#1 Let Us Press On To Maturity
Let Us Press On To Maturity (part 1): Covenant of Grace
Selected Scripture: Gen. 15: 1 – 21; 2 Sam. 7: 3 - 17
Introduction: Gas price is going up and up and all petroleum based products follow suite. The cost of living is getting higher and higher and I wonder sometime; where does this end? Oil is the key to the global economy and the future is very uncertain. There are so many wars and rumor of war. Iran seems developing the nuclear bomb. Israel, the United States and European Union are getting very nervous. I believe the coming of the Lord is very near.
We know, at least, in our mind, Jesus will come at any moment and we are encouraged to live accordingly.
2 Peter 3: 10, 11 say,
“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness.”
The middle-aged man was visibly shaken when his Doctor advised that he had only 6 month’s to live because of the terminal disease that was detected during a recent physical check-up.
The Doctor suggested that he should get his “house in order,” make sure his will was current and ensure all final arrangements were in place for the funeral. He should then make plans to enjoy what might be left of his life, to the fullest.
“What will you do for the last six months? Asked the Doctor. His patient thought for a few minutes then replied, “I think I’ll go and live with my mother-in-law.” Surprised by the answer, the doctor asked, “of all people, why in the world would you want to live with your mother-in-law?”
“Because it’ll be the longest six months of my life!”
What would you do if the Lord returns tomorrow? Martin Luther said, “If the Lord comes tomorrow, I shall still plant a tree.” Care of the world tends to skew our outlook. We are pressed with different world views and so easy to lose track of what the true Good News is. The truth is on trial now a-days.
Col. 1:10,
“so that you may walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respect, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God”
Manner worthy: aξίως (axiōs) = equal weight
Illustration: A farmer and a baker: Kg of butter for the Kg of bread.
Proper understanding of the Grace of God will help us to live.
How could we live a life that is the same weight with the Gospel?
We must know God. Proper knowledge of God is the key to the life of Christians in order to walk manner worthy of the Gospel.
In other word, theology is very important.
R. C. Sproul in his book “Following Christ” says,
The goal of theology is not to confuse but to clarify. Doctrine is intended to sharpen our understanding of faith, not to dull it. The assumption of classical theology is that, the more we understand Jesus, the more we will love him. Knowledge should fuel zeal. It is like the genetic code that programs the growth of all living things. The knowledge of God shapes our Christian development. The more we know, the more we should grow. Unless we know who Christ is, we cannot become more Christ-like.
Now-a-days, there is a notion that the theology divides the people therefore, theology is something to avoid with all cost. Consequentially, clear teaching of the Scripture became so fuzzy.
William Wilberforce (1759 – 1833) contemporary of John Newton:
The fatal habit of considering Christian morals as distinct from Christian doctrine insensibly gained strength. Thus the peculiar doctrines of Christianity went more and more out of sight, and as might naturally have been expected, the moral system itself also began to wither and decay, being robbed of that which should have supplied it with life and nutriment.
This is very true when clear teaching of the Scripture goes, so goes the morality. In Christian world view, doctrine must dictate the life style but this kind of perspective is now gone out of the window and the life style now dictates the teaching of the Scripture.
Richard Niebuhr “The Kingdom of God in America” describes liberal theology this way,
“a God without wrath, who brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment, through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.”
H. Richard Niebuhr, The Kingdom of God in America (New York: Harper, 1959), p. 193.
If we are not careful, we call this liberal theology as the grace of God. 2 Pet. 1: 2 says, “may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”
2 Pet. 3: 18 also says, “grow in the grace and knowledge of our lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
Proper understanding of the Grace of God is very important to grow in Christian maturity.
Grace and knowledge of God go hand in hand.
Someone said, “The will of God will never take you to where the Grace of God will not protect you.” A good saying! But it made me thinking. It somehow gives an impression that God is obligated to exercise grace when we obey, what we think of grace that is. If this saying reads like this, would you agree? “The will of God will never take you to where the Grace of God will not protect you except, Martyrdom, hardships and persecutions.” Is this true? Do you agree? No!
It something like this; when I was in Bible School. A missionary who led me to Christ found a person to support me financially: $5 US a month. He was very faithful, it continued for 3 years, but sometimes it got behind. When a couple months I did not receive this support, I started to wonder where is “MY Money?” Isn’t it how we feel about God’s grace sometime? We are now under grace and God is somehow different from 2000years ago and God is getting older and becoming more understanding, gentler and mellower.
A little girl sitting on grandpa’s lap listening to the story but somehow this little girl is oblivious to the story and rubbing grandpa’s wrinkled face and then rubs her own face. She does that a few times then asks grandpa,
“Grandpa, did God make you?” To this grandpa answers
“Yes, a long long time ago, my dear.”
“Grandpa, did God make me?” “Yes, of course”
“Whomm, God got better at it!”
We know God is the same yesterday and today and forever. But deep in the corner of our hearts, we feel that God’s grace is different now from 2000 years ago.
We feel we deserve what we don’t deserve.
How then should we live as the ones who profess to know the grace of God?
We studied in our Sunday School all about Grace. Pastor Robert taught us the definition of Grace, and the revelation of Grace. Then he asked “Why did God save us?” This question helps us to understand the Grace of God. This question shifts our focus from ourselves, the recipients of Grace, to God, the Giver of Grace. Today I would like us to see the Grace from God’s perspective so that we would have a deeper understanding of God’s Grace. This would be two-sermon series. I would like to build the foundation this morning and then next week, I would like us to see the insurmountable Grace of God and answer the question “Why did God save us?”
Let’s Pray.
In order to find the answer to that question, we must understand the grace of God. And in order to understand the Grace of God we must understand the covenants. Eph. 2: 12 says,
remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
Also in 2 Cor. 3: 6
who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.
We are transformed from “strangers to the covenants” to the “servants of a new covenant.” This is grace. Covenants reveal how the grace of God reached us. So this morning we shall look at a couple of covenants. And next week we shall answer the question, “why did God save us?” So now let us look at the:
I. Abrahamic Covenant Gen. 15: 1 – 21
God told Abra(ha)m that He will bless him and make him a great nation and make his name great (12: 2). In Hebrew culture, the name was very important. Keep the name generation after generation was the display of God’s blessings. But in order to keep the family name, you have to have children, but Abraham was childless. God again brings this promise to him in Ch. 15. Up to this point in Genesis, Abraham did not speak to God but here for the first time, Abraham spoke to God, raising a question how the promise would be fulfilled. Then God promised him again that his descendants shall be countless as the stars in the heavens (15: 5). Then Abraham believed in God and God counted it to him as righteousness (15: 6). But God wanted to tell him more in detail how He would do this. So He promised Abraham again that his descendants will possess the Promised Land (15: 7). Then Abraham again asked the Lord and said, “How may I know that I will possess it?” (15: 8). Let’s read verses 9 – 12. Then God told him how his descendants be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years (15: 13). But God will deliver them and they will come out with many possessions (15: 14). Now skip to verse 17.
It came about when the sun had set, that it was very dark, and behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between these pieces.
This verse puzzled many commentators as to the proper interpretation of it, because not many information is available about this. Can you picture this? In the darkness of the evening, it says, “very dark,” no street lights or bonfire of the farmers’ fields, suddenly appears smoke and fire as if children are playing with a Hibachi full of smoke and the burning torch. They passed between those animals that are cut in half and placed in the opposite to each other. Kind a spooky scene! There are two interpretations to this at least. One is to look at the previous verses; vss. 13 to 16, that God gave detail of Israel be enslaved in Egypt and how and when God will deliver them. God is showing Abraham He will deliver them out of Egypt with the pillar of smoke and pillar of fire. God is assuring Abraham this will surly take place. Another interpretation, which I want to emphasize, is to look at the following context, verse 18, which says,
“On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, ‘To your descendants I have given this land.’” Then God Himself went through the divided animals. Taking Smoke and Fire as the symbol of God’s presence. Why? Because, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham. Please turn your Bible to Jer. 34: 18, 19 which say,
‘I will give the men who have transgressed My covenant, who have not fulfilled the words of the covenant which they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between its parts—
19 the officials of Judah and the officials of Jerusalem, the court officers and the priests and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf—“
Apparently, this is how people made a covenant to each other. If one does not keep the promise, he invokes on himself a curse to pay it with his life. One of the extra-biblical writings of the 8th century has a record saying, “May God make me like this animal, if I do not fulfill the demands of the covenant.”[1] So here, “it is God himself who walks between the pieces, and it is suggested that here God is invoking the curse on himself, if he fails to fulfill the promise.”[2]
Abraham did not walk between the animals in this instance. Only God did. This is the covenant God made to Abraham: Unilateral agreement that God is the initiator and fulfiller of the covenant. Also the root meaning of the word “made” is to “Cut.” So God “Cut” the covenant with Abraham by cutting the animals. This is Grace!
Usually God’s oaths generally take the form of “As I live, saith the LORD!” (cf. Num. 14: 21). So this is extra ordinal for God to make this covenant and affirms it in this manner. God bet His life for Abraham, God is willing to lay His life if in case this covenant is not fulfilled. This is Grace! I do believe that this covenant is made within the God head. Heb. 6: 13 says, “For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one greater, He swore by Himself.” I believe, this is a perfect picture of the New Covenant. Covenant is a promise made between the two parties. God the Father made (Cut) the covenant with His Son and the Son was cut and God the Father, while the darkness fell, went through the torn body of His own Son to give us life. Unilateral agreement that God the Father initiated and the Son accomplished it by hanging on the Cross. There are many covenants in the Scripture and many of them failed but with the New Covenant, unless the Son fails this covenant stands in eternity. Will He fail? Never! That is the reason we who are in Christ, are eternally secure. Hallelujah?!! We can not add anything to what God has done. This is the reason, only through faith we can come to Him. This is Grace!
Next week we are going to look at this promise between the Father and the Son. But we should not stop here.
At beginning I told you that we are going to look at the Grace of God from God’s perspective. Heb. 6: 1 says,
Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,
We must build the case for Christ. Why did God save us? We will answer this question next week but I would like to lay a foundation this week and we can build upon it next week. A good way to do this is to look at another covenant.
II. Davidic Covenant 2 Samuel 7: 8 – 17
In Davidic covenant, God promised David that his son will build the house for Him and He will establish the throne for him and his kingdom forever (2 Sam. 7: 12 – 16). So this is obviously pointing to David’s son Solomon. But also from verse 16, God promised David that He will establish David’s kingdom forever. When we look at
2 Chron. 21: 7, we can see God kept this promise.
Yet the Lord was not willing to destroy the house of David because of the covenant which He had made with David, and since He had promised to give a lamp to him and his sons forever.
There were many kings in the history of Israel, especially after Solomon, the kingdom was divided into two: Judah the southern kingdom and Israel the northern kingdom. King Jehoram became the king of Judah after his father king Jehoshaphat who did right in the sight of the Lord (I Kings 22: 43) as his father Asa (I Kings 15: 11). But Jehoram was a bad king, killed all of his brothers to secure his throne, married to king Ahab’s daughter, walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and he did evil in the sight of the Lord (2 Kings 8: 18). The Lord could have punished him and destroyed his kingdom but for the sake of David, He did not. It’s about 128 years after David’s death. The Scripture uses the word “lamp” to denote God’s sustaining grace to the house of David (I Kings 11: 36, 15: 4, II Kings 8: 19). Through out the O.T. this is reinforced: (Isaiah 9:6–7); Jeremiah 23:5; 30:8–9; 33:14–17, 20–21; Ezekiel 37:24–25; (Daniel 7:13–14); Hosea 3:4–5; Amos 9:11; and (Zechariah 14:9). See, if God did not keep this covenant we have no hope. This is Grace!
This Davidic covenant is also an unilateral covenant as Abrahamic covenant, but God did not demand to cut the animals in half, let alone walk between them. As far as I know only once God walked between the cut animal in the O.T. Why? Because once is enough. It is the shadow of what He would do to His Son, Jesus Christ. Once for all.
But, even this promise, it seems, was somehow vanished away when physical Davidic kingdom was ceased. In 586 BC, Judah was conquered by the Babylonians. Since then, no descendants of David ruled the kingdom of Judah. But the N.T. assures us that this Davidic Kingdom is restored and will be established forever. Let’s look at the N.T. witness to this promise. How does the N.T. begin? Matt. 1: 1, “The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:” Jesus the son of David. How about a famous message of Christmas, Angel Gabriel to Mary in Luke 1: 32,
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David;
John 7: 42, John probably quoting from Psalm 89: 4 said,
“Has not the Scripture said that the Christ comes from the descen-dants of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?
Acts 13: 22, 23
After He had removed him, He raised up David to be their king, concerning whom He also testified and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My heart, who will do all My will.’
23 “From the descendants of this man, according to promise, God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus
Rom. 1: 3 How about Paul’s testimony?
concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh,
Rev. 22: 16, How about Jesus His own testimony?
“I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
“Son of David” Matt. 9: 27
Two blind men came to Jesus and cried out saying, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!” What are they saying? From the perspective of what we are learning, they are saying to Jesus, “You are the promised King, the Son of David the king of Judah who was good, strong and wise, we know you can heal us.”
The significance of the Davidic Covenant is that the king David was a type of Christ and God promised Jesus the eternal Kingdom which begins on this earth. If God did not keep His promise, we don’t have the Savior. The New Covenant is the fulfillment of this promise. This is Grace! But we should not stop here. If there is a kingdom there must be a King. Yes, Jesus is the KING of this kingdom. This is very important as we ponder the question “Why did God save us?” But here we must understand two Kingdoms of God.
A. Realized Kingdom (Here Already)
Luke 17: 20, 21 (Luke 22: 29)
Now having been questioned by the Pharisees as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed;
21 nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
Also Rom. 14: 17
for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
So the Kingdom of God is here on this earth at present.
There is another Kingdom of God the Scripture talks about.
B. Coming Kingdom (Not Yet)
Luke 19: 11
While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.
So it is not here, yet.
Luke 22: 18
for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes
Jesus brought the Kingdom of God to this earth that the Kingdom of God is realized. He will also bring the Kingdom of God which is yet to come and we are living in anticipation to this (not yet) Kingdom. This present Kingdom of God which inaugurated by the new born King Jesus will continue into eternity.
Jesus brought the Kingdom of God and He is the King. This belief brought a great deal of trials for the first century Christians. When they came to Christ, they had to renounce the earthly king because they submitted to the Kingship of Jesus. Jesus was sitting on the throne of their hearts. But those who refused to do so cried out, “We have no king but Caesar!” (John 19: 15)
At present, there are two kingdoms; the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness. There are two kings.
When we honor and obey the King of the Kingdom of light, the world would recognize their king. If we can’t show the world who is our King, they would not recognize who their king is.
Is Jesus your King? Is Jesus the King of this church?
The following dialogue appears in C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia (1961, MacMillan, 1950, CS. Lewis PTE. LTD). In “the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” Susan and Lucy ask Mr. and Mrs. Beaver to describe Aslan. They ask if Aslan is a man. Mr. Beaver replies.
“Aslan a man? Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the song of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion.”
“Ooh!” said Susan. “I’d thought he was man. Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”
“That you will, dearie, and make no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver, “if there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”
“Then he isn’t safe?” said Lucy.
“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver. “Don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about being safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”[3]
No, we can not domesticate this King. He is fierce: Fierce against sin. He will come back with the rod of iron to judge the world. But He is a good King. How good is He?
When Jesus the King was crucified on the Cross, He, out of excruciating pain, cried out: “It is finished!” (John 19: 30)
It was just one word in original: τετέλεσται
This is the word often used in commerce that when debt is paid, they sign this word indicating the debt is paid in full. This is Jesus the King, His way of saying, “I have kept the covenant You cut. Now Father, You will forgive sins of those who come to me by faith.” He is the King of universe, but died as a sinner for you and me.
τετέλεσται: It is completed. He is a good King. This is Grace!
Grace is the power to do what we ought to do! Jesus demonstrated that to us by obeying and submitting to God the Father. What is the Grace from God’s perspective? God the Father wanted His Son to be the King of kings and Lord of lords through suffering.
Grace will accomplish what God has planned!
Is Jesus your KING? Can we say, “We have no King but Jesus?”
Conclusion:
Question we must ask is not “Is Jesus King of my life?” but rather,
“Is King Jesus reigning in my life?”
I Tim. 1: 17
“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever, Amen”
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[1]Wenham, G. J. (2002). Vol. 1: Word Biblical Commentary : Genesis 1-15. Word Biblical Commentary (332). Dallas: Word, Incorporated.
[2]Ibid.,
[3] Wayne Rice “Hot Illustrations for Youth Talks” Zondervan Publishing, 1995, p. 48