House Building 101

I want to start off this morning by reading about a particular place and time in the life of King David, as found in the Bible.

This account that I am talking about, can be found in , and with other pieces of information pertaining to it in and 28.

If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to the Old Testament book of ,

2 Samuel 7:1–17 ESV

Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.” But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have 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. In all places where I have moved with all 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?” ’ Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David, ‘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. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them 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. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. 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. When 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.

How many of you have ever been involved in the process of building a house, from the ground up?

Or how many of you have bought a home before and basically gutted it and redone it inside and out?

Or maybe, you have just taken your home and given it a major makeover and made some pretty significant structural and aesthetic changes to it.

Does this apply to any of you here this morning?

Dee and I have never built a house, we have bought new homes before, but we have never been involved in the design and construction, from the ground up.

I think that my nerves and probably both of our levels of patience would be tested to the max, if we walked out the process of home building!

Especially if we were undertaking the process of doing a lot of the work and the sub-contracting for the project ourselves!

I know couples that have done this before and I have been there when the friction was really mounting and the deadlines were closing in and those last minute changes and alterations and even dissapointments, caused frustrations and tempers to elevate quickly!

The passage that we just read in and coming out of chapter 6, we find out that David, and the army of Israel, have just brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, from its former residency in Kiriath-jearim, where it resided at the house of Abinadab for some, fourty years. And then the house of Obed-edom for three months, following the death of Uzzah, because of his not following the command of God and touching the ark!

A point to make here: when God says to do something and He mandates how it is to be done, that means, “that’s how He expects it be done!”

It is not open to our interpretaion and what works best, or easiest for us, or how we think that it would better suit God!

Uzzah died because he reached out and laid hold to something that he was forbidden to touch and also he and his family were never meant to move the ark of the Covenant.

God and His holiness are never to be taken lightly and reduced to being COMMON!

Which, in a sense, is what happened with the moving of the ark. They treated it as common and did with it what they wanted and ignored the fact that the ark was the representation of the presence of God!

David, after regathering and thinking it out, as seen in , announced that no one, accept for the Levites, were to carry the ark and handle the moving of it.

And even then, David had it carried out the way that God had originally stated that it was to be done, back in the days of Moses. With the Levites using poles and bearing it upon their shoulders.......not on a cart driven with oxen.

1 Chronicles 15:12–15 NLT

He said to them, “You are the leaders of the Levite families. You must purify yourselves and all your fellow Levites, so you can bring the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. Because you Levites did not carry the Ark the first time, the anger of the Lord our God burst out against us. We failed to ask God how to move it properly.” So the priests and the Levites purified themselves in order to bring the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to Jerusalem. Then the Levites carried the Ark of God on their shoulders with its carrying poles, just as the Lord had instructed Moses.

And so, in our passage today, King David has brought the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem and housed it in a “tent” that he prepared for it.

And in this passage that we just read, we see David expressing his concern about the dwelling place of the Lord and of how he wanted to build something, basically, worthy and deserving for the presence of Yahweh!

In other words, David was looking at the situation and saying, “Man, here I am, (a mere man), and I have this ultra nice mansion made of nice, plush amenities, to live in, and yet the God of creation, and the deliverer and savior of our nation, has been issued a TENT, as His dwelling place in our midst! Something is wrong with this picture!”

As David said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.”

David, in humility, acknowledged the blessing of the nice house that he lived in and felt that place that was set aside for the presence of almighty God, should be a nice dwelling place, and not the tent that was used before.

And so, Nathan tells David, do what is in your heart, because God is behind you all the way King David!

The problem with Nathan’s statement, is that he hadn’t heard from God yet and spoke out of his own intellect.

How many times before have we done that very thing. Told someone that they should or shouldn’t do something, before we actually pray in agreement and seek the will of God in that matter and for that person’s life?!

“Oh yeah, you should definitely buy that new expensive car, God would want you have it!”

“Yes, you should definitely take that new job that pays $25,000 more each year than what you are currently making. That is definitely God’s blessing and favor over your life!”

“Don’t go back and waste your time sharing the gospel message with those people at work who mocked you! It’s not God’s will that you should have to be ridiculed about your faith!”

Do you guys see what I mean? God will speak for Himself and make His will known for a person’s life!

And then God speaks to Nathan and tells him exactly what he is supposed to say to David, about David’s desire to build for the Lord a dwelling place, a house, or what would become known as the “temple” of God.

Look at what God says to David, through Nathan the prophet, in response to David’s desire to build the Lord God a house for His presence to dwell within.

Who told you to build me a house to live in?

I’ve never dwelt in a house before and I have always moved with my people within a tent/a tabernacle.

I have never once complained before about this situation, or ever asked my people to build me a house.

Remember David, I chose you from being a shephard, to being the king that would watch over my people. It is I who has always watched over you, protected you and delivered you and vanquished all of your enemies!

And it is I who is going to make your name as famous as anyone who has ever lived on the earth!

Therefore, David, I, the Lord God, will build you a house. I am going to build, from you, a dynasty of kings!

I will take one of your descendants, your own offspring, and I will make his kingdom strong. He is the one who will build a house- a temple- for my name.

And I will secure his royal throne forever. Your house and your kingdom will continue before me for all time, and your throne will be secure forever!

I mean, “WOW”, what do you say to sometihng like that, if you’re King David?

Well, David went into the tent, in the presence of God and prayed and thanked God and praised Him for that blessed news and for being the great and awesome, one true GOD, that He is!

You see, David understood and believed about the promises and the favor of God, upon a person’s life and upon a nation!

And thus, David said, “For you have spoken, and when you grant a blessing to your servant, O Sovereign Lord, it is an eternal blessing!”

And of course, God also told David, the main reason why that He would not allow David to build Him a house/a temple, as we find in , where David shares with his son, Solomon, what God had told him. He said, “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house to the name of the Lord my God. But the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ‘You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth.”

David was not allowed to build God a house, because David had too much blood on his hands from warring.

And thus, it would be the offspring of David, Solomon, who would build the temple for God’s presence!

You know, I am blown away by the fact that God, Himself, chose the man, who would be the king under God and whom God would establish an eternal kingdom from.

In other words, the first king of Israel, Saul, was not the king whom God chose to bring forth an eternal dynasty from. Rather it was the second king, David.

And just as it was the second king, who would prove to be the one true king over Israel on earth, whom held God’s favor and His blessings, this second king was still not the chosen king who would sit on the throne for all eternity, as God had promised.

There was another King, a direct descendant of David, whom God had chosen for that position, who would prove to be the ONE TRUE KING over the nation of Israel and indeed, over all of heaven and earth, for ALL ETERNITY!

Thus, the descendant of King David, who would become the ONE TRUE KING over all, was none other than Jesus Christ, the Son of God!

David was born in the city of Bethlehem (the house of bread) and Jesus was born in the city of Bethlehem and became the “bread of heaven” come down to earth.

David was born from the tribe of Judah and Jesus was born of the tribe of Judah and became the Lion of the tribe of Judah and fulfillment of Jacob’s prophetic blessing over Judah in Genesis 49.

David was rejected by those closest to him and was acquainted with much grief, Jesus was rejected by those closest to him and was acquainted with much grief!

David loved the law and words of God so much so, that he was called a man after God’s own heart. Jesus loved the words and the commands of God and said that He had come to fulfill them all and that He could do nothing, except by the words that God told Him to do.

David was brought the lowest position in his family and from being a shepherd, to being a king. Jesus stepped down from the highest position to the lowest position and became a servant and became a shepherd, in order that He might become the One true King!

It was the desire of David’s heart to build for God a great house/temple, but he was not allowed to, because of the blood that he had shed that was upon his hands. It was BECAUSE of the shed blood that was upon the hands of Jesus, that He would build a House/Temple for God, that would stand for all eternity!

So, here is the thing about David and his heart’s desire to build this house for God. And this actually ties back in with what I talked about last week, in laying the foundation for our children and the those who come after us.

David wanted to do something for the soul purpose of honoring God and because it was his heart’s desire to please God and to be in the presence of God at all times!

David and his heart’s desire was to live his entire life, “Coram Deo”, which is a Latin phrase that means, “in the presence of God”!

How many of us today, who are Christians, have that same desire? To live our lives “Coram Deo”, 24/7 and 365?

But that was David’s purpose in building God a house. To have the nicest and most elaborate place possible, for the presence of God to dwell and so that David could go and be in and around God’s presence at all times! CORAM DEO!

Now here is where the heart of David truly begins to show. David was not allowed, by God, to build the temple for God.

God told him that it would be his son, Solomon, who would have that honor.

And what was David’s response? Did the great King David take offense and work to sabotage his son and set him up for failure, out of rebellion?

NO! Quite the opposite actually. If you look in I Chronicles chapters 22-29, you read of the amazing detailed work that David went through, in planning, procuring and securing the success of his son Solomon and his task of building for God a house! Listen to this:

David procured some 4,000 tons of gold, 40,000 tons of silver and so much bronze and iron that it could not be weighed! He amassed large amounts of stone and timber that would be needed for the walls of the temple.

David didn’t just get supplies, but he also worked methodically to arrange the labor force that would be needed. He provided skilled stone masons and carpenters and craftsmen of every kind. Silversmiths and goldsmiths and workers of bronze and iron.

David arranged and orchestrated the duties of the Levites for the temple, as well as the operations of the priests and their divisions and lots for working in the temple.

He orchestrated the musicians for the worship cessions!

David established the gatekeepers and their posts, he assigned and delegated treasurers and other officials, to handle the people of Israel, both near and abroad, for the flow of the temple operations.

David had handed over to Solomon a well orchestrated and numbered military and a whole host of solid and trustworthy advisers to aid him in building the temple.

Even after David provided his son with all of this, he still turned to nation of Israel and declared that he had collected and amassed as many things as he could, but that he also gave ALL of of his own personal treasures for the purpose of building the Lord God a temple/ a house!

And then he petitioned the leaders and the people of Israel and offered them a chance to be a part of this great honor and privilege and the leaders of the people gave TONS more of gold and silver and other metals and precious stones.

And as the people began to give freely and sow into the house of God, the Bible says that King David was filled with JOY and that he began to praise his great God and Lord!

Listen to part of what David says in his prayer to God in , “O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! O LORD our God, even this material we have gathered to build a Temple to honor your holy name comes from you! It all belongs to you! I know, my God, that you examine our hearts and rejoice when you find integrity there. Make your people always want to obey you. See to it that their love for you never changes.” Then David said to the whole assembly, “Give praise to the LORD your God!”

Do you see what David did? Even though things didn’t go his way and the way that he had desired, he still did what was necessary and even above and beyond, to provide for and secure for his son, (the next generation), everything needed to build a house for God!

And from the foundational work that David did, along with the next generation that he helped, there was put into place, the starting of something and someone, who would, like a MASTER BUILDER, come centuries later and ultimately build for the Lord God a house that would last for all eternity!

It was Jesus, the MASTER BUILDER, Himself, who said in , “If a person [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling place) with him.

Now, here comes the meat and potatoes of this message about building a house. David did what was necessary to provide for his son the things needed to build a house, a vessel worthy of God’s presence. Even though David didn’t get what he wanted, he still honored God and did it the way God wanted it done and blessed the next generation and even generations to come!

Here is my question, that ties back in somewhat from last week’s message.

What house are you currently building for the next generation, or what are you currently doing to provide for the next generation and help them in building their house, their vessel, their temple for God.

I am not talking about physical vessels here, but rather, spiritually, what are we doing to help build sound spiritual vessels in the younger generations?

Or maybe another question that I need to ask, is what are you doing in your own life to build a house worthy of the Spirit of God.

Ultimately, it is Holy Spirit who does the building and remodeling, but we have to allow Him to do so!

We have too many people, living out their lives, in despondency and hopelessness and/or sin and claiming to be bought by the blood of Jesus and blaming it upon the house that was built before them.

In other words, “My father was an alcoholic, or my mother was a pathological liar, or my uncle was a pedophile” ,or whatever the sin may have been, and that’s the reason that I am the way that I am!”

NO!!! You are the person that you are, because of the choices that you have made for you and your life! YOU BUILT THE HOUSE THAT YOUR SPIRIT LIVES IN, not someone else and their sins!

People will quote , where God says, “I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.”

And these people will say, “See, the sins of others earlier in my life, or even before them, have brought me to where I am today!”

“

This is a lie and an excuse. What God was saying, is that the those who refuse to serve God and choose to live apart from Him and choose to sin,; their choices, their sins will “visit”, or be brought before the generations that follow.

You and I might suffer the consequences of someone else’s decisions, but we do no live our lives punished for their sins and their decisions!

The demonic hosts thrive on taking the sins of one person/generation and presenting them to the next and spewing the lies that you and I are bound by and have inherited the sins of our fathers and their past failures!

And when you buy into these lies, you are ultimately saying that the cross of Jesus and His shed blood, were insufficient for you and your life and that the Christ is not enough to free you and rebuild the “house” that your soul and spirit now dwell in!

Listen to God’s own words on this matter. The people of Israel had a quote, as found in Ezekiel 18:2, that said, “The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge’?”

Or, as the NLT reads this passage, “The parents have eaten sour grapes, but their children’s mouths pucker at the taste’?

Meaning that, the parents did something, and the children are the ones who suffered because of it.

To this, God answers with the following, “ For all people are mine to judge—both parents and children alike. And this is my rule: The person who sins is the one who will die.”If Or listen to same thing, as God says it again in this same message to Ezekiel, “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”

Or listen to same thing, as God says it again in this same message to Ezekiel, “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not suffer for the iniquity of the father, nor the father suffer for the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”

And even all the way back in Deuteronomy and under the law given to Moses, the Lord said in , “Parents must not be put to death for the sins of their children, nor children for the sins of their parents. Those deserving to die must be put to death for their own crimes.”

And here is the clincher for everyone and as found in two sets of verses in the Bible, and ,

Ezekiel 33:14–15 ESV

Again, though I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ yet if he turns from his sin and does what is just and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

Galatians 5:16–18 ESV

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

John 14:23 AMP

Jesus answered, If a person [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling place) with him.

Amos 9:11 NLT

“In that day I will restore the fallen house of David. I will repair its damaged walls. From the ruins I will rebuild it and restore its former glory.

John 14:23 AMP

Jesus answered, If a person [really] loves Me, he will keep My word [obey My teaching]; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home (abode, special dwelling place) with him.

If you keep living the same life, the same way and having the same miseries and turmoil and sins, and yet blame it on what someone else did, or even did to you, the Bible says that you are the one who will answer for it, NOT THEM. Someone else may have given you some bad building materials, but you took those materials and used them to build the spiritual house in which you now reside!

If you are truly a part of the Body of Christ, then He will watch over and protect that which is His. But, if you walk away and go back into sin, then He is no longer in charge of your house, you are and you suffer for your own decisions! says,

Hebrews 3:6 NLT

But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.

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Jeremiah 23:5 NLT

“For the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land.