You know, a Christian may dedicate something in their lives to God.
Someday they resolve to do this or do that. But they don't act on it. David did. David resolved to do something for the Lord, and he went out to do it. That's a good warning for us to follow through on.
What we know We are supposed to do because when we voiced that resolve, we knew it was right. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of 2 Samuel. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio.
specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of 2 Samuel 7 as he begins a brand new study called God's Gentle Overruling. 2 Samuel chapter Seven God's gentle overruling. Yeah we have to review very quickly, hopefully. The last two chapters In chapter 5, it was David's desire after conquering Jabos and making it Jerusalem to bring the Ark of the Covenant.
There. And as they started, Uzza, he had a good intention of Steady in the ark as it the oxen stumbled with it on a cart where it did not belong. And it ended in catastrophe and Uzza died. Breaking a clear commandment of God in front of the entire nation, and it was dealt with. David His good intention In this chapter, Is going to be refused.
But He's going to be blessed in an enormous way. And we'll of course open that up shortly. But in chapter six he brings the ark to Jerusalem, David does, and he dances before it with all of his might. And that's significant, the whole story of him wanting to Conquer Jerusalem. Then doing it.
Wanting to bring the ark there, suffering this catastrophe and the death of. One of his men, his s one of the people of his nation, his subjects, And then the ark staying at uh Someone else's house whose name just escaped me just as soon as it came up. Obed Edom. And uh He was being blessed, and David brings the ark and finally brings it with all his dancing. And his wife, Michelle, comes out, and she has just as much energy coming against what was going on.
My point is. There's an afterglow taking place in the heart of David. It's not over. Just because the ark has been successfully brought there, he's just still on this spiritual. This mountain.
And in this chapter, we have his good intention and God's prohibition and God's intentions. Covenant with David. And this great gratitude with Very much awe. Let's look at verse one. 2 Samuel 7.
Now it came to pass when the king was dwelling in his house. And Yahweh had given him rest from all his enemies all around. And we stop there mid-claws. No imminent threats at this point. He's in his palace.
He had traveled this long and rugged road To find this rest that road was filled with fear and tears and battles and wrongs And But when we get to chapter 8. He's going to be the aggressor and he's going to go after the Philistines and win those wars too. But at this point, no imminent threats. In verse 2 now. That the king said to Nathan the prophet, See, now I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside.
Tent curtains. Faithful Nathan the prophet is now introduced. We've already met one of David's children named Nathan, which I like to think that. David named him after This prophet, there's no evidence for that, it's just what I like to do. But there's no evidence against it either.
Yeah. But here, Nathan, this Very faithful man. He will remain faithful through the reign of Solomon, as long as Nathan is around. And he is A big part of this Giant covenant that God is about to make with David. He later contributes to the worship, the music worship at the temple.
He, David, and the prophet Gad, that comes out in 2 Chronicles 29, and it. Hezekiah the king, hundreds of years later, He re-establishes his worship based on what these three men did. It was a tradition worth Saving.
Some traditions are just in the way. Others are just, man, that's pretty good. They were right on with this one. And Nathan was a part of that. Of course, he's.
The one that rebukes David. He takes his life in his own hands. He takes the friendship in his own hands. And of course, he confronts David, and David submits. He will be very much a part of Solomon securing the throne when Solomon's older brother tries to usurp.
The will of King David, Nathan will be very much involved in bringing about that victory for Solomon. He chronicles the reigns of David and Solomon. We read about that in. First and second chronicles. And he is just a Faithful to Yahweh's standards and will, Whenever we come in touch with him.
And so now we meet him. Then the king said to Nathan the prophet, And the prophet is the one who Spoke for God, advising David in religious or spiritual matters, we would say. I think there was more to these two men than just prophet and king. I think they were friends. And it it is in the language, I think, if you in the at least translated into the English.
Then the king said to Nation and the prophets, See how I dwell in the house of Cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside tent curtains. And just the the ease that Nathan answers David is just evident that he knew who David was, he knew his heart for God. He's been writing Psalms since he was in the wilderness, running from Saul. He knows this man loves God, and he doesn't hesitate to say, Man, David, what a great idea. And so again, verse 2: See now I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells inside.
tent curtains.
So again, more than co-servants, they were good friends. And uh What's happening is, David is in his palace, and he's disturbed by this discrepancy. Looking out of his palace, and he sees the tent, and it's like, man, something, because he's still, you know, excited about bringing the ark to Jerusalem. And then it's this, wait a minute, this doesn't fit. It's like, you know, apples, oranges.
Key. Just, it's not a fruit, it doesn't belong.
Something's not right. Always mindful of the things of God, His heart ache. For something better, for the representation of the presence of God, which the Ark was, and it was not only a representation of the presence. It spoke of what How God thought about sinners. And that's why it's called the mercy seat.
If you're not a sinner, you don't need mercy. We love mercy. We need it. The Lord Jesus never needed mercy. He was perfect in every way.
So Ark of the Covenant.
So uh sensitive David was to this. He wanted more for it. Six centuries later, God will address this very discrepancy. with the repatriates, those Jews who were taken captive to Babylon and they were allowed to come back under Zerubbabel. They began to build the temple, and then there was protest by the what we would call nowadays the Arabs in the land.
And work stopped. And there they laid the foundation, and that's all they laid. And for 15 over 15 years, or 16 years, that's all they had, was this foundation. And God raised up Haggaiah the prophet and Zechariah and sent them to the people to say, What is going on with you? They lived, the people, in paneled houses.
In other words, their houses were finished. People would come over to their house and say, I love what you've done with the place. But then you'd go to the church, to the house of God, and there was just a slab overgrown with weeds. And so Haggai the prophet, he addresses this in the First chapter, he says, Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple lie in ruins? Man, what a shot between the eyes.
So you're living high up on the hog, but look at God's house, it's in ruins. Unlike King David, They had a low opinion of essential things, spiritually essential things.
Now, some of them may not have just got cost swept up, and everybody was doing it, and others were just carnal. In that same first chapter, Haggai says to them, Thus says Yahweh of hosts. Consider your ways. In other words, you better think about this. Were they living as though they regretted knowing God?
Think about that. How many Christians live as though they regret That they know the Lord. I've got to be righteous now. I can't do that now. And so we consider our ways.
You know, a Christian may dedicate something in their lives to God.
Someday they resolve to do this or do that. But they don't act on it. David did. David resolved to do something for the Lord, and he went out to do it. That's a good warning for us to follow through on.
What we know We are supposed to do because when we voiced that resolve, we knew it was right. Well, maybe sometimes we do get it wrong. We're very passionate and emotional. I'm going to do this. And you find out, well, that's actually not right.
You shouldn't do it that way. That then you have to walk that back. But if it is right, then we must own up to it. Verse three, Then Naphid said to Nathan said to the king, Go do all that is in your heart, for Yahweh is with you.
Well, he had no reason not to say that. Seemed like a good idea at the time, and it was a very good idea. Just not the way God wanted it. The details had to be worked out. It was a good idea.
It just wasn't all of God's idea.
Now God knew this was coming, but he's never surprised. And Nathan made the mistake that we all tend to make from time to time. Is we don't acknowledge the Lord. We lean on our own, we put our weight. on our own understanding.
Rather than God's. And of course, we all do it again from time to time.
Some things seem obvious. The problem comes in is when someone is pressuring you, another Christian is pressuring you to not lean on your own, to lean on your own and say, What could be wrong with this?
Well, I got to talk with the Lord. Why do you got to do that? That's when everybody's gonna do kung fu fighting. Those fists would be fast as lighting. Lightning.
We can't, you just have to, you know, risk the friendship. Look, I got to wait. I'm sorry. I know it's passionate to you. I just asked you for change for a dollar.
I can I pray, but no, that that would be, of course, abuse. That would be abusing it, unless you've got some leading. You know what I'm talking about, I hope. If not, see Pastor David. He'll straighten it out for you.
David sought God through Nathan. But Nathan felt the matter. Righteous enough to just go forward, sort of a religious, a righteous rubber stamping. And we don't fault Nathan for this, not one bit. Why not?
It's fun to fault others. Because God doesn't fault him. That's why. God never raises his voice throughout this exchange. He is so gentle, overruling Nathan.
and overruling David And not only does he exercise mercy, But there's this tremendous amount of grace. Again, mercy is withholding punishment that you deserve. Grace is rewarding you when you don't deserve it. And this is why we love those two so much. Verse 4.
But it happened that night that the word of Yahweh came to Nathan, saying, Now, again, we stop here.
Now you can't go through these scriptures very quickly. I mean some can in their aid, but I feel no leading to do that. Pastor Chuck and Vernon McGee, you know, they could teach through the Bible seven to eight times in their lifetime. I could do that if I lived to be 300. Yeah.
But I'm I belong to a different age, and Christians are across the board more plugged into Christianity than when those men came along. They really laid the foundation for other pastors to come and give a little bit more in-depth approach to things.
So the bottom line is each Pastor has to feel led, but a congregation, if they're hungry for God's word, what do they care if it takes all night? I could have preached all night. Anyway. Yeah. When it says, but it happened that night.
This is terrible. You preach a sermon, and God comes and corrects you after you've preached it. And you say, well, today that's recorded and put on the internet.
Well, Nathan's was recorded and put in the Bible We all read about this faux. But this is what it means: Luke 22, verse 42: Father, if it is your will, take this cup away from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.
Well, this is that part, nevertheless. Not what I want, not what I preached, but what you say. And we're seeing it acted out, acted out here. God is not looking for religious activists. A lot of Christians think that's what He's looking for, He's looking for Christ-likeness.
And it's not always that easy to discover it. It takes everything we've got. To keep it there. There's no automatic pilot on Christianity. You younger Christians, you've got to learn.
You know, you're not owed an easy path. to Christianity. When the Bible characters come out and say, From my youth I have followed the Word of God, even in the face of the devil's temptations. You're expected to face those temptations too. And uh if you don't The consequences can be quite displeasing for you and others too.
So there can be a great difference between good intentions and God's intentions. And seeking to get those balanced is quite consuming, and why not? He says: the word of the Lord came to Nathan saying, Now, we'll get to this in verse 17, but 1 Chronicles also records this. According to all these words and according to all this word, Vision.
So Nathan spoke to David, So, when the word comes to Nathan, he gets a vision. Another difference between a vision and a dream. is the dream you're sleeping. In the vision you're awake. But you're seeing something that's like a dream, but it's a revelation from God.
And uh of course Satan has his corrupted visions also. But this is how Nathan receives this correction.
So he goes home. Isaiah did the same thing. You know, Isaiah says, thus says the Lord, you're going to die, King Hezekiah, you know, and then he gets out to the courtyard and God goes, you know, he's praying, his heart is broken. Go back and tell him, I'm going to reverse this judgment. And Isaiah does.
There Isaiah really wasn't wrong. Here Hezekiah Was wrong. I mean, Nathan. But uh again And Nathan doesn't he doesn't sweep it under the rug. As though he was right all along.
He is admitting. That he spoke without seeking the Lord. But God gently correcting Nathan's word to David, go Verse 5, go and tell my servant David, thus says Yahweh, would you build me a house? For would you build a house for me to dwell in? This is God referring to David as his servant.
And I would hope that God would refer to all of us as His servant. This is my servant, Rick. He's more handsome than most. If you're having a vision. Otherwise, Anyway.
Would you build a house? For me to dwell in? This is a sweet tone. This is this is this tone of endearment is as apparent Would say to a small child when that child promises something beyond their ability to deliver. When I get my allowance, I'm going to buy you a new car, Dad.
And it's like, yeah, right, but you don't do that. You you just oh, that's so nice. What color car did you have in mind? But this is what's happening here. Would you build me a house, David?
The historian is implying that God Is graciously overruling Nathan. And He doesn't come out and say that Explicitly say here That God said no. The historian is in here in Samuel is not, but in Chronicles, the parallel account, 1 Chronicles. 17 verse 4 Go tell my servant David, thus says Yahweh, you shall not build me a house to dwell in. It is very clear and to the point.
So there in Chronicles we have the rest of the story. The hardest word in the English language to hear is no. When you want something, you ask it from the time you're a child, you know, no.
Some parents won't correct their kids, and everybody else has got to suffer. We have to learn how to live with it. It's not easy, it's necessary. And I thought by now I'd outgrow it. Yes.
That hasn't happened. Uh doesn't a red light say no? You cannot cross. It's the ugly troll at the intersection. That's what the red lights are.
Anyway, because green lights are your friend. All right. All of you are saints when you drive. You don't have any problems, just me. Anyway.
Uh where where were we? I got it. It again, not an abrupt no from God. He's very sensitive to the feelings of both these men.
Well how many lessons a Built into this for us to be this way with others. We talk about, I want to be like Christ.
Well, there's a picture. How God is handling something that They were oh how he's overruling something. As far as David building a house for God. God is not disapproving the idea. And saying, I don't want a house.
He is going to say, I'll take the house But you won't be the builder. David will then say, But I will be the financier. I will be the bank. And I will be the architect. And unless God says no, That's what I'm going to do.
And that's exactly what he does.
So, Yahweh is taking his time explaining his reasons to Nathan. to go tell David With much care, much love. And many presumed about ten promises will be built into this. Not all of them are, some of them are admitted here. For example, in 1 Chronicles 22, which we don't get here in.
Second Samuel 7. David said to Solomon, My son, as for me, it was in my mind to build a house. to the name of Yahweh my God. But The word of Yahweh came to me. And he doesn't say by Nathan, but that's how it came.
Nor does he say Nathan got it wrong. saying, You have shed much blood, and have made great wars you shall not build a house for my name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight.
So God is saying to David, I don't want Such a warrior. associated with my house. David, I understand these things. I blessed you through those battles. But man is created in the image of God, and it is not God's first intention that man should kill each other.
It is what has come out of the curse. And everything that we have to Trek through is God saying, I will have free will love. I will have it. No matter what the cost. and it is doable.
And then we say in times, well, what about this and what about that? And God says, What about it? You're going to love me anyway if I don't answer your questions. I find God doesn't answer a lot of my questions in prayer. In fact, most of them are not answered.
When I come to the study of the word, I get to places I don't understand this, and other commentators are really doing it for me. God speaks to me, but other things out there, like, I d just I don't get the answers. How come God? That's just the arrangement. I submit to it.
To it, and so do you, I hope.
So in this sense, because of the violence God distanced himself from David, there's a sermon built into it. He also says in First Chronicles twenty-eight, David again speaking, but God said to me, You shall not build a house for my name because you have been a man of war. and have shed blood. This is the Old Testament now. In the New Testament, it changes because Paul the Apostle built many houses for the Lord.
and Paul the Apostle was responsible also. For the death of Stephen, at least in his heart. Verse 6. For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought the children of Israel up from Egypt. Even to this day, but have moved about in a tent.
And in a tabernacle. S temporary dwelling places. I'm sure the the original one was just worn out and Beat up all the things that went on in Israel from the times of Judges to the Philistine attack. Shiloh was probably ransacked. The Ark at one point was lost to the Philistines.
So God says, Well, wherever the ark was, whatever tent you put up for me, I was content with that. I made no protests. David, it was you. It was you that got so excited about the ark that you wanted to do more. And again, God is not telling him, no, I don't want that.
He is just saying, I was comfortable as it was. I'm going to bless this. And I'm going to bless you, just not the way you think it's coming. Actually, David gets a far greater blessing. From God than being approved with this site plan.
It's a far greater blessing because He could have just built me the house, but He doesn't do that. as I've already said several times. And so, tense, of course, a very big thing in scripture you could preach a whole sermon on, just tense. Um Some of them are past tense.
Some of them are present tense. Anyway. Of course, a tent, a tabernacle, they're portable dwelling places. You can pack them up and move on. And they are in the midst of the people this way.
Where the people could go, the tent could go. That's why later God will say the people will face Jerusalem and pray because the tent's no longer mobile. Abraham, as with Yahweh, was content to dwell in a tent. Number two. This has been the latest edition of Cross Reference Radio.
Pastor Rick Gaston is teaching through the book of 2 Samuel, which details the reign of David as king of Israel. There are so many life lessons to be learned during these years of David's life. We're glad you've tuned in to hear more from God's Word. This radio ministry comes to you from Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. If you're interested in accessing more messages just like this one, you can listen online or download these messages at crossreference radio.com.
You can also subscribe to our podcast by going to your favorite podcast app. We can't wait for you to step into the next teaching that Pastor Rick has for us.
So come back next time for Cross Reference Radio.
