautiful woman not his own, and then to have her will murder her husband.

  And then will raise bad children.

  And then at the end of his life, will number his troops as though he is responsible for his own kingdom's glory.

  This guy does not deserve the grace of God.

  Got it.

  Grace is not deserved.

  It is the mercy of God being out poured. Do you recognize who this David is? He's the one who will betray God. He's the one who will turn away. Are there consequences for his sin? Yes, there are consequences for his sin. He will experience great, great difficulty. But God says discipline does not mean I depart from you. Rather, he is promising in verse 15, "My steadfast love will not depart.

  Turn to me and I will turn to you. Know that my discipline is not ever going to mean I've walked away from you. But we'll provide all that you need, even a homecoming to my own heart." I wonder if David would have perceived it, could have perceived it, would have felt any different if he knew God's steadfast love would not change. Some of you have been with me in Israel as we have gone down the Mount of Olives on that same path that Jesus would have walked on the triumph, would have ridden on the triumphal entry.

  And the glory of the crowds and people saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David."

  But that same David would have gone up the Mount of Olives, barefoot and in tears, because his son Absalom was seeking his life and had turned the nation against him.

  Nothing was left. No glory, no good. What was left?

  God's steadfast love.

  As God is recognizing for us all that he must do in order to save, the message becomes important to us. Verse 12, God says to David, "When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you." Who is that? Verse 13, "He shall build a house for my name. I will establish a throne of his kingdom forever."

  But then the fly in the ointment, verse 14, "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 Son of Man. Here is love, I'll take care of him. Here is discipline.

  But when he turns away, he will experience the rod of a father, fatherly discipline." That can't be Jesus. It is Solomon who would turn away from God, marry all the foreign wives, and dishonor the very temple that he built.

  But the shepherding love hasn't stopped because God continues. Verse 15, "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." I know the words are going by fast, but God is saying, "Listen, Solomon's going to fail, but he's in your line. So what does that mean?

  I will establish my kingdom forever through your offspring who even come after Solomon and he will have a sure kingdom forever. Sure, no threat, no enemy. There was become a universal kingdom and it will last forever.

  Universal and forever kingdom will come from this line." Who is that?

  But Jesus, here is God saying, "I will provide for those who cannot provide for themselves." And the psalmist who picks up on those words says, what does this mean? All nations will be blessed through this one. A king for everyone, everywhere. What will be his nature? He will rule from sea to sea.

  He will deliver the needy who cry out. He will take pity on the weak and he will save the needy from death.

  What is God ultimately promising?

  That out of brokenness comes a Savior who will heal the broken. When they cry out, he will provide. And the greatest evidence of that is David, whose line yielded the greater David, the one who truly would be honored by God, the shepherd who would come and be secure and secure us to the Father.

  Lie on a graduation Sunday because when you're graduating high school, you think the hardest days of your spiritual challenge are behind you.

  When you face the peers or the parties or the difficulty, that was so hard to resist

  and almost everybody else knows the hardest days are ahead of you.

  The greatest challenges, the greatest difficulties, the greatest temptations, they're all out there next.

  And not the least of which is going to be the professor or the peer or the manager who knows a little bit about the Bible and will say, you want to follow the people of the Bible. You want to be like the people of the Bible. Do you ever read the Bible?

  The murderers and the adulterers and the addicted ones and the messed up people. You want to do something really funny? When somebody says, do you know about all the hypocrites and the adulterers and the murderers in the Bible? Agree with them.

  Yes I know. I want to shock you. The Bible is full of messed up people, except for one who came to save all the messed up people.

  It's being prepared. It's knowing what the Bible is willing, the Bible is willing to do heart surgery from the very beginning to say, here is somebody who should have been able to stand but he messed up terribly. And what did God do? God said, I will give you steadfast love. When you cry out to me, I will provide for the needy. When you seek me, I will come to the broken. When you follow me, I will come right after you. When you have gone away from it, you turn around, I am right there. I never left you.

  And it is that God who gives us strength to claim our name. I am a believer in Jesus Christ. His righteousness is my own. It's that one who gives us a place. Though the world reject me, my God receives me. I have a place in his home forever. And what that means is that he calls me his. I am his. He is mine forever and forever. I will follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. The cross before me. I know where I may be going. But heaven is there too. And the home of the God who loved me beyond my knowing, I will follow him.

  Follow Jesus. No turning back. No turning back. He is your Savior.

  It's the time again.

  Transitions.

  What do you need to stop?

  What do you need to start?

  Start it for the one who says, "I have loved you with a steadfast love. I will never leave you or forsake you."

  Follow him.

  No turning back.

  Fathers so work not just in the hearts of young people, but ours as well.

  As we who know what it means to be undeserving know also the beauty of a God who gave himself for us and hears the needy when they cry out and heals the sinful when they do the heart surgery of saying, "I need this Jesus to forgive and strengthen and lead me forward." I will follow Jesus. No turning back.

  No turning back.

  So lead us forward, Lord Jesus, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.