THE LORD ESTABLISHES A HOUSE FOR YOU (Outline)
December 23, 2007 -
ADVENT 4 -
2 Samuel 7:8-11
INTRO: During Advent we study promises that are made and examine promises that are kept. This morning we will look at promises made to David and promises kept. It is the Lord who makes these promises. It is also our Lord God Almighty who keeps all these promises. As we gather in our houses of worship it is this very same Lord God Almighty that the true believer worships. It matters not where we worship. The Lord God Almighty is in the midst of his people who worship him. God knows what is in our hearts. God knows what is in our minds. God knows the praise that flows from the worshipful hearts and minds of faithful believers.
In Athens the apostle Paul had to declare to learned people about the “unknown god”. These learned people had idols and statues to every god they could imagine. There was also the altar to the “unknown god”. They wanted to cover all their bases, just in case. Paul explains: "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else"(ACT 17:24,25). This is the Lord our God who is above all things. By God’s great grace we know and worship the true God. Today we look at why we would worship God at all. It is because of what the Lord God Almighty does for us.
THE LORD ESTABLISHES A HOUSE FOR YOU.
This is a house --
I. Not built by human hands, but;
II. An eternal home in heaven.
I. A HOUSE NOT BUILT BY HUMAN HANDS
A. This was a rare time in the reign of King David. This was a time of peace.
1. David had faced God’s enemies and defeated them. He even took back the city of Jerusalem.
2. Was it really David who had done all these things? Verse 9a. The Lord gave the victories.
B. The Lord had done everything. King David needed this reminder, verse 8.
1. The Lord had taken David from the field and put him in the palace; from a shepherd to a king.
2. David wanted to build a place of worship for the Lord. But the Lord did not need this house.
C. The prophet Nathan was sent to remind David of what the Lord had done, not what David had done.
1. David’s hands did not make himself great but God’s hand. The Lord would continue, ver. 9b.
a. The Lord’s hand David victory over Goliath.
b. Jesus enters Jerusalem – “The Son of David”.
2. Verse 10. The Lord would establish a place for Israel according to his plan and his time.
D. It is good not brag so much about our accomplishments. We want to value what the Lord accomplishes for us, to us, and through us. Too often we try to fight our own battles. At times we might think our greatest battles are against the things we see. Satan is our most dangerous enemy. The devil is the most deceitful foe any of us will ever face. Satan is not alone. "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms" (EPHESIANS 6:12). Satan is not the most powerful.
E. Thankfully, joyfully, and most blessedly we are not alone. The Lord, the Lord God Almighty is on our side and is always with us. As God stands with us and for us we need never fear. What can man do to me? What can anyone do to me? The Psalm writer describes the beautiful promise of God’s great love and concern for each and every believer. "He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart"(PSALM 91:4). Our Lord protects us.
F. The Lord establishes a house for you. This is important – God does it. Salvation and eternity does not depend on our efforts, not even our desires. It cannot. God found David and made him king and ancestor of the Savior, Jesus Christ. David did not do this. God found Paul and made him an apostle. Paul did not go out of his way to decide to accept Jesus. The Holy Spirit calls us by the gospel without any effort or merit on our part. "But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy"(TITUS 3:4, 5a).
THE LORD ESTABLISHES A HOUSE FOR YOU.
Human hands do not build God’s house. It is --
II. AN ETERNAL HOME IN HEAVEN
A. David’s thinking needed changing. He needed to look away from himself and to the Lord.
1. It was not all about what David wanted done, but what the Lord wanted done and when.
2. David’s was a great and glorious desire. The danger was that David might take all the credit.
B. It would be the Lord who would establish David and his house and Israel and their house.
1. Verse 10a the Lord will plant Israel. They would have a permanent inheritance from the Lord.
2. Ver. 10b the Lord would defeat and destroy Israel’s enemies. Jesus would crush Satan’s head.
C. Verse 11. The eternal house of God = heaven. There would be rest from every enemy for Israel.
1. The LORD declares it and the LORD will do it.
2. There is no greater promise maker and keeper!
D. Through David the Lord establishes a house for you. It is not that David had planned to make his name great that all this happened. The Lord planned to make David’s name great that all of these great things happened. The Lord establishes a house for you, an eternal inheritance. This happens for us because the Lord made his promise to David. Here is the Savior described in the New Testament. "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end"(LUKE 1:32,33).
E. The Lord establishes a house for you. Yes, God’s house is an eternal home – heaven itself. Our enemies are spiritual enemies. God’s house for us is a spiritual house. God’s spiritual house is made up of believers everywhere. They are bound together by the simple faith in Christ as Savior. "You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ"(1 PETER 2:5). This is the house our Lord establishes.
F. Mere mortal hands cannot build an eternal home in heaven. Our eternal home is a special place. One person who lived and died and rose again prepares our eternal home in heaven. That holy, innocent person is Christ Jesus, our Savior. Now, now Christ has gone ahead to prepare a place for us. Since he goes to prepare a place for us in heaven and for eternity we also know that he will someday return. The Lord establishes a house for you. It is an eternal home. "In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you"(JOHN 14:2).
CONC.: The season of Advent does study the promises that God has made. We discover the promises that God makes are the promises that he keeps. What does this mean for us? God’s promise made and kept mean that his word is sure and true. We know, believe, and confess that all God’s promises are sure. We have examined the promises made to David and Israel. All of them have been fulfilled. These promises of God have also made for and for us. Paul describes our blessed assurance. "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands"(2 CORINTHIANS 5:1). THE LORD ESTABLISHES A HOUSE FOR YOU. Human hands on earth do not build our spiritual house here. We are saved by God’s grace. Our home in heaven is an eternal home. Jesus prepares a place for us. Again – ALL this is purely and simply done for us by God’s great grace, without any merit or worthiness on our part. The Lord has done this. We are thankful and rejoice. Know: THE LORD ESTABLISHES A HOUSE FOR YOU. This house of God is spiritual. This house of God is eternal. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
SERVICES: SAT – 1:00pm @ NCF Min.,
+ SUN – 12:00pm @ NCF Medium / 9:30am @ Church
Sunday radio broadcast @ 9:05am on KQNK 106.7FM or 1530AM + www.kqnk.com
ADVENT 4 readings:
ISAIAH 7:10-14;
ROMANS 1:1-7;
MATTHEW 1:18-25
(PSALM 24)
