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00:02 The birthday of a king was the Christmas carol that greeted my wife and I a few
00:07 days ago as we went into one of the local malls. And as we went in and I heard the music to this carol, I
00:13 thought, what a great advertisement for the sermon this coming Sunday. And I was thinking, if only someone would just get
00:20 on the loudspeaker after the song was over and say, and to know more about this king, come to First Baptist Church
00:26 Subong Sunday morning and you'll find out about him. But alas, that did not take place.
00:32 But the song does fit well with what we're talking about today. It begins with in the little village of Bethlehem.
00:39 Bethlehem being the city of David. In the little village of Bethlehem, there
00:44 lay a child one day. And then the song concludes by identifying the child as
00:51 being the king. So, we're looking today at the promise that God gave to David that a king is
01:00 going to be born that will reign forever. The last several weeks, we have been
01:07 looking at a series of sermons, series of studies based on the books of 1 and 2
01:12 Samuel. We've looked at many events from the life of David. And when we look at
01:18 the life of David, we can see many things that are pointing to the future
01:24 to the coming of the son of David, Jesus Christ, who will then bring forgiveness
01:29 for the people. David is an extremely important figure in the Old Testament
01:35 because he is the one that is pointing to Jesus. And in the New Testament, the
01:41 writers frequently identify Jesus as being a descendant of or a son of David.
01:48 Both Matthew and Luke when they are giving the account of Christ's birth, they take great pains to point out that
01:55 Jesus in the flesh is descended from David. Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus, was a
02:02 descendant of David. And Joseph, Mary's husband, also a descendant of David.
02:08 Even though Joseph was not the physical father of Jesus, nevertheless, Joseph
02:13 and Mary both descendants of David. So the New Testament is telling us that if
02:18 you really want to understand Jesus, it helps to know something about King
02:24 David. So in our text today, God is giving a promise to King David. God is
02:31 making a covenant with David. A covenant that is still existent today. a covenant
02:37 that is highly relevant for each one of us because this covenant is about a future king and his kingdom and we can
02:45 all be part of that kingdom. God is making a promise to David. But
02:51 that promise is not just limited to him. The promise is of a another king who is
02:58 going to come who will be much greater than King David. He'll be known as a son of David, but he will have a kingdom
03:06 that lasts forever. The passage that you just heard read is probably one of the most important
03:12 passages in the entire Old Testament. This passage can be seen as the climax
03:18 or the high point of David's life, the high point of first and 2 Samuel.
03:25 One commentator speaking about this passage says, "This is the dramatic and theological center of the books of
03:32 Samuel and in fact the most crucial theological statement in the Old
03:38 Testament." Another commentator says, "God's words recorded here being
03:44 addressed to David are arguably the most the single most important scripture
03:50 found in the Old Testament that helps us to understand who Jesus is." We'll see
03:56 numerous illusions to this passage of scripture, both in the Psalms and in the Proverbs. As a matter of fact, the
04:03 verses we just heard read become a major theme in some of the writings of some of the prophets.
04:09 So after the time of David, this theme of the promise to David, a son of David
04:15 coming as a king who will reign forever. We find that again and again in the
04:20 biblical literature. For example, we already excuse me before
04:26 we uh go back before we look at the passage that we just heard read, let's go back to the beginning of the chapter,
04:33 verses that were not read. says, "When the king lived in his house, and the
04:38 Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, see now, I dwell in
04:46 a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent." And Nathan said to
04:52 the king, "Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you."
04:59 David had been king now for several years. God had delivered David and the Hebrew people from all their enemies.
05:05 They were enjoying a time of peace and prosperity. David had recently made Jerusalem the
05:11 capital of a united Israel. And now David had built a nice house for
05:17 himself, a nice palace. And we're going to see a word play on the word house in
05:22 this passage of scripture. And in this first situation, it's talking about David's house, but not just an ordinary
05:28 house. It's a palace, a nice palace with cedar wood, which at that time was very
05:35 expensive, also very beautiful, very fragrant.
05:41 Another part of the background to this passage would be chapter 6 of 2 Samuel. You remember several weeks ago, Peter
05:48 preached on the fact that David had moved the ark of God to Jerusalem. The
05:55 ark of the covenant was very crucial, very central to the worship of the Hebrew people because in a very special
06:02 way, God's presence was there. And when blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat,
06:08 which was on top of the ark, then that's where God said, "I will forgive your
06:13 sins. You'll find mercy here." Now, a few hundred years before the time
06:19 of David, God had freed the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt. And he had instructed them to build a tabernacle
06:26 which was a portable tent. And the ark then was placed in this tent
06:35 in the inner room called the Holy of Holies. Now this portable tent had moved
06:40 with Israel for years through the desert. It had entered the promised land with the Hebrew people.
06:47 But it was now a few hundred years old. David's thinking, "We're settled now.
06:54 We're not moving around so much. I've got a nice house. I've got a palace.
06:59 It's only fitting that I build a nice house for God."
07:05 Why should God continue to have a tent when I've got a palace?
07:10 And so the prophet Nathan just says, "Go and do what'sever in your heart. May the
07:17 Lord be with you." God bless you. But that night, probably as Nathan was praying or
07:24 reflecting on what he had said, God spoke to Nathan and said, "No,
07:31 that is not my plan." Nathan said, God told Nathan, "Go tell
07:37 my servant David, will you build me a house to dwell in?"
07:43 That's a nice way of saying, "No, you're not going to build me a house." the rhetorical question, will you build me a
07:50 house to live in? And God continues to say, I've not lived in a house. I have
07:56 traveled with my people through the desert. I have traveled with them into the promised land. Have I ever asked
08:02 anybody to build a house for me out of cedar? And of course, the answer is no, he hasn't.
08:09 So, even though David might have had noble intentions, he's wanting to do something good for God because God has
08:15 blessed him. God tells him in this situation, "No, it's not the right time. Not now." And
08:22 David, you're not the right person. God reminds David
08:29 that David is where he is because of the grace of God. David is where he is, not
08:36 because of the good he has done, but because of God's grace. When we continue reading, God reminds David, you were
08:43 just a shepherd. You had nothing really to offer me. You are tending the sheep. And because of
08:50 me, because of my grace, you are now king over my people. Everything in your
08:56 life, David, is a result of God's grace. And then God goes on and reminds him
09:02 that every good thing that Hebrew people are experiencing is also a result of
09:09 God's grace. the covenant that the people have with God, the promised land
09:15 where they're now living, the fact that God sees them as his treasured possession, the fact that they're now
09:21 experiencing peace. All is the result of God's grace.
09:27 But then God says something quite startling. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that
09:34 the Lord will build you a house. David, you're not going to build me a
09:40 house. I'm going to build you a house. David,
09:45 I've already done all these wonderful things to you, but that's not the end of my grace. I'm going to give you even
09:52 more. In verse five, God says, "Would you
09:58 build me a house?" In other words, no, no, you're not going to build me a house. Instead, I am going to build you
10:06 a house. And here we see that word play again with house. David, would you build me a house? Would
10:12 you build me a temple to dwell in? No, I'm going to build you a house. I'm
10:18 going to build you a dynasty, an enduring kingdom that is going to last
10:25 forever. We see something very significant in
10:30 this fact because we see the true nature of God and we see that the true God is
10:37 not the same as the gods of all other religions. The true God, the God of the Bible is
10:44 not like the gods that are worshiped by others today. And he's not like the gods who were worshiped by other people back
10:51 then. And in this passage, we can also see that God's grace is not dependent upon
10:57 the merit or the achievements of the people. God does not wait for us to do
11:03 something great for him and then he looks down and say, "Oh, very good. I will reward that. You deserve my grace."
11:11 No, David was just a shepherd. He didn't deserve anything. And God bestowed his grace. Even though David did not build a
11:18 temple for God, God gives his grace and builds a house. builds a dynasty for David.
11:24 So in this passage, we're seeing the principle of God's grace. It's not
11:30 dependent on what we do. God is going to build a house. God is the one that takes
11:35 the initiative. God will build the house. Now contrast
11:40 this with other religions both then and now. In every other religion, divine
11:46 blessing is based on what you do. you earn the divine blessing. For example,
11:54 in the ancient times, just a few hundred years before David, there's an example from ancient Egypt that would be typical
12:01 of what happened in those days. Usually, when kings would have great military
12:06 success, what would the be the next thing they'd do? They would then build a
12:12 temple in honor of their god. And then the oracles of the prophets of
12:18 this god would come to the king and say, "Oh great king, because you have done so many wonderful things, because you have
12:23 built me a temple, now I will bless your dynasty." And we have an example of Tut Moses III,
12:31 an Egyptian king, a very successful, very powerful king, a great military
12:37 genius who never lost a battle. And after many military conquests, he built
12:43 a temple for the Egyptian god Ammun Ray. And after he built this big temple for
12:48 this god, then the priests of Amun Ree came to him with a message from their
12:53 gods, saying, "Tutos III, since you have built built me a dwelling place, and you
13:01 have outstripped all other kings in building my monuments, now I will
13:07 establish your throne unto distant days." So this Egyptian god is quoted as saying
13:16 because of what you have done now I'll step in and be nice to you. Do you see
13:23 the difference in what happened in that story and what happened in our text today? Do you see the difference in the
13:30 nature of the true God? The true God is the one who takes the initiative. He blesses us because of his grace. He is a
13:37 gracious God. We do not earn God's favor. We cannot earn a right standing
13:45 with God. And it's not just ancient religions that are like the God Amunray, who supposedly
13:53 was going to bless Tutmos III. Many people today believe that their
13:58 relationship to God or the gods is based totally on what they do. They believe
14:04 that they can somehow earn God's favor and do enough good to guarantee them
14:10 that in the afterlife things will be better for them. Other religions are a
14:15 worksoriented a works-based religion where salvation is based on the person
14:21 not on God. About 15 years ago, I was visiting
14:26 another country in this part of the world and I visited where there is a
14:32 relatively new temple. The temple was just a few years old when I went there and there's a tour guide that was saying
14:37 this is the largest Chinese temple in Southeast Asia and it was a mixture of
14:42 both Buddhism and also Dowoism. But I remember the tour guide talking
14:48 about a very wealthy man who was the major contributor for the establishment
14:54 of this temple and her comment was and by his giving so much money to build
14:59 this temple he is earning merit for his next life.
15:05 Few years ago, my wife and I were in another large Asian city, and we saw this Hindu temple rising up above the
15:11 city, built on a hill, also a relatively new building. And while we were in the
15:16 air, we thought, well, we just stop by and look at this. And we were talking to one of the people at the temple who was
15:22 there to show people around. He told us about the man who was behind the
15:28 building of it and the society that had given so much money for it. And again his comment was and by their building
15:36 this temple they are not only providing a service for the other worshippers but
15:41 they are earning merit for themselves so that their karma will be better so that after this life is over things will be
15:48 better in the next life. And just recently, my wife and I were
15:54 traveling again in another country, and we saw beautiful monuments built, religious structures, houses of worship,
16:03 and the money was given by people who have lots of money.
16:09 And they're giving the money because in their religious system, they think if I
16:14 do enough good, I'll outweigh my bad. And if I have
16:20 enough good, then I can probably get into heaven. And so if I give tons of
16:25 money, doesn't matter how I've made the money, but if I give tons of money, then
16:31 my scale with the good works is going to get a lot heavier. And there's a good possibility I can now, based on my
16:39 achievements, get into heaven when I die. It's always the same. We've seen several
16:45 different religions from ancient Egypt up till today. But in the other religions, divine blessing is based on
16:52 what you do. But building God and impressive building
16:58 does not impress God. We cannot earn merit or secure our way
17:03 to a better afterlife by our efforts. We're not going to impress God enough that he's going to say, "Oh yeah, you're
17:10 now good enough. You've done enough that you'll get in." Think of the pride that
17:15 would come from that. If I could indeed do enough for God, then I'd be so full of pride I wouldn't be worthy to go to
17:21 heaven anyway. So, in this passage, God is telling David, "No, no, you're not going to
17:26 build me a house. I don't want anybody to get the wrong idea. I don't want anybody to think that you're having an
17:33 enduring dynasty because of all these wonderful things you've done for me." That's what everybody else in the world
17:38 thinks. That's what the other religions teach. The truth is, David, even when
17:43 you don't do anything for me, when you don't build me a house, I'm going to take the initiative, I'm going to give you the grace. I am going to build you a
17:50 house. So, let's look further at this covenant that God does make with David.
17:57 After he says, "No, you're not going to build me a house." And said, "I'm going to build you a house." Then God gives
18:04 the covenant. And he says, "I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall
18:09 come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a
18:15 house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
18:20 I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him, but my
18:28 steadfast love will not depart from him. And then we come to the key verse.
18:35 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne
18:42 shall be established forever. Now, when we look at this prophecy, it's
18:49 not real easy to understand what's going on because it seems like the time is
18:55 just flowing into each other. And it is. In this prophecy, God is talking about
19:01 something that's going to be happening immediately right after David's death. His son Solomon is going to build a
19:08 temple. But in this prophecy, God is also talking about things that will be taking place in the future, including a
19:15 very important thing that will be taking place about a thousand years later when
19:20 another son of David, a descendant of David will be born.
19:26 And that is the king then will that will reign on the throne of David forever.
19:31 That is the king who will establish the eternal kingdom that has no end. And you
19:37 notice in this passage twice the word forever is mentioned.
19:43 God's promise is not just for a brief while. It's not contingent upon the
19:49 performance of the sons of David in the flesh. It's contingent on the fact that
19:55 God says it is going to be a kingdom. I will establish this kingdom forever.
20:01 And this is the part of the promise, the covenant with David that is then quoted
20:07 in the Psalms. It's quoted time and again in the proverb. I mean in the prophets. We've already seen one example
20:14 this morning in our responsive reading. We had Psalm 89,
20:19 a psalm of David. I mean a psalm that talks about this covenant with David.
20:24 And I want to emphasize especially verses 3 and four where God has said, "I
20:29 have made a covenant with my chosen one. I have sworn to David, my servant, I
20:35 will establish your offspring forever and will build your throne for all generations."
20:40 Now, this psalm was written sometime after the time of David when the people of Israel were going through
20:46 difficulties again and they were wondering, is God going to be true to his promise? The king we have is pretty
20:55 weak. We don't see the blessings that were there in the days of David. Is God going to keep his covenant? And the
21:02 psalmist reminds him, yes, we can trust God's word.
21:07 And this covenant with David is also amplified in the prophets. Here would be one example from Jeremiah.
21:13 Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he shall reign
21:20 as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days, Judah will be saved,
21:28 and all Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called, "The Lord is our righteousness."
21:38 Many years after the time of King David, the time when the kingdom of Israel and
21:44 the kingdom of Judah had been defeated, we come to learn that this promise of
21:50 the king that's going to raise reign forever is really about the Messiah.
21:56 Messiah meaning the anointed one. The anointed one is a king. This promise is
22:02 about a coming king who will be like David, but he's going to come sometime in the future. He's going to be greater
22:09 than David because he will reign forever. We see that again in Ezekiel chapter 37. God says, "I will save them
22:17 from their backslidings in which they have sinned. I will cleanse them. They shall be my people and I will be their
22:24 God. My servant David shall be king over them, and they shall all have one
22:30 shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes.
22:37 Someone like David, the son of David, is going to come. He will be the shepherd,
22:43 the good shepherd, and he is going to rule. He is going to reign forever.
22:49 So God's promise to David is that David's kingdom is going to last forever
22:54 because a son of David is going to come sometime in the future.
22:59 When my wife and I are involved in evangelism, one our one of our favorite ways of sharing the gospel if we have a
23:07 period of time over which we can do it is to use chronological Bible storying. And we'll meet with a group of people
23:13 and share one story at a time. We will ask questions about the story to try to
23:19 get them to reflect and discover for themselves the meanings of the story. And sometime back we were meeting with a
23:26 group of Hindus about 15 20 young men all in their uh 20s or early 30s all
23:32 Hindus not a Christian in the group and we were telling them stories from the Bible. And when we choose stories from
23:38 the Old Testament we choose stories that will help them understand Jesus when we get to the stories from the New
23:44 Testament. And I can still remember that night in this dirty, filthy
23:51 mold and moldy and mildew contaminated container where these men were living.
23:57 And we were telling them this story and we were talking about how God had made David to be king and how God had told
24:04 David, you were just a shepherd when I made you king, but now I am going to
24:09 establish your throne and one of your descendants is going to reign on your throne forever.
24:16 And as we were asking questions, one of the Hindu men said, "Just a minute. Now,
24:23 if somebody is going to reign on the throne forever, that means he can't be a normal person
24:30 like me or you, he's got to be somebody special. God must going to be sending
24:35 somebody very special who will not be like any of us if he's going to reign forever."
24:42 Yes, sir. You've got it, buddy. That's right. And a couple of weeks later, our story was then from the book of Isaiah, story
24:50 of the prophecies of Isaiah where Isaiah is saying, God is going to send somebody, a child is going to be born
24:57 who is going to reign on the throne of David forever. And this child that's
25:02 going to be born is the mighty God. And we see this Isaiah chapter 9 verse
25:10 6. One of the greatest prophecies that repeats this dividic covenant. For unto
25:16 us a child is born, to us a son is given. And the government shall be upon
25:21 his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
25:27 Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of
25:32 peace there will be no end. on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with
25:39 justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forever more. So here we
25:45 see that a child is going to be born, but it's not going to be a normal ordinary child like me or you. The one
25:52 who's going to be born is the mighty God.
25:59 Impossible for us to fully understand. But the one who is coming is going to be both the son of David as well as the son
26:07 of God. God is going to take on flesh and this is the king who will then reign
26:13 forever. And as we talked about this with our group of Hindus that we were meeting
26:18 with. Then the very next week we told the stories from Luke's gospel about the
26:25 birth of Christ and the events leading up to the birth of Christ where we see in Luke's gospel the angel speaking to
26:32 Mary saying behold you will conceive and bear a son and you shall call his name
26:37 Jesus. He will be great and he will be called the son of the most high. And the
26:44 Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob. And of his kingdom
26:51 there will be no end. Exactly what Isaiah had said, the mighty
26:57 God who will be this who he will be born as the son of David. And now we see this
27:04 is being fulfilled with the birth of Jesus as the angel tells her God is coming to earth in the flesh. He
27:12 will reign on the throne of his father David. And then when Jesus is born, the angels
27:19 proclaim this wonderful message. Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news
27:25 of great joy that will be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the
27:31 city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
27:37 Good news. The angel said, "What I'm getting ready to tell you is going to bring great joy." And it's for all
27:43 people. Not just for the physical descendants of David or the physical descendants of Abraham, but good news
27:50 bringing great joy to all people. Because today in the city of David in
27:56 Bethlehem, a savior is born. Who is this savior? It is Christ.
28:04 Christ is a Greek word for the Hebrew word Messiah. Messiah means the anointed
28:11 one. And who was anointed in the Old Testament times? The king. So anytime
28:17 you see the word Christ, it's not like a second name. Jesus Christ. That's not like the same thing as saying David
28:23 Adams or Peter. It's not his second name. Jesus Christ. Jesus the Messiah.
28:29 Jesus the anointed chosen one. Jesus the King.
28:35 The King is being born. He is the Savior. He is the Lord. He is God.
28:43 So good news because God has now fulfilled the covenant to David. and the
28:49 covenant. Now, the promises go to all who receive Jesus as their king, as
28:55 their Lord, as their savior. So, this is the covenant that God is
29:01 making to David that an anointed king, the Messiah, the Christ, is going to come from his line. He will be the son
29:09 of God, but he will also be the son of David. And this one is the Lord. He is
29:16 God. He's the king. He's the Messiah and he is the savior. He is the one who through
29:23 his sacrificial death on the cross and his resurrection will make it possible for us to have forgiveness of sin.
29:32 One of those I remember the Hindu man asking you how is this possible? It can't be an ordinary man. No, it's not
29:39 an ordinary man. It would not be possible physically speaking. But
29:45 because God is involved and because the coming king is the son of God, this
29:51 coming Messiah will overcome death. And to overcome death, he must first
29:58 overcome sin. And this morning as we celebrated the Lord's supper, we saw a
30:04 visual reminder. We saw a visual sermon, so to say, reminding us of the
30:10 sacrificial death of Christ as he gave himself for our sins, paying the penalty for our sins. And we're reminded of his
30:18 resurrection, proving that Jesus did win not only victory over sin, but he defeated death.
30:25 So since he's defeated death, he can reign forever. There will be no end to his kingdom.
30:32 So God told David about a thousand years before the coming of Christ, "No, you're not going to build me a house. Rather,
30:39 I'm going to build you a house. I'm going to send a king of your lineage who
30:45 will reign forever." And he will reign forever because he is the son of God. He
30:51 will reign forever because he has paid the penalty for our sin. And he has won victory over death.
30:59 Now, you might ask, how much of that did David really understand? I mean, obviously, we can understand it
31:06 much better than David could because we're living on this side of Christ and we have the entire New Testament we can
31:12 read. So, yeah, probably David didn't understand it as fully as we do. But
31:17 David probably did understand more about this promise than we would normally think.
31:24 We see David great prayer of praise and thanksgiving to God after God makes this
31:31 promise to him. He thanks God in humble gratitude. And then in commitment, he
31:37 entrusts himself to God again as being God's servant. God, not my will be done, but your will
31:44 be done. I trust you. I trust your plan. He understood that something truly
31:51 wonderful was going to happen. He knew that God was planning something that he
31:56 was going to carry out that would be a wonderful expression of God's grace. And
32:02 when we get to the sermon in Acts chapter 2 where that Peter preached at Pentecost,
32:08 Peter is quoting from one of the psalms that David wrote. And Peter says that
32:13 when David wrote this psalm that David being a prophet and knowing that God had
32:19 sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on the throne, David foresaw and spoke about
32:27 the resurrection of Christ. So Peter is saying that somehow David was able to
32:34 write in the Psalms reflecting on this promise of God, speaking about the
32:40 resurrection of Jesus Christ. So we've looked this morning at this wonderful thing that God has done for
32:46 David, this promise, this covenant. But how does that affect me today?
32:54 Well, similar truths that David experienced, we can also experience.
33:01 God is going to tell us, "No, I'm not going. You don't build me a house. We don't need to build God a house because
33:08 God is building has built a house for us.
33:14 God is telling us his blessing is not based on what we do. God's blessing is
33:20 based on what he has done. We don't earn God's salvation, but God
33:27 provides the way of salvation. God is building us a house by the fact
33:34 that through Jesus, we have an eternal home. And Jesus said, "When I go, I'm
33:41 going to go and prepare a place for you. In my father's house are many mansions."
33:47 He is preparing a place for us for those of us who believe. And it's not based on
33:52 our merit. It's based on his grace. So how does the promise that God made
33:58 David affect us today? We can be part of that covenantal community. We can be
34:05 part of the covenant given to David because we can be part of God's kingdom.
34:12 We can enter into the kingdom where Jesus is reigning as king.
34:17 How do we enter the kingdom? Well, Jesus told us when he was here on earth, some
34:22 of the first words that Jesus said when he came, he proclaimed, "The kingdom of God is at hand."
34:28 Repent. Believe the gospel. Repent. In its basic meaning, that means
34:35 a change in our thinking. Realize I cannot earn my salvation. It's not my
34:42 good works that God is going to reward. realize there's no other way to heaven
34:48 except by accepting what Christ has done for me. Our thinking is changed by God's
34:54 spirit working within us. And then God changes our heart when we repent. He gives us new values, new priorities,
35:01 gives us a new will, new desires. We'll experience sorrow for our sin and
35:06 a desire to turn from other gods, from idols, from self-seeking, self-centeredness
35:13 to wanting God's will to be done in our life. So when we repent through God
35:19 changing us on the inside, the direction of our life will be changed. So to enter this kingdom, to be part of this
35:26 covenant that God made with David, we repent and we believe. We believe the good news. the good news about what
35:32 Jesus has done for us. We not only know the facts with our mind, but we entrust our entire being
35:40 and faith to God. So, we enter this eternal kingdom promised to David when
35:46 we repent and believe the gospel when we acknowledge Jesus as the king of our
35:52 life. A well-known Christmas carol so aptly expresses the appropriate response for
35:60 us to make to the good news that God has sent us a king. He has sent us a savior.
36:06 Joy to the world, the Lord has come. Let earth receive her king.
36:13 In David's time, the King was coming a thousand years in the future. In our
36:18 time, the king has already come. He's going to come again. But since he has
36:24 already come, what's our response? We receive him as our king.
36:31 Let every heart prepare him room. That's the response God wants us to make to
36:38 him. Second verse of that carol continues, "Joy to the earth, the savior
36:43 reigns." A king reigns. The king is the savior.
36:49 When we receive Jesus as our savior, we're receiving a king who will reign in us. And the song continues, "He rules
36:57 the world with truth and grace." But the response that we make to God is not based on what this song says. The
37:04 response we make to God is based on what the Bible says. And the Bible says something identical. We've got to
37:11 receive Jesus. We've got to receive the King if we want to go to heaven. If we
37:18 want our sins forgiven in John chapter 1 11 and 12,
37:24 Jesus has been identified as being the word of God. He was with God from the very beginning. He is indeed God. He
37:32 created all things. He's the light of the world. And now the word is made
37:37 flesh. He dwells among us. But he said when he came to his own to the world that he created to his own people the
37:44 other descendants of Abraham many of them did not receive him. They
37:49 rejected him. No, we're not going to let you be our king. No, we don't believe you're from God. We don't believe you're
37:54 Lord. We don't believe you're master. But verse 12, there were those who did
38:01 receive him and those who did receive him. Those are the ones who believed on his name and those are the ones who
38:08 became children of God because those are the ones that were then born of God.
38:13 Those who received Jesus who believed on his name were born of God. So the
38:18 response to this message, the response to the covenant made with David, a king
38:25 has come. God's going to build us a house. We need to receive the king.
38:34 There's a problem that I see in some of our evangelical world today. Many times we hear people say well-intentioned they
38:42 say you need to receive Jesus as savior. And by itself that's not bad but it's
38:49 incomplete. We don't just receive Jesus as savior.
38:55 See, the problem is if you say you receive him as savior, that leads to the conclusion, I have some options here.
39:03 I'll receive him as savior, but this part about him being king. Oh, that
39:08 means I'd have to step off the throne of my life. I really don't want to do that. I'd rather just have the forgiveness of
39:14 sin and the free trip to heaven and then I'll continue to be the Lord and master and ruler of my life.
39:20 And unfortunately in some areas of the evangelical world, it's preached that just say this prayer and you're in.
39:27 Repentance is never mentioned. Letting Jesus take the throne of your life, receiving him as the King, the Lord of
39:34 your life is never mentioned. And we end up with people with false assurance thinking, well, because I said a little
39:40 prayer, I'm going to heaven. The Bible never says receive Jesus as savior.
39:47 The Bible says to receive him, receive Jesus. And when we receive Jesus, yes, we receive a savior, but we also receive
39:55 a king. And if we receive a king, that means I'm no longer king. We receive a
40:01 lord. We receive a new master. We receive God. That means I'm not God
40:07 anymore. I'm not in charge of my life. Joy to the world. This will bring joy,
40:14 but will only bring joy if we let him be king of our life if we let him rule.
40:21 If I'm ruling, I'm going to make a lot of bad decisions. If I'm in charge of the world, I'm going to have a lot of
40:27 worry because things just aren't going the way in the world I'd like it to be. But if I let Jesus rule and reign in my
40:33 life, then I can experience the joy because I know he's in charge and I can
40:39 entrust my life into his care. So to receive Jesus in Jesus' own words,
40:44 that includes repentance. It includes faith. And when we receive Jesus, we receive him as he truly is as savior,
40:52 but also as king and as lord.
40:58 Few days ago when we were in the mall and I heard that song, the birthday of a king, I'm thinking, hey, great
41:04 advertisement for my sermon. My wife said something to the effect.
41:09 It's not an exact quote, but she said something to the effect. This is such a wonderful message, but I
41:16 wonder how many people here in this shopping mall know what the song's even
41:21 talking about. How many of people in this mall know who this king is? How
41:26 many people in this mall know anything about this king?
41:32 Wouldn't it be great if the people in this mall would receive Jesus as their king? Wouldn't it be wonderful if people
41:40 in this mall, in this city, in this nation would bow before Jesus,
41:46 entering into the kingdom of God, letting him be king of their lives.
41:53 What about you? You cannot build a house for God, but he
41:58 has built one for you because he has sent a king with an everlasting kingdom. And there's a place for you if you
42:05 respond in faith and receive him as your king.
