Isaiah 55: 3 tells us clearly that the Gospel or New Covenant is one and the same with the sure mercies of David, this is also called the Covenant of David or Davidic Covenant. Jesus is the foundation and the sure mercies of David are the framework. Built on that foundation and within that framework is the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, we know it as the New Testament. God gave David this covenant with the plan of salvation to save the world. He did it because he loved us. He took salvation out of our hands so that he could save us himself, knowing full well that we are unable to save ourselves.

In order to fulfill this promise and to give us the Everlasting Covenant or what we know as the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ he had to come as the seed of David or as David’s son in the flesh. This covenant was promised to David and his seed and Christ was the complete heir to this promise. He came as the son of David in the flesh. Both of his parents were descendants of David through the tribes of Judah. One of the promises that God made to David was that when he died that his body would not be in the grave long enough to decay (Acts 13: 34- 39). Since David did die and his body decayed it had to be to one of his son’s in promise.

This promise was to Jesus who was raised from the grave after three days and was living proof or evidence that he was the Christ, the seed of David. This also proved that Jesus possessed the sure mercies of David, which was also the Covenant of David one and the same with the New Covenant of the New Testament. This is proof that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only way or means to be saved and for us to possess the sure mercies of David. One of these promises was that we would never die but would endure like gold of silver for eternity. So the sure mercies of David along with the experiences that David went through were an outline to the Gospel that we should be preaching today. The book of Psalms and the different things written by David or about David reveals many things that we find in the New Testament teachings. However David’s promises was the framework that was completely surrounding the Gospel itself.

In this scripture we find a promise that God has made an everlasting covenant with us and given us the Sure Mercies of David. Question seems to be: What are the Sure Mercies of David?
The promise is basically this: If we will come to him and be born again through the new covenant he will be our father and we will be his children. His mercy will be poured out upon us. The promise is that if we sin he will chastise us with the rods of men and punish us as his children, yet he will never leave us or forsake us but will cause us to endure forever. Out of this promise comes the promise of eternal life or eternal security of the believer.

The reason the Covenant of David or Sure Mercies of David is so important is because it is the very foundation of the New Covenant language. New Covenant or New Testament promises by Jesus himself come to us through this Covenant. We are saved through the blood of Jesus and without it there would be no New Covenant. In the book of Acts the scriptures teach us that because of it we can be forgiven of sins that we could not be forgiven under the Law of Moses. The promises and the salvation plan could not be made any clearer than it is in the Covenant of David.

This particular subject has caused quite a stir in the Church over hundreds of years. If it isn’t understood it can create problems. The reason it does is because some believe that if you try to claim and possess the Sure Mercies of David that it will lead to sin. Many are afraid to try to claim the sure mercies of David for fear that other Christians will sin willfully so that grace may abound. Because of this fear there are many things that are taught contrary to the truth. Some teach that the promise to David was only made to him and Solomon or that the promise belonged to Jesus alone in the New Covenant. But the Bible is clear on this subject bringing the Church into this promise through the blood of Jesus. Out of this promise comes the strongest hope for eternal life that we can lay hold on. There are two sets of scriptures that the promises of the New Covenant was made to David. Nathan the Prophet was the one that God used to establish the Covenant of David.
The first is found in 2^nd Samuel the 7^th chapter.
2sa 7:
12 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom
13 He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
15 But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.
16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.

In verse 12 of these scriptures we see a promise that God is making to David concerning his death and the promise of setting up his seed after him. God promises that out of his bloodline would come a son that God would establish his kingdom. There is a double meaning in this promise. In the natural this was a promise to David’s son Solomon and the spiritual side of this promise was concerning Jesus Christ the son of David, the Son of God.

In verse 13 he promises that David’s descendant would build God a house for his name. This is also a double meaning, one is in the natural, and the other is in the spirit. Solomon built what we know as Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. On the other hand Jesus built a spiritual house not made by hands in three days. Through his crucifixion and resurrection Jesus made it possible for all that repent and call on him to be in him. He is in us and we are in him. He is the spiritual house that was built by God.

In verse 14 we see two wonderful promises. One is that God will be his father and the other is concerning what would happen if he sinned against God.

The promise that God would be his father is an awesome promise.
We also see this promise in Psalms 89:
26: He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.
We see this promise passed down to us through Jesus Christ and in Romans 8:
14: For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15: For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
John said in 1^st John 3:
1: Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
2: Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
3: And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Once again we see that through Jesus and this covenant promise that we have become the children of God. How did this happen? In verse 27 of Psalms 89 God promised to make David and his son his firstborn. Many people do not understand what this means to this very day. Roman: 8: 29: For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
The firstborn that God is speaking of in this scripture and in Psalms 89: 7 is that Jesus would be the heir of all things. He would receive the inheritance. The inheritance that Jesus received was the covenant or sure mercies of David. Because we are joint heirs with him in the promise we become heirs to the promise and receive the sure mercies as well. I hope that you are able to understand what I am saying and can see how the Sure Mercies of David fit into the New Covenant with Jesus.

The promise is the second part of verse 14 in 2^nd Samuel. .... If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: 15 But my mercy shall not depart away from him,......
Psalms 89: 30: If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;
31: If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;
32: Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
33: Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.
These scriptures cause many that do not understand the plan of God to go berserk. The fear that people will sin willfully becomes a major concern and I can understand that. In this promise God promises to chastise us rather than to destroy our souls in Hell. In 1^st Corinthians the 11^th chapter God tells us this: 28: But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29: For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
30: For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31: For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
32: But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
This is promising that if we sin we will be chastised by the Lord but he will still save our souls. In other words we are still his children and we will not be destroyed with the world in Hell. The severity of chastisement is based on our knowledge of the sin and whether or not we repent from a sin that is causing us trouble. God always forgives us when we ask him but if we continue in a particular sin he will deal with it. In Hebrews 12: 6-8 God explains that God only chastises those that are his. If we sin and don’t repent from it he will chastise us. If we don’t receive correction from God then we are not his, in other words we have never been born again.

In Psalms 89: 36 His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me.
This causes quite a dilemma for those that do not believe that we are eternally saved. I know I used to be one of those people. I would have tried to explain it away by saying that enduring forever only pertained to Jesus himself. It is true that it is talking about Jesus but he is the heir and this is part of the inheritance that he shares with all of those that are in him. The sure Mercies of David are promised to all of us that believe in Jesus. In this same scripture God promises that his throne would be as the sun before him. This means that as sure as the sun endures so will his throne. This ought to give us more confidence realizing that since he will be Lord forever that this gives us the assurance that we will endure as well. Because he lives, I live. Because he endures forever, I do too. This promise is to every truly born again person that there is. It is speaking of eternal life.

Jesus spoke to Martha and said this in John 11:
26: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?
I really believe that Jesus is still asking us the same question. Do we believe this? Do we really believe that we have eternal life or do we believe that we only temporary life until we pass some sort of test? What Jesus has given us is to keep us from living in sin and backsliding. If we really believe the promises and are born again we will live eternal through Jesus Christ. A person that doesn’t believe this is in more danger in this world than a person that knows that he is eternally saved. Let me explain why.

I was raised to believe that if I sinned the Holy Spirit left me until I repented. In other words he would jump in and out according to my walk with God. This caused a lot of discouragement because I made mistakes just like everyone else. I was also taught that if a person backslid that that person and God’s fellowship was completely broken, he didn’t think about them and they were going to Hell but I believed that they could repent before he came back and everything would be ok. This places a person with the belief that he might be lost but still stood a good chance of making it in the end as long as they repented

I was also taught that if you believed in once in grace always in grace that it gave people a license to sin. This belief that it would allow people to sin prevented me from accepting the truth. It is true that some people do continue in sin after proclaiming themselves to be Christians but it is also true that people that do not believe in that teaching will take the risk and sin anyway. I know I am a pastor and I have seen it. The bottom line is that if people want to sin they will sin no matter how you believe. If a person continues in sin after claiming to be a Christian they have not been born again. Jesus said, "My sheep know my voice and another they will not follow". It is impossible to sin as a Christian and not feel bad about it. By a person believing that they can walk away from God and severe the relationship they often make the choice to do that not realizing what kind of trouble they are headed for.

This is what I meant by saying that it is more dangerous for a person not to believe in eternal security than for someone that does. A person that truly knows and understands the Gospel knows that he cannot sin that grace may abound. The cost is too high. In the sure mercies of David God said that he would visit our transgressions with a rod and our iniquity with stripes. This means that in this life he will do this. Think about this for a minute. If you believe that you can walk away from God with only the risk of losing your soul when Jesus comes back or you die it is often easy to run the risk. But on the other hand if you believe that if you sin God will deal with it in this world this places it in a whole different ballpark. You see he promised in Samuel 7: 14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men.
This is saying that God will use this world as a tool to correct us when we sin. The rod of men, the stripes of the children of men. God will use circumstances in this present world to correct us. Sometimes we suffer from other people, especially in our own family, because of it. Sometimes he doesn’t answer our prayers for things that we desire, sometimes we get sick and sometimes he allows us to die because of sin that we do not repent from. When a person truly realizes this it makes them stop and think. You see when we are born again we don’t belong to ourselves any longer. Jesus came into our hearts and brought his Father and the Holy Spirit in as well. When we sin God doesn’t jump out. He stays inside of us to lead us and guide us out of sin. Jesus said that he would never leave us or forsake us and that is just exactly what he means. If you are born again Jesus will be with you forever. He also promised that he would give us someone else and that is the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would abide with us forever. Do we dare put an "if" in there somewhere? The scriptures say that the Holy Spirit of promise seals us until the day of redemption. This means until the day that Jesus comes back.

Our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Ghost and we need to get a real picture of this. When we got saved God not only washed the inside but the body as well with the Blood of Jesus. He made us Holy inside and out. We are the Temple of the Holy Spirit and he will abide with us forever. When a born again Christian sins and doesn’t repent, the Holy Spirit inside that person becomes grieved over their condition. He will try to lead them out of it. If we fail to yield to his leading then we are in danger. If we defile the Temple of God with things that are not right we are in danger of losing our lives. If you go ahead and backslide there is no place to go. We cannot get away from God. God will stop us one way or another. It is very scary but I am glad that it is this way. All of these things can and often will happen in this present world, in our earthly life, not the world to come.

David’s life is a good example of this. The fact that God made a Covenant with David is very important. If he hadn’t David’s sins would have cost him his life. The Law of Moses would have killed him. The Law of Moses said that if a man murdered someone or committed adultery that they should be put to death by stoning or etc. What spared David was the covenant that God had made with him, the sure mercies of David. This covenant superceded the Law of Moses the same as the covenant that we have with Jesus Christ. Even though David found mercy because of this covenant he was still subject to chastisement because of this covenant. God had said that if he or his children sinned that they would be chastised with the rods of men or suffer from stripes. This chastisement came in several different ways upon David and it came after Nathan had come to him and exposed his sins. God forgave David of the murder and the adultery but held him accountable for bringing reproach upon God. His punishment came about when David and Bath-sheba’s son came down sick. God refused David’s prayer to spare the child and allowed this child to die. His throne was affected by his sins and many people in David’s kingdom began to turn on him. This included Absalom, one of David’s sons, who tried to overthrow David and take his crown. This resulted in the death of Absalom a child that David loved very much. Things began to happen in his family during all of this, such as one of his sons raping his half sister and Absalom killing him for it. All of the peace that David had in his house left and his life remained in turmoil the rest of his days. But through all of the things that happened including being mocked by some David still ended up going to heaven. It was also allowed that out of his generations would eventually come the Christ, the son of God, King of Israel, King of Kings. Because of God’s mercy David is still remembered as being a man after God’s own heart.

I believe with all of my heart that if I had been taught this as a child or as a new Christian that I would not have experienced all of the insecurity that I experienced. It would have given me a solid platform for faith in the finished work of Christ. The simple language in the Sure Mercies of David tells us the basic plan of God in the New Covenant with Jesus Christ as Lord. Without knowing this we fall into many areas of the New Testament that seem to send Christians to hell that simply do not mean that at all. We also fail to research those scriptures assuming that we understand them. Because I didn’t understand the basic Gospel I fell into many problems and hurtful situations over it. It is a miracle that I am still saved, but that is his keeping power. The scripture says that even though we are unbelieving that he still abides faithful because he cannot deny himself. Jesus said I will be with you forever, even to the ends of the Earth. He said, "I will never leave you or forsake you." He also said, that if we believed in him we would never die. Then he asked this question, "believest thou this," do you believe and trust in him and his promise?

I hope that by now you are able to see the love of Christ in all of this. I also hope that you see the severity of sin as a born-again Christian. Chastisement is not the only way God gives us an incentive to forsake sin. He also promises that if we love him and keep his commandments that he will answer our prayers. Many believe that faith is the only thing that you have to give to God to receive his blessings through prayer. If they believe this they are only kidding themselves, it won't work without keeping his commandments.

God Bless you
Tommie Spurgeon

(Below are some more scriptures on this covenant to read if you would like to.)

Psalms 89: 18: For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.
19: Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people.
20: I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:
24: But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.
26: He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.
27: Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.
28: My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
29: His seed also will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.
30: If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;
31: If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;
32: Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.
33: Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.
34: My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
35: Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.
36: His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me.

Your brother in Christ
Tommie Spurgeon

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