2 Sam 7:21, "For the sake of Thy word, and according to Thine own heart, Thou hast done all this greatness to let Thy servant know.
	In our reading this morning, we are witness to the heart of David as he was so desirous that Jehovah would have a place of honor within the nation of Israel. He was thinking in terms of the construction of a temple in which the Ark of the Covenant and all the implements and holy items that represented the presence of the Lord God Almighty would have a permanent place of honor and respect for the entire nation of Israel. 
	David knew that God could not be contained within any specific structure that would be made by the hands of mankind. God is Omnipresent and His glory fills the heavens. That awesome reality means that no structure would ever be sufficient for the dwelling place of Yahweh within any confines that mankind could ever build, no matter how elegant, or ornate, or large, or intricate the structure might be. How can the vastness of the Triune Godhead be contained within any building? 
	Yet the key was that David, now that he was dwelling in a kingly palace, felt that something permanent and ornate should be built for all the Holy elements that God had required as the symbolic representation of His presence always being with His chosen nation. Therefore, David was utterly fixated on bringing forth some manner of construction that would put all those elements into a permanent location. That would allow all the people to know that God dwelt among them, because He had that permanent placement within the capital city of the nation. 
David was not willing that God’s placement was a tent that was transient in nature. He desired for Jehovah to be enshrined in the full manner of His permanence within the hearts, if not the city of God, Jerusalem. This was to be the place for His glory to shine forth unto all the surrounding nations of the world. Accordingly, even as David was preparing for this tremendous work of man in honor of God, the Lord made it known to him that David would not be the one to follow through with this construction project. David’s heart was after the Lord, but his hands had spilt too much blood in battle and in the pursuit of human interests. 
However, as his heart was so after the Lord, as David was consumed with this desire to honor Yahweh, Jehovah made it known to him that he would be as well honored by God. The Lord would put an heir of David upon the throne forever and forevermore. God was going to bring this honor to the house of David as a blessing upon this faithful king’s name, now and eternally. This was the promise of God to this shepherd over the flock of the Children of Israel.
This brings us to a further opportunity to relish in the Word of God concerning His promises. Even as David was so overwhelmed by the proclamation of God that there would be an eternal heir upon the throne, so do we join with David in the inexpressible glory of Who God is and all that He says He will do and what He manifestly accomplishes day in and day out. The fact of David’s enthrallment with the promise that God had made was because of the reality that David knew that what Jehovah said He would do was done. There was no doubt about it.
David was so engaged with the Lord in this truth because God had ever kept His promise to each of the forefathers of Israel, to the nation as a whole, and to David personally. Everything that God declares is sure and concrete and to be considered as final, no matter whether we live to see it happen or not. We know, as David knew, that the Word of God will always be done. We can count on it even more surely than the fact that the sun will rise tomorrow. God is ever and always faithful and the bedrock foundation for each one who trusts in Him and obeys His every whisper.
The Lord made this known to Balaam in his dealings with Balak, who was trying to use spiritual forces to curse Israel. Rather than a curse, Balaam could only bless Israel as he made very clear to Balak in Num 23:19, if you will recall that exchange.
Num 23:19, "God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good? 
	Balaam recognized that what God said, was going to happen. There was no way to bend Jehovah to the will of mankind. Yahweh was Supreme then as He is today and always has been and will ever be! What God proclaims will take place, no matter how much mankind may try to fight against His Word or attempt to circumvent or even try to mangle and manipulate it. God speaks, and it is done!
	Listen again to what the Lord proclaimed to His people as they were on the verge of entering into the Promised Land. The nation was a rebellious and stubborn people who had constantly complained against the Lord and against Moses. They had forged the golden calf and shown their lack of trust in God despite the fact that He had led them constantly and faithfully after His tremendous act of deliverance from their slavery in Egypt. 
	No matter what God had done to prove His love to them, they had been faithless and dishonoring and stubborn in their refusal to cooperate with Yahweh with all their hearts and beings. Therefore, as God was in the process of preparing them for their habitation of the Promised Land, in Deut 9:5, He made it very clear that it was not because of anything they had done that this was going to take place. It was not because they deserved to enter or had earned the right to enter. No. It was because God had made the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Accordingly He was going to clear out the land for the Israelites’ habitation as the complete fulfillment of that which He had spoken all those ages ago.
	 Deut 9:5, It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God is driving them out before you, in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 
	Then when the land had been occupied and divided, Joshua, in Josh 23:14+15, reminded the people of the great promises of God that had always been fulfilled as Jehovah had so spoken. Accordingly it was to their continued benefit to maintain their obedient reverence and honor unto the glory of God as He continued to lead and guide and direct their establishment in the Promised Land. They would be utterly dense and obtuse to disregard all that the Lord had spoken in His promises, both to encourage and to warn what would happen if the people chose to disregard and thus dishonor and disobey the Sovereign Lord God Almighty, the Creator of all that is created.
	Josh 23:14+15, "Now behold, today I am going the way of all the earth, and you know in all your hearts and in all your souls that not one word of all the good words which the Lord your God spoke concerning you has failed; all have been fulfilled for you, not one of them has failed. And it shall come about that just as all the good words which the Lord your God spoke to you have come upon you, so the Lord will bring upon you all the threats, until He has destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your God has given you. 
	Joshua was highlighting the fact that God shared the fullness of both the blessings and the curses of what would take place depending on the heart and attitudes of the people. If they were to continue to flourish in the land, they needed to honor the Lord in the complete fullness of their lives, teaching each subsequent generation how much The Lord was worthy of praise and adoration and honor and obedience. In this heart-to-heart relationship, there would be the evident praise and worship and respect for God and for His Holiness that would be manifested in their further growth of relationship with a testimony to all the nations of Who God was and how His hand was on this people.
	This attitude unto the Lord was brought forth by the Psalmist in many of the great songs of praise and adoration that are held in the Bible. We will read but a couple of them this morning, starting with Ps 115:1.
	Ps 115:1, Not to us, O Lord, not to us, But to Thy name give glory Because of Thy lovingkindness, because of Thy truth. 
	This whole focus is on the glory of the Lord that was to be forthcoming from the nation whom God had created and brought into being. This people, redeemed from slavery in Egypt, were to be to the declaration of the goodness and the loving kindness of Jehovah. God had shown Himself mighty and glorious, over and over and over again. For that He was to receive all praise and adoration and acclamation and glory.
	Then, in Ps 138:1-5, we have the fulfillment of all that the Lord was putting into place through the majesty of His faithfully honoring and satisfying each stipulated promise with utter majestic provision. He proclaims and it comes to be just as He has ordained. As this is evidenced in His faithful loving kindness, all the earth will see it and have to give The Lord God Almighty all praise and adoration and worship.
	Ps 138:1-5, I will give Thee thanks with all my heart; I will sing praises to Thee before the gods. I will bow down toward Thy holy temple, And give thanks to Thy name for Thy lovingkindness and Thy truth; For Thou hast magnified Thy word according to all Thy name. On the day I called Thou didst answer me; Thou didst make me bold with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth will give thanks to Thee, O Lord, When they have heard the words of Thy mouth. And they will sing of the ways of the Lord. For great is the glory of the Lord. 
	If, however, the nation turned away from that living relationship with God and sought after the gods and idols of the nations, becoming no different than the rest of the peoples of the world, then God would have to work to turn their hearts back to Him. This would include the need to be subjugated and taken out of the Promised Land for a period of time until a remnant, whose heart would not be turned away from honoring Yahweh, Alone would be brought forth. 
	Such was the sad history of the nation of God until that time of the coming of the Messiah. When Mary visited Elizabeth, her relative, to rejoice together in the miraculous work of God’s fulfilled promise, Mary recalled, in Luke 1:54+55, the fact that this glorious work had been proclaimed by God to Abraham, way before there was even a nation called Israel.   
	Luke 1:54+55, "He has given help to Israel His servant, In remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his offspring forever." 
	Then at the birth of John, who would become John the Baptizer, his father, Zacharias prophesied, as recorded in Luke 1:68-75. This was the fact that everything that was promised by God was coming into full fruition, just as God had so faithfully made known so many generations earlier. 
	Luke 1:68-75, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people, And has raised up a horn of salvation for us In the house of David His servant — As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old — Salvation from our enemies, And from the hand of all who hate us; To show mercy toward our fathers, And to remember His holy covenant, The oath which He swore to Abraham our father, To grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear, In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days. 
	When our Lord Jesus prayed, as in Matt 11:25+26, He declared the fact that God is always faithful and true in the course of answering the prayers and the promises from the throne of His Sovereignty in Heaven and on earth. It is all according to that which is the plan and purpose of God. Everything is being accomplished according to the good and marvelous pleasure and foreordination of God. 
	Matt 11:25+26, At that time Jesus answered and said, "I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes. "Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight. 
	As a result of the fact that we can count on God to do all that He has promised, we do not have to worry or fret or frustrate as the days unfold. We will have our every need provided by the One Who knows absolutely what is necessary for us during our sojourn on this earth. Listen to our Lord detail this in glorious reality in Luke 12:29-32.
	Luke 12:29-32, "And do not seek what you shall eat, and what you shall drink, and do not keep worrying. "For all these things the nations of the world eagerly seek; but your Father knows that you need these things. "But seek for His kingdom, and these things shall be added to you. "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has chosen gladly to give you the kingdom. 
	 The absolute reality of our complete trust in the promises contained in the Word of God is declared for all eternity by Our Lord Jesus Christ in Matt 24:35. Matt 24:35, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words shall not pass away. 
	It is on the basis of the truth and the validity and the surety that God’s Word is absolutely and concretely established and true and revealed in the Person of Jesus Christ that we can completely count on Him and on the Bible to detail all that is necessary for our lives to be honoring and pleasing to God. The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, Chapter 1, verses 7-12 highlights this manifested bedrock reality for every believer in Jesus Christ.
	Eph 1:7-12, In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fulness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. 
	Then in verses 1-12 of Chapter three, we have the summation of all that was inherent in the promise that God made to King David. In Jesus, the Only Begotten Son of God, through the human lineage of David, we have our eternal king Who is seated forever and forever on the throne of all creation.
	Eph 3:1-12, For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for the sake of you Gentiles — if indeed you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace which was given to me for you; that by revelation there was made known to me the mystery, as I wrote before in brief. And by referring to this, when you read you can understand my insight into the mystery of Christ, which in other generations was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed to His holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit; to be specific, that the Gentiles are fellow heirs and fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel, of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power. To me, the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ, and to bring to light what is the administration of the mystery which for ages has been hidden in God, who created all things; in order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenly places. This was in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him. So be it!
"For the sake of Thy word, and according to Thine own heart, Thou hast done all this greatness to let Thy servant know. Amen.

	This morning’s benediction is Ps 40:5. Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which Thou hast done, And Thy thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with Thee; If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count. Amen.