Comfortable Christianity

Comfortable Christianity

Matt Bell

Download

Sermon Summary

From Isaiah 40:1–11, Pastor Matt explains that while “comfortable Christianity” often describes an easy faith that avoids sacrifice, God intends the Christian faith to bring genuine comfort to His people. In a world of disappointment, betrayal, sin, sickness, decay, and relentless bad news, believers can anchor their souls in four gifts provided through the Messiah: Christ’s complete forgiveness, the Holy Spirit’s regenerating and sanctifying work, God’s unchanging Word, and the shepherding care of Christ’s church. The sermon concludes by calling believers to turn from temporary comforts and behold their God, while urging those outside Christ to repent, believe, and receive the grace and comfort found in Jesus alone.

Sermon Transcript

Scripture Reading and Prayer

If you have your Bibles, open with me to Isaiah chapter 40 this morning. We’re in our series called The Year of the Bible, where we are working our way through the whole Bible this year and encouraging the church to read together. We find ourselves in the book of Isaiah, and Isaiah chapter 40 is a turning point in the book. I think you’ll see that here this morning as we look at the first eleven verses.

I invite you to stand with me as we read these together. Isaiah 40:1–11 says:

“Comfort, comfort my people,” says your God. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. “A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’ “A voice says, ‘Cry!’ And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’ All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. “Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’ Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”

Father, we do thank You for Your Word. God, I pray that You would speak to the hearts of Your people here this morning. Lord, Your Word is powerful. Your Word is mighty. So many things in our world are temporary. Lord, they’re like grass. They are blown away with the smallest little bit of change. But God, Your Word stands forever. The Word of our God cannot be shaken.

Lord, as we look at Your Word this morning, Holy Spirit, have Your way in the hearts of Your people. God, we’re here today to meet with You. We’re here today to hear from You and to draw closer to You. Lord, You’ve redeemed our lives. You’ve brought us into Your flock, Your family, Your church. We’re here because of You. But Lord, Your work in our lives doesn’t stop at the cross. It doesn’t stop at salvation. Lord, it continues on through every day of our lives, and that’s what we want. We want more of You. We want more of Your Spirit. We want more of Your sanctifying presence in our lives.

Convict our hearts, Lord, this morning where we need to be convicted. Comfort us where we need to be comforted. Lord, strengthen the weak, and draw all of us closer to Yourself this morning. God, if there’s anyone here this morning who has yet to trust in You as their Savior and their Lord, Holy Spirit, we pray that You would remove all obstacles in their way and open their hearts to the good news of Jesus this morning. In the name of Jesus, we pray these things. Amen.

You may be seated today.

Comfortable Christianity

I have a title for my sermon. I don’t always have a title, but today I do, and I’ll share it with you here up front. The title this morning is “Comfortable Christianity.”

When we hear this term, you probably have a negative reaction to it. Usually, when this term is used, it is describing something negative—a sort of easy believism, a desire to live life on my own terms while adding a little bit of Jesus to my life. Maybe He’ll make my life in this world a little bit easier on my way to heaven. I want just enough Jesus to be saved, but I don’t really want to live for Him. I don’t really want to die to sin. I don’t really want to take up my cross and follow Him. I just want a comfortable Christianity.

That kind of Christian faith is not what God intends for us. That kind of easy Christianity—comfortable Christianity—Jesus knew nothing of it. The apostles knew nothing of it. That is not the Christian faith handed down for us by Jesus to the apostles and to us in Scripture. When I say “comfortable Christianity,” that is not what we are talking about here this morning.

But there is a way in which the Christian faith does bring comfort to our hearts and souls, and God actually intends for that to be the case. We see it here in the opening verse of Isaiah chapter 40, which begins with God telling Isaiah, “Comfort, comfort my people.” That’s how this chapter begins: God tells Isaiah, “I want you to go to My people with a message of comfort.” Just so Isaiah didn’t misunderstand, God spoke it to him twice. He repeated the instruction. It’s a double emphasis: “Comfort, comfort My people.”

This shows us that God is very concerned for the state and well-being of His people. Up until this point in the book of Isaiah, all the messages God had given Isaiah the prophet to deliver to His people weren’t very good. It was a message of repentance and a message of what would happen if God’s people did not repent.

God’s people had forsaken God. They had strayed away from faithfulness to God. They had gone into worshiping idols and all of the dark, demonic practices that entailed, including even sacrificing their own children to these demon gods. God had sent His prophets—Isaiah was one of them—to call His people back to faithfulness, to call His people back to the one true and living God, and to forsake the worship of idols with all of its pagan practices.

Included with that call back to faithfulness was the warning: “If you do not repent, justice is going to be brought upon you. Judgment is going to be brought upon you. God is going to judge you for your sins.” The first thirty-nine chapters of Isaiah carry this message: repent, or judgment is coming. And the people are not repenting. Up until here, in the first thirty-nine chapters, it’s not a whole lot of good news. It’s a lot of bad news.

But here in chapter 40, the tone changes. Going forward, God begins to look beyond the judgment He is going to bring upon them. He looks beyond the discipline He is going to bring to His people, and He begins to look forward to a day when God is going to restore them, bless them, heal them, and return them to a place of faithful worship and blessing.

All of this future plan that God has for His people will be accomplished through the ministry of their Messiah. It will be accomplished through Jesus. Here in chapter 40 and on through the end of Isaiah chapter 66, Isaiah begins to look beyond the judgment and forward to the coming of the Messiah and the blessings He will bring to the people of God.

God’s people were about to go through a very hard and difficult season, but God wanted to encourage them as they went through that season. Even in the hard times, God still has a plan for His people. Before they even went through it, there was a future beyond the suffering. There was a future beyond the pain they would endure. This shows us that God’s heart is for His people, no matter where they are in the journey of life.

As we look at this passage today, we’re way on the other side of this. We’re very much removed from when these words were given. We’re also on the other side of the cross and the ministry of the Messiah, when Jesus came and brought about all the blessings foretold by Isaiah. Now we get to live in them.

But for us here today, even on the other side of the cross, we still find ourselves in hard and difficult seasons in this life. Can I get an amen? Even though we have Jesus in our hearts, it’s not always smooth sailing in this life, is it?

This life at times is full of disappointments. We put our hope and trust in things, believing they’re going to turn out a certain way, and then they turn out the opposite. There are betrayals. We trusted in someone, and they promised to do X, Y, and Z, but in the end they betrayed that promise. These disappointments and betrayals hurt us deeply. I wish it were the case that when we came to Christ it was just Hakuna Matata and Kumbaya, but that’s not the way life is in this broken world.

Not only are we often disappointed and betrayed by others, but even as Christians we have to battle and deal with our own sin in our own hearts. The pain that sin inflicts on others can put us in hard and difficult seasons. We also have to contend with these mortal bodies, from dust to dust—bodies that are subject to disease and decay. My children were remarking on all the blond hairs I have coming in. No, I’m not turning blond. These mortal bodies, even when healthy, are subject to decay. At times, all of us in this life go through moments when we hear news from the doctor and enter difficult seasons.

If the pain and heartache of our own lives aren’t enough, we live in a world connected to everything that happens 24/7. We are constantly bombarded by a feed of the absolute worst news imaginable. The worst things happening in our community, this city, this state, this nation, and this world bombard us every single day. If you think that doesn’t have an effect on your soul, your emotions, and your outlook on life, my friends, it does.

The hardships in our own lives and in the world around us have a profound effect on us, and the realities of all of this are not hidden from God’s eyes. Our text this morning demonstrates that God cares deeply for His people. From this text, I want to look at four things God has given us to comfort our hearts.

I don’t know exactly what you’re going through this morning, but I know you’re going through something. We’re all going through something. There’s some difficulty, hardship, or storm in our lives. Some are greater than others. But no matter the greatness of the storm, there are four things we can hold on to that God has provided to comfort our hearts where we are today.

1. Christ’s Forgiveness

The first thing we’re going to see is Christ’s forgiveness. There has been a lot said about this already this morning in our time of worship and even in our time of giving. Here it is again in our text. Verse 2 says:

“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, her iniquity is pardoned, and she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all of her sins.”

As I said, what Isaiah is talking about points to the ministry of Christ. While Isaiah was looking forward, we now are looking backward. Christ has paid the price for our sins.

Look at the salvation Christ brings, the salvation Isaiah is talking about for the people of God. It says the people of God received this. Where does it come from? It comes from the Lord’s hand. Salvation is only found in Christ. You can only be saved by Jesus. You cannot save yourself. You cannot clean yourself up. You cannot be good enough to merit salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. It is from the Lord. It is from the hand of the Lord.

It also says that from the Lord’s hand, God’s people have received double for all their sins. This speaks of the extravagance with which God is going to cover the sins of His people. It is not just going to be meted out down to the very last tiny detail. No, God is a God of abundance. God is a God of over and above.

If here, under the old covenant, God is saying that the sins of His people have been doubly atoned for, how much more can we take comfort in the atoning sacrifice of His own Son, Jesus? If under the old covenant He says, “Your sins have been paid for, and double on top of that,” how much more the better sacrifice of the Son of God? We can comfort our hearts that a sacrifice was offered of infinite worth, beyond all measure. Because of this, we can know for sure our sins are forgiven.

We don’t have to go through life wondering what will happen when we stand before God. We can have confidence—not in ourselves, but because of Christ and His work. We can have this assurance of salvation. We don’t have to wonder if we are in a state of grace or not, constantly trying to keep ourselves. No, we are kept by the power of God. We are kept by the blood of Jesus, which the Lord has used to wash our hearts.

This is a message that is to comfort the people of God: Jesus has paid for our sins. This is the message of which the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 1:15:

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”

Paul will go on to say that the reason Jesus saved him was that He wanted to use Paul as an example. As the chief of sinners, because Paul could be saved, anybody could be saved. Paul was an enemy of Christ. Paul hated Christ. Paul hated Christians. He hunted them from town to town, arrested them, and put them to death. But God saved that man. The grace of God overflowed to Paul and forgave all of his sins.

If the grace of God is enough for Paul, it’s enough for you and your sins. I don’t know what you have done, but I do know that the grace of God in Christ is sufficient to pay the price for all of your sins.

What comfort we have. What assurance we have when we stop looking to ourselves and our own goodness as the means by which we can be made right with God. We forsake all notions of our own goodness, and we look completely and totally to Christ.

I pray you know this comfort. Do you know this comfort? No matter what we go through in this life, we know that in the end our sins are forgiven. We know that in the end we are a child of God.

In Luke 10:20, the apostles are giving a report to Jesus. They come to Him and say, “Jesus, You’re not going to believe what happened. We cast out demons in Your name. We healed the sick in Your name. It’s amazing, the power You’ve given us.” And Jesus says, “That’s cool.” Then He says:

“Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”

Jesus is lifting the eyes of His disciples off the temporary and putting them on the eternal. He is showing His disciples, “Okay, great. You’re rejoicing in circumstances that are good, but there’s something bigger. There’s a bigger reality to anchor your joy to, and that is that your names are written in heaven.”

I pray that you will know this comfort. No matter what you go through in life, there is much comfort to be found in the fact that my name is written in heaven. When I go from this life to the next, I will be ushered into the presence of my God and my Savior, Jesus Christ.

2. The Holy Spirit’s Work

The second thing the prophet Isaiah speaks of to comfort our hearts is the Holy Spirit’s work. One of the names for the Holy Spirit is literally “the Comforter.” We see an example of the Holy Spirit’s work in verses 3–5:

“A voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, every mountain and hill shall be made low. The uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’”

You might be reading that and thinking, “How in the world does that describe the work of the Holy Spirit?” Part of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives is to remove the obstacles that stand in the way of us coming to faith in Christ and having the work of Christ lived out in our lives. We see an example here of those obstacles being removed.

We know that John the Baptist took up the passage, “A voice cries in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,’” as his ministry. He was the forerunner of Christ, the one who preached and prepared the people of God to receive Jesus the Messiah. But Jesus also says it is the Holy Spirit’s job to do the same now that He has gone into heaven.

The Holy Spirit prepares our hearts to receive Christ. Friends, without Christ, our hearts are as hard as stone. Without the ministry of the Holy Spirit, in fact, we are dead. Jesus says in John chapter 3 that unless a man is born again, he cannot see or enter into the kingdom of God.

The Holy Spirit moves on our hearts. Jesus goes on to say that the Spirit moves like the wind. You can’t see it, but you can see its effects. The Holy Spirit moves like a wind upon our hearts and causes us to be born again by the Spirit of God, preparing us to receive and believe the gospel. He does this by removing the obstacles of unbelief and sin that we find in our hearts.

The first obstacle He removes is our separation from God. Sin brings separation from God. We are born not knowing God, alienated from God because we are born as sinners who need a Savior. The Holy Spirit applies the work of Christ to our individual hearts, bringing us into the family of God. Titus 3:5–6 says:

“He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior.”

Regeneration means to be born again, to pass from death to life. This regeneration and renewal is of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. The separation from God is removed as the Holy Spirit regenerates us, causing us to be born again, taking out our heart of stone. The prophet Jeremiah says He gives us a heart of flesh, a heart sensitive to the things and the moving of the Spirit.

Another obstacle the Holy Spirit removes is unbelief. The Holy Spirit is the One who opens our eyes to the truth of Christ. Second Corinthians 4:6 says:

“For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

Do you believe in Christ today? Do you believe that He is the Son of God? Do you believe that He died for your sins? Do you believe that He rose again on the third day? If you believe that, it’s only because the Holy Spirit has opened your eyes to that truth. Only the Holy Spirit can reveal this to us. We cannot enter into this knowledge of God on our own. Our own fallen flesh and fallen mind cannot reason us into faith in Christ. If we could, we would have something to boast in. But it’s not our own works by which we are saved; it is the work of Christ, and that work is applied to our hearts by the Spirit.

The other obstacle the Holy Spirit removes from us is sin. The Holy Spirit has a sanctifying work in our lives so that progressively throughout our time as believers, we find ourselves becoming more and more like Jesus, more and more like Christ. Second Thessalonians 2:13 says:

“We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.”

First Corinthians 6:11, speaking of those who were living in sin, says:

“And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”

The passage talks about a king who is coming, but a highway needs to be made through the wilderness. They are going to remove the rocks and stony areas, lay low the forest, and make a clean way for the king’s highway through the wilderness.

So it is in this life. This life is like a wilderness. The Holy Spirit in our hearts makes a way for the work of Christ to go forward in our lives. He removes the stony areas. He lays low the high, proud areas in our hearts. He convicts us. When we are too low and discouraged, He lifts us up and encourages us.

This ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives reminds us that we are the children of God. The unbeliever doesn’t have the Holy Spirit and His ministry in their life. Those who are not children of God do not share in this benefit and blessing. When we experience the ministry of the Holy Spirit, whichever way it might be in our lives, it reminds us that God is our Father and that we belong to Him. This is a supreme comfort to every believer.

3. God’s Word

The third thing in this passage that Isaiah says is a comfort to the people of God is the Word of God. A voice tells Isaiah, “Cry.” Isaiah says, “What shall I cry?” God tells him, “All flesh is grass.” What does that mean? It means we are temporary. Our life is fleeting. The Bible says in James that our life is like a vapor. It goes by so quickly.

All flesh is like grass and its beauty like the flower of the field. It is temporary. It withers. Just as grass withers—and we know all about that here in San Antonio. Man, my grass was looking good a few weeks ago. Now it hasn’t rained in a few weeks, and I’m starting to see brown spots. So quickly, the grass withers, and the beauty of the flowers fades. Our life is so temporary.

Verse 8 says:

“The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”

There is something that is not temporary in this life, and that is the Word of our God. The Word of our God will stand forever.

How can we, in a temporary life, have comfort and not give in to despair? So much of the world and our culture today is despairing of life. Why? Because death is coming, and they have no hope beyond the grave. People either try to find meaning and hope in this life apart from Christ, or they try to drown out their misery and sorrow.

But not the people of God. We have a hope that is eternal. We have a hope beyond the grave. We have promises that outlast this life. Yes, our life is short and temporary, but there is a life beyond this life that we are all headed to.

We are all weak in our flesh. Our strength and abilities are limited. We’re feeble. If the fulfillment of God’s promises were based upon us, then all of them would fail. But the Word of our God will stand forever because His promises are not dependent upon us and our strength. He is the One who brings them to pass. His Word, His promises, and His truth stand forever. They do not change.

God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. What was true yesterday will be true tomorrow. God’s truth a thousand years ago will be true a thousand years from today and a million years into the future.

We live in a world where trends come and go. What was hot one day is not hot the next. It is so temporary. But God’s Word stands forever. The philosophies of man and what is in vogue are ever changing, but God’s Word stands forever. The cultures of this world, nations, kings, and kingdoms rise and fall, but the Word of God stands forever. Even science, which so many people put their faith and trust in, is constantly changing. But God’s Word never changes.

How can we have a sure foundation in our ever-changing world? We can have it if we place it on the Word of God. If we anchor our souls to truth that never changes, when the storms of life come, we can find that we have great comfort in our lives.

4. Christ’s Church

That brings us to number four: we can find comfort in Christ’s church. We see this in verses 9–11:

“Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, fear not. Say to the cities of Judah, ‘Behold your God!’ Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him. Behold, his reward is with him and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.”

There are a couple of ways we see a picture of the church here. First, Jesus says that His church is to be a city on a hill. Jesus says, “You are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth.” We are a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. Here it says, “Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news.”

God has designed the church, the people of God, not to sequester ourselves and hide our light and faith in this building. No, He has called each of us in our lives to be like a city on a hill, to shine forth the glory of God and the truth of the gospel. The gospel—the good news of what Jesus has done for us—should always be on our lips.

I’ve said it many times, and I’ll reiterate it here again: no one should ever be shocked when they find out you’re a Christian. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to them: “You’re a Christian?” There is no such thing as an undercover Christian. You’re not the 007 of Christianity. We are to be a city on a hill. We’re to proclaim the kingdom of God everywhere we go.

There is hope for the world, and it’s only found in Jesus. If we are hoping in Christ, trusting in Christ, and really believe the gospel—that Jesus is the answer—we will not be silent when people around us have questions. If we know that Jesus is the answer, how can we be silent?

“Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news. Lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news. Lift it up, and fear not.”

“If I’m a witness for Christ, I don’t know what’s going to happen to me.” Fear not. That’s fear coming in. That’s the devil coming in. Don’t listen to that voice. Fear not.

The other place we see the church in this section is in verse 11:

“He will tend his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arms. He will carry them in his bosom.”

Here we see the promise that God will care for His people, shepherd His people, and tenderly meet their needs. When they are weak, He will give them strength. When they are sick, He will heal them. When they are diseased by sin, He will bring the remedy to their lives. He will feed them so that they are healthy and strong.

How does Christ, the Good Shepherd, care for His people? He does it through His church. The care of the Good Shepherd is brought to His sheep through the ministry of the church, the body of Christ.

Paul tells the Ephesian elders in Acts chapter 20—the shepherds and pastors of the Ephesian church—“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock of God.” Christ has established His church so that His people, His sheep, can be well cared for. They can have shepherds who pay attention to them and what is going on in their lives, and who care for them.

This is so important to Christ and to the apostle Paul. Paul is saying, “This has to be important to you because Jesus paid for His sheep with His own blood.” Then Paul goes on to talk about some of the difficulties that will come at different times and seasons in the life of a church.

Paul says, “After my departure”—after I’m off the scene—“fierce wolves will come in among you.” That means false prophets and false teachers. Fierce wolves will come in among you, people who speak evil and twisted things, not sparing the flock. From among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things to draw the disciples after them.

This is a little bit of a side note, but one of the big tests of a true, faithful shepherd in Christ’s church versus a false teacher is this: are they trying to get you to follow them, or are they trying to get you to follow Christ? Here, the false teachers—the fierce wolves—try to draw the disciples after themselves. My ministry, and the ministry of any faithful shepherd, is not to get you to follow me but to get you to follow Christ.

Paul says, “Therefore, be alert.” The job of a faithful shepherd is to be alert and attentive to the needs of his flock. He says, “Remember that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish everyone with tears.” A faithful shepherd will be so emotionally invested in the lives of his people that when he sees them going astray, admonishes them, and calls them back to faithfulness, it will not be done in a harsh spirit. It will not be done by bringing down the hammer, but by pleading through tears.

This is the heart of Christ for His people. It’s in the church, the body of Christ, where Jesus Himself appoints and gives us shepherds. He gives us pastors, elders, and deacons to care for and watch over our souls, to feed us the Word of God so that we will be strong, to minister to us when life beats us up, and when we fall and fail, to encourage us to return to Christ. There is much comfort to be found in the church of Christ.

Behold Your God

These are the four things the prophet Isaiah admonishes the people of God to look forward to in the ministry of the Messiah—the four comforts we can all share in today: Christ’s forgiveness, the Holy Spirit’s work, the Word of God, and the church.

Comfortable Christianity, as I’m talking about it here today, is not seeking comfort in temporary things—the broken things of this world that are passing away. But you can have a comfortable Christianity. You can have a Christianity that brings much comfort to your soul if you seek your comfort in the arms of Christ and in the things He has provided for your care and nourishment. When you seek comfort in those things, this type of Christianity is well and good and pleasing in the eyes of God. Amen.

This passage begins with God telling Isaiah, “Comfort My people.” It concludes with God saying, “Behold your God.” As I close today, I want to draw your attention to this possessive pronoun God is using: “My people” and “your God.” This comfort is for God’s people.

We must take our eyes off everything in this life that we think will make us happy and bring us joy and peace, and we must behold our God. We must place our eyes on Him if we are to experience this comfort.

This comfort will not be found, ladies and gentlemen, if you are not in Christ. If you have not believed upon Christ, confessed your sins, and called out to Him, you will not experience this comfort. Why? Because this comfort is for God’s people. This comfort is only found in His Son, Jesus.

If you have not trusted in Christ, friend, your soul is headed for destruction. There are only two destinations at the end of this life. There is heaven with God forever—eternal bliss—or there is hell with the devil—eternal damnation. That’s it. We are headed to one of those two places. Every person in here today has their foot on the path to either heaven or hell. You are either one of God’s people through the work of His Son Jesus, or you’re not.

I am here to hold up for you the beauties of Christ and the comfort we have in Him, but I’m also here today to warn you that if you are not in Christ, your destination is not comfort but the eternal, conscious torments of hell.

Today in Christ, God is extending to you grace, mercy, and forgiveness. He’s calling on you to confess your sin, turn from your sin, repent and forsake your sin, embrace true love, embrace true forgiveness, embrace Christ Jesus, and experience the comfort that only He can give.

Do not—I am pleading with you—do not harden your heart to this preaching like the Old Testament Israelites did. Isaiah preached this sermon to the Old Testament Israelites, and they didn’t listen. They didn’t listen. I can guarantee you this: Isaiah was a way better preacher than I am. They hardened their hearts.

In the end, because God is holy and a God of justice, sin will be paid for. Sin will be atoned for. We can either have our sins paid for and atoned for by Jesus, or we will have to pay the price ourselves. The children of Israel refused the free offer of God’s grace that He was giving to them, and they were destroyed. Jerusalem was destroyed.

Likewise, friend, if you harden your heart and think you will escape, God sees all. God knows all. I don’t know where you stand before the Lord today. We can’t look on the outward appearance. You might come in here today and have fooled everybody. You put your life together in such a way that people think, “What a good Christian.” But you, in your heart of hearts, know that you have not trusted in Christ. You, in your heart of hearts, know, “I’m not living for Christ. I’ve been living for the world.”

Come to Jesus. Come to Christ. The offer of grace and forgiveness is for all who will call upon Him. No matter what we’ve done, no matter where we’ve been, Jesus died for our sins.

For those of us who are in Christ here this morning, we can be Christians and still seek comfort in the arms of the world. We can still seek comfort in temporary things that, in the end, are just dust in our hands. The Lord uses His Word and sermons like this to help us get our eyes off the temporary, off the things that are fleeting, and place them on the things that are eternal—to behold our God.

Whether you are a Christian today or not, we all must turn from our sin. We all must confess it, and we all must believe upon Christ. Amen.

God Is Holy

God Is Holy

Mark Bell

Download

A Time For Everything

A Time For Everything

Abraham Abu-Rabih

Download

In All Your Ways

In All Your Ways

Mark Bell

Download

The Lord Knows All

The Lord Knows All

Bob Sayre

Download

True Freedom

True Freedom

Matt Bell

Download

Sermon Summary

Pastor Matt's sermon on Psalm 119:45 explores the biblical concept of true freedom, contrasting the modern cultural view of radical autonomy with the scriptural truth that liberty is found only in submitting to God's authority. He argues that our confusion about freedom originated in the Garden of Eden when humanity believed the serpent's lie that disobeying God would bring liberation, resulting instead in bondage to sin. Christ is presented as the sole source of lasting freedom, breaking the power of sin and Satan so that believers can willingly obey God's commands. Ultimately, true freedom is defined not as lawlessness, but as living a flourishing life under God's loving laws, empowered by the Holy Spirit to serve and love others.

Sermon Transcript

Introduction: The Mount Everest of the Bible

Today, we're continuing our series in the Year of the Bible, and our miniseries, Summer in the Psalms. I want to invite you, as we're going to be in a psalm today, we read from Psalm 119 this week. And so that's the psalm that we're going to be looking at today. If you have your Bibles, you can open there. If you don't know where it is, you can just open to the middle of your Bible, and you will get really close to Psalm 119.

Psalm 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible. 176 verses. And this chapter is divided. If you look in your Bibles, you'll see it's most likely divided into different sections of 8 verses, 22 sections specifically. And this structure of 8 verses is intentional. You might see in your Bible, if your Bible has different headings at the top of each of these 8 verses, certain words that are unfamiliar, most likely to you. What these different headings are, are letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Each stanza, each group of eight verses corresponds with a different Hebrew letter. And the beginning of each verse in Hebrew begins with that letter of the alphabet. Not only is this a beautiful psalm, but it's put together in a very artistic way, crafted with a lot of attention to detail. We miss a little bit of this, of course, in our English translation of the Bible, but it would be as if the first 8 verses began with the letter A, and the next 8 verses began with the letter B, C, D, and so on.

Now, this whole psalm, all of Psalm 119, is a psalm about the Word of God. Each verse, every single verse in this psalm, all 176 of them, reference God's Word in one shape or another. It uses many different words to stand in for God's Word, such as God's law, God's commandments, God's testimonies, God's precepts, God's statutes, God's rules—lots of different words, all for God's Word.

Psalm 119, being the longest book of the Bible, being right in the middle of our Bibles, is like the Mount Everest of the Bible. Because it is a chapter of the Bible about the Bible. It's a chapter in God's Word about God's Word. Psalm 119 is God's truth about God's truth. It is there in the center, towering over all of Scripture as this declaration in God's Word about God's Word. And more than simply being put together in an artistic way that is very beautiful and compelling, it's also a prayer. It's a prayer from the psalmist, who is anonymous. We don't know who wrote it. But it's a prayer to God.

In fact, you could pray it yourself. If you wanted to, you could pick any one of these verses and pray them to God yourself. And many people do. In fact, I use part of Psalm 119 nearly every Sunday in my pastoral prayer before I preach. After I read the Word, I typically pray, and more Sundays than not, I reference Psalm 119 that says God's Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Many different people reference and use Psalm 119 in their own personal prayer life, and I would commend that to you as well.

A Wide Place of Freedom

When I was deciding on what to preach this week, my children had another idea for me. They were not keen on Psalm 119 because of the length and because they were going to be in service. And so they commended to me, shockingly, Psalm 117. Now, if you look just to the left in your Bible, you'll see why they wanted Psalm 117. Because it's not 176 verses; it's 2 verses. Every week, there's a discussion in our house as we're reading through the Bible together on what verse or passage or chapter I'm going to be using. And every day this week, they were impressing upon me 117, and I was saying, no, it's the Year of the Bible. How can I not preach from Psalm 119, the chapter that's about the Word of God, when we're studying the Word of God and making it our emphasis this whole year?

But what I didn't tell my children—and when I say they were really trying to get me to do 117, I'm not joking. One of them came up to me last night and just whispered in my ear, "Psalm 117. Psalm 117." But what I did not tell them was that I was only going to take one verse from Psalm 119. Not all 176 verses, which we have done, by the way. In 2021, I preached from Psalm 119 and read the whole thing in church. Took about 15 minutes, probably the best 15 minutes of church we've ever had, because it's just the pure Word of God.

Nevertheless, we're not going to read every verse this morning. We're going to look at one verse this morning, one verse that jumped out to me very particularly as I read through Psalm 119 again. I've read Psalm 119 probably a dozen times or more, if not dozens of times, in my life. And I have to confess that though many of the verses I am very familiar with, this particular verse I had never really paid much attention to, and I didn't really remember it. But as God's Word tends to do, though you've read it many, many times, something new always tends to jump out to you, as it is a book that is not just dead; it is living, as the Bible says.

I think you will understand after we read the one verse we're going to read today why I felt this verse really was appropriate for this morning. So I'm going to invite you to stand with me as we read the Word of God together for the shortest reading of the Word of God that we will ever have, one verse, Psalm 119, and verse 45. The psalmist says:

"I shall walk in a wide place, for I have sought your precepts."

Lord, we do thank you for this morning. I thank you for this psalm, and especially here this verse 45. Lord, I thank you that we can gather together in your presence with your people to worship you, to hear from your Word. God, we love you. We love you because you've loved us. Lord, help us in our time here together to focus here for the next few moments, to hear from you and from your Word. Your Word which is that lamp unto our feet, and light unto our path. Lord, show us the way in which we should go. Lord, if there's any area of our life that needs correction, Lord, that you would do so tenderly by your Spirit this morning. Lord, for those that need encouragement today, that you would encourage us. For those who need strength and healing, that you would provide those things for us. Lord, we are a needy people, and we are so dependent upon you. And we thank you that you are so gracious in giving, and generous to us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

You may be seated. Now, if you are sitting there scratching your head as to why that verse stood out to me, I would understand that. But if we look at it in a different English translation, I think it's a little bit more clear why I chose that verse. If you look at Psalm 119, verse 45, in the New Living Translation, it reads this way:

"I will walk in freedom, for I have devoted myself to your commandments."

Yesterday, there were a lot of us celebrating freedom, and rightfully so. It's wonderful to live in this nation, the freest nation that there's ever been. It's wonderful to celebrate the great sacrifices that were made to secure our freedoms. It's wonderful to celebrate the foundation upon which our freedoms are based, the Word of God. And as we look at the celebrations that were taking place this weekend, the many different people in our nation celebrating freedom and liberty, and the many different ways that we all celebrated it, one thing I doubt is that most people had this idea in mind: I am free because I keep God's commandments. That the keeping of God's Word, that the keeping of God's commandments, that obeying God produces freedom.

You see, I think that most in our culture equate the idea of freedom with this other idea of autonomy. That freedom for most people is living a life that is unconstrained and unbound by any outside authority. I think that for most people, the concept of liberty and freedom has been replaced with the concept of radical autonomy. To live life not under any authority. Not under any rule. And especially not God's law, God's rule, God's Word.

But the psalmist says something quite different. The psalmist says, I will walk in a wide place. I will live a life of freedom because I have kept your commandments, because I keep your Word. I think most in our culture would find that to be a foreign idea, that the keeping of God's Word is what produces true freedom.

My goal today with the time that we have—and I realize that today is Ice Cream Sunday, and that we have the children in here with us today, for which I am eternally grateful, they are a huge blessing to our church. And my children were very eager to remind me that if I preach from Psalm 119, the ice cream's gonna melt. But my goal today with the time that we have, and aware of all of those things, is to convince you of this fact, to convince you of the truth of Psalm 119:45, that true freedom is only found in keeping the Word of God.

To aid me in my argument this morning, I brought with me three points today. I want to share them all with you up front so you know where we're going, to keep me on track. The first is the origin of our confusion. Why are we confused about this idea of freedom? Where does this confusion come from? The second is the only source of lasting freedom. Where does freedom really come from? And then finally, we're going to look at the true definition of liberty. What is liberty, truly, as defined by God and His Word?

The Origin of Our Confusion

What does this confusion come from? Where do these competing ideas stem from? Like most things, if you want to get to the root of it, you have to go back to the beginning. You have to go back to where things started. For us, that's in Genesis chapter 1, 2, and 3. And especially in Genesis 3, we see the source of this confusion. If you do have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me back there to Genesis chapter 3 this morning.

Genesis 1 and 2 begins with God creating all things. God creating the world, God creating humanity in His image, God giving humanity freedom and dominion over the whole earth. And God instructing humanity on what it looked like to live as a part of His creation, what it looked like to live as His image bearers. God gave them a few instructions. Not a whole lot of instructions. God told them to be fruitful and multiply, to fill the whole earth with His image bearers. I think we could all admit that's not the most difficult of instructions to keep. And also, when you have in mind that childbirth before the fall of man was painless. Can you imagine that, ladies? Painless childbirth. The pain of childbirth came in as a result of sin. And so God tells Adam and Eve, be fruitful and multiply, fill this whole planet with image bearers, and there's no pain involved. Well, that's not much of a difficult task to keep.

The other instruction that God gave to humanity was that He had provided for them every tree to eat of, except for one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of this tree, they were instructed not to eat. God essentially gave them two commandments. One of them—I mean, let's just be honest, I know we have the kids in here with us, but that would be like telling somebody they have to eat. They were gonna do that. The second commandment was a restriction on their behavior. You have every tree to eat of except for this one tree, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

I think that we can understand that the freest people who ever lived were Adam and Eve. Essentially, one commandment. And yet, in Genesis chapter 3, Satan comes disguised as a serpent. In chapter 1, it says that he was more crafty than the other beasts of the field that the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman:

"Did God actually say, you shall not eat of any tree in the garden?"

And the woman said to the serpent:

"We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden. But God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die."

But the serpent said to the woman:

"You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

The story continues that she ate of the fruit, and she gave some to her husband who was there. They sinned against God, and they suffered the consequences. And since that time, all of humanity, being born from Adam and Eve, have been born into this life of sin.

But what God had instructed Adam and Eve for was their own good. It was for their protection. And all of God's Word, and all of God's commandments, hear me, are for our good. They're for our protection. But Satan comes and he says, God is a tyrant. God is a liar. You will not die. Your eyes will be opened. And you can determine, essentially, good and evil for yourself. You don't have to live under God's authority. God's rules. You can make your own rules for yourself. Living the way you're living now, you are bound. But if you disobey God, you will be free.

This is the origin of the confusion that all of humanity experiences, thinking that true freedom is living without any restrictions whatsoever. Without any outside imposition by any authority figure, that that is true freedom. But this is a myth, this myth of autonomy, the idea that Adam and Eve could live apart from God in the world that God made. It's worse than a myth. It's a lie.

We live in God's world. Adam and Eve, just like us, are part of God's creation. We derive our very energy for our life from the sun that God put in the sky. The sun, which gives life to our planet, its radiation is absorbed by the plant life, which is eaten by the animal life, and which we all ate yesterday and celebrated our independence by eating hamburgers and hot dogs. It all comes from God. So this idea that we can be autonomous from God, that we can liberate ourselves from God, is not true. It's a lie. I'm sustained by God. My very life comes from God. The very thoughts that I think in my mind, even as words are spoken and they enter into my ears, my ears were designed by God. My ears, which convert sound waves into understandable ideas and thoughts that my brain processes. That's all from God. Language is from God. Created in the image of God to comprehend, to have a conscience, to be able to reason, to be able to think—all of that is from God. And the idea that I could live as an image bearer of God in the world that God made separated from God, outside of His law, His rule, His authority, and to be a law unto myself, to be like God myself, it is a delusional lie.

But humanity believed this lie. They believed that by disobeying God, they would be free. This confusion over what true freedom is, it is not new, it's ancient. Humanity thought by disobeying God, we would be free, but in reality, all that that did was enslave us to Satan himself. So that we are not born free, that all of humanity is born believing a lie. All of humanity is born as descendants of Adam, believing the same lie that they believed, that they could live free from God, and that autonomy, rebellion against God, would give them true happiness.

Jesus said it this way in John 8:34:

"Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin."

This breaking of God's law, this breaking of God's commandments, it didn't set us free, it put us in bondage. And now we are born in sin. Now we are born with this predisposition to want to live life not under God's rule and reign, but to rebel against God. And so Jeremiah 17:9 says:

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?"

Human beings left to their own nature that has now been corrupted by sin, human beings at their core, according to the Word of God, are not good. We are sinful. Human beings left to their own devices do not produce flourishing, but produce destruction and death. And this is the testament of all of human history as one tyrant after another has risen up to oppress people, big tyrants, little tyrants. Everyone who refuses to live according to God's Word and God's law, they don't produce human flourishing, but they produce death and destruction. Whether it's a big tyrant like King George, other tyrants that you can look at through the 20th century that oppressed their people, or whether it's a small-t tyrant, a father in a home who refuses to submit to the Word of God and rules in his home like a small tyrant. Anywhere and everywhere where people refuse to submit themselves to God's Word and His commandments, it doesn't produce life, it doesn't produce flourishing, it doesn't produce freedom, it produces sin, death, bondage, and destruction.

This is the origin of our confusion that started at the very beginning, and it has continued even until this day. So that when many gather together to set off their fireworks and eat their hot dogs, what they are celebrating is not adherence to the Word of God; what many are celebrating is, in their minds, autonomy and freedom from any constraint whatsoever, including God's Word and God's law.

The Only Source of Lasting Freedom

That is the state that humanity is in because of our sin. But there is a source of lasting freedom. And there's only one source. You don't need me to even tell you what it is. You already know. It's Christ. Christ is the only source of lasting freedom. In fact, this is why Christ came: to set us free. He said so himself in Luke chapter 4, verses 18 and 19. Jesus said:

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."

This is why Jesus came, to set people free. He said in John 8:32:

"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

Later in John 8:36, he says:

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed."

The only source of lasting freedom is Christ. Christ must set us free. In 2 Corinthians 3:17, the apostle Paul says:

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."

The only way we can truly be free is in Christ, and the only way we can live out our freedom is in the Spirit of God, and where that Spirit is, there is a spirit of freedom. Galatians 5:1, Paul says:

"For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery."

Christ is the only source of lasting freedom. And what is it that Christ sets us free from? Well, He sets us free of the power of Satan. When humanity entered into sin, we entered in under the power, the authority, the dominion not of God, but of Satan. And all of humanity continued in and under that authority until Jesus came. And so Jesus came to set us free, not from the power of Rome, not from earthly tyrants, but to set the individual free from the power of Satan and believing his lies. That's why if we will know the truth—the truth of God's Word, the truth of the gospel, the truth about what Jesus has done for us in Christ—we will truly be free. Free of the power of Satan and free of his lies, what the Bible calls the law of sin and death.

Without the freedom that Christ brings, humanity is bound. We are bound to our sin nature. We are not free without Christ. But because of what Christ has done for us, defeating Satan, sin, and death through the cross and the resurrection, the pouring out of His Spirit into the lives of believers, we now live a life where sin has no dominion over us. Truly, if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed, because we are in Christ. And Christ is victorious over these things.

So to walk in true freedom, in true liberty, you don't just need to be a citizen of the United States of America; no, to walk in true freedom, you have to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God. You have to be delivered out of the power of Satan, under the rule and reign of Christ. To walk in true freedom, you must come to Christ. Come to the cross, lay your burden of sin and shame and guilt from your past down at His feet. Be clothed in His righteousness, be set free by Him. This is the only source of lasting freedom.

The True Definition of Liberty

Which brings me to my third point this morning. That's the origin of our confusion. That's the source of our freedom, but what is the definition of liberty? This takes us here back to our passage in Psalm 119, verse 45, which does stand at odds with our culture. "I will walk in a wide place, in a broad place. I will be free. Because I have kept your commandments, because I seek your precepts." This is the definition of liberty.

Adam and Eve in the garden. The most free people who have ever lived. One commandment. Though they were free, they were still living under God's law. How free were they? They didn't even wear clothes. That's how free they were. They were out there. They lived life free, baby. And yet, they still were living under God's reign. So freedom is not the absence of authority; true freedom is living under God's authority. That's true freedom.

In Exodus 8:1, we find the children of Israel, they are bound, enslaved, to Pharaoh. Moses is sent by God to Pharaoh to set His people free. And look at what the Lord tells Moses to say to Pharaoh:

"Go in to Pharaoh and say to him, 'Thus says the Lord, Let my people go...'"

We are familiar with that statement. If you watch The Ten Commandments, Charlton Heston, the greatest Moses there ever was, except for Moses himself, right? "Let my people go." But look, it says why.

"...that they may serve me."

Other English translations include the word "that they may worship me." Their bondage and slavery in Egypt, which the Bible says is a picture of our enslavement to Satan, sin, and death, prevented them from being able to serve God, to live out their life as an act of worship to God. And so what does God do? He delivers them out of Egypt. He leads them through the Red Sea, a picture of baptism. But He doesn't lead them straight to the Promised Land. No, the first place they must go is to Mount Sinai, where God gives them His law. And He teaches them, this is what it looks like to live a life of freedom, to live under my commandments, to live under my law.

In 2 Corinthians 5:15, it says:

"And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised."

You see, the freedom that Christ came to purchase for us wasn't to set us free that we could just follow our own heart. No, that's the lie that was told us. That's the lie that brings bondage. The heart of man is desperately wicked; if we only follow our own heart, it just leads us into more sin and bondage. Christ came to set us free. He died for us that we might live for Him. Not living for our own self and our own evil desires anymore, but that now we are set free from the desires of the flesh that we might live according to the Spirit that He gives us.

Freedom is not the absence of law. True freedom is living under God's law, living under God's rule and His authority. Because when you serve God, as it says here in 2 Corinthians 5, you are free to flourish. You are free to live out your God-given purpose. Bound in sin, we cannot live for God. But now set free of sin, it produces human flourishing because all of God's people are living out the reason for which God created us. Living under God's law produces human flourishing. Where people willfully submit themselves to God and His Word, where our sinful nature is restrained either by the Spirit of God that He places within us or the Word of God that we read on the page, it gives opportunity for people to flourish in this world. And where people reject God, His rule, His reign, when they refuse to submit themselves to God's Word, to God's law, and they only live out their sinful desires, it produces destruction and death.

The great lie that all of humanity has believed is that the lack of restraint is true freedom. That the absence of laws is true freedom, but the absence of laws is not freedom. The absence of laws is lawlessness and chaos. Again, this is the great lie that Satan told Eve. True freedom is only found in submission to God's Word. Lawlessness is not freedom. It's actually bondage to Satan.

So God brings His people to Mount Sinai. He gives them the Ten Commandments. He shows them, these are the things that you should not do. Not to put some sort of restriction on them, to keep them from good and fun activities. No, because these things don't produce flourishing; these things produce death, destruction. Not to lord over them as some tyrant, but to show them how to walk in the way of freedom.

For the Christian who has been born again, God is writing His laws on our hearts. I don't need the Ten Commandments to tell me not to steal. I have the Spirit of God that convicts me of those things. I don't need the Ten Commandments as someone who has the Spirit of God to tell me not to lie, not to murder, not to commit sexual immorality. God's Spirit is in my life convicting me of those things. He writes His law on our hearts. But the law He writes on our hearts will never be in conflict with the law He's written in His Word. That's the great guardrail for everyone. I cannot tell you how many times as a pastor I've had someone tell me that God told them to do something that He explicitly says in His Word, don't do that thing. Whatever impression you feel from the Lord in your heart, it will never be in conflict with the Word that He has written for us, ever. If it's in conflict, it's not the Lord you're hearing, my friend. It's your sinful desires, it's the devil, it's the pizza you ate last night. I don't know what it is, but I know who it's not. It's not God.

In Galatians 5:13, it tells us:

"For you were called to freedom, brothers."

Amen. We were called to freedom. Jesus came to set us free. We were called to freedom. Amen? Well, what does that look like?

"Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."

Don't use your freedom just to advance yourself, to be a selfish person, to satisfy your own fleshly desires. No, that's not why Christ purchased freedom for us. What does it say? Serve one another in love. That's why Christ has set us free, so that we can love one another, so that we can serve one another. The grace of God sets us free to truly love one another out of the reservoir of God's love for us that He has placed in our hearts.

We don't love others based on what they can do for us or how they can serve us. And the law of God, all that is, is a way of practically loving your neighbor. Don't steal, don't kill, don't commit sexual immorality. Don't covet, don't lie, honor your father and mother. All of that's just a way of loving one another, loving your neighbor. The whole law of God can be summarized as this: love your neighbor as yourself. The freedom that Christ purchased for us was to set us free of the bondage of living out our fleshly desires so that we can live in freedom truly loving one another from the heart.

We don't love one another based on what they can do for us or how they can serve us. That's the way the world loves. That's not true love. The flesh says that if you do this for me or if you do that for me, then you can earn my love. Then you can earn my approval. But that's not God's way, and that's not God's love. A life that's empowered by the grace of God and the love of God allows us to love like God loves. Which is a love that is totally upside down from the rest of the world, just as God's kingdom is. Always. It's not upside down; God's kingdom's right side up. The world is upside down. But to us, it seems upside down because we come out of the world. God's ways are right side up, the world's ways are upside down.

The world says you will find freedom if you pursue the desires of the flesh. What God's Word declares as sin. The world says follow your heart and indulge yourself in sinful desires. What God's Word says is, if you do those things, you will be happy. But the gospel declares to us that sin only produces bondage. Instead of being free to indulge our flesh, as the apostle Paul says, we are now free to live by the Spirit, loving and serving others. That is true freedom. To be able to love our neighbor. That's true freedom.

We see this, of course, in Jesus, the true man of freedom. True freedom is being able to love when you have been hated; that's true freedom. You see, if you are not set free by Christ, those who hate you, you are bound to hate them back. That's just the way of the world. That's the way of the flesh. But when Christ sets you free, you can love even those who hate you. True freedom is being able to bless when you are cursed. Jesus, the true man of freedom, shows us what true freedom looks like as He hangs there bleeding and dying on the cross, and He doesn't call down curses on them; He calls down blessings on them. Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. True freedom is being able to forgive when you have been wronged. True freedom is being able to humble yourself when others are proud. True freedom is being able to serve those who can never pay you back. This is true freedom.

To look at the law of God, to look at the Word of God, to bring ourselves under it, it brings us into a wide place. It opens up opportunities for us that we would never have otherwise, to forgive, to love, to bless. That is true freedom. To not be bound to my flesh and my carnal desires, but to have the Spirit of God living on the inside of me. Because that is the inheritance of every child of God.

You see, true freedom is found in being adopted into God's family, to live under His roof, to live as a part of His family. And in God's family and God's house, like every other house, He's got some house rules. Love your neighbor. Repay blessing for cursing. Forgive one another. These are some of God's house rules. These are not rules for slaves. No, slaves are slaves to sin and Satan, that evil, oppressive taskmaster. No, these are rules for sons and daughters. Not so that we can become part of God's family, but because we are part of God's family. We have been brought into God's family by His grace and by the blood of His Son. We do not live under God's laws to earn His love. He's already shown us His love in Christ. We keep God's Word, we seek out His precepts, we seek to obey His law not because we are seeking to be transformed, but because we have been transformed by God's love.

On one side of the aisle, you have people who try to earn God's favor by keeping God's law. We could never do it. We could never live perfectly enough for His holy standard. That's why He sent His Son Jesus to die for us. On the other side of the aisle, you have people who want to just throw off God's law altogether and just live a life of licentiousness. That's not freedom either. No, the true path of freedom is to be a son and daughter of God, to live as a part of His house, to be welcomed in His banquet table. Yes, there are some house rules. But it's only for our good and to produce flourishing in our lives.

I hope that I've convinced you today that to walk in a broad place, to walk in the place of blessing and freedom, is not to throw off God's laws, but to keep God's commandments. Not to live out the fleshly desires that only produce more sin and death and bondage, but to be set free of them by the freedom that Christ gives, and to humble ourselves under the Word of God, and that we could say like the psalmist, I walk in freedom because I have kept your commandments. Amen?

Psalm 96

Psalm 96

Matt Bell

Download

Sermon Summary

In this exposition of Psalm 96, Pastor Matt declares the overarching theme that the Lord is undeniably awesome, sovereignly reigning over all creation and demanding a response of worship and global proclamation. Moving beyond a man-centered view of the gospel as merely a "ticket to heaven," the sermon elevates the cosmic scale of Christ's redemptive work, urging believers to worship in spirit and truth—not just through gathered singing, but by presenting their entire lives as a living sacrifice. Ultimately, the message challenges the church to abandon self-glory, resist cultural conformity, and boldly declare God's majesty to the nations, drawing profound inspiration from the steadfast conviction of the Oxford Martyrs who gladly laid down their lives for the unmatched glory of Christ.

Sermon Transcript

Introduction: A Big God Psalm

Psalm 96, if you have your Bible, Psalm 96, is where we are this morning. It is one of my favorite psalms, and I know I'm saying that every week, but why would I pick a psalm that's not my favorite? I have so many to choose from. So I've picked another one of my favorite psalms, Psalm 96.

And the reason it's one of my favorite psalms is because it's a big God psalm. It makes God big. Not that God's not already big. God is the biggest thing that there is, but it exposes that. It declares that. It puts it on display and exalts God in a vivid and powerful way.

And so we're just going to read through the whole thing. I invite you to stand with me as we read the word of God today. Thirteen verses, a relatively short psalm, but some very powerful truths. Psalm 96, it reads:

Oh sing to the Lord a new song;

sing to the Lord, all the earth!

Sing to the Lord, bless his name;

tell of his salvation from day to day.

Declare his glory among the nations,

his marvelous works among all the peoples!

For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;

he is to be feared above all gods.

For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,

but the Lord made the heavens.

Splendor and majesty are before him;

strength and beauty are in his sanctuary.

Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples,

ascribe to the Lord glory and strength!

Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name;

bring an offering, and come into his courts!

Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness;

tremble before him, all the earth!

Say among the nations, "The Lord reigns!

Yes, the world is established; it shall never be moved;

he will judge the peoples with equity."

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;

let the sea roar, and all that fills it;

let the field exult, and everything in it!

Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy

before the Lord, for he comes,

for he comes to judge the earth.

He will judge the world in righteousness,

and the peoples in his faithfulness.

Father, we do thank you for the truth of your word. It is that precious lamp to our feet, light to our path. God, as we spend time in your word, I pray that by your Spirit, you would speak to every heart that is here. Lord, we are a needy people that needs to hear from you, that needs to be in your presence, that needs strength for this day and this week, and hope for tomorrow. Lord, there are so many things that we need. Help us, Lord Jesus, to look to you as our source and supply. Speak to our hearts this morning. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

You may be seated today.

The Great Commission in the Psalms

I love this psalm, as I said. One of the things I want to help you to take note of is how similar this psalm is to the Great Commission. The Great Commission comes at the end of Matthew's gospel. It's Jesus' final charge to his church, to his disciples, that they are to go into all the nations and to preach the gospel and the truth of the kingdom of God and the reign of Christ and salvation through his cross, to the whole world, to all the nations. And the themes of the Lord reigning—and Jesus said he had all authority in heaven and on earth and to go and to declare to the nations—it's all intertwined here in Psalm 96.

I was asked several years ago to preach this psalm at a missions conference, and I did. In my preparation for preaching at that conference, I took note that there are 14 imperatives in this psalm. An imperative is a commandment, an instruction, something that the people are to do, an action that we as God's people are to take. There are 14 of them in this psalm that I took note of some years ago as I was preaching through it.

Then, as I was preparing this week, I noticed not only are there instructions given to God's people of things that we ought to do, there are also a lot of things that it tells us about God. And so as I was preparing this week, I took out my notepad and my pen, and I just began to write down the things that it was telling us about who God is. When I finished doing that, I decided to number them, and I numbered those attributes of God, and to my amazement, when I counted them up, there were 14 of them.

So 14 imperatives, 14 attributes of God in this psalm. I didn't think that was just a coincidence. The number 7 in the Bible represents perfection. Fourteen represents double perfection. Twenty-eight is like quadruple perfection. And so it was at this point that I seriously considered preaching a 28-point sermon this morning. And y'all laugh because you think that's a joke, but I was very serious about preaching a 28-point sermon. I even made a slide for the 28 points.

After mulling over that idea for longer than I probably should have, I finally decided that a 28-point sermon might not be the best way to declare and to communicate these truths to you. So after meditating on these 28 points, essentially, they can be summarized with this statement: The Lord is awesome.

Amen. The Lord is awesome. So we should worship him and declare his glory to the world. This is the point of Psalm 96. This psalm begins with singing, "Oh, sing to the Lord a new song," and that's declaring to him that he is awesome. And then it moves from proclaiming to others his great and glorious name. And so this is going to be our outline this morning, these three points taken from this psalm.

Point 1: The Lord is Awesome

The first, of course, is that the Lord is awesome. And what a glorious and grand vision of the Lord do we see in this psalm. The first thing that we see about him, it speaks of God as one who brings salvation.

Of course, this is the book of Psalms. In the Old Testament, the salvation that they would have in mind would be that great deliverance that God brought to the people of Israel when they were enslaved in Egypt. Though Pharaoh himself, the most powerful man in the world, was viewed by many in that culture as a kind of god—Pharaoh himself worshipped and adored—God, the one true and living God, the Lord, showed that Pharaoh, even in all his might and the most powerful nation in the world, was no match for the power of Almighty God. As the psalmist says, with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, God delivered his people from Egypt, leading them through the Red Sea on dry ground, the sea closing in on their enemies. This great victory that God worked for his people, this salvation, this deliverance.

And so he says to tell of God's salvation from day to day. Now here we are some 3,000 years later, on the other side of not only the Red Sea, but the other side of the cross. And there's an even greater work of salvation that God has done for his people. That work of salvation in the Old Testament, of delivering his people from Pharaoh in Egypt, we're told was only a picture, only an illustration of the greater salvation that would come through Jesus, the Son of God.

We had a greater need. There was a greater bondage than slavery in Egypt, and that was slavery to sin, under the taskmaster and the tyranny not of Pharaoh, but of Satan himself. Christ has come, Jesus has come, the Son of God has come, leaving heaven, coming to earth, living a perfect life, a sinless life, so that he could offer up his perfect life, shedding his blood to pay the price for our salvation, to redeem us. Through the cross and the resurrection, the chains of sin and hell and death have been broken in our lives so that all who would trust in Christ, who would forsake their life of sin and repent and call on the Lord for salvation, would be saved. They would be delivered, freed, led into a promised land—not one that just flows with milk and honey, but one that has streets of gold. One that is not temporary, but one that will last for all eternity.

The salvation that the Lord has worked for us is far greater and far superior than the salvation that the psalmist is talking about here. And if they were to talk about that salvation from day to day, every day, how much more should those of us who have tasted of the salvation of Jesus Christ be talking about that? Every single day of our lives. Declare his glories, talk of his salvation.

The vision that it has of God in this Psalm is that he is great and greatly to be praised. He is to be feared above all gods. The gods of the people are worthless idols. They're the work of human hands, but our God is the one true God. Our God is the one who made the heavens and the earth. The contrast there is extreme. The gods of the nations are but mere idols. They're the work of human hands, but the work of our God is the one who created all things. The uncreated God.

We have a colloquial view of God in our culture, a common view of God. Sort of the view of God that when something goes well in their life, they sort of tip their hat to the "big guy upstairs." I just want to thank the big guy upstairs. That view of God where he's kind of along for the ride, riding shotgun in our lives. That view of God of, my guardian angel, he's just watching over me. This psalmist has a view of God that is far superior, far greater, far grander than the big guy upstairs. No, the Lord made the heavens and the earth. His works are marvelous.

It says that we are to worship him in the splendor of his holiness. That the Lord our God is holy. He is other. He is in a category all by himself. There is no one standing beside him. He is singular in his majesty and his glory is beyond comparison. He reigns over all the nations. It says he is coming to judge the earth, that his works are marvelous.

And as I said, we are to declare among the nations that the Lord reigns. The Lord reigns. Christ reigns today. That means you don't reign. That means he reigns. We really believe that here at this church. If you couldn't tell by our name, the big sign we have out front, the Lord reigns. Declare among the nations, the Lord reigns. Christ truly is king. We are not kings. We are not even the kings of our own lives. He is the one who reigns. And who does the Lord reign over? Only us, the church? The people who come on Sunday morning? No, he reigns over all. Over all the earth. Over all the nations. Our God is awesome, and he reigns over all. He is sovereign over all. That's the first point that the psalmist drives home.

Point 2: Therefore, Let Us Worship Him

The second is the therefore. Okay, what do we do about that? That's really cool. God reigns. He's over all. He's powerful. He's mighty. Okay, now what?

Because of that, we should worship him. Therefore, let us worship him. This psalmist begins, "Oh, sing to the Lord a new song. Sing to the Lord, all the earth. Sing to the Lord, bless his name." Three times before we even move into anything else in this psalm, we are told to sing, sing, sing to the Lord.

So how do we worship him? What does it look like? It looks like singing. It looks like lifting up our voice and praising him and worshiping him and adoring him. Giving breath to what is hopefully in our hearts.

If you love something truly, people are going to know about it. I have friends—I'm not among these friends—but I have friends that do a particular kind of exercise. And do you know that they do this type of exercise? Because they tell you about it. It's almost like a cult. Almost. That's a joke, in case you were wondering. But they're very passionate about it. And that's great. I'm all for exercise and being in shape. I think that's a great thing. They're very passionate, and in case you're wondering what that exercise is, who cares? It doesn't matter. It's just an illustration.

The point being is that if you're passionate about something, people are going to know about it. Because you're going to be talking about it. If you go to a nice restaurant, and they serve you on time, and the waiters are attentive, and everything is immaculate, and the food is delicious, and you have an incredible experience, you're going to tell somebody about it. And if the inverse is true, the contrary is true. They do a terrible job. There's hair in your food... I was going to keep going, but that reaction was enough. You're going to tell somebody about it.

You don't hide your passions. People know what you're passionate about. People know what you care about. If you love something, it's going to be given expression. Worship singing is part of how we give expression to the fact that our God is awesome. What the Lord has done for us in Christ is worth singing about. It's worth praising him over. It's worth exalting him, and whatever energy it takes to clap our hands, lift our hands, shout for joy—we sang "Shout to the Lord, all the earth" this morning. Let us sing. Whatever energy it must take to worship him, he's worthy. He's worthy of our worship, of our adoration, of our affection, and our attention.

During our worship time, as we're singing to the Lord, that's our time to put our focus on God. It's not just about our words, it's about our mind, our thoughts, our heart, our soul, setting our affections on the one who is worthy of our affections. And not just sort of looking around and saying, Oh, where's so-and-so today? Oh, that's right, they're on vacation. I wish I was on vacation right now. And what are we going to have for lunch today? And I wish my wife wasn't so this, or my husband wasn't so that. And how come the person next to me can't sing on key? Did they forget to brush their teeth? Maybe we ought to take up a collection for their deodorant fund. Just all of the things that flood our mind when we're around other people. At least flood my mind. I don't know about you.

What a waste. To go through all the effort of getting up at the crack of 9:00 a.m. to make it here by 10:15! What a colossal waste to go through all the effort to be here, to come so close, and not to truly enter into God's presence as we worship and glorify him. It's like the children of Israel that made it all the way up to the promised land and said, Nah, we're okay. We're good.

No, let us press in. Let us go deeper. How do we do that? By setting our attention, our affection, by disciplining our thoughts. Look, there are so many distractions. I get it. That's why I sit on the front row. There are less distractions. It's not just so I'm closer to come up and preach. If I sat back there—and I know that the most holy people sit back there, I know that, because you can worship with all these distractions. That's how I know how holy you are. If I sat back there, I could never worship. Because I'd just look at, Oh, look at this, and look at that, and oh wow, isn't that interesting?Why do I close my eyes when I worship? So I can focus on the Lord. Because I'm distracted easily.

So let us sing songs to him. Let us bless his name with our own lips, but let us not just do it with our words, let us do it from our hearts. This is what Jesus said in John chapter 4. Jesus said, the hour is coming and is now here when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. I want to be one of those kind of worshipers, a true worshiper. What does that tell me? That tells me that there's such a thing as false worshipers. If Jesus is saying there's coming a time where those who truly worship God will worship him in spirit and in truth.

The truth is the words that we declare. We want the songs that we sing to be doctrinally sound, theologically accurate, based on the word of God, not just some inspirational songs. We want to be singing the truths of scripture, to worship in truth. But then to also worship in spirit, that's from the depths of my soul. That's not just words on my lips, that's words from my heart. That's not just me doing Christian karaoke. It's me worshiping Christ.

And it takes some effort to do that. It's not easy. Why? Because though the spirit may be willing, Jesus said, the flesh is weak. We all live in the flesh. The needs of the body. We get hungry, we get thirsty, we get tired, we get cold, we get hot. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. It takes effort to press in, to push through all of the distractions and say, I will not be deterred today. I've come to meet with the Lord.

It's like the woman who suffered so greatly with her issue of blood. She went to all the doctors, and none of them could help her, and she saw Jesus. There was a crowd of people pressing in around Jesus, and she said, "If I can only touch the hem of his garment, I will be healed." This weak, frail woman, who was ceremonially unclean because of her sickness, who according to the law of Moses wasn't even allowed to touch other people, said, "I am going to press through all of that so that I might touch him." And in that moment, she received her healing.

May we be like her. As I prayed this morning, we're a needy people. I came in here with needs today. I came in with great needs today. That's why I'm here today, because I recognize my great spiritual need. My need for the Lord, my need for Christ, my need to be strengthened and encouraged in his word and by his people. Because we are a needy people, let us press through all of the distractions and touch the hem of his garment in worship. True worshipers are those that worship in spirit and in truth, and Jesus says the Father is seeking after such people who will worship him that way.

Worship as a Living Sacrifice

He goes on to say in verse 7, "Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the peoples, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength! Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts! Worship the Lord in the splendor of holiness; tremble before him, all the earth!"

Here he goes from talking about worshiping the Lord through song into worshiping the Lord through how we live our lives. When the Lord comes to the earth, he's going to judge the world. And so worship is much more than singing songs. It's certainly not less than that, but it's much more than that. If all we do is sing the words, but then we leave here and don't endeavor to live them out, what good is that? If us pressing into the presence of God isn't truly changing us, have we really entered into his presence to begin with? Or is it just pretense? Is it just words?

Let it not just be words on your lips. Let it be the way that we live our lives. Jesus said this in Matthew 15:7-9:

"You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"

Press into the Lord, and let it be real. Let it be genuine. Let it not be for show and pretense. Let it not be, I'm going to raise my hand so everyone thinks I'm a holy guy. No, press in. Let it be real. To only honor the Lord with our lips, but to have a heart that is far from him, if you do that, you're a hypocrite. That's not me saying that. That's Jesus saying that.

We need to endeavor to live out the truth that we profess, to apply the word of God. That is also worship. Worship doesn't end when we leave here. This is to be like filling up your gas tank so that you can run for the Lord throughout the rest of the week.

Romans 12:1-2 says this. Paul says:

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."

What he's saying is that we should give everything to the Lord, even our own bodies. We lay it all on his altar. When we come to the cross, when we lay everything down, we are declaring we are his, and we belong to him. That should be manifest in how we are endeavoring to live our lives. A living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is your spiritual worship.

He goes on to clarify what he means. He says:

"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

The world is trying to force us into a particular mold. But the people of God are to live distinctly Christian lives, according to the Word of God. Where does transformation start? By renewing your mind. That's applying the word of God, meditating on it, thinking on it, letting the word of God wash over your mind.

There's all kinds of things in our culture that are contrary to the Word of God. When we come to Christ, we don't know what those things are. We need to have our minds washed and trained by the word of God. And then by discernment, we can see what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect, and live that out.

The point that I'm making today is that worship is not only what we sing, worship is how we live. In James chapter 3:9-10, he says this:

"With it [our tongue] we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers, these things ought not to be so."

How can sweet water and bitter water pour out of the same fountain? How can we come into the presence of God and bless him and then leave here and go curse others? We need to let the truths we profess go deep into our hearts, that our hearts and our minds would be transformed, that we would bless God, and that we would bless others.

Point 3: Declaring His Glory to the World

The final point is that not only should we worship the Lord, but we should declare his glory to the world. God is awesome. Christ is awesome. He is worthy to be worshipped. We should worship him, and we should tell others about him, declaring his glory to the world.

There's this way that the gospel is sometimes presented that shrinks the gospel. It presents the good news of what God has done for us in Christ as merely a way to go to heaven one day. It presents the gospel as a way of getting your ticket punched. Because one day when you approach the pearly gates, you want to make sure your name is written in that book.

It's a shrinking of the gospel. You see, the gospel is not just a way to get your ticket punched to heaven. The gospel is about God and his glory filling the whole earth. When we reduce the gospel to just my ticket to heaven, we minimize the work of Christ. We make the gospel small.

These two outlooks are very different. The outlook that is consumed with what the psalmist was consumed with—declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples, say among the nations, the Lord reigns—this is a very big, high, lofty, exalted view of Christ. It's massive, it's cosmic, it's all-encompassing. As we sang today, that one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. That is one perspective. And then there's this other perspective: Pray this prayer and you won't go to hell when you die. They're very different.

The psalmist shows us we are to care about God's glory being put on display in the earth. I know this is true because that's what it means to be an image bearer of God. Humanity uniquely, above all other creation, bears the image of God. That means that you are designed in a way to display the attributes of God. That's why we were made. To mirror God, to image God, to put God's glory on display in our own life.

What is God's glory? God's glory is the radiant display of all that he is. His greatness, his beauty, his power, his character, his holiness. And that glory is to be put on display so that we would know Christ, enjoy Christ, and love Christ. We're supposed to care deeply that God would be glorified in the earth and in my life.

Satan came and tempted Adam and Eve in the garden and he said, "You don't have to do that. You can be like God yourself. You don't have to live under God's rule and reign for his glory. You can live for your own glory." They believed the lie. All of humanity, in one way or another, is living for their own glory.

This is more difficult today than it's ever been in the age that we live, with social media, which is the most self-glorifying thing that's ever been made. Look at me. Look what I'm doing. Look how awesome I am. Look how many likes I'm getting. That's human nature amplified by technology. It's the lie of the garden. We have to be very careful that we don't just fall into the pattern of the culture. Are we after our own glory?

I'm not saying you can't use social media. I'm not saying you have to be Amish. Although if you can build a barn, that's pretty cool. What I am saying is that you're either living for your glory or you're living for Christ's glory, and you can't do both at the same time. Search your heart. Is what I'm about to post to glorify Christ, or is it to glorify me? Is it so others would say Christ is awesome, or is it so others would say I'm awesome?

Because we're to declare among the nations his glory. In fact, when Jesus taught us how to pray, he made this the first petition: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name." Lord, that your name would be hallowed, that your name would be glorified on earth as it is in heaven. If this is the first thing Jesus taught us to pray for, does it not make sense that this would be the most important thing we should care about? Way down on the list is "give us our daily bread." We should be more concerned about the glory of God in the earth than where our next meal is coming from.

Am I living in such a way that is displaying the character of God, the nature of God, the love of Christ, the mercy of Christ, the patience of Christ, the grace of Christ? This should be the all-encompassing passion of every heart of a believer: that Christ would be glorified in our lives, that our names would be forgotten, that his name might be remembered. At the name of Jesus, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess.

One of the things I've found surprising in my life over the last few years is how much it's begun to bother me when I hear the name of Jesus taken in vain. It didn't used to bother me as a kid. I sort of went in one ear and out the other. But I've noticed that the more I endeavor to live for the glory of God, the more when his name is blasphemed and dragged through the mud, it wounds me. It hurts me. I just put that before you as a little barometer for you. A little way of taking your temperature on your zeal for the glory of God. When his name is not hallowed but blasphemed, does it hurt? That's my Jesus. That's my God. I want to see his name exalted in the earth.

Conclusion: Lighting a Fire for His Glory

I'm going to invite our communion team to get ready, our worship team to come. I want to close with this story from history.

In 1555, in Oxford, England, Queen Mary I—a woman also known as Bloody Mary, not because she liked vodka and tomato juice, but because she persecuted the church so violently—had two Protestant ministers burned at the stake for heresy on October 16, 1555. Queen Mary was a devout papist, Catholic, and she saw it as her duty to purge the evil of Protestantism from England.

These two Protestant ministers' names were Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley. They're known as the Oxford Martyrs. You can read their story in Foxe's Book of Martyrs. When they had bound them to the stake, lit the torches, the crowds assembled to watch these men burned for their testimony. They refused to recant.

A lighted torch was laid at Ridley's feet. And at that moment, Latimer, his friend next to him, said to him: "Be of good cheer, Ridley, and play the man. We shall this day by God's grace light up such a candle in England, as I trust shall never be put out."

These men had a vision of the glory of God being put on display. They understood that whatever God brings into my life, I will use it, I will embrace it as an opportunity to shine forth his glory. If it means being burned at the stake, Christ is king.

These executions, as violent and painful as they were, did not destroy the Protestant faith. In fact, the opposite happened. The more they burned ministers at the stake, the more people came to Christ when the people saw that even death had no sway over these men. Why? Because Christ has truly conquered death. Though it cost these men their lives, they had a confident expectation of the triumph of the kingdom of God in history, and they were willing to lay down their lives that God would be glorified in the earth. And so the Protestant Reformation not only swept Europe, but it made its way over to the New World, where countless millions have now been brought into the kingdom of God because people were determined: Christ will be glorified in my life.

Now, in no way, shape, or form is anybody here facing anything as drastic or dramatic as that. But the same Spirit that was in them is the same Spirit that is in us. The same Spirit that enabled and emboldened them to witness for Christ by their death can enable and embolden us to witness for Christ with our life. If we will only say, "Christ, you be glorified. I'm surrendering it all. I'm giving it all to you. I'm going to obey your word. I'm not just going to sing about you when it feels good. I'm going to live for you, even if it costs me something." Because I am zealous for the glory of God on the earth and in the nations.

The Goal Of Fatherhood

The Goal Of Fatherhood

Matt Bell

Download

True Repentance

True Repentance

Matt Bell

Download

Sermon Summary

Pastor Matt’s sermon on Psalm 51 presents David’s repentance after his sin with Bathsheba as the biblical pattern for true repentance. He shows that when we sin, we must not deny, excuse, rename, or hide it, but run to God in humility, recognizing that Christ is our only hope, confessing our sin honestly, and asking God to cleanse, renew, restore, and uphold us. The sermon emphasizes that repentance is not self-improvement or confidence in our own sorrow, but a God-centered work of grace: God breaks the sinner’s pride, creates a clean heart, restores the joy of salvation, and produces renewed worship, obedience, and witness. In the end, the believer’s confidence rests not in the perfection of his repentance, but in God’s steadfast love, abundant mercy, and faithfulness to keep His people.

Sermon Transcript

Scripture Reading: Psalm 51

Psalm 51 is where we will be today. And so let's read the word of God. It says to the choir master, a psalm of David. When Nathan the prophet went to him after he had gone into Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God. According to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions and my sin is ever before me. Against you, and you alone have I sinned. And done what is evil in your sight.

so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being. And you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God.

and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you, deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation. And my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it.

You will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure. Build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then will you delight in right sacrifices, and burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings, then bulls will be offered. on your altar.

Opening Prayer

Father, we do, thank you, and we praise you for your word, as we now turn our attention to this great psalm, the psalm of David, the psalm of repentance that he prayed. Lord, we pray that you would do the same for us, that you would create in us a clean heart, that you would be steadfast to us in your mercy and in your love. Lord, that you would restore us when we do fall, and when we do fail, and we do thank you that you are a gracious and merciful God to all of us. In Christ's name, we pray. Amen.

You may be seated.

David’s Sin and the Occasion for Psalm 51

The psalm begins before the first verse with a short introduction. And it's written and addressed to the choir master, And then it tells us it is a psalm of David, and then it tells us the occasion upon which this psalm was written. It says, when Nathan the prophet went to him, went to David, after he had gone into Bathsheba after he had sinned with Bathsheba.

This moment in David's life is His greatest defeat. David was a man of great victories. David was a man after God's own heart. David was a man used by God and anointed by God. But he was also a man. He was a mortal man, a flesh, really man, a human being, and he, therefore, was a sinner. And David, in this situation with Bathsheba, had sinned and sinned greatly.

David, the king of Israel, had sent his armies out to war. And instead of going out and leading his armies, he stayed back in Jerusalem, and one night as he was on the roof of his house, the palace overlooking the city, He gazed upon a woman who was bathing. Her name was Bathsheba. And David inquired of his servants, who is this woman? And they said it is Bathsheba, The wife of Uriah the Hittite. Uriah the Hittite was one of David's closest and most faithful companions. One of David's mighty men, as they were known. And he sends his servant, he says, go and fetch her for me. He brings her to him and commits adultery with Bathsheba.

Afterwards, she returns to her home, and then some days later, she discovers that she is pregnant, and she sends word to David. I'm pregnant. So now not only has David sinned, but now there's evidence. A baby. And her husband is off at war.

And so David decides, I need to cover up my sin. I need to hide my sin. And so he hatches a plan. He sends for you, Uriah, to come back from the front lines of battle. Thinking, if I bring Uriah back to Jerusalem, He'll obviously go and visit his wife. And when a husband who's been at war comes home and visits his wife, I don't need to explain to you the birds and the bees. It's obvious what will happen, and this will cover up my sin, and everything will be fine. So David sends for Uriah, Uriah comes to him, and David inquires how's the war going? Oh, it's going, this, that, and the other.

David says, okay, great. You know, just spend the night here in Jerusalem, and then you can go back to the battle tomorrow. But Uriah doesn't go down to visit his wife. Instead, he stays in the courtyard of the king. He camps out outside and sleeps at the palace courtyard. When word of this gets to David, David brings Uriah to him the next morning and says, why did you go to your wife last night? Uh, I was just kind of curious.

He says, how can I? go and take comfort in the arms of my bride? When the armies of Israel, with my companions, with my brothers in arms are out fighting for God on the front lines of battle, how in the world could I do that? You see, Uriah was proving he was an honorable man.

David decides, you know what? Oh, okay. Here's what I'll do. I'll get Uriah drunk. I'll get him so drunk, he won't know what he's doing, and he'll just sort of stumble home, and that'll be my way of hiding my sin. And so David invites Uriah to a feast with him. They feast, they drink, he gets Uriah well drunk. Uriah stumbles his way out of the palace, but yet remains in the courtyard of the king and refuses to go and visit his bride.

And so David says, We will have to take more drastic measures. So David sits down and writes a letter to Joab, the commanders of his army. And in this letter, it says, place Uriah at the front of the battle where the war rages. The hottest. When you have placed Uriah there, have the armies pull back. so that Uriah will be killed in battle. David writes this letter, he seals it with his royal seal. He takes this letter, and he goes and he places it in the hand of Uriah. And sends it and delivers it, says, deliver this to Joab. Joab opens the letter, reads the letter, places Uriah on the front lines of battle, tells the armies to retreat, and Joab, Uriah then, is killed in battle.

Word reaches David, Uriah has been killed in battle. David then takes Bathsheba to himself, to be his wife. and says, it's all taken care of. No one will ever know. I've tidied up my mess. I've cleaned up my mess. Except for the fact that God saw all of it. God saw everything. Though it was hidden from the eyes of everybody else, it was not hidden from the eyes of God.

And so God sends one of his messengers, a prophet, a man named Nathan, to go and to confront David for his sin. And he confronts David in a very poetic way. He confronts David in a way that makes David angry. for somebody else in a different situation. And David, when he hears of this parable, this story that Nathan tells David, David says, surely that man deserves to die. And then Nathan famously points his finger at David and says, you are the man. You are that man. You are the man who has stolen another man's wife and had him murdered. to cover up your sin.

And when David is confronted with the word of God, Confronted with the realities, the depths of his sin. He repents. He is broken. He humbles himself. Much unlike his predecessor Saul. who when Saul had sinned against God, hardened his heart. made excuses, blamed others. David does the opposite. David is broken over his sin, and he repents of his sin.

What Do We Do When We Sin?

Which brings the question before us, when we sin, what do we do? When we sin, what do we do? And my, of course, my great hope and desire for you is your pastor is that you would not sin. That would be the best thing. Let's just not sin. But when you do sin, What do we do?

Do we, like Saul, deny it? Blame others? Mislabel it. Not call it sin, but Call it a mess up. I was just a little thing. It's my hang up. It's just sort of the my bad habit that I fall into. No, friends, it's sin. Let us not mislabel it. Let's not deny it. Let's not blame others. Let's not harden our hearts. Or indulge in it or hide it from others. See all of these other things. They only compound the issue and make matters worse, producing more destruction in our lives.

So if we shouldn't do those things following after the pattern of Saul, when we sin, what should we do? Well, we should follow the pattern. of the one who was called the man after God's own heart. David shows us in this psalm what to do when we sin and how we should repent.

David shows us what true repentance looks like. What true repentance looks like. And David, when he repented, he not only turned from his sin, But then he also took the time to compose this psalm, this prayer. From the repentance that flowed from his soul. He had this private moment of confession and repentance with God. But then he took what flowed from his soul in repentance, and he formed and fashioned it into this song, this psalm. Then he then, it says, entrusted to the choir master. That's the lead worship leader. who presided over the praises and the worship and the songs of God, and he entrusted what he wrote to the choir master so that it would be put to music.

that it might be sung in public worship. And thereby instruct the people of God and teaching them in the pathway of true repentance. And what it looks like to have restored fellowship with our creator. And so my hope in preaching Psalm 51 this morning as we get into the text today, is simply to highlight it for you. I want to shine the spotlight. I want to commend it to your spirit. that you would know where this psalm is in your Bible and that the pathway, the way to this psalm, that it would be well worn in your Bible. and well worn in your heart that you would know where it is and that you would be able to return to it again and again.

The Remedy for Sin

The bad news for all of us this morning is that we are all sinners. But the good news. The good news of the gospel is that there is a true remedy for sin and its destructive power. And that remedy for sin and its destructive power is found as we look to Christ in faith and confess and repent of our sins. And this psalm shows us what that looks like. You'll see in your Bible, in your text, that it's broken essentially into 5 paragraphs. And so I'm going to use the paragraphs in your Bible as five headings to show us what true repentance looks like.

1. Christ Is Our Only Hope

And the first is that Christ is our only hope. We have to recognize that Christ, when we sin, that the only hope that we have is Christ. Look at how David begins in verse one. Have mercy on me. Oh God. Look at how God centered this is. When David sins, he doesn't run from God like Adam. He doesn't hide his sin like Adam and Saul. What does David do when he has found out when he is confronted with the word of God by the prophet of God? He runs to God.

Because he realizes his only hope is in God. Have mercy on me, O God. According to your steadfast love. according to your abundant mercy. This whole psalm is so God centered. The remedy for sin. The answer for sin is not found in us. It's found in God. It's found in Christ.

The answer for sin isn't simply be better. Stop sinning. That is not the answer for sin. In and of ourselves, we do not have the strength to overcome sin. The answer to sin is to look to God, to look to Christ, the sacrifice for sin that God has provided. And God has provided this sacrifice according to his steadfast love, his faithful love. That even when we are sinners, God still loves us. What wonderful news that is.

God not only loves us when we are walking in faithfulness and walking in victory over sin, God loves us even when we do sin. God loves sinners. God loves you. And his love is a steadfast love. It is a steady love. It's not a love that is hot and then cold. It is not a love that wanes and waxes. It's not a love that increases and decreases. God's love for you is steadfast. It is faithful. It is more sure than the ground beneath your feet. It is more sure than the sun in the sky. God loves you. And God will have mercy upon you, not according to your goodness, or your ability to walk in faithfulness, or your, you know, devotion to him, that is not the basis of God's mercy and forgiveness to you.

No, the basis of God's mercy to us is his love for us. It is steadfast. that is faithful, that is sure, It's not like the horizontal love that we experience in this life. His love for us is perfect. And it says, according not only to his steadfast love, according to his abundant mercy. I'm so glad that God's mercy isn't just mercy, but it's abundant. Abundant mercy. The Bible says his mercies are new. Every morning. New every morning. Every morning you wake up, there is more mercy for God for you and your sins. Why are his mercies new every morning? Because you used them all up the night before? His mercies are inexhaustible.

New every morning. Whatever faces you today, sin and temptation before you, there is mercy for you. Abundant mercy from God. David says, cleanse me. From my sin. I haven't even addressed what sin is this morning. The Bible tells us what sin is in 1 John 2.1. It simply says that sin is lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. transgressing God's law, breaking God's commandments. And all of us have done that.

All of humanity has broken God's law, broken his commandments. Some of you are thinking, well, who is God to be able to tell me what to do? Listen, God's the creator. He made the world. He made everything in it. He made you. He made you a moral creature. responsible to him for how you live your life.

Though the world would teach us that we're just animals, The Bible tells us, no, we are image bearers. That means we are morally responsible to God for our lives. And he has given us his law. He's given us a conscience. He's written his commandments there. He's given us his word that teaches us explicitly, And all of us have chosen, in one way or another, to break God's law.

That is sin. And sin has a defiling effect in our lives. Sin has a destructive effect in our lives because sin separates us from God who is holy. We sang that this morning that God is holy, holy, holy. Sin separates us from a holy God.

God is the source of life. When you cut something off from its source, it produces death and decay. And so the wages of sin is death. Our sin must be dealt with, or we will enter into at the end of this life eternal death.

That's not God's desire for any of us. And so, God sent his son Jesus. to offer up his life as a sacrifice for our sin. to shed his blood, to wash us clean. And so we look to God, we look to Christ as our only hope, cleanse me from my sin. Wash me from my sin.

That's what the cross is all about. It's Jesus going and offering his life, bleeding and dying because we deserve death. But he died for us. in our place for our sins, so that we might look to Christ and call out for him to cleanse us, cleanse me, O God, David prays.

You see, friends, Christ is the only means by which God is provided for us to be cleansed. There's no other way for us to be washed clean. If we're looking to our own good works or our own good deeds or whatever else it might be to wash ourselves up, friends, it will fail every time. If Christ does not cleanse us, we will not be cleansed. If Christ does not wash us, we will not be forgiven of our sins. This is not according to our good deeds. No, it's according to God's grace, God's mercy, and God's steadfast love which he has shown to us in Christ. Look to Christ.

He is our only hope.

2. We Must Confess Our Sin

The second thing that we see in this next section is that we must confess our sin. We must confess our sin, and this is what David does in verses 3 through 6. He makes a confession. He's not hiding his sin anymore. He's been exposed. He's been called out. The word of God has been preached and declared to him, and his actions and his deeds have been laid bare.

He's not hiding from anybody. He thought he had got away with it, but he heard the word of God. God revealed to him, I see it, I know. And so David says, I will humble myself under God. God, David confesses his sin. He says, I know my transgression. And my sin is ever before me against you, and you only have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.

David says, I'm not hiding it anymore. I'm confessing it. God, you are right. I have sinned against you. So David confesses his sin, and so must we. If we're going to walk this pathway of repentance and renewed fellowship with God, It starts with us looking to Christ as our only hope, but then we must confess our sins.

What is confession? It is an admission of guilt. That's what a confession is. Admitting that you are guilty. It's a declaration of wrongdoing. And ultimately, it's a wrongdoing against God. as the ultimate. David says, against you, and you alone have I sinned. You know, I read that and I think, well, Uriah might have something to say about that, David.

What David is saying in this is that his yes, he sinned against Uriah, no doubt. But his sin against God was so much greater. The affront to God, as perfectly holy and perfectly just. is so much greater. It's such a greater offense. That he can say against you and you alone have I truly, ultimately, sinned.

Yes, he had done wrong against Uriah. But the one to which David is ultimately responsible is God and God alone. And so a confession is this admission of guilt, this declaration of wrongdoing against God. God, I have transgressed your law. God, I have broken your commandments. God, I have disobeyed what your word teaches.

We must confess our sins if we will receive forgiveness of them. The New Testament teaches us this as well, 1 John 1:9, if, We confess our sins. Notice that word there. If. It's a conditional statement. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If you are not willing to confess your sin to God, it means that you're not looking to Christ to forgive your sin. If you're not admitting that you're a sinner, that you've sinned and violated God's law, You're hardening your heart like Saul. The refusal to confess sin is exposing in you that you are not looking to Christ and trusting in Christ. This is why this is a conditional statement.

We must confess our sins, and then he is faithful and just, and this is beautiful to forgive us and to cleanse us. to wash us clean. James 5:16 says, therefore, confess your sins to one another. And pray for one another. that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

Confession is part of the Christian life, confession of sin. Declaring it to God, and even at times confessing it to our fellow man that we might receive prayer, and thereby be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

So if we are taught to confess our sins to God and even to one another, Why is it that we oftentimes do not? What is it that stops us from confessing our sin? Is it not pride? Is it not pride? Is it not us wanting to maintain some sort of our own goodness? within our own hearts, and in front of others. Isn't that not the truth?

If we refuse to confess our sin to God, if we refuse to admit our guilt before God who is holy, is it not that we are trying to maintain our own righteousness somehow before God? Is it not that we are trying to maintain some sort of a facade? On the outside? before others.

Truly, there's no place for pride within the church. Because admitted to the church begins at the cross. Where we say, we are sinners who need a savior. How in the world can we then say we are not still, we don't sin. We haven't sinned. No, I'm not sinning.

The gospel is that we have sinned and we need a savior. That's the point of entry, and that's the place in which we stand, the apostle Paul says. We must stand on the gospel. We must rid ourselves of every notion of our own self goodness, our own self righteousness. We must affirm what the scripture says about us, that our righteousness in the eyes of God who is holy is as filthy rags. If there be any goodness in us whatsoever, it's only because of the grace of God in our lives.

He goes on to say in verse 6, that you delight in truth in the inward being. Confession is walking in the truth. In the inward being. Being true with God, being honest with God, Jesus says that God is seeking those who will worship him in spirit and in truth.

Not hiding from God, not being like David, thinking that he got away with it, that God didn't see it. No, God sees it. So you might as well confess it. God delights in it. delights in us being truthful, confessing our sin and walking in the truth.

It begins on the inside. We have to stop lying to ourselves. We have to stop wanting to put on this holy facade in the eyes of others. that why do and why do we do that? Because we want praise and glory. Listen, God's the only one who deserves the glory.

All of us have sinned. All of us will sin. That's the reality. If you don't understand that, you will walk in so much pride. Which by the way, is a sin. that must be confessed to God. God delights in truth on the inside.

He says, teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Teach me the wisdom of your word, of your ways.

3. God Must Do His Work in Our Lives

The third thing that we see in this, after we look to Christ and confess our sin, is that God must do his work in our life. We see that God must do his work in our life. God must do his work. David cries out to God. Look at all the things David asks for in verse 7 through 12. Purge me. wash me. Let me hear the joy and gladness. Let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins. Blot out my iniquities, create in me a clean heart. Renew a right spirit in me. Cast me not from your presence. Take not your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit. Notice God is the one doing all of this action. God is the one who saves us. God is the one who cleanses us. God is the one who washes us and heals us.

And even breaks us. breaks our hearts that we might learn not to trust in ourselves and our own righteousness, but that we might trust in him. that we might cling to him and cling to the cross. God must do his work in our lives.

If we are going to walk in repentance and renewal. It won't be us looking to ourselves and our own strength. It will be us looking to God and saying, God, cleanse me. God, wash me. God, forgive me. God created me a clean heart. Wash the sin from my life. You see, God has to break our hearts.

God has to break our hearts for us to look to him. And David was a man whose heart was broken. David says, create in me a clean heart and renew a right spirit. That right spirit is right desires. that we would want what God wants, that we would desire, what God desires, that we would align our soul, our emotions, our desires with what God's word says, that we would not desire sin. The temptation would lose its strength in our lives. That is what a right spirit is. that the desire for sin, that it would be broken in our lives. that we would delight in God's law, that we would delight in keeping God's commandments and obeying his word.

This is why David says, uphold me with a willing spirit in verse 12. Uphold me with the willing spirit. We must be broken over our sin, and David says that you've broken my bones and let these bones, let them rejoice. Let me rejoice that you have convicted me of my sin. that you have exposed this for me.

This is the heart of a true believer who is trusting in the gospel. that even when we are confronted of our sin, and yes, it is painful, it's like a bone being broken. We can rejoice because we're looking to Christ. We can rejoice that God loves us in His mercy to expose this in our lives that we might be healed and set free from it. And this is why David says, restore to me the joy of your salvation, that we would rejoice in the gospel, rejoice in the grace of God, and that in this rejoicing, The power of sin would be broken in our lives.

4. God’s Work Enables Our Response of Faith

The fourth thing we see is that the work of God, the work that God does in our lives, enables us to respond in faith. So God's work, God the initiator, God the one who is purging, washing, cleansing, creating a clean heart, restoring God's work in David's soul enables him to respond to God the right way. God the initiator. Us, the responder.

So look at the right response. What is this? In verse 13 through 17. David says, then, then, so after you have healed me, created in me a clean heart, washed me, purged me, then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

All of this here in these verses are what flows out of God's work of renewal in our lives. It shows us how we should respond to the grace and mercy of God. We should then teach others the word of God. To teach others. This is what God's word says.

He says, then I will teach others your ways, transgressors your ways, and sinners, the result of that is sinners will return to you. Deliver me from blood guiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. Verse 15, O Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise.

What's a right response to the work that God does in our lives? We sing his praises. We worship him. We don't just have, like, warm fuzzies that we bottle up inside, like some stoic, you know, philosopher or whatever. We praise God. with our lips.

Has God forgiven you? Sing to him. Has God delivered you and washed you? Praise him with your lips. Praise him with your mouth. Declare the praises of your God, who is so gracious and merciful. Oh Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise.

He says, for you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it. You would not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. We need to allow the word of God, just as David did, when the prophet Nathan went to David, declared to him the word of God, it convicted him, it broke his heart and his spirit, and we must likewise do the same as the word of God is declared and preached, that our hearts would be broken.

That we would have a broken spirit and a contrite heart. It says, God does not despise these. To be contrite means to be deeply sorrowful, remorseful, not to be hardened, but to be softened, broken. over our sin and broken by the love and the mercy of God, who is so good and is so faithful and does not deserve us to sin against him, and yet we have how that should break our hearts.

And when our hearts are broken over our sin, God does not despise this. In fact, this is what God is looking for in our hearts as a symbol of true repentance. Not just praying a prayer with our lips, but having true heart brokenness on the inside.

And it is his work in our lives that enables our response.

5. Renewed Confidence in God’s Faithfulness

Which brings us to number five, the conclusion of this is David ultimately has a renewed competence in God's faithfulness. Confidence, not in his work, not even confidence in his repentance, confidence in God's faithfulness in who God is. How can we be sure that our sins are forgiven? Because God is faithful to his people.

Look at what he says. He says, do good to Zion in your good pleasure. Build up the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in right sacrifices and burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings, then bulls will be offered on your altar. What David here is saying is that God is going to be faithful to his church.

God is going to take pleasure in Zion, his people. God is going to protect them, guard them. He is going to build up the walls of Jerusalem. He's going to keep his people. Jesus says that no one can snatch us out of his hand.

He is protecting us. He is watching over us. He is keeping us. In fact, the Bible says that God will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to resist temptation, that with every temptation God provides for us a way of escape.

He is watching us. He is keeping us. No weapon formed against us will prosper, and we can be confident that our sins are forgiven. Not because we have repented the right way, that's us still trusting in ourselves. But because God is good, and God is faithful, and God's word is sure, and God's word is true, and God is going to be faithful to Zion, to his people, to the church. He will delight in our sacrificial praises, and he is always faithful to his word.

Conclusion: The Pathway of Repentance

This is the pathway of repentance. This is the pathway of renewal. Looking to Christ in hope. Not trusting in ourselves, but trusting in Him. Humbling ourselves, confessing our sin, allowing God to do his work in our lives, not resisting him, but allowing him, even though that process oftentimes is painful.

knowing that his work in our lives produces good fruit, a clean heart, a renewed spirit, upholding us with a willing spirit. And in the end, ultimately, our confidence is not in us, but is in God and God alone. Amen.

The Great Invitation

The Great Invitation

Matt Bell

Download

Sermon Summary

Pastor Matt’s sermon on Psalm 27, titled “The Great Invitation,” presents David’s prayer as a call to live all of life before the face of God. He shows that David’s confidence begins with the Lord as his light, salvation, and stronghold, which drives out fear and exposes every false refuge. David’s central desire—to dwell in the house of the Lord and gaze upon His beauty—becomes an invitation for Christians to seek God’s face continually, now fulfilled through Christ, who has opened access to God’s presence. The sermon urges believers to live Coram Deo, with a constant awareness of God’s presence in every part of life, and to wait on the Lord with courage, believing they will see His goodness in the land of the living.

Sermon Transcript

Introduction

We are in a series, a year-long series called Year of the Bible, and we're working our way through the Bible together as a church. At the beginning of the year, in January. We produced a reading plan for all of us to be reading through the Bible together. Many of us started that journey together. And as happens typically in a Bible reading plan, there are great victories.

There's also days where you end up falling behind, that is, just how it goes. But right now, we are in the book of Psalms, and I just want to encourage you whether you started with us in January or not. whether you fell off at some point in Leviticus, or Chronicles, or all those other Bibles, books of the Bible, where Bible reading plans go to die, whether or not that happened to you, right at the beginning of your handout, you can see the chapters that we're going to be reading this week. And we'll be in the book of Psalms now for another 5 weeks or so.

And Psalms is just a great book of the Bible to jump into at any point of the year, at any point in time. and just read a few chapters of the Word of God each day. So I really want to encourage you, let's be reading the book of Psalms this week. I have a really bad habit of thinking that whatever passage of scripture I'm studying is the best passage of scripture in the whole Bible.

And that happened again to me this week as I was studying our chapter that we're looking at Psalm 27. So if you have your Bibles, you can open to Psalm 27. As I was reading and studying Psalm 27 this week, I was just in awe, just in awe of the word of God, and how many layers there are and how deep it is, and how you can follow this little trail and that little trail, and pull on this little thread, and it takes you here, and it takes you there, and I was just amazed. I was thinking, this has to be my favorite psalm.

Psalm 27 is the best psalm in the whole Bible. And then I had to settle myself down a little bit and just remind myself, this happens every single week, whatever passage of the Bible you are studying. But Psalm 27 is our passage this week. I am just so in awe of what the Lord communicates to us in his word through Psalm 27, I pray that the Lord would help me to communicate it to you in a way that's beneficial to you this week.

Scripture Reading: Psalm 27

And we'll start this morning. Let's start just by reading through the whole psalm together. So I invite you to stand with me as we do here at Christ's King Church. As we read the word of God together, we stand to honor the word of God, to remind ourselves that this isn't just any book, that this is the holy Bible. It's separated, it's set apart. It is the word of God.

Amen. And so it says at the beginning of David, The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers assail me to eat up my flesh, my adversaries and foes, it is they who stumble and fall. Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. The war rise against me, yet I will be confident.

One thing I have asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life. To gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple. For he will hide me in the shelter, in his shelter, in the day of trouble, he will conceal me under the cover of his tent. He will lift me high upon a rock. And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me.

And I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy. I will sing and make melody to the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me. You have said, seek my face, my heart says to you, your face, Lord, do I seek. Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger. O you who have been my help, cast me not off, forsake me not, O God, of my salvation.

For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in. Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. Give me not up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have arisen against me, and they breathe out violence. I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord.

Be strong, and let your heart take courage. Wait for the Lord.

Opening Prayer

Father, we do thank you for your word. It is so precious to us. Lord, I pray that these would not just be words on a page, but Lord, that they would be words spoken from you, from your heart to our heart. Lord, that it would, that hearing from you today, hearing from your word, would change us, would, would mold us, would shape us, into the people that you have called us to be.

God, we thank you for your son. The word made flesh. who dwelt among us. who pursued us, who has laid down his life for us to save us. Lord, it's through him that we can do all things. With your help, we can do anything. Without you, we can do nothing. But with God, all things are possible. Help us, Lord Jesus. Let us glorify you in the name of your son, and seek to do that every day.

It's in his precious name we pray. Amen. You may be seated this morning.

Sermon Introduction: The Greatest Invitation

I wanted to just walk through this psalm together and I'm going to use 4 questions as sort of guideposts and signposts along the way as we make our way through this psalm 4 questions for us to consider and to ponder. In this chapter, in Psalm 27, we see David's approach to living, how David lives his life. His worldview, the way he sees life. And I think there are some things from this that we need to learn on how we should live our lives.

on his philosophy that we should adopt and implement in our own life. I've titled the sermon today, the greatest invitation, the greatest invitation. And as I said, there's 4 questions that I want to draw your attention to, to help us organize ourselves as we walk through the Psalm together. And the 1st question is this, who is your light? Who is your light?

Question 1: Who Is Your Light?

David begins this psalm, this prayer, this poem to the Lord by saying, the Lord is my light. And my salvation.

The Lord is my light. So who is your light? The Lord was David's light. Who is your light? Who is the light of your life? It might be wondering, what does that mean? What does that mean for someone or something to be the light of my life? David says, the Lord is his light. What does he mean by that? Your light is what illuminates your life. What shines into your life.

People put it this way in our modern language, they will say things like, that's my North Star. Have you ever heard someone say that? That's my North Star. That's the direction that I'm heading. That's the thing I'm orienting myself around. To say, the Lord is your light is to say that he is what illuminates your life. He is the light by which you see everything in your life.

Another aspect to this is, you could say, your light is what brings you joy. What brings you joy? What brings you joy, it lightens your countenance, doesn't it? You can be having a bad day, a dark day, a sad day, and then you hear some good news or something in particular that brings you joy, and what does it do? It lightens your countenance. It illuminates your life. So you can say, what is your light?

It's what brings you joy in life. As I mentioned, the North Star, you can also say that your light is what gives direction to your life. It's what illuminates your path. David says, the Lord is my light. Can you say this about the Lord? Can you say that it is the Lord that gives direction to your life? It is the Lord that illuminates your path, that it is the Lord that brings you joy.

Ultimate joy. That it is in him and him alone that you are seeking after joy. Is the Lord your light? Can you honestly say that? You know, this is the starting point, not only of this psalm, But the starting point for everything that flows from this psalm, and there's some really wonderful things in this psalm. But none of them will be experienced in our life if the Lord is not our light.

If the Lord is not the one that we are searching after, seeking after orienting our lives around, the guiding principle of our life, All of the wonderful things in this passage flow downstream from this. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Now, what if he's not? What if the Lord is not your light?

What if you are examining your heart even in this moment, and you're searching your heart and searching it honestly, and you have to say no? As I look into my heart, as I look into my life, there is something or someone else that is guiding my life. There's something or someone else that I'm orienting my life around, and it's not the Lord. What then?

Number one, you have to be honest about it. Be honest about it. Don't lie to yourself. Don't deceive yourself.

Be honest about it. And then take it to the Lord. That's the 1st step. Take this to the Lord. Confess it to him, Lord. There have been other things and other people that I have been seeking, pursuing above you. I have had a different light. I've been living my life according to a different rule book, a different plan, a different play, a different orientation.

Lord, I need to confess this to you. And I need to ask you for help. If you will do that, The Lord will not turn you away. He will never turn you away. It says a broken and contrite heart, he will not despise. If you go to the Lord in honesty, Truly, Bring it to the Lord. He will receive you, and he will help you.

Jesus said, blessed are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of God. We have to recognize if the Lord is not our light, And he should be. I need to go to the Lord with that. I need to confess it to him. And he will help begin to reorient our lives. We sang it this morning. There's a 100 different ways to express this sentiment. David's doing it this way in this poetic term of light, but we sang the song this morning.

Lord, rain in my life. It's the same thing. It's the same thing. Is there an area of your life where the Lord is not reigning over? where you are reigning over that area of your life, where you are not submitting your life to his word in that area. In that area, he's not illuminating your life. You're not allowing the light of his word to shine into and permeate your life, that you might thereby walk in that path that he has laid out.

Is that the case? Take it to the Lord. Confess it to the Lord. Ask him for help. You know, sometimes, many times when we are living in this way, where there's an area of our life where he is not reigning, where he is not our light. We feel that conviction of the Holy Spirit, but we also, at the same time, listen to the condemnation of the devil. And so we feel ashamed, we feel embarrassed.

We don't want to take it to the Lord because we know better. And we're afraid that the Lord is going to rebuke us, be angry with us, turn us away. But the Bible tells us that perfect love casts out all fear. That there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Take this to the Lord, and he will receive you. He will receive you, you will receive your sin.

He will pay the price for it, and he will give you the help that you need. Everything flows downstream from this. The Lord is my light. And my salvation.

We can't seek salvation in any other place than the place by which he has provided it in his son Jesus. We cannot seek salvation in things. We cannot seek salvation in other people. We cannot seek salvation in material possessions, in our bank account. We can't seek salvation in our own good works, and good efforts, and good deeds. Truly the Lord must be our salvation.

As we trust in him and the work of his son Jesus, the blood that he shed to pay the price for our sin. And as we do this, if the Lord is your light and the Lord is your salvation, Then comes this next statement. Whom shall I fear?

If God is for us, who can be against us? If the Lord is your light and the Lord is your salvation, you have nothing to fear. He goes on to say, the Lord is the stronghold of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid?

In verse 3, he says, though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear. Three times in these first three verses, David mentions the word fear. But every time that he mentions them, that word fear, it's in the context of not being afraid. Whom shall I fear? Of whom shall I be afraid? My heart shall not fear. Why? Because the Lord is his light and his salvation.

Because the Lord is his stronghold. The place that he runs when trouble comes. The one who is protecting him, the one who is keeping him, the one who is guarding him is the Lord. If it is the Lord who is protecting you, who can touch you? No one.

And if no one can touch you, because God is protecting you, we have nothing to fear. No one to fear.

The Lord is the place where David runs when he is in trouble. David had armies that were chasing him. I don't know what you've got going on in your life. But there's not an army out there waiting for you.

David was often in very real trouble. His life hanging in the balance. Not knowing if he would survive the next day, and he says, the Lord is where I run. The Lord is my stronghold. I'm not, he says, I'm not looking to the walls of this city to protect me. I am trusting in my God to protect me. The Lord is the place that I run. And because of that, when trouble came, he wasn't afraid.

The armies encamped against him, though his enemies came, he says, to eat up my flesh. Man, that's really graphic. says, I'm not afraid. I have no reason to fear. Because God, God is watching over me.

Where do you run in times of trouble? Who or what is your stronghold? for your life. What are you seeking after when hard times come, difficult times come, difficult days come? Where do you turn? Turn to the Lord. Let him be your light in your salvation. Let him be the stronghold of your life. Remind yourself of his providential care and his sovereign protection and watch your fears melt away.

Remind yourself, it's God who's watching over me. It's God who's protecting me. It's God who will deliver me and watch your fear. Vanish. Watch your worries and your cares and your anxieties. Fade into the background. Listen, when fear comes and worry comes and anxiety comes, that's not coming from God. That's the enemy using some situation in your life to lie to you.

And to tell you, God's not watching over you. God's not going to protect you. God's not going to deliver you, and he's not going to do it because of this in your life, that in your life, because you did this when you were 14 years old.

The enemy uses the events in our life to lie to us. It's why we need the word of God. We must remind ourselves. No, the Lord is my stronghold. The Lord is my deliverer. The Lord will set me free from this affliction. The Lord will bring me through to the other side. Remind yourself of the truth of God's word.

And watch your worries and your fears fade into the background. If you find that you are overcome with fear and worry and anxiety, Could it be that you have a different stronghold that you have taken up safety in? Could it be that you are running to a different place of safety? Could it be that you are living your light, life according to a different light? That you have placed your ultimate trust in something or someone else.

Everyone else will fail you. But he will never fail you. He will never leave you. He will never forsake you. Make him the stronghold of your life. Who is your light? May we say it is Christ and Christ alone. Amen?

Question 2: What Is Your Prayer?

The 2nd question I want to ask you is what is your prayer? What is your prayer? We see David's prayer here in verse 4. He begins by saying one thing I have asked of the Lord. And that will I seek after. One thing he has asked of the Lord. Now, we know that David asks many more things of the Lord than one thing.

In fact, I can count even in this psalm, at least 8 other things that he asks for. If you have your Bibles open, you can see just a handful of them. In verse 7, he says, hear me, O Lord, be gracious to me. Answer me. These are all requests. He says, hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger. Cast me not off. Teach me your way, lead me on a level path.

Give me not up to the will of my adversaries. These are all requests of the Lord. So how is it that David can say, he's only asked one thing of the Lord and then goes on to ask 8 more things of the Lord? What does he mean by this one thing? What David is saying by saying one thing I've asked of the Lord, he's saying, this is the most important thing to me. That's what he's doing.

He's underscoring this. It's like he's, you know, if you're crafting an email, you're bolding it, you're underlining it, you're italicizing it, you're making it in big fun. Don't miss this. That's what David is doing. They didn't have bold and underlined. So he has to use language to underscore his words. And so he's saying, one thing I have asked of the Lord.

He's saying, this is the most important thing. Another way of saying this is, Lord, if you only answer one thing, Lord, if you only answer one of my prayers, let it be this one. Let it be this one prayer. And so what is this one thing? What is this most important request that David has? I'll be honest, I think it's quite surprising. One thing I have asked of the Lord, and that will I seek after.

that I may dwell in the house of the Lord, all the days of my life.

His one prayer, his most important request that he brings to the Lord, he says, is God, I want to be in your house? Every day. I want to be in your presence every day all the days of my life. What a prayer. What a prayer.

Now, if we had to all say, I have one prayer that I want the Lord to answer for me. And I asked you this question before I brought you to Psalm 27. Or if you looked at your last week of your life, and the petition you brought before the Lord the most, what would that one prayer be?

I would be willing to bet a million dollars, even though I don't have a million dollars, but if I had a million dollars, I would be willing to bet a million dollars. that not one of you, your most important prayer and your most frequent prayer, this last week was, Lord, please have them open the church every day of the week. So I can go to church every single day. I would be willing to wager a whole lot of money.

that not a single soul in here prayed that prayer. this week. In fact, I'd even be willing to wager that at least one of you this morning, on the way to church, actually prayed, Lord, Please let the sermon be a little short today. One thing I'm asking of you this morning, that Pastor Matt would be brief. this morning.

If we look at our prayer life, the things that we pray for, And then we look at David. and his life. Even as enemies are encamping against him, even as those the people are coming against him. He says, Lord, the most important prayer to me. Lord, the one thing that I am after, the one thing I've asked of you, the one thing that I'm seeking after, the most important thing, Lord, that I would be able to dwell in your house.

All the days of my life. This is the same man who would say, Better is one day. In your courts, in your house. than a thousand. Any other place.

The David would trade a thousand days. anywhere else. Any other place. to spend one day, in the presence of God. to spend one day in God's house.

I think if we're being honest with ourselves, we would all say, That's not the philosophy by which I'm living. my life. I've never even considered this as a guiding principle or philosophy for my life. Your church is only open one day a week, so how could I even do it?

Just think about it for a moment.

Think about what David is saying. He wants to spend his days in the presence of God.

Is that how we want to spend our days?

One thing. To be with you. To be with you, Jesus. Let every day of my life be a day I spend in your presence.

Why does he want to do this?

Why would David, the king? who had, to us, what we would consider nearly unlimited resources. Why is this his most important priority? Well, he tells us, He says, I want to do this so that I may gaze upon the beauty of the Lord.

That I could just... marvel at.

God's majesty, God's glory. that I could just be there with him.

In his presence.

He says, then notice, for he, he says, will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble. He will conceal me under the cover of his tent. He will lift me high upon a rock. These are the things that happen in the presence of God. Protection. Concealment, exaltation.

This is why David wants to be in the presence of the Lord. because he knows that in that place, he will be safe. He will be safe. And so it is with us. In the presence of the Lord. Protected by the Lord, we are safe from all of our enemies and all of our foes.

And this is why David, for all of his flaws, and faults, and failures, and sins, of which there was ample evidence in the Bible. This is why David, for all of that, in spite of all of that, He is regarded as a man after God's own heart. Not because he was perfect. But because the Lord was his light. This is what David was seeking after.

Question 3: Who or What Are You Seeking After?

Which brings us to our third question. from the Psalm, who or what are you seeking after? We know what David was seeking after. Who or what are we seeking after?

One thing I have asked of the Lord, and that will I seek after.

In verse 8, David says, you, speaking to the Lord, you have said to me. Seek my face. My heart says to you, your face, Lord. Do I seek? This is why I've titled this sermon The Greatest Invitation. Because God has given to his people. the invitation for us to seek his face.

David says, you have said to me, seek my face. The Lord has said to us, seek my face. God has given us the invitation to seek his face, to come into his presence. Is there a better invitation than this?

You can look for your whole life trying to find a better invitation. But truly, you will not find it. You will not find a greater invitation than this. There is no greater invitation than the one from God to his children that we might seek his face. Never has someone so high, invited someone so low, to have an audience with them.

It really is astonishing. when you think about it. I don't know if you know this right now or not.

But the spurs are in the playoffs right now. I don't know, I don't know if you knew that. You did not think I was going there.

So there's all these news stories about the Spurs and everything going on with the Spurs right now. And I've been a lifelong Spurs fan. My dad was a Spurs fan. I remember going to games at the Hemisphere Arena. Yeah, okay. We know what that's about. My dad used to tell me stories about the iceman, George Gervin. Oh, I wish you could have seen George Gervin play.

So there's all these stories about the Spurs right now, and I read this story about this particular group of fans called the Jackals. I don't know if you've heard anything about the jackals. The jackals are 83 Spurs fans that were hand selected by Victor Wimbanyama himself. to form this group of fans, And he offered to them, after hand selecting 83 of them, to attend the whole season, Every one of the home games and the playoff games, For $1,000.

$999, which comes out to $24 a game. And they are in direct communication with him on what cheers to do at what time of the game, and he's giving them feedback on the way that they're cheering and the way that they're dressing, and it's this very tight knit group with Victor Wimbanyama, he hand selected these guys, and I was reading this story this week, and you know what I thought? Man, that'd be a sweet invite. Man, to be invited to be a part of the jackal?

Wow. What a gig. You know, it's a lifelong spurs fan, and maybe you're not a Spurs fan, maybe you're not a sports fan. 'm sorry. I'm sorry, but I'm certain that you're a fan of something or someone else. Maybe a poet, an artist, a musician, a songwriter. Imagine being invited into their inner circle, and when they would write a new song, they would send it to you 1st and say, hey, what are your thoughts on this?

Or you get an advanced copy of their latest novel to read before anybody else. What an invitation. Just imagine, you know, somebody that you love and admire from a distance, somebody high and above you that you would have no, you know, opportunity to meet in life, and yet they invite you into this inner circle. And it's so interesting to me. I was reading this story about the jackals and I was just thinking, man.

I want to be a jackal.

I'm reading that on, you know, one browser tab, and then on my another browser tab, I have a commentary on Psalm 27.

And at some point, the Holy Spirit, for me, sort of, you know, connected the dots in my mind that were so far disconnected and said, hey, uh, There's a greater invitation that's been issued to you. by somebody infinitely greater than Victor Wimbanyama. He invited them to 41 home games, but... The King of Kings has invited you into his throne room. Every day.

And because you were so filthy, he came and shed his blood to clean you up. to wash you, to make you acceptable, to clothe you with garments that are fit to walk into the presence of a king. He's made every provision for you. He's made a banquet table in his presence to feast on his goodness, to gaze upon the beauty of his holiness.

He's issued this call to you to seek his face. And hear you're fantasizing about what it would be like to be a jackal.

We have been issued such a marvelous and glorious invitation, but so often it goes unanswered. The invitation is stuffed away, hidden from sight, put in the junk drawer of our minds, ignored and forgotten. What a tragedy.

How brokenhearted would I be to find an old email in my junk filter from Victor Wimbanyama? Hey, you want to be a jackal? Ah, I missed it. And yet every day. This invitation. to be in the Lord's presence.

How much greater, how much better. May this not be true of us, that this invitation is forgotten, that it's ignored and hidden away. May we, like the psalmist, say, your face, Lord, do I seek? Hey, we answer the invitation. to seek the face of God.

What does it mean to seek the face of God? We sang it this morning during our prayer time. Lord, I seek you. What does that mean?

There's this phrase, this Latin phrase, that encapsulates what it means to seek the face of God. I know you didn't come expecting to learn Latin today, but it's ice cream sundae. It's also Latin Sunday. I don't know how you say ice cream in Latin. Somebody can look that up, but it's this Latin phrase, you may have heard it before. It's called Korum Deo. Coram Deo, C O R A M, D E O, Coram Deo.

It means before the face of God. Before the face of God. What does it mean to seek the face of God? What does it mean that David says, I want to be in your presence. I want to be in your house every day. I want to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. What is he talking about?

He's talking about living life with the constant awareness of God's presence in our lives. See, David, in his time, he had to go to a physical place where the glory of God dwelt. He had to go in Jerusalem. The capital city, where the temple was, to the temple grounds. He wasn't high priest, he couldn't go into the holy of holies, but he could be near and adjacent to where the glory of God dwelt.

But all of that is done away now that Christ has come. The veil has been torn. Christ through his own body, the veil of his flesh has opened up for all who are in him, the presence of God throughout all the whole earth. So that wherever you are, you can experience the presence of God. Wherever you are, and even the body, now, for believers is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

But even though we carry the Holy Spirit of God with us, even though God's presence is with us and is everywhere all the time, so often we go through life unaware. We're not living life, Koram Deo. We not living life, beholding the face of God in the presence of God. We just wake up, put on our shoes, get out the door, go about our day.

And live our lives like a pagan with good morals from the book. That's not the Christian life. The Christian life is to live Coram Dale before the face of God, living your life with the constant awareness of God's abiding presence. Let me give you an example. We're in the year of the Bible. We're reading through the Bible.

You can, if you want to, read the Bible like any other book. You can open it up, you can read the words on the page, you can close it. Or you can read the Bible with the awareness that God is speaking to you. From his heart to you or heart. And if you've done much Bible reading, you know there's a difference. You know there's a difference. You know there's a difference in, well, it's Tuesday.

What are my chapters I got to read this week? Because I said at the beginning of the year that I was going to read the Bible. Let me just knock this out so I can check it off the box as some religious duty. You can do that. Or, when you open the word, it can be a face to face meeting with Christ himself. The invitation is open to you. Do the words on the page change?

No. It's the same words on the page. So what changes? It's the orientation of our hearts that must change. It's the receptiveness to the voice of the Holy Spirit in our life that must change. We live all of our lives in the presence of God wherever we go, but are we aware of it? You remember Jacob when he fled from Esau, He lay down and slept, and as he slept on that night, the heavens opened and God came down from heaven and visited with Jacob that night, and he woke up.

And what is it that Jacob said? He said, wow, behold, The Lord was in this place. And I was not aware. Let that not be us. Let us be people who live ever, Coram Deo, live ever before the face of God, seeking the face of God, seeking to live all of our lives with the Lord as our light. The Lord, the one illuminating our path in constant awareness of his abiding presence.

Let me ask you something. If you live that way, what would it do to your marriage?

Let me ask you another way. If when you got home, Jesus Christ was sitting in your living room. Would it change the way you interacted with your spouse?

If you don't say yes, you're either a liar, asleep, or dead.

If Jesus followed you, I'm talking about physically. Everywhere you went, you turned around, and there he was, everywhere he went, you turned around, and there he was. Would it not change everything about your life? What's the difference?

What's the difference? It just that we don't see them. We don't see them. because we're not seeking his face. He's here. He's there.

If Jesus was sitting in your lazy boy, You get well then, we did not change what you turned this station to on your TV. Be honest.

He's there. He sees all. He knows all. You know, Adam is the one who thought his actions were hidden from God's sight. Adam thought he could sin and get away with it by, you know, sowing some fig leaves on. And we look at that, we're like, Adam, what a fool. God saw it? Hello?

And yet. There's a little bit of Adam in each of us. God knows all God sees all. To seek the face of God is to live with the constant awareness of God's abiding presence, to live in constant communion and fellowship with him. through the way he has provided his son, Jesus Christ. to make your living room his throne room, to make everywhere you go a place where God's glory can dwell.

Question 4: Are You Waiting?

The 4th question I want to ask you. And I am having to skip over some verses here for the sake of time this morning.

But the verses that are there flow from seeking the face of God as you read over those again this week, meditate on the petitions that he makes. see them as ways to seek the face of God. The 4th question I want to ask you this morning is, are you waiting? Are you waiting? You're like, yes, I'm waiting. I'm waiting for you to finish this sermon. I'm waiting for us to take communion, and I can't wait for that ice cream.

Yes, I'm waiting. Are you kidding me? That's not what I'm talking about. Let's look here at verse 13 and 14 as we get ready to close today. David says, I believe. that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord. In the land of the living. Is that what you believe? Listen, this way of living, getting in God's presence, seeking his face, it transforms the way you see the world.

It transforms you. If you tend to be a pessimist, and I tend to be a pessimist, you know, a glass half full kind of guy, I'm like a glass 10% full sometimes. I'm just, I can kind of be that way. I could be a little bit negative sometimes. But when you get in the presence of God, it changes your outlook so that your vision for the future isn't negative. It's positive.

Why? I believe I shall see the goodness of the Lord. Why? Because the Lord is good. And I believe that because I've been in his presence. I've been face to face with him. I've been in communion and fellowship with him. I've been seeking his face and now it changes my outlook on life. And I'm believing for a better future, a brighter future, a brighter tomorrow.

I believe this is what David believes. What do you believe? Would you believe about the future? is based on what you believe about your God and who he is. He says, I believe I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. So he concludes, therefore, with this imperative, this command, this directive, that we should all take to heart, wait for the Lord.

Wait for the Lord. What does he mean? Wait for the Lord. Wait for him to do what?

Wait for him to answer your prayers.

When we do seek his face, when we do offer petitions to the Lord, as we see David, he offers a lot of petitions to the Lord. He concludes by just saying, God, I'm going to wait on you. I'm going to wait on you and your timing. I'm gonna put these things in your hand. I'm not gonna seek to meddle. I not going to seek to manipulate. I'm not gonna seek to say I'm putting it in your hands, but then taking it in my hands, and then make a mess of it.

I'm putting it in your hands. To wait on the Lord is to wait for him to act, and it's to anticipate him acting. It says, as we wait on the Lord, we are to be strong and let your heart take courage to encourage yourself in the Lord. Wait, he says, on the Lord. Are you waiting on the Lord this morning? Or are you seeking to to manipulate circumstances? Look, just give it to him.

Just put it in his hands. I know that's a very broad statement. You're saying, Wow, what does that exactly mean? Listen, if I get into that, we'll never get out of here, okay? So just pray about it and meditate on it. Let the Lord speak to you, okay? Amen. All right.

Conclusion: Christ Sought Us First

These four things, these four questions. that we are considering. Who is your light? What is your prayer? Who are you seeking? And are you waiting?

We can only do these things because Jesus has 1st sought us. We can't do these on our own strength. We have to do them with the help of the Lord. We have to do it with the help of the one who came to seek and to save the lost.

But because Jesus has saved us because Jesus has found us, we are invited to live in his presence. And we can only approach the throne of grace. We can only enter into the throne room. on behalf of him and his sacrifice, if we are clothed in his righteousness. And I pray, dear friends, that you are. Amen.

Salvation Belongs To The Lord

Salvation Belongs To The Lord

Matt Bell

Download

Sermon Transcript

This morning we're continuing our time in the word. If you have your Bibles, grab your Bibles this morning. If you're new to the church, I want to say welcome. Thank you for being here with us to worship this morning. We're in a a series throughout this this year where as a church, we're reading through the whole Bible together. At the front of your handout is the chapters that we as a church are reading this week. And last week we made it to the book of Psalms, the book of Psalms. And so this this time of the year, we're calling this our summer in the Psalms. As the next seven weeks, we'll be reading through the book of Psalms together. Psalms is the prayer and worship book of the Bible. There's 150 of these psalms which are songs and prayers offered to God. The book of Psalms is also known as the psalter. Uh it's a little easier to say than the book of Psalms every single time that you want to reference it. And so it's known as the psalter. And it has played this book has played a huge part in the spiritual life of God's people. Doug referenced one of those psalms that the Lord had placed on his heart before this trip about calling out to the Lord. And throughout the the life of God's people throughout the millennia, this book has been integral to the spiritual life of God's people. The Hebrews used these psalms in their worship of God in the temple. The early church Christians began to sing them in their gatherings as they would gather for worship. And throughout the last 2,000 years of church history, they they have continued to give expression and be used in prayer and in worship. And as we begin our service here every Sunday morning at Christ is King Church with a call to worship. Nine times out of 10, it's a reading from Psalms. The book of Psalms, they teach us by example how to approach God, how to draw near to God. The book of Psalms gives us language that we can use to express what's in our hearts and to express ourselves before God.

And they are full of comfort for weary souls and for souls that are in distress. And for many reasons, Psalms is many Christians favorite book in the Bible. Many believers begin their day each day by reading a psalm. The Psalms show us that it's okay to be human before God. The emotions that are expressed in this book are real. They're raw. They're powerful. And we find that they have something for every season of life. Whether you are at a really good place and you feel like you're on a mountaintop right now or you're walking through a valley or somewhere in between. There are prayers, there are songs in here that speak to that experience that we can use in our worship and in our prayers before God. And it shows us that we can take our feelings, our emotions to the Lord, whatever they are.

Feelings of hurt and pain and anguish as well of feelings of celebration, joy, and victory. One of the things that is so powerful about the book of Psalms is it always leads us from where we are, where we start, wherever you're starting today. It meets us there and then it leads us into praising God. It takes us from where we are, which is sometimes not so great. Can we be honest? And it takes us to a place of worshiping and praising God. And it shows us how to go from a not so great place to a place where we are exalting and glorifying God. And so for the next seven weeks, we will be in the book of Psalms, taking a selection each Sunday and reading it and preaching through it together. This morning, our psalm is Psalm chapter 3. Psalm chapter 3. So I invite you to open your Bibles there with me. And if you would stand with me as we read this psalm together.

Eight verses, very short reading. And we see that this psalm is broken into five different sections.

O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill. I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people!

Psalm 3:1–8

Father, we do thank you for your word. We do thank you for the book of Psalms that teach us how to go from a place of distress to a place of prayer, from a place of hardship to a place of praise. Lord, I pray as we study this psalm this morning and all the psalms that we will be looking at over the next few weeks, Lord, that you would draw us closer to yourself, Lord. That you would teach us to praise you at all times, Lord. that we would not only exalt you and glorify you when things are going well, but Lord, that you would be our glory. That we would glorify you even when our circumstances are not as we would wish.

That we would still look to you and trust in you. Lord, we thank you for our church and our our time together in your word. Lord, help us to be more like you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. You may be seated this morning. The title of the sermon is taken from the last line of verse, or the beginning of verse 8. It is that salvation belongs to the Lord.

Salvation Belongs to the Lord

We see in this psalm that it is broken into five different sections, and we're going to walk through it here this morning.

I. David’s Problem

We see David’s problem here in verses one and two. The psalm begins with a little note at the top. It says, "A psalm of David when he fled from Abselum, his son." This little note at the top before the psalm begins, it gives us the circumstances, what was happening in David's life, the circumstances under which he pinned this psalm. Now David was a man who was no hard no stranger to hardship and difficulty in his life. David did not have an easy life. Though David here is the king of Israel as he is writing he his whole life was a life of hardship of struggle of many great victories and also many defeats.

He began his life as the youngest of seven brothers serving his father Jesse faithfully as David was sent out to take care of his father's flocks. And even though David faithfully served his father, even at times engaging with wild animals to save the sheep, risking his own life to save his father's sheep, at a very critical time, David is overlooked by his father. As David's father considers his seven brothers greater than David, David goes from serving his father Jesse to serving the king of Israel, King Saul. And like he served his father, David faithfully served the king. But David was such a remarkable man. And God was using David and elevating David King Saul became jealous of him.

And King Saul was so filled with rage and jealousy, he began to try to kill David. He saw David as a threat to him and his throne and to his legacy. And so David has to flee from Saul and flee for his life. running out into the wilderness. David spends the prime years of his life, his 20s, these 10 years in the wilderness as a fugitive on the run, hunted by Saul, living in caves. He has to flee into an enemy nation just to survive. Saul eventually we know is killed in battle and David becomes king. But when David becomes king, his troubles do not go away. In fact, they become more personal. They become closer to him as his own family and his own children become his source of grief.

David's firstborn son, a man named Ammon, will rape one of David's daughters, his halfsister, a woman named Tamar. Unfortunately, David ignores this offense. So, another one of David's sons, Abselum, takes matters into his own hand and murders Ammon. David's firstborn son, the heir to the throne, is murdered by one of David's other sons, Abselum. Because David is already bererieved of one of his sons, his daughter having been violated, instead of requiring from Abselum the death penalty, he instead exiles Abselum, sends him away. But this only allows Abselum to plot further revenge against his father, eventually turning the whole kingdom against David, staging a coup, declaring himself to be king.

And with the army behind Abselum, David has to flee from Jerusalem. He has to flee the capital city. He has to flee his kingdom running out of the city to save his life. Just as he had to flee from Saul, flee from Jerusalem running out into the wilderness, now he has to flee not by a mad king, but by his very own son who has turned a nation against him. And this is what is going on in David's life as he writes the words to Psalm chapter 3. Notice here in the first two verses how the word many is used. It's used here three times.

O LORD, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.”

Psalm 3:1–2

When we read the account of David fleeing from Jerusalem, we read of of those who were heckling him, who were cursing him as he fled. We read some from Saul's own house who who saw David constantly as an enemy who were so overjoyed to see David so disgraced. As David passed and left in shame, they were hurling rocks and curses at David, saying of him, "There is no salvation for him. He He trusted in God. Where is God now?" And so David's troubles are are not just his son. David's troubles are not just his foes and his enemies that are rising against them. Many as though they are.

David's troubles are compounded by those who are speaking out against him. Those discouraging voices who were surrounding him. And notice here what they are saying is not true. what they are saying in verse two that there is no salvation for David in God that is not true that is a lie and I want you to see here that Satan's greatest weapon against you and against us is lies. Lies. Lies come to us in many different shapes and forms. And here this lie comes in the form of discouragement. These discouraging voices shouting these lies at David. We need, you need to have godly voices in your life. That when your dark days come, when hardship comes, there are those who will speak to you, not discouraging words, but will speak to you the truth of God's word that will encourage you, that will build you up in the Lord.

It's so important the people that we surround ourselves with who can speak the truth of God's word to us, who can encourage us and and and and say, "Yes, you're going through a difficult season, but God is your provider. God is your healer. God can restore your soul. God can restore your relationships. God can restore your marriage. We need that kind of voice in our life. Not those who will come around side of of us and say, "Well, you know, the reality of the situation is we need those who will say, "Hope in the Lord, trust in the Lord. Now these negative voices that can speak into our life, they can come from people that we know personally, we got to be careful about that.

But they can also come from places and people that we don't even know. And I want to I want to caution you. I want to make you aware of something that in the day and age in which we live that we are saturated by words, by messages, by media, saturated by other people's thoughts, whether that's music or or movies or TV or the news. So much of what we consume through media is coming from a world view that is antithetical to God, the gospel, Christ, God's word, the truth. It's coming from a worldview. It's coming from a place from people who do not acknowledge Christ as king.

The assumptions that are being expressed are there is no God. The assumptions that are being expressed are are the same that were expressed to David. There is no salvation for your soul in God. And so when our spiritual diet ends up being a steady stream of these lying voices with these ungodly underlying assumptions, it weakens our soul. It weakens our foundation so that when times of distress do come, even our own thoughts that have been trained in these other patterns can be the tool the enemy uses to preach these lies to you. We must be very careful about the words that we are allowing into our lives that we are feeding our souls with.

We need to guard our heart. Guard our soul. The book of Proverbs says, “Guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23). What are you allowing into your soul through your ears, through your eyes? What sort of assumptions are underneath it? Is it affirming the truth of God's word or is it antithetical to the truth of God's word? You say, "Well, I'm not in a time of distress. I'm doing pretty good right now. Yes. But it can weaken your foundation. The Apostle Paul says, “Whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and worthy of praise, think about these things” (Philippians 4:8). Look here at the very first two words words of of this psalm. The very first two words. What does he begin with?

Oh Lord, when the trial comes, here's the question for you. Where do you turn? Where do you go? Where do you run in times of hardship, in times of difficulty? What is the first place that you turn to? We know where the world runs, don't we? I was watching a movie this week. A guy got fired. Guess what happened? Guess where he went? To the bar. Yes. He went and got drunk. That's where the world goes. Just something to numb the pain, to dull the pain. We know where the world turns. Where do you turn? Where do the people of God turn? Well, where does David turn? Oh Lord, my son has turned against me. The kingdom that you gave me has been torn from me. I am having to flee again into the wilderness.

Oh Lord, he takes it to the Lord. For David, God is not the last resort. God is the first resort. God is the place to which we must run. And that brings us here to this second section this morning.

II. David’s Solution

In verse three and four, we saw his problem. But let's look at his solution. But you, but you, this was my problem. This is what's going on out there. But David then turns his eyes to the Lord.

But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the LORD, and he answered me from his holy hill.

Psalm 3:3–4

So often our instinct is to run to others for help and for comfort. Is that not true? Is that not true? You know, we're good, godly Christians, so we would never run to the bar. So, we run to others with our problems. We'll run to Facebook or whatever we use to blast all of our problems to explain how everyone is wrong but us. We We'll go to a sympathetic ear. We'll go to friends. We'll go to family. We'll go to counselors. We'll go to doctors. And often when none of those can help us as a last resort, as a Hail Mary, well, I guess I'll ask God for help.

I'll ask God to intervene. Now, listen. Friends, family, counselors, and doctors, are those good things? Of course, those can be good things. But they should never be the first place that we run. I would even say before you run to your spouse, run to the Lord. Go to him first. Go to him first. Why? Because he can handle it. Whatever it is that you have got, he can handle it. your family, your friends, your counselor, your doctor. I don't know if they can handle it or not, but he can. He can take it to him first. The first place that we go, the first place that we run must be to the Lord.

And what does David do when he runs to the Lord? But you, oh Lord, you are a shield about me. What is David doing there? He's assaulted by his son. He's run out by the the army. He's being assaulted by these discouraging voices that say to him, "There is no salvation for him and God." But David says, "Those are lies. I am going to remind myself of the truth." That's what David is doing here. They're saying there's no salvation for me and God, but you, oh Lord, are my shield. You, oh Lord, are my strength. Those are what that's what they're saying. But it is lies because this is the truth. David reminds himself of the truth of God's word. And so when we are in distress, when things are are are not going well, when we get the news we never thought we would hear, when we've been betrayed, when we've been lied against, when we've been fired, when whatever it has happened that has happened unjustly, or maybe we even deserved it, we still need to first run to the Lord and remind ourselves of the truth.

The truth The truth is our only weapon. It’s called the sword of the Spirit, the word of God (Ephesians 6:17). Instead of having our thoughts trained by falsehood, we must have minds that have been steeped in the truth, the word of God, to combat Satan's lies. Why am I trying to get all of you to read the Bible this year? Because I want your mind and your heart saturated in the word of God, the truth of God's word, so that when the lies of the enemy come, that the sword is ready at hand. that it's not we're not having to go dig it out of a closet somewhere and and dust it off and it's all dull and and rusted from some Bible verses you memorized in 1980 as a child.

No, that the word of God is as ever ready at our side, ready to be deployed when the lies of the enemy come. And they will come. They will come. the discouraging voices that assault our soul to combat it with the truth of God's word. David here says, "You are a shield about me. The Lord is my protector. The Lord is the one watching over me. The Lord is the one keeping me safe." The Lord is the one who says, “No weapon formed against me will prosper” (Isaiah 54:17). Remind yourself of the truth of God's word. David says that God is his glory. His glory. What does this mean?

Well, as a king, you have all sorts of sources of glory. As a king, you have all manner of ways of displaying your glory. your wealth, your military might, your throne, your crown, your the size of your herum, right? All of these things are meant to display your glory. But David has had all of those things stripped away. The crown, the throne, his kingdom, even his own son has turned on him. David says,"None of those things are my glory. I glory in God and God alone. I glory in him. He is my glory. He is where I take refuge. He is my shield. He is the one who lifts my head."

Is your head turned down today because of whatever is going on in your life or the world? It is the Lord who lifts our weary head. He is our glory. There's so many different things that people put their glory in. their fame, their wealth, their job, their family. All all all all sorts of things that we glory in that we should truly lay aside and say, "God is the one I glory in. Him and him alone is who I seek to exalt, who I seek to magnify, who I seek to glorify. This is David’s solution to his problem.

III. David’s Result

I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the LORD sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.

Psalm 3:5–6

David had to flee out into the wilderness, being hotly pursued by his son. But after David takes his problem to the Lord, he lays down and takes a nap. He is so contented. He is so His soul is so at rest. He He doesn't toss and turn. He says, "I lay down and slept." He's saying, "I slept like a baby." Why? Because the Lord sustained me. What a transformation. What a transformation from verse one to verse five. so much peace in the midst of great turmoil. He says, "I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around." David says, "I am surrounded by enemies who want me dead, but I'm going to lay down and take a nap cuz God's on the throne and he's watching over me. He's going to take care of me."

What is his secret? The Lord is his shield. To put another way, the Lord was his shepherd. The Lord was his hedge about him. David's confidence, his glory was in the Lord. And we do, don't we? Don't we find ourselves often trusting in other things than the Lord? If we find ourselves trusting in other things, they have become an idol for us, a sense of false security. So many people trust in again their job, their family, the economy, politicians. These are false senses of security. The only shield we have is the Lord. Therefore, he's the one we should look to at all times. Jesus Christ and him alone. Let us in times of distress, stop looking around for help and start looking up.

Start looking up to the Lord. Start crying out to the Lord. Even as David said, I cried aloud to the Lord. And if you will do that, if you will truly hear me, if you get one thing from this message, get this. In your time of distress, if you will press into that place in the presence of the Lord, you will find this kind of peace. You will find it if you can press in beyond the lies, beyond the condemning thoughts in your own mind and soul. if you can enter boldly to the throne of God’s grace (Hebrews 4:16), you will find this kind of peace. I will not be afraid. The Lord sustained me and you will even be able to lay down and take a nap. God bless you.

Coming from this, David now makes a petition. We see this in verse seven, our fourth point this morning.

IV. David’s Petition

Arise, O LORD! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked.

Psalm 3:7

Now, the first part of verse seven, this is pretty normal for us. Yes, Lord, arise. I'm I'm still I'm trusting in you, but I'm I'm still in distress. So now I am going to call out to you, my shield, and I'm going to ask you to move. So he moves from that place of distress into the presence of the Lord where he has peace in his soul. And now he moves into a place of asking the Lord, a petition. God, save me. God, deliver me. My enemies are still chasing me. I'm at peace, but I'm going to need salvation. So he moves to that place of petition of offering that request to the Lord.

That's good. It's good to look to the Lord. It's good to cry out to God. It's good to say, "Save me. Arise, God, move on my behalf." All of that's normal and good. This second part sounds a bit strange to our Christian ears, do they not? When's the last time you asked for God to break the teeth of the wicked? This is what is called, this is the first example of it in Psalms. And there's about a dozen or so of these psalms. They're called impregatory psalms. Impregatory psalms. And to our Christian ears, they do sound strange. These are psalms that call on God for help as his people are threatened with harm from their enemies.

The enemies are often called the wicked and these are the unfaithful who persecute the godly. Impregatory psalms are called this because an imprecation is a curse that is invoked where you ask for misfortune upon someone calling down God's judgment upon them from heaven. And to us as Christians, this sounds strange because we have Jesus example of turning the other cheek of going the second mile of Jesus on the cross not praying down fire from heaven. Not praying God break all their teeth, but on the cross, what does Jesus pray? “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). And so as we look to the book of Psalms as our prayer book, our worship book, do we just leave those impregatory psalms aside or do they still have a place for the people of God?

I want to give you some principles in understanding these passages. I want to help you understand what is happening here. First, you need to understand that the people being cursed, the the imprecitation coming down, they are not enemies over trivial matters. This isn't somebody cutting you off on I 10. God, break their teeth. God, crush them, destroy them, and their offspring forever. This isn't when they mess up your order in the drive-thru and you make it home and you're missing your 12count nugget. That's not what this is. These are people who hate the faithful precisely for their faith. These are those who mock God and use ruthless and deceitful means to suppress, oppress, and persecute God's people.

They are hardened and set their face to oppose God. The second thing you need to know is that these curses happen in the book of Psalms, which is a book of poetry. And so these curses are stated in poetic form, which is often exaggerated expressions. And of course, with every prayer, the fulfillment of that prayer is left up to who? To God. No matter what we pray, God's the one who has to decide what to do with it. It's not like, "Oh, David said I got to break their teeth, so here I come." They're poetic expressions in this book of poetry. The third principle is that these curses, they're expressions of moral indignation, not of personal vengeance.

Moral indignation, not personal vengeance. You see, for someone who knows God and knows his ways, it's unbearably wrong that those who persecute the faithful and turn people away from God, it's unbearable to our soul that they would get away with it and even seem to prosper. Our souls cannot bear up under the injustice. the injustice being done in the book of Psalms and even the injustices being done in our world and they're expressions of that moral indignation but not of tit fortat personal vengeance. The fourth is you need to know that the whole biblical ethic is one that forbids personal revenge. This is not calling for personal revenge on people who have slighted you. This is asking God to deal with those who are opposing him and his kingdom.

And we are never ever ever allowed to take personal vengeance on someone else. Period. That's Old Testament. That's New Testament. And finally, fifthly, our Christian witness following the Lord Jesus requires us to have a desire that those who are guilty, even for those who mean harm to the church, who oppose and oppress the people of God, our greatest desire is that they would repent of their sin and come to faith in Jesus Christ. The best way to destroy the wicked is to convert them to Christ. And these are just some principles to help you understand these lines like, "Oh, God, strike them on their cheek and break their teeth." If you want to incorporate that into your worship, oh, that's up to you. Just know that it's not about personal slights. It's about the evil and the wicked that we see in our world.

God do something is what the psalmist is crying out for. Finally, that leads us to our last point.

V. David’s Declaration

He ends with this wonderful proclamation declaration of praise.

Salvation belongs to the LORD; your blessing be on your people!

Psalm 3:8

Salvation only comes from one place. Why do we run to the Lord in our time of distress? Because he's the only one who can save us. He's the only one. We must run to the one from whom salvation comes. David recognized this. David was a man in desperate need of salvation. Quite literally, he needed to be saved. David's enemies were strong. But hear this. We too need salvation. And our enemy, the enemy of our soul is even stronger than the enemy that was pursuing David. Our salvation likewise is only found in one place in Christ and Christ alone. And so when we are in distress, when our souls are in anguish, when life is falling apart, and even when it's not, we must run to Christ when we are being tempted.

Run to Christ when your thoughts are being assaulted with the lies of the enemy. Run to Christ. Call out, "Oh Lord, save me." There's the story of Peter as he saw Jesus walking on the water and Peter had the great idea, hey, I think I should try that, too. Jesus, if that's you, tell me and I'll come and walk with you on the water. And Peter Jesus says, "Come, it's me. Let's chat out here in the middle of the storm walking on the water. And so Peter gets out of the boat and he begins to walk on the water. But Peter, what does he do? He takes his eyes off of Jesus and he places his eyes on what? The wind and the waves. His circumstances that were surrounding him.

And as he took his eyes off the Lord and placed them on his circumstances, what began to happen to Peter? He began to sink. And then he drowned. And that was the end of the story for Peter, right? No. When Peter began to sink, what did he do? Cried out. He cried out. Save me, oh Lord. Oh Lord, save me. If you feel like you are sinking today, and I've been there. What you need is him. Cry out to him, oh Lord, save me. Look to him in spirit and in truth. Genuinely cry out to the Lord. Ask him for salvation. Just as he reached down and saved Peter, the Lord will reach down and save you. The Bible says, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

Salvation belongs to the Lord. He is the only source of our salvation.

Conclusion

I want to conclude this morning with a brief quote from John Newton. Some of you will know John Newton and his story. a man who was a slave trader. By his own admission, he was a man who was very evil and very wicked until he found himself in the midst of a violent storm at sea which caused him to cry out to God for salvation. This began a long process of looking to God and of sanctification in his life. And eventually John Newton was ordained as an Anglican minister. Newton is best remembered as the author of the hymn Amazing Grace. Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found. I am blind, but now I was blind, but now I see. Newton was a man who knew what it meant to be lost and what it meant to be found.

And as John Newton approached the end of his life, these were some of his dying words. He said, quote, "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things. That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great savior. What two things do we need more than this? Yes, we are great sinners, but Christ on the cross has defeated sin, has defeated death, has defeated Satan. The enemy of our soul has been defeated. We need only look to Christ. Are you sinking today? Are you sinking in your sin and temptation? Are you a great sinner? I've got news for you that is very good. Christ is a greater savior.

And he is victorious over every sin, over every temptation, and over every weapon that the enemy fashions and forms and sends your way. He is the shield about you. Look to Christ today.

God & Suffering

God & Suffering

Matt Bell

Download

Sermon Summary

The following establishes a biblical theology of suffering grounded in God's absolute sovereignty and omnipotence. Rejecting the shallow, transactional tenets of prosperity theology, the text emphasizes that God utilizes tragedy for the ultimate good and purification of His saints. Pastoral application demands relational depth—offering quiet, steadfast presence rather than unsolicited theological rationalizations in moments of acute grief.

Core Theological & Pastoral Themes:

• Divine Sovereignty Over Suffering: God orchestrates and filters every event—including the machinations of Satan and natural disasters—to accomplish His unsearchable purposes.

• The Heresy of Prosperity Theology: Suffering is not definitively linked to a lack of faith or hidden sin; such accusations mirror the rebuked counsel of Job’s friends.

• The Sufficiency of God's Presence: The resolution to human grief is not intellectual satisfaction, but a deeper revelation of God's character, goodness, and wisdom.

• Relational Depth in Crises: The church must prioritize compassionate, incarnational presence over doctrinal dissertations when comforting the brokenhearted.

Sermon Transcript

Introduction to Job and the Reality of Suffering

That brings us to the book of Job. The last several weeks we have been reading through Job, and today is going to be an overview of the whole book. It's some 40 chapters long. It's a longer book of the Bible. And I want to give you an overview of it and pull out some lessons from it.

It is, I think, one of the most important books in the Bible. And the message that it contains, and the truth that it contains, is something that every Christian needs to understand, needs to know, because of the things that we will face—all of us, we will face in our lives. The book of Job speaks to that.

And so what we're going to do this morning, just this way of beginning this book, is we're going to read the first chapter. The first chapter really helps us orient in the story and sets up the rest of the book for us. And so if you would stand with me this morning, the first chapter is about 22 verses, so it's not super long. And it will very much help us in our understanding of the message of this book.

Job 1:1-22 (ESV)

There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. There were born to him seven sons and three daughters. He possessed 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, and 500 female donkeys, and very many servants, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the east. His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and consecrate them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, “It may be that my children have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts.” Thus Job did continually.

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the Lord and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will curse you to your face.” And the Lord said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your hand. Only against him do not stretch out your hand.” So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, and there came a messenger to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans fell upon them and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came another and said, “The Chaldeans formed three groups and made a raid on the camels and took them and struck down the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” While he was yet speaking, there came anotherand said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother's house, and behold, a great wind came across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young people, and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.

Father, we do thank you for your word. It is precious to us. You've given it to us to illuminate our path, to help us understand the world in which we live. God, without your word, we are in darkness. Without your word, we are stumbling. Without your word, we cannot understand the events of our world or the events of our life. But your word shines into our darkness. It pierces our hearts with the truth. It illuminates for us the path of righteousness. It shows us and points us to the only hope that we have, the gospel of your Son. Lord, as we spend time looking at this all-important book, help me to deliver your word to your people, and may it be profitable to their lives, in the advancement of your kingdom. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

The Affliction of Job and the Folly of His Friends

You may be seated. As I said, I think Job is one of the most important books of the Bible because it speaks into the most sensitive areas of our lives. The book of Job meets us at our most critical moments. The book of Job meets us at that place when in our lives, there is a disaster that strikes. When in our lives, there is tragedy, there is suffering. The book of Job touches our lives in the times when we are most vulnerable, when we are the weakest, and it serves to strengthen us in those times when we are the most weak.

The theme of this book is the theme of God and suffering. How are we to understand the pain of life, the sufferings that we endure, in relation to God who is in heaven? What part does God play in the suffering that we endure in this life? And all of us truly, all of us, will experience in our lives difficulty, hardship, pain, loss, grief, death, and suffering. Not a one of us will make it through this life without days like we've just read.

Now, the book of Job and Job's situations are very pronounced. It's told in such a way to draw out just the catastrophic circumstances, the greatness of the loss he endured. But truly, there are times in all of our lives where we feel like our whole life has collapsed. Where we feel like the future that we thought was going to happen, it becomes apparent to us that future is gone. And what do we do in those moments? And what does that say about God who is in heaven?

Job suffered great losses. He lost his property. He lost his wealth, he lost his possessions. He even lost his own children. And yet, how does Job respond? It tells us that Job responded by worshiping the Lord. He tore his robe, he shaved his head, he fell on the ground. He grieved and he worshipped. He worshipped, and he grieved. The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

But as the story continues, Job's losses don't end here. If we continue reading into chapter 2, Satan again goes to the Lord, and the Lord is seated on his throne in heaven, and the Lord says to Satan again, "Hey, have you considered my servant Job? You said he would curse me to my face, but you took everything from him and yet still he worships me. Still, he has not cursed me. Still, he maintains his integrity."

And Satan says to God, "Yes, of course, but you're still protecting his health. Take his health from him and he will curse you to your face." And Satan then gives God permission to take Job's health, to take everything from him but the breath in his lungs. And so Satan comes and he afflicts Job with this incredible disease. It says, from the sole of his feet to the top of his head, he is afflicted with these skin lesions, these boils, these sores. He's just laying in agony and grief and pain. You can't even get up. It says, to comfort himself, he would take a broken piece of pottery to lance his boils, so the pus could alleviate the pressure. It's very graphic.

He loses everything, including his health, and in this state, it says, his wife comes to him. His wife, who, no doubt, was grieving herself, having just buried her own ten children. And she comes to Job and she says, "Are you still going to worship God? Are you still going to maintain your integrity before God?" She says, "What are you doing? Just curse God and die." These are the words of a grieving mother who has lost everything.

But Job responded to her, "Those are foolish words," he says. "Stop talking so foolishly. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" Again, it says, in all this, Job did not sin with his lips.

Job does not curse God and die. And also, Job doesn't run from God. As the story continues to unfold, what Job does is he runs to God. He runs to God with his pain, with his grief, with his questions, with his confusion, with his emotional state that is all up and down. He runs to God with all of it. And if you've read the book of Job, if you read it with us this week, and you're thinking, "You know what? This doesn't make a whole lot of sense." Yeah, sometimes grief doesn't make sense. Sometimes when we are hurting so much, the words out of our mouth don't make a lot of sense. But Job takes all of that to the Lord. Yes, his emotions are all over the place. Rightfully so. But the direction he takes it—he doesn't run from God, he doesn't curse God, he runs to God with his grief and with his questions.

And in his grief, the story continues that he has three friends who come to comfort him. The Bible says they come to comfort him. And the reason why there's a handful of people laughing is because they know that when these friends come, they do not comfort him. What these friends do is they come, and they, instead, accuse Job. They say, "Job, the reason this has happened to you is because you have hidden sin in your life. You must have hidden sin in your life. Why else is God afflicting you so badly? If you were truly a righteous man, God wouldn't treat you this way."

But the book began by telling us no, Job, in fact, was a righteous man. He was a man who feared God. Of course, he wasn't a perfect man. There's only one perfect man, it's Jesus Christ. But he was godly. He sought the Lord; when there was sin in his life, he made sacrifices. When his own children sinned, he made sacrifices for them. He loved the Lord. He served the Lord. He kept the Lord's commandments. Job did not have hidden sin in his life, and yet, for nearly 40 chapters, Job's friends accuse him. "Confess your sin. Surely you've done this. Surely you did this, maybe it was this, maybe it was that," and they lay out all manner of sin that they accused Job of having hidden in his life. And Job says, "None of those things. I don't understand why God has afflicted me. It makes no sense to me."

And maybe you have felt that way with events in your life. Maybe there have been things that have happened that you just don't understand. You cannot comprehend. It makes no sense to you. The message of the book of Job is for you. It's for the most difficult moments in our life.

A Personal Encounter with Grief and False Theology

For me, the most difficult moment of my life, I found the book of Job to be the healing that I needed. It was the healing touch of the Lord for me. Some of you know a little bit of my background, a little bit of my story, and the story of our family. But the most difficult moment of my life, truly, was the day my dad passed away. That was the most difficult moment, the most difficult season for me. Some of you have suffered much greater losses than that, and in no way am I trying to compare our pain or compare our grief. It would be foolish and silly to even try to do that. The point being is that whatever we have lost and whatever grief that we do have, the book of Job speaks to it.

But my dad, as some of you know, was the pastor of this church, a very wonderful man, a very godly man. In fact, I think you could say what it says about Job, I think you could say it about my dad, David Bell. That he was an upright man who feared the Lord and turned away from evil. He wasn't a perfect man. I saw his faults right up close, right up, you know, at a front row seat to all of them, but he was a man who loved and served the Lord. He was a wonderful father, a wonderful friend, and a wonderful pastor of this church.

And yet, on one Sunday morning, May the 6th, 2012. A Sunday morning, not unlike our Sunday here today. Wonderful time of worship, praising God, celebrating him. But yet in the middle of our worship, we could not find my dad. He was nowhere to be found. And so we went looking for him and searching for him, and my brothers found him in his office, having passed away from some heart issue, heart attack, stroke. I don't know what the issue was, but his heart failed him. On a Sunday morning, while he was getting ready to preach God's word. As he was getting ready to come and deliver to this congregation a word from the Lord, God decided to take him home. He was a young man, not even 60 years old. In good health, played tennis three times a week. No signs of any health issues whatsoever.

And in that moment, watching the EMS come in and try to work on my dad and not being able to do anything for him and watching them carry my dad out on a stretcher. On a Sunday morning of all days, when we were supposedly in the presence of God, and yet, this happens here to the pastor, to my dad, to my friend. It shattered my view of God in that moment. It shattered it.

You see, I had this view of God that if you do the right things, God will bless you. That was sort of my theology. If you do the right things, God will bless you. You'll experience God's blessing and favor in your life. And of all the people I ever knew, the one person that I could say did the most right things was my dad. My dad left a very lucrative software career to take a not very lucrative pastorate, and to raise five boys on a very meager salary and to make incredible sacrifices. And I watched how he endured baseless criticism, and people attacking him within the church, and I watched how he constantly loved and served, and gave and sacrificed for the Lord, and for his kingdom, and for his people. And this is what he gets. This is how he dies.

All of a sudden, "if you do the right things, God will bless you" didn't add up to the events I was experiencing, and my family was experiencing, and our church was experiencing at the time. And I remember in my grief just saying, "God, I don't understand this. God, this makes no sense to me. God, I can't comprehend how you could allow this to happen to our family, to our church."

And I was expressing those things as we do to the people in our lives, the people that are close to us, the people that care for us. And I'll never forget a minister took me out to lunch shortly after my dad passed away. And I was just, I was broken. I was absolutely broken. I didn't understand. Yes, I love the Lord. But I didn't understand. And I was just pouring my heart out to this man of God that I respected greatly. I said, "I don't understand how God could allow this to happen. I don't understand why my dad died."

And he said, I'll never forget his words. He said, "I know why it happened."

I said, "Really, explain it to me." You see, when we found my dad, we prayed for him. We surrounded him. We confessed scripture over him. We declared what the Bible says, that by his stripes, he would be healed, and that we prayed that God would raise him up. And the leaders of the church were there, and we were praying, and we were calling out to God to heal my dad, in faith, believing God. And yet at the end of the day, my dad didn't walk out of his office. He was wheeled out on a stretcher.

And so I'm saying to this minister, "How could God allow this to happen? Why didn't God answer our prayers?"

He says, "I know why it happened." I'm all ears. Right? This is my question that I have to answer. He said this: "If your elders, the leaders of the church that prayed for your dad, if your elders were real men of faith, your dad would still be alive today. If your dad was a real man of faith, he would still be alive today."

I sat there. I listened. Listened to everything he had to say. And I walked out of Mama Margie's, I sat down in my car, and I said, "I don't know if that's true or not. But what that guy just did to me, I am never gonna do to somebody else. I don't know if that's true or not, but I'm never gonna go to somebody whose heart is broken into a million pieces and come and tell them that it's their fault."

And so what this did for me was this led me to say, "God, I believe in you. I believe in your son Jesus. I know that you have saved me. And you have filled me with your spirit. I believe that. But everything else is up for grabs. Everything else. Because the things that I believed, the things that people I respect are telling me, I don't know if they're true. Because I cannot handle the situation that I find myself in. My doctrine, my theology, it cannot process these events."

And so I took everything that I had been taught, and I pushed it to the side. And I said, "God, I want to know you. There are things about you that I've believed that are not true. There are things about you that are true, that I have not believed. God, I want to know you." And so where do we find that? Right here. And so for the next two years, it was me and my Bible and nobody else. I didn't want to hear this preacher. I didn't want to hear that preacher. I didn't want to hear from this perspective or that perspective, or this camp, or that camp. It was me and my Bible. "God, I want to know you. Reveal yourself to me. Help me see what I cannot see. Help me know what I do not know."

And in reading my Bible, there's the book of Job. In the book of Job, it tells us some things about God. And I have three things, three points I want to draw out for you from the book of Job that will help you. Whether you're in a situation like this of great loss and suffering, whether you've been through one, or you haven't yet been there. We all need this message.

Before I get to my three points, I need to tell you that what that minister told me at Mama Margie's was wrong. Absolutely, categorically wrong. What I did not know about that man and his theology—I didn't know it, I hadn't studied it, I didn't understand it—was that that man was a word-of-faith preacher. He believed in this false, heretical gospel that teaches you you can have whatever you want if you have enough faith. It's called word-of-faith. There are many, in fact, probably the most popular teachers teach this heresy today. Kenneth Copeland is a heretic teacher that teaches word-of-faith theology. I'm getting a little bit animated right now. Maybe I need to dial it back. Creflo Dollar? Jesse Duplantis. And then there are others that teach word-of-faith light. If I go down that list, we would be here all day.

They teach that you can have whatever you want if you just have enough faith and speak it with your words. It's called name it and claim it, blab it and grab it. If you're sick, if you're poor, it's your fault, because you don't have enough faith. It's not true. And the book of Job tells us it's not true. Job was a real man of faith. He trusted God. He trusted God so much that when all of his blessings were taken away, he still worshiped God. That theology is satanic, it's demonic. It's not true. Whether you have a lot of faith or whether you have a little bit of faith, Jesus says, in the world, we will all have what? Tribulation, hardships, struggles. But yet he says that we can take heart because he has overcome the world.

You see, Job's friends came to him and they said, "You have secret, you have hidden sin in your life. That's why you're enduring all of this suffering." Well, at the end of the book of Job, you know who shows up? God shows up. And you know what God does? He rebukes Job's friends for the lies they've been saying. He rebukes them. And what that minister told me at Mama Margie's, 14 years ago, is just another version of that. "You didn't have enough faith." Well, what's that? That's some hidden sin in my heart. "You had sin in your life, that's why you didn't get what you prayed for." No, it's not true.

1. God is Absolutely Sovereign Over All Things

The first point that the book of Job shows us so clearly is that God is absolutely sovereign over all things. He's absolutely sovereign. Where do we see God? He's on his throne in heaven. And what is he doing? He's holding court. And what is he ruling and reigning over? He's ruling and reigning over everything, including the earth. And even the devil himself has to come and give reports to God on his throne. God is seated on the throne of heaven, and he rules and reigns over all things.

This can be described as God's omnipotence. He is almighty, he has all power. And that means, because God is sovereign over all things, that there are no accidents in this life. That everything, because God is sovereign, everything in this life has a purpose. Everything in this life has meaning. It is so clear that because of no fault of Job's, God allowed these events to happen in his life. There was a greater purpose for it. Job didn't see it. Job didn't understand it. And yet God was doing something through it. These weren't just random accidents that afflicted Job. There was a purpose. There was meaning behind it.

Now when I say that God allowed this to happen to Job, at first glance, this can make us uncomfortable. It can be an uncomfortable thought. God allowed this? How could God allow this to happen? Why didn't God stop this? Why didn't God just flick Satan out of heaven and say, "Get out of here"? Why did God highlight Job? It wasn't Satan that brought up Job. It was God. "Hey, Satan, have you considered Job?"

And because of this tension between God's sovereignty and our suffering on this earth, many people just outright reject the idea that God is sovereign. And they will say that there is suffering in the world, not because God is sovereign. "God is not sovereign over suffering." They will say this, quote, "because people have free will." Because people have free will and they choose to sin, it produces suffering in the world. Yes, that is a secondary cause. And yes, people are responsible for their sin. God, though he is sovereign, is not the author of evil, nor does he do evil, nor is he responsible for evil. We are responsible for the sin in our lives. But all the suffering in the world is not because of free will. God is sovereign over all things.

And this alternative that God is not sovereign over suffering is so dark and depressing. Why? Because it removes God's power. And in doing so, it removes all meaning and purpose from suffering. If God is not sovereign over everything, then the evil we endure, the suffering we endure, the hardships we endure, if they're just simply the random acts of evil men, truly your suffering is meaningless and purposeless. That's very dark. Not only is it dark and depressing, but that's not what the Bible says. So there's that too.

It's not just the sinful actions of evil men that produces Job's suffering. Fire from heaven comes down and consumes all of his sheep. A tornado strikes his son's house and kills his children. These are not the actions of evil men. These are the actions of nature that God gave Satan control over in this moment. In verse 10, Satan says this to God: "Does Job fear God for no reason? Have you not put a hedge around him and his house and all that he has?" Satan says, "Of course, Job worships you. You're protecting him. You're watching over him. You're blessing him. There's a hedge around him. I want to get to him, but you won't let me, God."

And truly, hear this for all of God's children. His protection, his hedge, is about all of us. God had a hedge around Job, but guess what? God has a hedge around you as well. The Bible actually says that we are in Christ. We are hidden with God in Christ. That means that anything in our lives is allowed there by God. And if he has allowed it into our lives, it's because he has a great meaning and purpose for it. God's protection extends to all of his children. Satan cannot touch Job without God's explicit permission, and neither can he touch you. So whatever comes into our lives is allowed there by God for a greater purpose.

In Luke chapter 22, Jesus is speaking to Peter:

Luke 22:31-32 (ESV)

“Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

Satan came to Jesus to ask permission. To sift Peter like wheat. What does sifting like wheat mean? They would put it in a grate, and they would shake it back and forth, and throw it up into the air, and it was this violent shaking so that everything but the wheat would fall off. He's saying Satan has demanded to have you, that he might shake you, torment you, afflict you, buffet you, attack you.

And if I was Peter, I'd be sitting there thinking, "And you told him no, right, Jesus? You told them no, right? You told him—you remember Jesus, how you told me? 'Get behind me, Satan.' You told him that, right?"

But this is what Jesus told Peter. He says, "But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail." You see, Jesus gave something greater to Peter than protection. He gave him prayer for the most important thing—that Peter's faith would not fail. I think the sifting as wheat refers to the night where Peter denied Jesus. I think it refers to that darkest moment of his life where he denied Jesus three times. Because Jesus says, "I prayed for you that your faith may not fail, and when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers."

What Jesus is saying is, "Peter, I'm going to allow this trial into your life because it's going to purify you. It's going to refine you. It's not going to destroy you, but it's going to make you stronger. And when you emerge from this trial, having been purified like gold, I want you to then turn around and strengthen those who are weak. I want you to carry those who are weak with the strength that I'm going to form in you, in your character, in these moments. Because, Peter, there's people in your life, there's people around you who are going to need the strength that you can give to them."

And so it is with you and me. Yes, we would love it if we could just ride through this life on a cloud. If we could just ease through this life, and it was all cotton candy and rainbows, and we pull every slot machine, and it's bing, bing, bing, 777, and it's just awesome all the time. And we see examples of people whose parents are very wealthy and they live lives like that. And what do we call those kinds of people? Spoiled. Because their character never develops. Does our character develop in good times or in hard times? Hard times.

So God allows Peter to go through it, to produce the character of Christ in him, that he might be able to share it with others, and that is what God does in our lives as well. Yes, we wish he would take the trial from us. Yes, we would pray, "God remove this thorn from me." But like he told Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you because my power is made perfect in your weakness." God is a shield about us, a hedge about us. Whatever he allows in, whatever we experience in our life, it has gone through his filter so that we might draw closer to him, that we might cling to him, that we might draw strength from him and thereby strengthen others with what he has done in our lives.

And so this hedge about us, it should produce a great confidence in the people of God. God is watching over me. God is watching over you. And he will not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability. He provides for us the strength that we need in whatever challenge that we face. Therefore, whatever comes into my life has been approved by God for some greater purpose of his.

2. God is All-Wise, All-Knowing, and All-Good

The second thing that we see in the book of Job is that God is all-wise, all-knowing, and all-good. We see this at the very end in chapter 38, when God comes and speaks with Job. And God never gives Job an answer. He never says, "Job, this is why you endured this suffering." Instead, he does something even better than that for Job. He reveals himself to Job. He gives Job a greater revelation of who God himself is.

And when Job sees this vision of God, glorious, almighty, all-powerful, all-wise, all-knowing, all-good, Job himself repents. Job himself covers his own mouth and says, "I didn't understand what I was saying in my grief. But now, God, I see. I see who you are. I see that you are all-wise, that you know what you are doing, God." He says, "I repent of the words that I said. I should have trusted in you. I shouldn't have questioned you," is what Job says. Even though God didn't rebuke Job, he only revealed himself to Job. Job himself repents of the words that he had said. He had this greater revelation of God.

Listen, when you are going through a trial, you don't need answers. You need God. That's what you need. You just need him. You just need more of his presence in your life. God does allow things in our life. Things that we don't understand, things that we wish were not there. But what we really need is not an explanation from God on why those things are there. What we need is more of God. We just need more of him.

We often don't see God's greater purpose. We often don't understand it. We don't know what he's doing. It may take years to see what God was doing all along. Like Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers, who some 40 years later will say, "What you meant for evil, God meant for good." God uses Joseph in his life in slavery and life in prison, and having lost his family, he uses it to bring deliverance and salvation to the people of God. What you meant for evil, God meant for good. Job saw it some 40 years later.

It may be years before we ever see what God was doing all along with our pain and our suffering. And we truly, in this life, we may never even see it this side of glory. The book of Hebrews talks about the great patriarchs of the faith, and it says they all died in faith. They all died, having not yet received the promise, but believing God was faithful. We may not see it in this life. But we need to be like Job. We need to be like the great heroes of the faith, that no matter what comes to us in this life, we're gonna cross the finish line in faith. We're going to cross over, believing in God, believing in his word, holding fast to him.

I don't know what tomorrow holds for me or for you, or for our country, or for the world. But God does. And truly, that is enough. And so the book of Job, it becomes this invitation to let God be God.

3. We Can Trust God at All Times

Let God be God. So because God is sovereign, and because God is omniscient, all-knowing, all-wise, all-good, therefore, we can trust him at all times. Whatever life brings, you can trust in God. Trust in him, believe in him, hold fast to him.

One of the things that has often brought me comfort in life when I don't understand the events that are transpiring around me is to look to Christ and his suffering on the cross. The suffering of Christ on the cross was the greatest evil that has ever been done in the history of the world. What could be more evil than murdering the Son of God? It was the greatest act of injustice ever done. Jesus had never sinned. He did not deserve that death that he died.

And yet, when Peter is preaching on the day of Pentecost, he says this: This death of Christ on the cross was God's predetermined plan to bring about the salvation of mankind. And so if God can use the most evil act, the greatest injustice ever known, to bring about the greatest good that there will ever be, how much more can God take the events of our lives? The evil done against us, the suffering we endure, to produce something good and glorious and beautiful in the end.

If God can turn the cross into the resurrection, into the salvation of the world, he can turn your pain into something beautiful. He can use it, and he will use it, the Bible says.

Romans 8:28 (ESV)

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

All things are working together for good, for those who love God and are called according to his purpose. Even our pain, even our suffering, even when we don't see it. God is working in it all. So let us trust God at all times. Let us trust God when things are good. Let us trust God when things are bad. Let us trust God when things are ugly. Let us trust God with our grief. Go to him with your pain, go to him with your grief. Go to him with your questions. Just go to him. Just go to him.

Conclusion

I wanna close with this story. It's a story many of you may have heard before, but it's about a man who endured a similar situation and loss to Job. His name was Horatio Spafford. And he was a successful lawyer in Chicago in the 19th century. He was also a Presbyterian minister and a friend of D.L. Moody. But as he lived in Chicago, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, as it swept through the city, it destroyed all of his real estate investments, leaving him almost impoverished. And prior to that tragedy, of economic downturn, he had already lost his young son to scarlet fever.

And so, in the midst of losing everything and hoping for a better future and rest and outcome, he put his wife, Anna, and their four daughters on a ship to sail to England. As they got to England, they were planning to join D.L. Moody and his evangelistic work in Europe. However, as they were about to leave on their trip, business demanded that Horatio stayed behind, and he stayed in Chicago. And so he sent his wife and his four daughters ahead. He put them on the ship as they crossed the Atlantic, and he stayed behind in Chicago.

But as they were sailing, their ship was struck by another vessel. And the ship that they were on sunk in 12 minutes. That's really fast. His wife Anna survived. She was pulled from the water unconscious by rescue efforts. But all four of their daughters drowned: Annie, Maggie, Bessie, and Tanetta. When his wife Anna reached Wales, she sent a telegram to Horatio with these words: Saved alone. What shall I do?

Horatio boarded a ship immediately to go to his grieving wife, a ship that sailed the very waters in which his daughters had perished. And as he crossed the Atlantic, the captain, knowing what had happened, came as they were at the very spot where his daughters had perished, and he pointed out to him the place where they had drowned. And gazing at the empty waves, Horatio said this: "It is well. The will of God be done."

Some three years later, Horatio Spafford would take these words and put them to music. And today we know this as the hymn, It Is Well With My Soul. Listen to the words that he penned:

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin, not in part but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

This man, like many other men, lost more than he thought he could bear. Yet he took his grief to the Lord. And he found in the Lord a healing that only the Lord can do. God is sovereign over all things. God has a purpose for all of the events in our life. We may see it, we may not. But he is working in all of it for our good and for his glory. And until our faith becomes sight, may the Lord teach us to sing: "It is well, it is well, with my soul."

God, I'm going to worship you. I'm going to trust in you. I'm going to believe in you. I'm going to hold fast to you as the anchor for my soul. We all go through storms in life. What do we do with our pain? Do we take it to the Lord? Do we run from the Lord? Do we curse God and die? Let us just worship. Let us just trust Him. Let us say whatever comes my way, your praise will be on my lips.

I invite you to stand with me this morning. You know, I found that when difficult times come, what people really need is a friend. What people really need is someone to love them. People don't need theology and doctrine. When people are suffering, they don't need you to show up and give them your exhortation on your theology of God's sovereignty. I think those things are best kept for sermons.

When people in our lives go through grief, what they really need is presence. They need a loving hand. They need a shoulder to cry on. They need someone to say, "I don't understand this either. But I love you. And I'm here for you. And we're praying for you. And we're going to walk with you." That's what we need. Answers, they're in God's hands. When we show up with answers, what we think are answers, oftentimes, we're putting ourselves in the place of God. We need to be content to let God do his work in people's hearts and us just be the hands and feet of Jesus that love on people when they're hurting.

So when you see someone hurting, when you see someone going through a difficult time, don't show up with your exhortation, your dissertation on six points of God's sovereignty, or why they don't have enough faith, or they must have hidden sin in their life—unless you want to be rebuked by God like Job's friends, which I don't want to be. Let's learn to love people. Let's learn to care for people. Let's just be a shoulder to cry on and prepare a meal and just be there for people. That's what the body of Christ has been for me, in my moments of need, and what we've endeavored to be for others, and that we can be for our friends and family, and our fellow man. Amen?

God's Providential Care

God's Providential Care

Matt Bell

Download

Sermon Summary

In this sermon, Pastor Matt examines the doctrine of God’s unseen providence through the Book of Esther, demonstrating that His sovereign care is continually active even when His presence feels entirely withdrawn. Because God is the supreme sovereign orchestrating human history, His providential care for His covenant people is universal (reaching even the exiles who remained in pagan Persia), ordinary (utilizing mundane human circumstances and weaknesses rather than suspending natural law, thereby maximizing His glory), and mediated (working through the active, faithful obedience of His people rather than passive fatalism). Ultimately, Esther's intercession serves as a typological foreshadowing of the Gospel, illustrating how Christ left His royal position to mediate for a condemned people, orchestrating a great reversal from death to life.

Sermon Transcript

Introduction: The Book of Esther and God's Providential Care

We are continuing our series, our year-long series, working our way through the Bible, the year of the Bible, reading through it together as a church, and looking every Sunday morning at a passage that we read that week. This morning, the sermon's going to be a little bit different in that we're not going to look at one specific passage, but we're going to look at an entire book of the Bible, the book of Esther.

We read this book last week. Some of you, of course, love this book, and for good reason, it is a wonderful book of the Bible. And instead of looking at one specific passage, we're going to look at the main theme of the book of Esther and how to apply that theme to our lives today. The book of Esther is 10 short chapters about God's providential care for his people. God's providential care for his people. And it tells us about how God from heaven is looking down through his unseen hand of providence. He's providing for his people and protecting his people, watching over them and caring for them. So that's the book, that's the theme.

A Foundation from Psalm 37

I'm not going to read a text here at the beginning. Well, actually, I am. And it's not from Esther. It is from Psalm 37. So if you have your Bibles open to Psalm 37 with me quickly, this won't be on the screen because I just right now decided to do this. Psalm 37 speaks of God's providential care, and it fits beautifully with the book of Esther, the themes of the book of Esther. So we'll look at a few verses here, just to whet our appetite for the direction of the Book of Esther, from Psalm 37.

If you have it, and even if you don't, I invite you to stand with me to read from Psalm 37 this morning. We'll read this, we'll pray, and then we'll recap the story of Esther in case you're not familiar with it, and then we'll start looking at some specific scriptures from Esther. Looking here, starting in verse 7, it says:

"Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him. Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way over the man who carries out evil devices. Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not yourself. It tends only to evil. For the evildoers shall be cut off. But those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land. In just a little while, the wicked will be no more, though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming. The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy to slay those whose way is upright. But their sword shall enter their own heart. And their bows shall be broken, be broken. [Verse 16] Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous."

Lord, we thank you, God, for these beautiful words, these words of this psalm, and Lord, the book of Esther. We thank you, Lord Jesus, for your providential care for your people. Lord, that you are watching over us. Lord, your word teaches us that we are close to you and that you are close to us and that you never leave us or forsake us. Lord, I pray that as we spend time in your word this morning that you would help us to see your unseen hand, that you would help us to see how you are constantly providing and protecting your people. And Lord, that it would help us to trust in you, even when we don't see you. In Jesus' name. Amen.

The Story of Esther

You may be seated this morning. A little bit of overview on Esther: It takes place during the time that the exiles, the Jewish exiles, were returning to rebuild Jerusalem. God had previously removed the Jewish people from their land because they had been unfaithful to the Lord. They had rejected the Lord. They had pursued idolatry. Though God had sent many messengers, many prophets to call his people back to him, they had hardened their hearts in rebellion. And so God exiled them. He tore them out of the land that he gave them. He carried them off into foreign lands, and they were there for 70 years.

Now, after 70 years, the king of that foreign land, King Cyrus, the king of Persia, issued a decree that the Jews could return to Jerusalem to rebuild their nation, to rebuild their city, to rebuild their temple, to rebuild their culture, their society. But even after the king of Persia gave this invitation that the Jews could return to their land, we read in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah that only a handful of the people that were exiled returned. The majority of the people chose not to return, to rebuild, but they chose to stay where they were comfortable, where they had planted their families, purchased land, started businesses. They didn't want to return to a land that was desolate, decimated, no economy, no business, just wide-open wilderness that had been destroyed. The majority of the people didn't want to go and rebuild. They stayed behind in Babylon and Persia.

And so the book of Esther tells us the story of the Jews that stayed behind in Persia, tells us what happened to them, those that didn't return to Jerusalem. And it begins in chapter one with a great feast thrown by the king of Persia. During that feast, he wants to show off his wealth and his power. He wants to show off his glory. And so he calls for his queen, who is a beautiful woman, and he wants to show her off to his kingdom. Well, she refuses to come and be paraded in front of the people. And so he decides, you know what, I'm just gonna get a new queen, then. And so he sets out on this four-year process to find the most beautiful and pleasant young woman in his whole kingdom, this massive kingdom—127 provinces from India to Ethiopia, this massive kingdom that he reigned over. He seeks the most beautiful woman in the whole kingdom. It takes him four years. Four years to find his new queen.

And at the end of this process, he lands on this poor orphan peasant, Jewish girl named Esther. And he chooses Esther to be his queen. Though he doesn't know she's a Jew, that her nationality, her race, is kept secret at the time. No one knows her origins. And during the course of time, while Esther is queen, one of the very powerful men in the kingdom, a man named Haman, he grows in his hatred towards the Jewish people. He makes a plan to destroy them all. He is so bent against destroying the Jewish people. He goes to the king—rather, he goes to the king. He manipulates the king to issue a decree that on such and such a day, all the Jewish people are to be killed, and all of their property is to be seized by whoever kills them.

And so it throws the kingdom into disarray. It throws the Jewish people into disarray. And at this point that Esther's cousin, the man who actually raised her, a man named Mordecai, he comes to Esther, he pleads with her, to do something, to intervene on behalf of her people. He says, you can't just sit there. You can't just sit idly by as the queen hiding behind the crown while your people are slaughtered.

But Esther is caught in a dilemma. The only way that she can enter into the king's presence is with an invitation. No one can simply barge into the presence of the king. They have to be invited. And if anyone comes into the king's presence without an invitation, the sentence for that act is death. And so she is placed in a very difficult position where she has to approach the king, but it might cost her her life. The only way that sentence could be averted is if the king raised his golden scepter to the person who approached him, and in that case, he would be granting them mercy. That would be a great exception. But it would be a great violation for her to presumptuously enter the king's presence, and remember, this is a king who has a history of getting rid of queens that displease him.

Nevertheless, Esther decides, I'm going to risk my life on behalf of my people. She fasts for three days. She goes into the presence of the king to plead with him. He raises his golden scepter to her, pardoning her, granting an audience with him. And through her bravery, this wicked man, Haman, his plot is uncovered, and he himself is hanged on the very gallows that he built to hang the Jews upon.

Everybody loves a story like Esther. It has all the makings of a great story. It has this love story between the king and the queen. It has a great heroine, Esther, who goes from rags to riches. She's a peasant that becomes a princess who intervenes on behalf of her people. It saves her nation, saves her people. It has this evil man, every great story has a great villain, and Haman is this wicked, evil man who's scheming and plotting. And yet, because of Esther's bravery and her sacrifice, there's this very satisfying turn of events where all of the evil that he plotted against these people come back, it comes back on his own head. And everybody lives happily ever after. Everybody loves a story like Esther.

The Unseen Hand of God

But when you read the book of Esther, when you read its 10 chapters, there's one thing in the book of Esther that is noticeably absent, especially from a book of the Bible. There's something that you will not find anywhere in the book of Esther. And that is any mention of God. The 10 chapters in the book of Esther, God, the Lord, is not mentioned one time. Not one time.

Esther is the only book of the Bible that doesn't mention God. He's not named, he's not even prayed to, nobody even prays in this book. When Esther calls a fast, it's not a fast with prayer. It's just a fast. God is notably absent from this book. In fact, this great omission has led some people to argue that this book should not even be included in the Bible. One of the very famous people that argued for that was the Protestant reformer Martin Luther. He didn't even think this book should be in the Bible because it doesn't even mention God.

But what this book, Esther, is showing us by the author not mentioning God is he is showing how God, even when he is not seen, is still protecting and providing for his people. That's why the theme of this book is God's providential care. God's providential care, that God from heaven is the one who is orchestrating the events. God from heaven is the one who is moving things and setting things up and placing this peasant girl into the right place at the right time. And he is the one who is turning everything around for his people. It is a story about God's providential care. That God is the supreme sovereign. He rules and reigns over all the events of history, over the events of nations, and over the events of our lives. And what Esther reminds us is that even when we don't see God moving, he is still there. He is always with us, even as Jesus himself promised that he would always be with us.

So there's 3 things about God's providential care from Esther I want to draw out for us this morning.

1. God's Providential Care is Universal

The first is that God's providential care, it is universal. It is universal. And what that means, what I mean by that, is that his providential care extends to all of his people, wherever they are. You see, these are the Jews that didn't go back to Jerusalem. These are the Jews that chose not to sacrifice, not to go back and rebuild, not to go be surrounded by the temple, not to go back to the Jewish homeland, but they stayed behind. Most likely because they had some sense of prosperity in this pagan land. They stayed behind in Persia. And yet, God still protects them where they are. God's providential care is extended to all of his people.

Now, you may be wondering, there's times in our life where we go through all kinds of difficult things, times when it seems like God is not there. And in those times, you may be wondering, asking the question, does God see what I'm going through right now? God, do you see what's happening in my life? God, I don't understand, and certainly the exiles is there in this foreign land. The king's judgment comes down, this decree comes down: all the Jews get to be slaughtered on this day. God, where are you in this? You may be wondering, does God see my problem? Does God see my pain? Does God see the suffering that I am going through? Have you prayed prayers like that? God, where are you? Where are you in this? Or God, how could you allow this to happen in my life?

I think if we're all being honest—and I think church is a good place to be honest—we would all say there are times in life where God seems like he's a million miles away. Where we go and we pray before the Lord, and it seems like our prayers don't even reach the ceiling, much less to God in heaven. God, where are you? God, you feel so distant. You feel so removed.

If you've ever felt like that, the story of Esther serves as a reminder to us that even in those times, God sees what we're going through. And he not only sees us, he is there with us. In every trial, in every storm, in every temptation, in every calamity, God is with his people, whether we feel his presence or not. Whether we feel his presence or not. In Matthew chapter 10, Jesus says this. Speaking of God's care for his people, he says:

"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?"

Isn't that true? Two sparrows are sold for a penny? No, we don't really sell sparrows anymore. I don't know if you go to PetSmart. Probably inflation's gone up quite a bit to... to sparrows. But anyway, Jesus says, are not two sparrows sold for a penny. They're almost worthless in our eyes, is what Jesus is saying. But he says:

"And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father."

What Jesus is saying is that God's providential care, it extends even to the sparrows. He sees even the sparrows. There's that wonderful hymn that says his eye is on the sparrow. But Jesus argues—he's making an argument. It's a logical argument from the lesser to the greater. Verse 30, he says:

"But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows."

Look, if God is paying attention to the things that seem to us so mundane, so unimportant, how much more is he paying attention to the things that are important? God is paying attention to every single detail of your life. Down to the number of hairs on your head. What an insignificant thing that is. Who cares? God cares. God cares. God cares for you so much, he cares how many hairs are on your head. That's how intimately he is acquainted with every last detail of your life. God cares more than you do. And what Jesus is saying, if God so cares for the sparrows, how much more does he care for you?

And so when we go through those hard times, those difficult times, those seasons where it seems like God is not with us, those seasons where it seems like God is absent, absent, those seasons where we pray and pray and pray and pray, and yet our prayers go unanswered, and we are confused, and we don't understand, and none of it makes sense to us. We must remind ourselves of the truth of God's word that he sees and he cares for us. We must strengthen our hearts with the truth of God's word. This is why God has given us his word for this very purpose: so that we would not be overcome, that our hearts would not be overcome with our feelings in moments of great difficulty. But that through his word, we would hold fast to God, hold fast to his promises, not giving in to despair when things look bleak, when things look difficult, that we would pray like the psalmist, "Though I go through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me." That we would hold fast to God and his word and trust in him.

This isn't just theory for me. I've lived this in my own life. I've had to live this out. There's been many seasons in my life where God feels far, where God feels distant. There's been seasons in my life where I'm not, I don't understand what God is doing, where I'm confused, where I'm emotionally all over the place. Where my emotions are out of whack, where my feelings are out of whack. I know that's not really a proper preaching term but... The temptation is to give in to despair, to give in to our feelings, to forsake God. Can we just be real here this morning? Life is not, you know, a highlight reel. Life is not a highlight reel on Instagram that, you know, it's just awesome all the time. A lot of times, life is really hard.

And even in those hard times, sometimes it feels like God is not there with us. And in those moments, we have a choice. We have a decision. God, I'm going to trust in you or I'm not. I'm going to believe in you or I'm not. I'm gonna hold fast to you and have my feet planted firmly on your word, or I'm not. Which is it? Do we run to God in our moments of difficulty and hardship, even when we feel like he is not there? Or do we run from God? The book of Esther teaches us and shows us that God is the place we must run to. He is the one who is watching over us and caring for us.

I want you to know that God, for me, has proven to be faithful to His Word every time. I've never seen God's word fail. I've never seen it. He's proven himself time, and time, and time, and time again to be faithful to his word. Now somebody is sitting there and you are thinking right now, well, yeah, but that's because you're a pastor. Of course, you're closer to God than we are. The Bible says that God is no respecter of persons. This promise of providential care, it's universal. It extends to all of God's people. Are you one of his children? Have you put your faith in his son Jesus? His care extends even to you right now where you are. Even if no one else sees, even if no one else understands, God sees and God understands. Therefore, we can go to him in our moments of great difficulty.

2. God's Providential Care is Ordinary

The 2nd thing about God's providential care that I want to draw your attention to is that it is ordinary. It is ordinary. It's accomplished through ordinary means. It's accomplished through ordinary means. And we see here in Esther chapter 4, here in verse 13, when Mordecai goes to his cousin, and he's saying, you need to intervene. Look at the conversation that takes place here. It says:

"Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, 'Do not think to yourself that in the king's palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?' Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 'Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.'"

The means by which God accomplishes his providential care are often very ordinary. This is not some miraculous intervention from heaven. This is not some miracle that happens here. This is a queen going before the king. This is not the Red Sea parting. This is not fishes and loaves being multiplied. This is not blind eyes being opened. This is not Jesus walking on water. This is not a miracle that's taking place here. This is just the ordinary course of events of human life.

What I mean by ordinary is, I mean, it's not miraculous, it's not the suspending of the natural order of things. God moves through ordinary circumstances. Now, we have an appetite for the spectacular. We have an appetite for the extraordinary. But typically God doesn't. Typically, God loves using ordinary, everyday things to accomplish his purpose. Yes, sometimes God does part the Red Sea. But more often than not, he uses the ordinary to bring about the extraordinary.

So God will use an exiled prince with a stuttering problem to deliver his people. God will use a shepherd boy with a few rocks in his pocket to bring down a giant. God will use a peasant girl to save her people. God will use his crucified son to save the world. This is God's pattern. This is what God does. He uses the ordinary things to accomplish the stupendous. He does the incredible through things that just seem everyday.

Why does God do this? Well, because really nothing is impressive to God. Right? I mean, God's upholding the universe by the word of his power. God speaks a word and existence comes into being, right? I mean, what he enjoys doing is the surprising thing. The taking that thing that everybody sees as just insignificant, overlooked, not valuable in the eyes of anyone or the world. And then taking that unassuming thing and then doing something that's absolutely mind-blowing with it. Why does God do that? Because then God gets the glory. It glorifies him when he does this.

So Paul will talk about in 2 Corinthians 12, how God loves to do this. And he talks about this through talking about this difficulty, this hardship that he was going through. He called it a thorn in the flesh that God gave him to keep him humble. So in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, it says:

"So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations..."

Paul is saying, God was giving me all of these revelations, and he knew that I, in my flesh, tended towards pride, so God gave me, he allowed Satan to attack my life in a certain way. Paul calls it his thorn in the flesh, to keep me close to God and to keep me humble is what he's saying he has done in his life.

"A thorn in the flesh was given me, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me."

So Paul goes to the Lord. God, please take this away from me. This thorn in the flesh. Now, there's much speculation about what the thorn in the flesh was. Guess what? Nobody knows. Nobody knows. We know it was a messenger of Satan. That's bad. That was given to him by God, God allowed it into his life. So let that mess with your prosperity gospel and name it and claim it and all of that. So he goes to the Lord and pleads with the Lord. Take this from me. He says:

"But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'"

He's saying, Paul, if I didn't give you this thorn in the flesh or allow it into your life, if I didn't allow Satan to attack you in this way—what way is that? We don't know. Some speculated it was a health issue, some speculated it was his own conscience for the things that he had done before he was a Christian, some speculate it was the Jews who were persecuting Paul everywhere that he went. We don't know. We know it was bad enough that the Apostle Paul felt it was a great hindrance to him and his ministry. I could do so much more for you, Lord, if you would remove this thorn from me. But God says, I've allowed it in your life to keep you from becoming proud. He says, my grace is sufficient for you. I'm going to give you—I'm not going to remove it from your life, but I'm going to give you the power to overcome it. I'm going to give you the power to rise above it. I'm not gonna remove it, but I'm going to give you my strength, my power, so that you will not boast in your strength, but that you will boast in my power. Because everyone's going to see this problem, this circumstance, this situation, and they are going to see Paul, that the power and the strength that you are living in, it is not your own, but it has come down from heaven. And through that, I will be glorified and not you. So he says to him:

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong."

Are you weak here this morning? I've got good news for you. The Lord has power for you, not to remove that thing, that thorn in the flesh, that obstacle, that thing that is coming against you, not to remove it, but to give you the strength to be victorious over it. This is what God does. Because then his power is put on display.

When we go through hardship, we can pray that God will remove the hardship. That's okay to do. Paul did that. He did it 3 times. But at some point, we should also pray, God, give me the strength to endure. Or if you're not going to remove this, give me the strength, give me the power. And Lord, let your name be glorified in my life and in my weakness. So that when I am weak, I can be strong. May we be like the Apostle Paul, who will say, for the sake of Christ, for the sake of his name, for the sake of his glory, I will be content with weakness. I will be content with insults. I will be content with hardships. I will be content with persecutions and calamities. Yes, for the sake of Christ. Yes, for the glory of Christ.

We need to be content with the ordinary things of life. Because it is through the ordinary things of life that God puts his glory on display. Let us be careful that just because we're not seeing miracles, like we would like, we think we should see them, that we then conclude and assume that God, therefore, is not moving in my life and on my behalf. I think a lot of people, when they pray for a certain miracle, they don't see it the way that they told God it should happen. They presume that God is absent. He's far, he's distant, he hasn't heard their prayer. He hasn't answered their prayer. That he is not working on their behalf.

But that's not the truth of what the Bible says. In fact, Jesus in John 5:17 says:

"My Father is working until now, and I am working."

That God is always working on our behalf. He's always working. He's never taken a day off. He's working on our behalf. And so often he's working in the ordinary things of life. He's working through the ordinary means of grace. The word of God, the Lord's table, worship, prayer—on the surface, these things seem very ordinary. But underneath them, there is the supernatural power of God.

There's this wonderful quote from C.S. Lewis in his book Mere Christianity about the power of prayer. It's a little bit of a longer quote, but I do want to read it to you because it shows us that, just because it's ordinary, it doesn't mean that there's not incredible things happening as we pray. This is what he says:

"An ordinary, simple Christian kneels down to say his prayers. He's trying to get in touch with God. But if he is a Christian, he knows that what is prompting him to pray is also God. God, so to speak, inside of him. But he also knows that all his real knowledge of God comes through Christ. The man who was God. That Christ is standing beside him, helping him to pray. Christ is praying for him. Do you see what is happening? God is the thing to which he is praying, the goal he is trying to reach. God is also the thing inside of him, which is pushing him on the motivating power. God is also the road or the bridge along which he is being pushed to that goal. So the whole threefold life of the three-personal being is actually going on in that ordinary little bedroom where an ordinary man is saying his prayers. The man is being caught up into the higher kinds of life. What is called the Zoe, or spiritual life. He is being pulled into God, by God."

God loves to use these little ordinary things of life. And just because they're ordinary on the surface does not mean that God is not moving in a very powerful way through them.

3. God's Providential Care is Mediated

Number three thing I'm going to draw your attention to is that God's providential care is mediated. It is mediated. What I mean by that is, Esther has to engage. Esther has to go. Esther did what was right. So we can't simply say that, well, God is sovereign, and his care is providential, therefore I don't have to do anything. And God's just going to do what he's going to do irregardless of my actions. That's not the way his providential care is carried out.

And so we see in Esther chapter 5, verse one and 2, that she goes into the presence of the king:

"On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner court of the king's palace, in front of the king's quarters, while the king was sitting on his royal throne inside the throne room opposite the entrance to the palace. And when the king saw Queen Esther standing in the court, she won favor in his sight, and he held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand. Then Esther approached and touched the tip of the scepter."

Just because you can say, yes, God is providential, yes, God is sovereign, it's not an excuse for being passive. God carries out his sovereign purpose through the faithful obedience of his people. When we faithfully live in obedience to God, God's plan and purpose is carried out in the world. We are the body of Christ. We are the hands and feet of Jesus. And so if we see people in need, let's be the body of Christ. Let's go to them in love and care and support. Let's encourage them. Let's pray for them because through us, God's providential care is extended. We can be the mediators of God's care to others in the world.

And in that, we get to be a part of what God is doing. You see, Mordecai told Esther, if you don't intervene, somebody else is going to. God's going to bring deliverance some other way. You can be a part of what God's going to do or not. I want to be a part of what God's doing. I want to be a part of how God's building his kingdom in the world. This means that God's people need to be active applying their faith, living out their faith in the ordinary things of life. Because when we do that, God does extraordinary things through his church in the world.

Conclusion: Esther as a Picture of the Gospel

In the end, Esther becomes for us a picture of the gospel. We see that in that there's this great reversal of fortunes. God's people are slated for death. They're as good as dead. But because Esther is willing to intervene, because she's willing to sacrifice herself, God's people are saved.

And just as we are dead in our sins, that is how we were without hope. Christ left his place of comfort. Left his position of royalty and came and laid down his life. He intervened on our behalf. He became the ultimate mediator for us, so that we who have trusted in Christ, we have passed from death to life. We have passed from being sinful to righteous. We were without hope, but because he paid the price for us, our future now is bright. And we have a promise of eternity with him, world without end. So whatever this life holds for us, the future is bright. Whatever challenges we are in the midst of and facing, God is going to be faithful to his word. And when we step out in faith and obedience to him, God can accomplish incredible things through our lives, putting his glory on display. Amen.

Scripture...

Scripture...

Matt Bell

Download

Sermon Summary

This sermon, based on Nehemiah 8, explores the foundational role of Scripture in the life of a believer and the church. Contextualizing the passage within Israel's return from exile and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the speaker outlines seven key principles about the written Word of God: it is God's actual word, it must be central to our lives, it must be read, it must be honored, it must be taught, it brings holy conviction of sin, and ultimately, it produces spiritual strength and joy. Emphasizing that believers should actively read and obey the Bible rather than treating it as a mere artifact, the message concludes by encouraging the congregation to find victory over sin by rejoicing in the finished work of Christ.

Sermon Transcript

Introduction and Context

So if you would open with me in your Bibles to the book of Nehemiah, Nehemiah chapter 8 this morning.

We're in a series this year where we're working our way through the whole Bible together. And this week, we were in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. You can read along with us. This week, we're starting a new book of the Bible, the book of Esther. And then later this week, we'll start the book of Job. In your handout, there are the chapters that we are reading as a church together.

Ezra and Nehemiah tell the story of God's people, the children of Israel, coming back into the land. You see, God had made a promise to Abraham to put his people in this land, but because they had disobeyed God and pursued idolatry, God had taken them out of the land. And the land had been destroyed. Their homes, their cities, the temple, everything had been destroyed because of their idolatry.

And the Old Testament really is the story of the work that God did through humanity to bring Jesus into the world, who would be the savior of the whole world. In that story of God bringing Jesus into the world, it teaches about his dealing with mankind. And so while they were in exile for 70 years, the land was desolate. It was overrun, it was destroyed. But after 70 years, God allowed his people to return to the land, to rebuild it, to be replanted, to be the people through which God would bring the Messiah, Jesus, into the world.

They had come back into the land of Israel, to the city of Jerusalem. The first thing that they did when they returned was they rebuilt the temple to reestablish the worship of God and to make that central to their life as a people. And then later on, they had performed in the book of Nehemiah a construction project to rebuild the walls surrounding Jerusalem.

And so where we are in chapter 8 is the temple has been rebuilt, the walls have been rebuilt, and now here is this service of dedication. They've been back in the land nearly a hundred years at this point. And there's this time of dedicating the city again to the Lord and themselves to the Lord. To affirm that they will be faithful to God and faithful to his word and faithful to his covenant.

The Reading of God's Word

In chapter 8, we read this story of this dedication ceremony, and I invite you to stand with me as we read this passage of scripture. We're looking at 12 verses here. And I want to let you know, in these 12 verses, twice there are lists of names that I am not even going to try to pronounce. I tried this week to learn these names, and failed. You can ask my children how it went as I tried to read it to them. Something about Hebrew names just triggers my dyslexia. I cannot read these names. I have tried. So when I get to the names, we're just going to move on past them this morning. But starting here in verse one:

And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.

And Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose. And beside him stood [a bunch of wonderful people, I'm sure they were the best people, but you see their names there]. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, "Amen, Amen," lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.

Also [here's another wonderful group of people that were there, it tells us that they were Levites, they were priests], they helped the people to understand the law, while the people remained in their places. They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and they gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.

And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep." For all the people wept as they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, "Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, "Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved." And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them.

Father, we do thank you for your word. It is precious to us. Lord, speak to us as we endeavor to hear from you this morning. Open our hearts to your word, in Jesus' name. Amen.

You may be seated this morning.

Here in Ezra and Nehemiah, they're rebuilding a nation. They're rebuilding a city. They're rebuilding a people. They're rebuilding a culture. And one of the main thrusts of these two books is that it's not just the physical structures that need to be rebuilt. It's not just the temple, it's not just the walls. It's the hearts of the people that need to be renovated as well.

And so to do this, as the temple's been rebuilt, the walls have been rebuilt, they have this time of reading scripture and teaching scripture to the people. From this passage today, we see several things about scripture that I want to draw your attention to this morning. Scripture is the word of God that is written. Several things about this written word that I want to highlight for you this morning. I figured on Mother's Day, you wanted a very long sermon, so I brought for you today seven things to highlight for you. It won't be as long as Ezra's sermon. I can tell you that. But how long it will be only the Lord knows. We're going to move through these quickly here this morning. As I was looking at my notes again this morning, more points started to come to my head than the seven I already had, but I said, I'm just going to keep it to these seven. But I might throw in a few bonus ones here and there.

1. Scripture is God's Word

The first one is from verse one. And as I said, I'm going to move through these quickly. The first one we see is that scripture is the word of God. Scripture is God's word.

Here we see it says that Ezra the scribe, he read the book of the law of Moses, that the Lord had commanded Israel. Did you see that? Do you notice that? It wasn't just Moses' words. It was the words that God had given to Moses, but they were not Moses' commandments. These were the commandments that the Lord had given. I want you right here at the beginning not to miss this, that scripture, the written pages that we call here the Holy Bible—these aren't just the words of men. These are the words of God. Yes, God used Moses to write them. But the words that Moses wrote were not his words, they were God's word.

In 2 Timothy chapter 3, I don't have this scripture here on the screen, but if you want to flip over there with me quickly, you can. It tells us this about scripture. It's the Apostle Paul writing, and he says that all scripture is breathed out by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. All scripture, the written word is breathed out by God. It's the very words of God, the very breath of God, and it is profitable to us. It's profitable to teach us, to reprove us. That's to bring us under conviction, to correct us, and to train us to be righteous.

One of the reasons that we believe that the scripture is the Word of God, we see it here. It says that it is. But the Lord Jesus taught us this as well. In Matthew chapter 22, again, I don't have this verse here on the screen, but if you flip over with me a couple pages to Matthew 22. Jesus here is in a debate, a discussion with the religious leaders of his day, and he's correcting them. And in verse 31, Jesus says this: "Have you not read what was said to you by God?" And then he quotes from the book of Exodus. He says, have you not read the written word? Have you not read what was said to you, not by Moses, but by God.

And so if we believe in the Lord Jesus, we believe he died and he rose again. We believe he's the Son of God, come from heaven to earth. Because we believe in him, we believe his words are true. And Jesus taught clearly that scripture is the word of God. We see that here in Nehemiah chapter 8: the words of the law of Moses, that the Lord had commanded Israel.

2. God's Word Must Be Central

The second point that we see here—I told you I was going quick, you didn't believe me, but I'm moving—is that God's word, scripture, must be central. It must be at the center of our lives.

We see that the first thing that they did after they rebuilt the temple and they rebuilt the walls, and they gather for this festival on the seventh month. It was a month of celebration, a time of celebrating the Feast of Trumpets, a time of celebrating the work of God and his goodness in their lives. They gather, and at the center of their gathering, we read that they brought the word of God to the center of their life as a nation. In verse 2, it says, so Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard. The word of God was central to their lives, and the word of God must be central to our lives as well.

Another way to say it must be central is the word of God must be the foundation. It must be foundational. When they rebuilt the temple, the first thing they had to do was they had to lay the foundation. And as we endeavor to have God be the author of our life and the author of our story, His word must be the foundation upon which our life is built. This is, of course, what Jesus himself taught as well in Matthew chapter 7. If you flip over there with me, I don't have it on the screen this morning, but Jesus said this:

"Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them"—not just to hear them, but to do them, put them into practice, to endeavor to live them out—"will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew, and beat on that house, but it did not fall because it had been founded on the rock."

What is the foundation of your life? What are you building your life on, or what have you built your life on? There's all sorts of things that people trust in to build their life on. Economic security, their charisma, their charm, their gifts, their ability to go out and get things done. Their relationships, the people that they know, the family they came from—people build their lives on all kinds of things.

But Jesus here says there's only one true foundation for our lives, and it is scripture. It is the word of God. Jesus says, if you will build your life on the word of God, not just hearing it, but doing it, you will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And when the storms come, the storms of life, which come for all of us—none of us will go through life without experiencing hardship, difficulty, unexpected loss, things coming out of the blue, tragedy, catastrophe. Listen, all of us experience those things in life. The question is, when the storms come, will our house stand? When the storms come, will our life come crumbling down around us? Jesus says, if we build our life on his word, our life will stand.

He goes on to describe the foolish man. He says:

"Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it."

What have you built your life around? Is God's word central in your life? They're rebuilding their nation. They're rebuilding their culture, and they say, we have to bring the word of God. We have to gather around his word, around his law. We have to read it. We have to make it central. We have to know it, we have to understand it, and we have to obey it, is what Jesus says. What have you built your life upon? The shifting sand of anything else? This world that we live in is so topsy-turvy. You put your faith in one thing, and you think it's solid, you think it's secure, and then something happens, and it's not what you thought it was. We only have one rock to build our life on, and it is scripture.

3. Scripture Must Be Read

The third thing that we learn from this passage is that scripture must be read.

So what does Nehemiah do in verse 3? It says that he opened the book and read from it, facing the square before the Water Gate, from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women, and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the law. It must be read.

Ezra here preaches, I don't know, a five-hour sermon. I don't know what early morning is for you. I would say early morning you could say is sunrise, right? Could we all just agree, say sunrise? So the sun comes up around 6:30, 7 o'clock. And till midday? If you want to say noon, that's five hours. That's five hours of Ezra standing up and reading the Word of God and the people saying amen and falling on their face and being convicted. That's a five-hour sermon. I love this passage. Because anytime somebody says, "You preach too long," I just say, hold on a second. Have you heard of a man named Nehemiah? Have you heard of the scribe Ezra? Let me tell you about this man's sermon. Five plus hours.

He's reading and explaining to them the law of God. Most likely the passage of scripture he's reading from is the book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Old Testament, the law of God that is restated to the children of Israel as they go into the promised land. This book is the Word of God. Because it's God's word, it has power. Words in themselves have power. The Bible says life and death is in the power of the tongue. With our words, we can build up somebody, with our words, we can tear down somebody. With our words, we can speak life, with our words, we can speak death. We can destroy or we can bring life with words. Words have power. Words shape culture. Words direct the course of a nation. And that's just human words. How much more powerful are the words of God?

But let me tell you something, dear friends. These words have no power as long as they sit on a shelf with the book closed. These words have no power when the book is just collecting dust. For these words to have power, the book must be opened, and the words must be read. And so that's what Ezra does. He opens the word of God.

When I was a child, it was popular for families to have a family Bible. I would go over to both sets of my grandparents, had a family Bible, and it was this Bible that was like two feet thick. It was so huge and so massive, and so ornate, and had gold gilding and frilly stuff. And it was the family Bible, and it sat there on the coffee table. And I don't ever remember that book being opened, that particular Bible. I noticed too, as I went to other families' houses and friends' houses, there was often this very expensive, very ornate family Bible that just sat there closed. It was almost like some people treated it almost like a good luck charm. "We have the word of God in our living room. It's right there." Friends, if you don't open it and you don't read from it, it's not going to do anybody any good sitting there. The power is in the word. The power is in the scripture. It must be opened. It must be read from.

I'm thankful that both of my grandparents, both of my sides of the family, were people that opened the book and read from the book on a daily basis. To have the word be central in our lives means much more than just having a Bible in our house. It doesn't do anybody any good when it is closed shut. For it to be foundational and central, it must be obeyed like Jesus said. To obey God's word, you have to know God's word. To know God's word, you have to read God's word. To read God's word, you have to open the book. The psalmist says, "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you." The only way to hide God's word in your heart is to read it, to get in it. To study it. So the word of God must be read.

4. Scripture Must Be Honored

Number four, the word of God must be honored. Scripture must be honored.

We see the way that they honored the word of God in verses 4 through 6. Let's look at them here together. It says, Ezra the scribe stood on a wooden platform that they had made for the purpose, this very special platform that they built for that day to elevate the Word of God, to lift it up so that he could stand up and declare it, and that they could see him and hear him clearly. In the King James Bible, on this verse, it actually says a wooden pulpit. And so in our church, we have a wooden pulpit, and this is not here just for decoration. This is here to elevate the word of God and to in a very physical way and a very visible way, say that we honor God's word above any other word. And so they had built this, especially for this occasion.

And then in verse 5, it says, Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people. So he opened it and they could see that he was opening it because he was above the people as he stood on this platform. And then it says as he opened it, all the people stood. Why do we stand when we read the word of God together? To honor God's word. To show that God's word is being honored. And as he read as a way of showing verbal honor to it, the people answered, "Amen, amen." What does that mean? Amen means let it be. Amen means I agree. So when you hear somebody shouting an amen in church, they're saying, "I agree with that. Yes, let that be. Let that come to pass. Let it be so." But then they also bowed their faces to the ground, and they worshiped the Lord.

The word of God must be honored. It should have an honored place in our heart. Now, these are just external actions that they did. They built the stage. They built the pulpit out of wood so that the Word of God could be seen. They stood when it was open, when it was read, they bowed their faces to the ground. All of that's external. And that's good, but more important than external posture, more important than external actions, is the posture of your heart. Because I can say, let's stand and read the word of God, and you can stand with your legs and still be seated in your heart. You can stand as I read the word of God, and you can be thinking about, where are we going to lunch today? Will we get out in time to beat the crowds? Will the Spurs win today? Et cetera, et cetera.

Where is your heart? I'm glad that you stand. I'm glad that we're a church that stands when we read the Word of God. I think that's good. I think that's proper. But that's external. What's the internal state of your heart? Hopefully, these external things also reveal and are in accordance with what's happening in our heart, the condition of our heart. Now, the condition of our heart is hidden to our fellow man. I can't look at you and see your heart. I can't look at you and see what's happening in your soul. But while it's hidden to your fellow man and it's hidden from my eyes, you know who sees your heart? God sees your heart. God sees all of our hearts. Which is why we never have to pretend before God. We never have to put our show on in the presence of God because he sees our hearts.

We should ask that God would put a reverence in our heart for scripture. That God would put in our hearts an honor for his word, a true honor. That we would honor it in such a way that not just when it's read, but that we would continue to honor it an hour later when we leave this place. That we wouldn't be getting into fights in the parking lot with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. And we wouldn't leave and go and bring reproach upon the name of Christ by the way that we live our lives. Oh, that we would honor his word truly and deeply by putting it into practice in our lives. Listen, if you find in your heart that you don't honor scripture, you don't feel like you honor the word of God. That's something to confess before the Lord. That's something to bring before the Lord and confess that and ask for his help. Ask and plead with him to put that in your heart.

5. Scripture Must Be Taught

Number five, the word of God's scripture, it must be taught.

We see this here in verse 7 and 8. These wonderful people here, they helped the people understand the law. They didn't just read it on that day, but they explained it to them. While the people were there and they heard Ezra reading from the law, these priests went out among the people, and they were explaining it to them. It says in verse 8 that they read from the book, from the law of God clearly. They made it clear to them what it meant. And they gave the sense of it, the meaning of it so that the people understood what was being read.

Ezra, he was a scribe and a priest, and the scribe's job was to meticulously make copies of the word of God, to make sure that it was copied properly. They didn't have copy and paste. They didn't have Xerox back then for there to be copies of scripture. They had to sit down and meticulously, word by word, letter by letter, go through, and make sure that they were making accurate copies, and they were trained in this work. But the scribes would not only copy God's law, they would study scripture with an equal attention to detail so that the word of God could be preserved for future generations, and so that the word of God could be taught to God's people so that they could live it and obey it.

In Ezra's day, the people didn't have their own copies of the scripture. It wasn't like our day where if you want a Bible, you can have a Bible. It's pretty easy to do. And if you don't have a Bible, we'll give you a Bible. We've got lots of Bibles here. We'd love to give you your own copy of the Bible. But you can also just download the Bible app and you can have the Bible with you wherever you go. It wasn't like that in their day. They didn't have access to God's word like we do today, which is to say, we are so blessed. We are so blessed, supremely blessed. And so the scribe's job was to preserve the scripture and to teach the scripture.

And in the New Testament, likewise, the apostles, they themselves say, "We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word." And so even within the New Testament, there's this idea that the Word of God not only needs to be read, it needs to be taught. It needs to be explained. It needs to be broken down. It needs to be applied. How does this book and these words impact my life today and how do I live it out?

This is a great application for you mothers on Mother's Day. Not only do your children need the care and the love that you give them, the physical care of making sure they've got some clean socks to wear and some food in their bellies, and the emotional care of the love that you show them and the support that you give them, but they also need the spiritual care. I can remember very clearly both my grandmothers and my mom explaining to me the Bible, applying to me scripture when my way would be wayward. Which, let me just say, I gave my mom ample opportunities to explain the scripture to me, and to show me how my life was not in accordance with the word of God. And my mom was always so faithful to bring God's Word and explain God's Word and to apply God's Word to my heart and to my life. This is something that's, yes, I believe fathers have a central role and responsibility in doing this, but it's not just only fathers, but mothers as well.

We read later in the New Testament, a young man, a godly man named Timothy, who became Paul's assistant, and then a pastor in the city of Ephesus, that his father was not a believer. But his grandmother and his mother were. And they handed their faith, this godly grandmother and mother handed their faith, taught the scriptures to this young man, Timothy, who became Paul's right-hand man and carried the mission of the gospel forward after Paul had gone off the scene. His father wasn't a godly man, but his mother poured the scripture into him. So the word of God, not only must it be read and honored and central, it must be taught. It must be explained.

6. Scripture Brings Conviction

And number six, we see here at the end that the word of God brings conviction.

In verse 9, it says, as they read, they had to tell the people, do not mourn or weep. For all the people wept as they heard the words of the law. The people wept because as the law was read, as the words were explained, they recognized we have broken God's law. God who has been so good, so faithful, has blessed us with so much, has singled us out, has forgiven our sins. He has been so good to us. And we have been so unfaithful to his covenant, to his word. They wept. It broke their hearts. The word brings, the scripture brings conviction of sin in our lives.

And likewise it is for us. When we open God's Word and we're reading God's Word, His word is that lamp. It shines into the dark places of our heart. It's a mirror the Bible says, it exposes who we really are. You know, when we live our lives in the world, then we just compare ourselves to one another. Sometimes, especially if you're very prideful and tend towards pride, you could feel by looking at people around you, "You know what? I'm doing pretty good. At least I'm not like so and so." But when you open the book, and you read God's word, and you read God's standard, and you read about how Christ lived, and you read the words that Christ taught, and how he taught us how to live, you hold that mirror up to your face, and it produces in your heart a conviction of sin. It shows you who you really are, if you're being honest with yourself.

If you're honoring the word, if you're making it foundational, if you're reading it, if it's being explained and applied to you, that word is bringing conviction of sin. I pray you know this conviction of sin in your life. Not to live under the condemnation of the devil. There's a difference between these two, by the way. The devil wants to condemn us. And what condemnation does, when we sin and we feel that condemnation from the devil, that condemnation drives us away from God. That's what condemnation does. It makes us want to run from God. But what conviction does is it places on us this holy desire to get rid of the sin in our life and to run to God, not to run from God, but to run to God, confessing our sins, looking to him, looking to Christ, who paid the price for our sin, confessing it, asking the Lord for forgiveness.

You see, conviction draws us to Christ. Conviction is Christ drawing us to himself. Condemnation is Satan, the enemy, driving us away from the Lord. Condemnation is things like, "God could never love you because of the things that you've done." Condemnation says God is angry with you, "You go to God, you come to church, he's going to squash you like a bug." I remember in college, I had some friends that I was inviting to church, and they said, "Man, if I walk into church, God's gonna strike me dead." I said, "No, he's not. If he wanted to do that, he could have done that already. If you come into church, you get in a relationship with him, he's not going to strike you dead. He's gonna make you alive, brother." And so conviction is a brokenness over sin, but it's one that says, "Come to me. Bring your sin to me. I'm the one that paid the price for your sin." And it leads us to want to live a life that is holy as unto the Lord.

7. Scripture Produces Joy

And so finally, number seven, the seventh thing that scripture does is scripture produces joy.

First came the mourning, the conviction, the brokenness, but the leader said, "No, no, no, you can't weep. Today's not a day of weeping. Today's a day of celebration." You see, God had given them these feasts to celebrate the goodness of God, the faithfulness of God, to remind them that their sins were forgiven. And all of these feasts, these days of celebrations, they were pointing towards the work of Christ. They weren't in and of themselves effectual in forgiving sins. They pointed to the work of Christ that would eventually be the means by which all sin is forgiven.

And so they're saying, "No, no, no, today's not a day to weep. Today's a day to celebrate." And so they tell them, go and celebrate, go and eat the fat portions. That's like the best wagyu beef that you could ever find. Go and, it says, drink the sweet wine. Go and celebrate. Throw this festival and share with those who didn't bring anything.

And then this beautiful passage, this beautiful truth here that Nehemiah tells them in verse 10, he says, do this because the joy of the Lord is your strength. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Now what kind of strength is he talking about here? He's not talking about physical strength. He was talking about spiritual strength. The strength to do what? The strength to live a holy and godly life. Yes, they were broken because of their sin. They felt the conviction of their sin, but he's saying, if you want to live a life of victory over it, it comes from rejoicing in the Lord. Rejoicing in the Lord, rejoicing in what he has done and accomplished for us.

And likewise it is for us. If we want to live a life of victory over sin, we need to have the word of God central in our life. Let it produce joy that tells us of the gospel, the great glories of what Christ has done for us. And let us rejoice in what Christ has done. Let us celebrate that our sins are forgiven. Let us celebrate that as far as the east is from the west, he has removed our sins from us. The Bible says that he casts our sin into a sea of forgetfulness to remember them no more. That is good news.

And even as Satan would come and try and bring us back under condemnation, would try and come and remind us of our sins, Scripture says, "Satan, God has forgotten my sins. So I'm not going to live under condemnation for something God has already forgotten." And he has forgotten our sins because of his son Jesus. Because Jesus came and lived that life without sin. And he went to the cross and shed his blood for our sins. He paid the price. And for us, this must be our source of strength.

If you find that you are spiritually weak, if you find that temptation has a grip on your heart, let me ask you, are you rejoicing in the Lord? Are you rejoicing daily in the work of Christ? Are you making scripture central in your life? Not just reading it and going on, but meditating, applying, rejoicing in what Christ has done for you. When you do that, you will find that you are filled with a strength to live for God, wherever it is that he has you. Amen.

From Faith To Fear

From Faith To Fear

Matt Bell

Download

Sermon Summary

In this exposition of 2 Chronicles 20, Pastor Matt addresses how believers can transition from paralyzing fear to active faith when facing overwhelming circumstances. Drawing from the historical account of King Jehoshaphat facing the combined armies of Moab, Ammon, and Mount Seir, the sermon identifies a biblical, four-step framework for confronting anxiety and impossible odds. Rather than relying on human military strategy, Jehoshaphat immediately models seeking the Lord. The sermon breaks down this response into practical applications: beginning with honest and structured prayer (praising God, reciting His promises, presenting the problem, and petitioning for help), anchoring the soul in the objective truth of God’s Word rather than cultural negativity, stepping out in worship as an active demonstration of faith, and gathering with the covenant community for strength. Ultimately, the message encourages believers to let God fight their battles by resting in His sovereignty.

Sermon Transcript

Introduction

If you do have your Bibles, I invite you to open with me to the book of 2 Chronicles, chapter 20. We're in a series together as a church, a year-long series, where we're working through the whole Bible together. We call it "The Year of the Bible." If you're new to Christ the King Church, a year-long series is actually a short series for us. Sometimes our series last multiple years, but this year, we're only doing one year, and we're reading through the whole Bible together as a church. Every Sunday, I'm taking one of the passages that we read the previous week and using it to preach through the Word of God through this year.

This week will begin two books of the Bible called Ezra and Nehemiah. I would encourage you, if you have been or if you haven't been reading through the Bible with us, jump in with us this week. In your handout are the chapters. Read with your church community, and let God's Word work in your life.

The Reign and Crisis of King Jehoshaphat

Before we read this chapter, I want to give you a little bit of background on what has been happening in the previous few chapters. In chapter 20, we're dealing with a king named Jehoshaphat. As a kid, I was fascinated by this story in 2 Chronicles 20. I think probably half of my fascination came because the man's name was Jehoshaphat, and anything that had the word "fat" in it, I thought was hilarious. I still think it's hilarious. It is quite an interesting name.

He was a good king, the Bible has told us up to this point. We began reading about him in chapter 17, and it tells us that he was a good king because he walked in the ways of David, the previous king of Israel and Judah. He was faithful to the Lord. He was faithful to the Lord's word. In fact, he had brought reformation to the nation and had sent out priests as preachers to go to all the cities of Judah and to teach the people the law of God. I don't know of any other king that did a reformation in that way, sending out the priests to teach the people throughout the whole nation God's law. Though he wasn't perfect—and we read in some of the previous chapters about some of his imperfections as he entered into some questionable military alliances—nevertheless, up until this point, his report card has been overwhelmingly positive.

Which brings us here to chapter 20. There's a big problem. Three of the nations that surround Judah—which was a very small nation; there had been a split, and the ten northern tribes, the majority of the nation, had forsaken the Lord, resulting in a period of civil war with this one tribe of Judah—now three surrounding nations gang up, enter into a military league, and bring their armies to destroy Judah. That's what they're facing. They are hopelessly outnumbered, and there is no amount of military might, maneuvering, or skill that will save them. They are facing, as a people, complete, total, and utter destruction.

As we read this passage, I want us to be thinking about this question: when we face hardships in life, when we face difficulties, when the future doesn't look good, when we've received word that is very alarming and very troubling, where do we turn? What do we do when we are afraid? What do we do in moments of great difficulty and fear?

The Reading of God's Word

With that, let's turn to the Word of God. I invite you to stand with me. We're going to read the passage here together. It is a little bit of a longer passage, but we'll read through it, and then we'll walk through it. In 2 Chronicles chapter 20, it says:

After this, the Moabites and the Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, Engedi). Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, ‘If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you willhear and save.’

“And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy—behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

Meanwhile all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's. Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.”

Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say,

“Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.

Father, we do thank you for your Word. It is precious to us. Lord, I pray that through our time in your Word that you would produce faith in our hearts. Lord, we may have come in here this morning afraid. We may have come in here this morning with many worries, many fears, many anxieties. Lord, I pray that you would help us through your Word to move us from fear to faith. Lord, that we would be people who would believe your Word, who would stand on your Word, who would take all of our cares to you, and that we would see you move on our behalf, because you are the God who fights our battles for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

You may be seated this morning.

The Reality of Fear in the Believer's Life

The beginning of the passage lays out for us the circumstances that they are facing. They are dire circumstances. These three surrounding nations have aligned themselves against Judah, and they've come in with their armies to destroy them. This word comes to the king of Judah, Jehoshaphat, and it says in verse 3 that Jehoshaphat was afraid.

Jehoshaphat was afraid, and rightfully so. He was facing the total annihilation of his people. The threat he was facing wasn't imaginary. It was very real, and he was powerless to do anything to stop it. There was nothing that he could do in and of himself that could secure the victory for his people, so he is afraid.

Fear is an awful emotion. It's something that we have all faced, from the youngest to the oldest. We've all been afraid. We've all faced things that have caused great fear in our hearts. Fear comes because we are uncertain about the future. It's an uncertainty about what will happen in the future that manifests in the present, and in the present, it robs us of our joy.

There are all kinds of things that cause fear in our hearts. We see what caused fear in Jehoshaphat's heart, but when we look at our lives and in our world today, there are many things that we could be afraid of. In fact, a lot of our culture traffics in fear. The news, of course, is infamous for trafficking in fear—selling fear, using fear to hook people into watching what is going on in the world. There is no lack of things that would cause fear in our hearts today.

There's economic uncertainty. Because of wars and rumors of wars, we don't know what the future is going to hold. We don't know how this war with Iran is going to develop, or the war in Ukraine and Russia, the war with Israel. It's just wars and economic uncertainty that looms on the horizon, especially if we're tuned in constantly to the drumbeat of every day. Very rarely on the news is there ever any good news. You notice that? It's always bad news, because we have this insatiable desire for negativity. It's bizarre.

But that's not the only thing. There are personal things in our life that can cause fear. We go to the doctor, and there's a negative health diagnosis. That causes us great fear. There are relational conflicts that we have where we don't know how things are going to turn out. They're saying now that AI is going to take all of our jobs in the next three years. We're all going to be jobless; we're not going to have any way to make money and provide for ourselves because AI is going to take over. That could cause fear in our hearts. It's because the outcomes in our mind are not certain, and we think in these negative outcomes that rob us of our joy by producing fear in our hearts.

This fear paralyzes us. It torments us with these worst-case scenarios of what might be in the future. When we are afraid, we feel stuck. We feel trapped. This is where we find Jehoshaphat: filled with fear, stuck, trapped, not knowing what to do.

Yet, at the very end of this story, he's not afraid. At the very end of this story, fear has been replaced with something far more powerful. Jehoshaphat has been moved from fear to faith. His fear has been replaced with faith, and he is filled with so much faith in God that when he rallies the people to go face this army, he doesn't send forth his most mighty and powerful warriors. Instead, he sends the choir out front to go sing the praises of God to their enemies. That is how much faith he is filled with.

How does this happen? How did he move so quickly from being filled with fear to being filled with so much faith that he sends the choir to face the army? That's what we're going to look at here today, because all of us will face things in our life that will cause us to fear. If you came in here this morning afraid of what the future holds, that's okay. Jehoshaphat was afraid. But I want you to know, God has something better for you than fear. I want to show you the process that God took Jehoshaphat through to move him from fear to faith, that we all too might move from that place of fear and move into a place of faith. That, of course, is the title of my sermon this morning: From Fear to Faith.

Step 1: Turn to Prayer First

What's the first thing that he does when he sees this army? When he sees the odds that he is up against, what's the first thing that Jehoshaphat does? Does he rally his generals? Does he rally his military leaders and say, "We got to get a plan together. We got to get a strategy together." Is that what he does? No. The first thing that he does is that he prays.

When we find ourselves afraid, we must pray. This is what he does—not as a last resort, but the first place that he turns. We read it in verse 3: Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord.

Where do you turn when you are afraid? Where do you turn when you receive bad news? Where do you turn when things are not going in the direction that you thought they would go, that you would hope that they would go? For the people of God, our first place must be God. Let us turn to God first. Let us turn to God often. Let us go to the Lord in prayer, taking our cares to Him.

I want to show you four things in Jehoshaphat's prayer that teach us how to pray. You might say, "Well, I don't know how to pray. What do I say? I try to pray, but I don't know what to say. It doesn't really flow out of my lips. It's kind of clunky. It's sort of hard. As soon as I try to pray, I'm so distracted." Jehoshaphat's prayer is a model prayer for us. I want to show you the four parts of his prayer that will help you in your prayer.

First, he begins with praise. Then he moves to reciting God's promises. Then he tells God his problems, and then finally he makes a petition.

1. Praise

He begins by praising God. In verse 6, he says, "God, you rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. And in your hand are power and might so that none is able to withstand you." He begins by exalting God. He begins by putting his eyes on the Lord and elevating God over his problem. This is the first thing that we must do when we go to God in prayer: we must exalt God. We must recognize that God is above whatever problem we are facing. Whatever issue is at hand, God is above it. God is over it. God is sovereign. This is what Jehoshaphat begins by doing—recognizing God's power over these enemies that he's facing. Listen, if God's not above your problem, there's no point in going to God. So we must begin by praising Him: "Lord, I'm facing this, but this is who you are. You are the all-powerful God. You are the almighty God. You're the God who hung the stars in the sky. You're the God who rules the nations. I'm coming to you, the sovereign King of all."

2. Promises

Then he moves on to reciting the promises of God. The covenant promises of God. He says, "God, you promised to place your people in this land. You've placed us in this land. Lord, you've promised to hear our prayer when we assemble here at this temple." Lord, you have made these promises to us. When we come to the Lord in prayer filled with fear, we begin by praising the Lord, but then let us recite the promises of God. "Lord, your Word says that you will never leave us, you will never forsake us. Lord, your Word says that no weapon formed against me will prosper. Lord, your Word says that you will supply all of my needs according to your riches in glory. Lord, your Word says that by your stripes I am healed." This is what people call pleading the promises of God—taking them before the Lord, reminding God of His Word.

3. Problems

Then he moves on to his problem. "Lord, we've got a great issue. We've been surrounded by these people." Notice he is even saying, "God, this isn't fair. This is not right. Lord, when you brought us out of Egypt, we passed through these other nations, and you told us that we couldn't fight with them. You told us not to destroy them, so we didn't. And now they're repaying our good with evil. God, this is not fair. God, this is not just."

There are all these bad ideas that sometimes people have about prayer. One of them is that you should never complain to God. Another one is that you should never question God. I don't think that's a biblical thing. Jehoshaphat is complaining to God, saying, "God, we did what was right. They're repaying us evil for our good. This is unjust. How are you allowing this to happen?" If you read the book of Psalms, which is a songbook and a prayer book for the people of God, it's filled with complaints. It's filled with questions. This idea that you shouldn't bring your complaints to God is an unbiblical idea. If we don't bring our complaints to God, you know what we do? We take them to everybody else. The first place we should not go is online to blast everybody and vent. If we're going to vent, we vent to the Lord. We leave it with the Lord.

4. Petition

And then he makes his petition in verse 12. It's such a beautiful thing that he asks the Lord to do. He says, "O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you." When you're faced with fear, let this be your prayer: "God, I don't know what to do, but my eyes are on you. I'm putting the situation in your hand. I'm asking you to move, to intervene, and I'm going to trust in you to do so."

In Philippians chapter 4, Paul tells us this: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." And he says if we will do this, "The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." What a beautiful promise. Are you facing fear, worry, anxiety, trouble? Go into your prayer closet. Bring it before Him. Be honest with the Lord. You don't have to pretend. You don't have to start talking in King James English, like you're Shakespeare. Be real with the Lord. Why? He already knows what's in your heart.

First Peter 5:7 says, "Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you." We have a God in heaven who cares for us. What is it that you're facing today? God cares about it. God never gets tired. God never sleeps. He truly is that friend that sticks closer than a brother. We must recover this lost art of prayer. When the fear and the anxiety comes, take it to Jesus. Where's the first place that you turn? Is it ChatGPT, or is it Jesus Christ? We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

Step 2: Feed on the Word of God

The second thing that God uses to bring Jehoshaphat from fear to faith is He uses the Word of God. In verses 13 through 17, it tells us of the prophet Jahaziel who arose in the midst of the assembly and proclaimed the Word of God to them. Thus says the Lord: "Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God's."

This word that came from God built faith in their hearts. When you are faced with things causing fear, you need to take it to the Lord in prayer, and then you need to get into God's Word. You need to remind yourself that this battle you're facing is not yours, but it is the Lord's. In verse 17, he says that we will not even need to fight. We only need to stand firm—to stand firm in our faith and to trust in the Lord.

We need our souls to be filled with the Word of God, and we need this Word every single day. Because every single day that we live in this life is some kind of a battle. The three enemies that we face on a daily basis are the world, the flesh, and the devil. No matter who you are or where you live, you have to contend with them. And what is it that we fight with? We must fight with the Word of God. It is our weapon. Jesus said in Matthew 4:4, "It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’" Jesus is saying that just as we need natural nourishment for our natural lives, so every day we need spiritual bread. Where do we get that? We get it from the Word of God.

When we come to the Word of God, we have a choice on whose report we're going to believe. I'm either going to believe my fears and the negative things being said around me, or I'm going to believe the Word of God. What are you feeding your soul on? My algorithm on social media is finely tuned to my preferences. I get served up Christian content regularly. But it is amazing to me how much of the Christian content that is served to me is still negative. Scandals, this thing, that thing—even though it's Christian, it's not building my faith. We must fill our souls with the Word of God so we might feed on things that build our faith. Romans 10:17 says, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."

Step 3: Worship as an Act of Faith

The third thing that we see in this passage is that Jehoshaphat moves into worship. He gathers the people of God, they pray, they receive God's Word, and then they bring their worship to the Lord. In verse 18, it says he bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord worshiping.

Then in verse 21, this really interesting thing happens: he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise Him in holy attire. They got their choir robes on—not their breastplates, helmets, and swords, but their church clothes, their Sunday best. He sent this choir out in front of the army to sing, "Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever."

From a natural standpoint, if you're only looking at military strategy, they would be slaughtered. But in verse 22, it says, "And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed."

There are two realities that we live in. The reality we are most familiar with is the natural world—our five senses. But there's another reality, and that's the spiritual world. When we come to Christ in faith, our spirits are made alive, so that now we live in both of these worlds. Jehoshaphat goes to battle first spiritually. He trusts God so much, he believes the Word of God so much, that he sends the choir first to proclaim the goodness of God over their enemies. As he begins to worship, God intervenes on their behalf and turns the armies of one against the other so that they destroy themselves.

I want you to see this: praising God is an act of faith. Faith is believing what we don't see with our natural eyes. Faith is saying, "God, Your Word says this. I don't see it with my natural eyes, yet I'm choosing to believe You, and I'm choosing it so deeply that I'm actually going to put it into practice." Worship is an act of faith. We sing His praises in spite of the challenges we're facing in our bodies, in our marriages, in our country, at our workplace. When we come in and freely worship the Lord, something begins to happen in the spiritual realm, and God will begin to fight your battles for you.

Step 4: Rely on Christian Community

The fourth and final thing woven throughout this whole passage is this aspect of community. In verse 4, King Jehoshaphat gathered the whole assembly to seek the Lord. In verse 13, it says all Judah stood before the Lord with their little ones, their wives, and their children. He didn't just seek the Lord on his own, but he brought the people of God together to do it together.

Likewise, when we face challenges, obstacles, and opposition that would cause us great fear and worry, we need to not isolate ourselves. We need to gather together with the people of God. When things are not going well, the first thing that should come to your mind is, "I need to get among my brothers and sisters in Christ because I need the strength and encouragement that only comes through fellowship." When you are being attacked by the enemy, it doesn't make sense to isolate yourself. What makes sense is to rally together with other people who can face the enemy with you.

We at Christ the King Church have many wonderful ways of building community, like our life groups. But you don't even have to do it through an official church program. You can call up a brother or sister, get together, share what's going on, and believe God together in prayer.

Conclusion

These are the four things that God uses to move Jehoshaphat from fear to faith: prayer, Word, worship, and community. I know this is not rocket science. Sometimes we make things so complicated, when really it is the simple truth of the Word of God that we need in our lives.

What are you facing today? Have you taken it to the Lord in prayer? Have you steeled your heart with the promises of God? Have you given yourself to the Lord in worship, surrendering and trusting in Him? And are you practicing community, not doing it on your own strength, but with the strength of the brothers and sisters in Christ that God has placed around you? I believe if we will do those things, God will move us from fear to faith, that we would stand for the Lord, and that we would see Him move on our behalf. Amen.

Fire From Heaven

Fire From Heaven

Matt Bell

Download

Sermon Summary

In this sermon, Pastor Matt explores the transition from the Old Covenant's physical temple to the New Covenant's spiritual dwelling—the Church—inaugurated by the fire of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Grounded in 2 Chronicles 7, the message contrasts the conditional and temporary nature of Solomon's temple with the completed, eternal work of Christ, emphasizing that the promises of God are now fulfilled exclusively in His chosen people, the believers. Addressing the contemporary tendency toward idolatry, the exposition underscores that true national and personal renewal cannot be achieved through political salvation or natural lineage. Instead, genuine revival demands that the Church recognize its spiritual bankruptcy, confess its sins, reorder its affections to seek God's face, and enact true repentance—a transformation exclusively wrought through the preaching of the Gospel.

• The Temple's Progression: The dwelling place of God moves from the temporary Tabernacle (Moses), to the physical Temple (Solomon), to the eternal Church (Christ).

• Covenantal Contrast: The Old Covenant was conditional and temporary; the New Covenant is superior, permanent, and secured by Christ's shed blood.

• The Antidote to Idolatry: A mandate for the Church to practice humility, heartfelt prayer (confession), seeking God's face (demoting idols), and actively turning from wicked ways.

• True Hope for Renewal: Healing and revival are born of Gospel-driven heart transformation, not political maneuvering or human leaders.

Sermon Transcript

Introduction: The Dedication of the Temple

Second Chronicles chapter 7. If you have your Bibles open with me there in 2 Chronicles chapter 7, we're going to look at a verse this morning that may be familiar to you if you've been around the Christian faith for a while. Second Chronicles 7:14 is a very famous verse that is often quoted and used. It was even this week read by the president of the United States, as there's a group of people in Washington, D.C. over the last week who were reading through the Bible straight through. When they got to this portion in 2 Chronicles, chapter 7, they had President Trump read this verse from the Oval Office. So this is not an uncommon verse. In fact, if you know any verse from Second Chronicles, it's probably this one.

It providentially happened that as we're reading our way through the Bible in our "Year of the Bible" plan, this passage, 2 Chronicles 7, was in our text this week. I thought it would be a good one to look at this morning. This verse is an important verse, and the idea contained in here is a lot bigger than how it is often used and applied. There are ways in which this verse cuts to the very core of who we are as human beings. I'm praying that God would use our time together in His word to cause all of us to examine our hearts at the deepest and most fundamental level. I pray that the Holy Spirit would convict each of us today, that we would not leave here just having had a good time in church, but that we would leave convicted by the Holy Spirit, and that we would be changed to be more faithful to the Lord.

The context of this passage is that the third king of Israel, King Solomon, David's son, has built a house for God, a temple for God. You may recall several weeks ago, King David said, "I want to build you a house, God." And God said, "You're not going to build me a house; instead, I'm going to build you a house," speaking of David's lineage, which culminates in Christ. But God also told David, "Your son, which comes after you, he will be the one that builds me a house. He will be the one that builds me a temple."

David has passed away. Solomon now is king, and he has spent seven years on this construction project building God's temple. In chapter 6, he offers a prayer of dedication. There's this huge celebration of the Ark of God, which represents the presence of God coming into the new temple that's been built and dedicated to the Lord. That's chapter 5. Chapter 6 is a prayer that Solomon prays in front of the whole nation, on his knees, with his hands lifted to the Lord, praying on behalf of the nation. Chapter 7 is what happens after Solomon prays his prayer.

We're going to jump right in. I invite you to stand with me as we read the word of God today. We're going to look at the first three verses of chapter 7, skip a portion that talks about how many sacrifices they made and the celebration, skip down to verse 11, and then read through the end of the chapter.

2 Chronicles 7:1-3, 11-22 (ESV)

As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD's house. When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, "For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever."

Thus Solomon finished the house of the LORD and the king's house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the LORD and in his own house he successfully accomplished. Then the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. And as for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my rules, then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not lack a man to rule Israel.’

"But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will pluck you up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?’ Then they will say, ‘Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.’"

Father, we do thank you for your word. I pray that you would speak to each of our hearts this morning. Lord, we've all come in here today from many different places, many different stages of life, all different parts of the city, even different cultures, different backgrounds, different upbringings. But Lord, we share one thing in common: that is you. You have called us to yourself; you have chosen us to be your people. Lord, speak to us, your people, through your word today, and help me to deliver your word faithfully this morning. In Jesus' name, amen.

You may be seated.

Fire From Heaven: The Accepted Offering

My title this morning for the sermon is Fire From Heaven. There are three sections we're going to look at this morning. The first is those first three verses where the offering that Solomon made was accepted. He offered over a thousand sacrifices. In fact, earlier it tells us that there were so many that they could not be numbered on this altar, in this temple, to dedicate what he had built for the Lord.

Solomon prays this prayer of dedication, and it says that as soon as Solomon finished his prayer, to show that the offering had been accepted, fire came down from heaven. This was God's sign, God's stamp of approval. He did it publicly so that all the people could see that God's glory had filled this house.

Imagine that. Imagine being there on that day, seeing this temple which was so glorious, so magnificent. The kings of the surrounding nations streamed into Jerusalem to see the temple that Solomon had built and to hear the wisdom that Solomon had to give. The glory of this house, overlaid with gold and marble and precious stones and precious woods, was beyond comparison and beyond parallel. It was glorious. But on that day, when Solomon prayed, something more glorious than just the physical building happened: fire came down out of heaven.

What would that have been like? I've been in certain places where there are pyrotechnics, where they set off some sort of flame. I was at the Spurs game a few weeks ago, and when they were announcing our team, they had fire shooting up out of the goals, and I could feel the heat of the flame. And that was just a little fire. I can't imagine what that flame must have felt like on that day as fire poured out of heaven. I bet you Solomon's eyebrows were burned off. It was so shocking that all the people's natural instinct was to just fall on their face in humility before the power of God. The offering was accepted. The house had been dedicated. It had been filled with the glory of God.

The New Covenant: A Better Temple

But this is not the only time in scripture that this happens. There are actually two other times where something very similar to this happened. The first time was the first version of this temple, which was a temporary version called the Tabernacle. It wasn't a permanent building. It was a temporary tent that God had instructed Moses to build while the children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness. It had to be mobile. But when Moses and the children of Israel had finished putting the Tabernacle together and dedicated it to the Lord, guess what came down from heaven? Fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. This is a picture of God's presence filling that place.

The third time that this happens is the final version of this temple, which is not a physical building, but the church of Jesus Christ. On the day of Pentecost, when the church was assembled and gathered together, God poured out His Spirit upon the church after Jesus died for our sins and rose into heaven. Jesus said it is better that He go to the Father, because then He would send His Spirit upon the church. Ten days after Jesus ascended into heaven, on the day of Pentecost, Jesus poured out His Spirit. And there was seen fire burning above the heads of those who received the Spirit of God.

This day of Pentecost marks the inauguration of this New Covenant that Jesus had instituted. We see this three times: It happens with Moses, it happens with Solomon in the temple, and it happens with Jesus' temple, the church. The day of Pentecost inaugurated the New Covenant, marking the transition from the Old Covenant to the New. It means now that the church, the people of God, are the place where God's Spirit dwells. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We carry the glory of God wherever we go.

The apostles and writers of the New Testament state this in explicit terms.

2 Corinthians 6:16 (ESV)

What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, "I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

Did you know that? If you're a believer in Jesus Christ, God's Spirit has filled you. The same way He filled the temple with Solomon, the same way He filled the Tabernacle—you carry the presence and the Spirit of God. This promise that God made in the Old Testament was speaking about the church, about the New Covenant, about the reality that we have today because of Christ.

Paul also says in Ephesians chapter 2 that the church is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets:

Ephesians 2:20-22 (ESV)

...built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

The inauguration of the New Covenant on the day of Pentecost marked the moment when fire came down from heaven and filled the church, filled the people of God. When we come to Christ, when we confess our faith in Him, the Bible says that if we belong to Christ, we have the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit takes up residence in us at our moment of conversion. We pass from death to life, and we have God's Spirit.

This is a blessing, a benefit, and a part of why the New Covenant is better than the Old Covenant. In the Old Covenant, to be in the presence of God, you had to travel to Israel. You had to travel to Jerusalem. You could only go into the presence of God if you were a Levite—meaning you were an Israelite, Jewish, and of the particular tribe of Levi. To go into the very presence of God, the Holy of Holies, only the high priest could do that, and he could only go in one day a year. One man, one day a year.

Here we have this abundance of riches. Here we, as a part of the New Covenant, can experience the presence of God, the goodness of God, the Spirit of God all day, every day. We can gather together with the people of God, the church, and experience Him building us together as a dwelling place for His Spirit whenever we want, wherever we are. We don't have to travel to Jerusalem. In fact, if you go there, you won't find a temple; you'll find a mosque. We are the temple that Jesus is building. We are the temple that Jesus is filling.

Here is what is happening with Solomon as part of the Old Covenant, but there are a couple of things you need to know about this Old Covenant as you continue reading through the Bible.

First, the Old Covenant was conditional. God had said, if you do these things, then I will bless you, but if you turn to idols, curses will come upon you. The people entered into that agreement with God. Did the people remain faithful to God? No. That's the whole story of the Old Testament. The New Covenant is not based on our works; it's based on God's work. It's based on the work of Christ and His merits on our behalf, meaning it is far better and far superior.

Second, the Old Covenant was temporary. It was never intended to be permanent. The arrangement God instituted at Mount Sinai was meant to eventually point people to Christ. The whole point of the Old Covenant was Jesus. It was always Jesus—to create the conditions which would be perfect for Christ to come into the world and be the Messiah, the Savior, not just of the Jewish people, but of all people. Jesus repeatedly says that the Old Testament scriptures were written about Him. So what we're reading today was written to them, but it's ultimately about Christ, and it has its fulfillment in Christ.

Finally, the Old Covenant was completed. Before Jesus goes to the cross, He serves His disciples the Lord's Supper, gives them the cup, and says, "This is the cup of the New Covenant." The Old Covenant has passed away. It is fulfilled. It is over. Now that Christ has come, there's no more need for that Old Covenant. We are not cleansed by the blood of animals, which can never take away sin, but we now have our hearts sprinkled clean by the very blood of Jesus. It is a better covenant with better promises, a better sacrifice, a better high priest, and a better temple. Everything about the New Covenant is far superior in every way.

The New Covenant people of God is the church of the living God, made up not of one race, but of every race. Every nation, tribe, and tongue is being called into the New Covenant people of God. It's not based on your ethnicity or your bloodline; it's based on the blood of Jesus.

Who are God's chosen people today? God's chosen people are those who belong to Christ. If you belong to Jesus, you are God's chosen people. Jesus was so clear about this. He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." There's only one way to be in covenant with God, and it's through Jesus Christ.

That is the most offensive idea in the world. You only have to change one word in that sentence to make it totally agreeable to everybody. Change the word the to the word a, and nobody has a problem with it. But Jesus didn't say, "I am a way." Jesus said, "I am the way." If you say, "Jesus is my way, you have your way to God," you're not following Jesus.

If you reject Christ, according to Jesus, you are not one of His people, irregardless of your natural bloodline. We are not saved by being born into the right family. We are saved by being born again by the Spirit of God, having the work of Christ applied to our lives.

There's a lot of confusion about this today, especially regarding Israel because of the war with Iran and all the politics. A lot of people today think that the Jewish people have this Old Covenant with God that's still going. They don't. It's over. The only way to be in covenant with God is through faith in His Son, Jesus. That's it. Everyone is called to believe in Jesus—Jew and Gentile. In fact, Jesus speaks to the Jews of His day and says to them, "You're not sons of God. You are sons of your father, the devil. You brood of vipers." This idea that anyone is in relationship with God outside of Christ is an antichrist idea. By definition, everybody needs Jesus. Even if you're Jewish, He is your Messiah.

I know this is a bit technical this morning, but this is an important point because so many people are totally confused about this today. Even many of our politicians who claim to be Christian apparently don't even know there's a New Testament. Our allegiance is to Christ, His church, and His kingdom, above every other nation, even our own nation. The kingdom of God will last forever, and that is the kingdom that you and I are a part of.

Just as the fire showed the sacrifice had been accepted in Moses' Tabernacle and Solomon's Temple, so it is with Jesus' temple, the church. The fire that came down on the day of Pentecost with the Holy Spirit shows that Jesus' sacrifice on the cross has been accepted and applied.

The Answered Prayer: Humility and Repentance

Moving on to the next section we read this morning, the prayer that is answered. The Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said, "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice."

Verse 13 hits us kind of strange if we only read chapter 7: "When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command the locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people." Where is that coming from? That's specifically coming from the prayer Solomon prayed in chapter 6. Solomon had prayed, "God, if your people turn from you and turn to idols, and you in your justice and your discipline send hardship upon us—drought or pestilence—Lord, if that happens and your people turn back to you, God, hear our prayer and see our repentance." God is just answering the prayer Solomon prayed.

He says that if His people are being disciplined because of their sins, "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land." We see examples of this as you continue to read 2nd Chronicles, where God's people stray, but then prophets come, the word of God is rediscovered, reforms are brought, and the nation is renewed.

But for us here today on the other side of the cross, who are the "my people" today in 2026? The New Covenant people of God is the church. So this verse is something for the church. What is His name? His name is Jesus. The question for us is, is this how we are living? Are we living a life of humility, of prayer, of seeking the face of God, of turning from sin in repentance? Or are we, as the people of God, living lives seeking after other things?

The Bible calls seeking any part of creation above God idolatry. Paul talks about that in Romans chapter 1. The human heart has this bent—iniquity—towards idolatry. We naturally tend this way in our fallen human nature. It is incumbent upon us as God's people not to just hear the gospel one time, say, "Yes, I believe in Jesus, I've got my ticket punched to heaven," and then la-di-da, wait for Jesus to come back. No, it's incumbent upon us to constantly examine our hearts to see if idolatry has creeped in. The culture around us is doing everything it can to get our eyes off of Jesus. To slip into idolatry, all we have to do is nothing.

This past weekend, it was one of the rainiest weeks I ever remember in San Antonio. I needed to mow my backyard, like, two months ago. I was shocked when I got out there to mow the yard just how quickly the weeds had taken over. Weeds I could not see at the beginning of the week were up to my waist. What did I have to do to get those weeds to grow? Nothing. You don't have to do anything to have your whole yard taken over by weeds. And so it is with the human heart. To have idolatry take root in your heart, all you have to do is nothing.

God gives us wonderful blessings: relationships, marriage, children, recreation, food, intimacy, money. But when I make the goal of my life pursuing anything else other than Christ—when I take my eyes off of Him and His glory—it becomes an idol in my life. So we have to constantly go through this process of humbling ourselves, praying, seeking God's face, and turning from our wicked ways.

First, humble ourselves. What does it mean? It means we recognize that God is right and we are wrong. Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit," which means recognizing our great spiritual need. The songs we sang this morning were tailored to helping us recognize this:

Jesus, thank you for your blood.

Thank you for washing away my sins.

I'll never know how much it cost,

To see my sin upon the cross.

They're designed to help us see that we are spiritually bankrupt in the presence of a holy God. We must not sit there in pride and arrogance saying, "I'm doing good. Maybe these people need grace, but I had a pretty good week." The Bible says God resists the proud, the arrogant, the self-sufficient. He opposes those who think they can live life on their own terms separated from their Creator. But He gives grace to the humble.

"The essential vice, the utmost evil, is pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that are mere fleabites in comparison. It was through pride that the devil became the devil. Pride leads to every other vice. It is the complete anti-God state of mind." – C.S. Lewis

In fact, to rightly approach the communion table is an exercise in humility. We come to the table saying, "Jesus, if it's not for your grace, your mercy, your sacrifice on the cross, your shed blood, I am a condemned sinner."

Next, humble ourselves and pray. The type of prayer he's talking about here is the prayer of confession. This isn't just a la-di-da prayer of "God bless this, God help me hit green lights and find a close parking spot." This is an impassioned prayer of confessing our sins, asking for forgiveness, and begging for mercy for the sake of His Son.

In Luke chapter 18, Jesus tells the story of two men praying. One is a proud, quote-unquote righteous man who says, "God, I thank you that I'm not like these sinners, not like this tax collector over here." That is the prayer of pride. Then there's the tax collector, who wouldn't even lift his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast and prayed, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Jesus said the tax collector went away justified. Every week when we come into the presence of God and sing of the glories of Christ, we should not sit there with hard, callous, stony hearts. We should beat our chests and say, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." Not a one of us is without sin. The good news is that the fire came down, the sacrifice was accepted, and our sins can be forgiven.

Then, seek my face. This means to forsake seeking after idols. Whatever we were pursuing other than God, we demote it, and we seek after God. Jesus said, "Blessed are those who seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." If we put anything else first, we might not bow down before it physically, but we're bowing down before it in our soul.

Finally, all of that is for naught if we don't turn from our wicked ways. True repentance is not just in word; it is in action. It is a 180-degree turn. It is ceasing from the sinful behavior.

The only way this humility, prayer, seeking, and turning can be brought about in the soul of a person is through the preaching of the Gospel. It shows us our need for a Savior, humbles us, brings us into His presence, and leads us to turn from our wicked ways. And then God says, "I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and heal their land." This is a beautiful promise. I believe every nation can have true renewal, but it only comes through the preaching of the Gospel.

The Futility of Putting Hope in Man

There is a third and final point that underscores everything we've seen so far: the instructions God gives to Solomon.

God told Solomon, "If you will walk before me as David walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you... then I will establish your royal throne." But He also said, "If you turn aside and forsake my statutes and serve other gods... then I will pluck you up from my land, and this house I will cast out of my sight and destroy it."

Did Solomon remain faithful to the Lord? No, he did not. Towards the end of his life, Solomon built altars and idols to foreign gods and led the people in the worship of idols. It was a conditional blessing, and Solomon chose that path. The people followed him, and God did exactly what He said He would do: He destroyed that temple.

Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived. God bestowed upon him knowledge and understanding more than anyone. He was also the greatest king who ever lived. Mankind has never produced a political leader so gifted. Under Solomon's rule, the nation flourished with economic prosperity the likes of which the world had never seen. Silver was regarded as worthless; gold was as plentiful as stone. He had the strongest army, expanded the territory, and made peace with surrounding nations.

And yet, even Solomon fell into the sin of idolatry. This underscores the futility of putting your hope in man. If putting your hope in Solomon was misplaced, then certainly putting your hope in any political leader we have today is misplaced. Yet so many Christians put their hopes in politicians, thinking, "If we just get this person elected, everything will be okay."

There is only one we put our hope in. It is the one who said of Himself, "Something greater than Solomon is here"—and that is Jesus. The hope for our nation is not politics or politicians. The hope for our nation is Jesus, His kingdom, His gospel, and the church living it out. True national renewal will not come through political means; it will only come through the Gospel advancing and true heart revival. We don't need more politics; we need more preaching. Our hope is in revival, not in Republicans, Democrats, or libertarians.

There is some good that can be done politically, and I thank God for that. I celebrate some of the political wins in my lifetime, including the overturning of Roe v. Wade. But hear this: that was done through political means. What can be done politically can be undone politically. Because hearts were not changed, abortion just moved from clinics outside the home to people taking pills inside the home. It just moved location.

We need a fundamental change at the core of our being. We need new hearts, and the only way we get new hearts is through Jesus. It starts with us. If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways. When we do that, I believe the fire will fall in the church, the presence of God will fill the church, and the church will go out into the world to expand the kingdom of God, and we will see renewal in our land.

Find The Book

Find The Book

Mark Bell

Download

Sermon Summary

In this sermon, Pastor Mark explores the story of King Josiah from 2 Kings 22, focusing on the rediscovery of the Book of the Law during the temple's restoration. The pastor contrasts Josiah's righteous reign with the wickedness of his predecessors, Manasseh and Amon, highlighting that one is never too young to pursue the Lord. Through the narrative, the message emphasizes three main points: the recovery of God's Word, which must remain central in our homes and churches; Josiah's broken, repentant response to hearing the Law; and the reality of God's holy wrath against sin, which was ultimately absorbed by Jesus Christ on the cross. The sermon concludes with a call to prioritize daily Bible reading and an invitation to trust in Christ's saving work.

Sermon Transcript

Introduction: The Divided Kingdom and Wicked Kings

So last week, we looked at a king in the northern kingdom of Israel. And last week, Pastor Matt talked about how the kingdom of Israel had split after King Solomon ruled, and when his son took over, there was a civil war that took place, and the kingdom split in two, into two kingdoms. One kept the name of Israel, and that was the northern kingdom, and then the other kingdom was the kingdom of Judah, which was the southern kingdom.

And in our passage today, when we come to 2 Kings 22, about 200 years has passed. And during that time, the Northern Kingdom has been taken away into captivity by Assyria. At that time, Assyria was the leading power of the world, and they came and conquered the northern tribe of Israel, and took them away into captivity. This was done because of their wickedness and because of their rebellion. And because they refused to heed the warnings of the prophets who came and prophesied to them, saying, if you do not repent, judgment is coming. They didn't obey the prophets, they continued to go against God's word and serve idols and pagan forms of worship. And so the northern tribe was taken away into captivity. And so now only the southern kingdom of Judah remains.

And as we come to 2 Kings today, we're going to be looking at a king whose name is Josiah. But before we read about Josiah, I think it's important that we look at the previous two kings before him. So Josiah's grandfather, his name was Manasseh. And Manasseh ruled Judah for 55 years. He was the longest reigning king over the kingdom of Judah. And Manasseh was more than likely the most wicked of all the kings in Judah. So not only did he reign the longest, but he was the most wicked, and so he created this culture in Judah that was full of idol worship and pagan forms of sacrifice. Manasseh even offered up one of his own sons to the false god Molech in child sacrifice. He built altars in the temple that Solomon had built for the worship of the one true God, Manasseh built altars for false idols, for false gods in the temple. He was a wicked king. He introduced the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, and he was involved in the occult with witchcraft and divination. And so imagine 50 plus years of a nation just steeped in this wicked form of worship and idolatry.

And Manasseh, we don't see it in 2 Kings, but actually in 2 Chronicles, which details the same account. It does mention that Manasseh before he died, he did have a period of repentance, but the damage that he had done throughout his whole life was hard to stop that momentum. And so after Manasseh died, Josiah's father, Amon, ruled for two years. And he went back to the wickedness that Manasseh had done before he repented. There were two more years of that. He only reigned for two years because some of his own servants came and assassinated him and killed him. And so after Amon, now Josiah is now the king, and this is where we come to our passage today. Josiah takes over the throne after his wicked grandfather and his wicked father.

Reading the Word: 2 Kings 22:1-13

So if you could stand with me this morning, I'd like to stand as we read this passage together. We're going to be looking at verses one through 13. And it begins by saying,

"Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and walked in all the way of David his father, and he did not turn aside to the right or to the left. In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, the secretary, to the house of the Lord, saying, 'Go up to Hilkiah the high priest, that he may count the money that has been brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the threshold have collected from the people. And let it be given into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the workmen who are at the house of the Lord, repairing the house.'"

Now skipping down to verse 8, it says,

"And Hilkiah the high priest said to Shaphan the secretary, 'I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.' And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. And Shaphan the secretary came to the king, and reported to the king, 'Your servants have emptied out the money that was found in the house and have delivered it into the hand of the workmen who have the oversight of the house of the Lord.' Then Shaphan the secretary told the king, 'Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.' And Shaphan read it before the king. When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. And the king commanded Hilkiah the priest, and Ahikam the son of Shaphan, and Achbor the son of Micaiah, and Shaphan the secretary, and Asaiah the king's servant, saying, 'Go, inquire of the Lord for me, and for the people, and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book, to do according to all that is written concerning us.'"

Let's pray.

Father, we thank you for your word. Lord, I thank you for this book. Lord, I thank you that your word is alive. Father, as we look at some truths from this passage today, Lord, I pray that you would stir within us a desire for more of you and more of your word in our lives. Lord, we thank you for this. In Jesus' name, amen.

Josiah's Early Reign and Care for God's House

Amen. Well, you may have a seat. So I've got three points this morning as we work our way through this passage, but first, I think it'd be good if we could just acknowledge the fact that Josiah was only eight years old when he began to rule this nation. Imagine this. Just imagine the state of the nation as he takes over. It's full of spiritual decay. It's full of idol worship, child sacrifices. It's just steeped in pagan rituals. And here comes an eight-year-old boy to rule the nation. And I think it's absolutely fascinating that it says that he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.

I think perhaps the reason it tells us who the name of his mother was is so that we could recognize the work that his mother had done in raising Josiah. Josiah was eight years old when his father was killed. He didn't grow up with his father in the home. Even his father was wicked, his grandfather was wicked, but somehow he was raised in the ways of the Lord. I don't think it's too much assumption to say that his mother had a big part to play in that.

But what we see in this is that you're never too young to begin your walk with the Lord. I know we have some young people in here. I don't think we have any eight-year-olds in here. I think they're all at Sunday school. But I do know we have some teenagers in here, some young people, and I want to encourage you, don't wait until you're older, whatever that means. I don't know what it means to be older or getting older. But I remember when I was younger, when I was a teenager, I almost had this sense of, I believe in Jesus, but the grownups, they've got it figured out. They're kind of holding down the fort with the spirituality and God's house. And when I get older, I can start taking my faith more seriously. Don't fall into that trap. Jesus said when he was talking to the children and the disciples were trying to keep them away, saying, Jesus, what are you doing talking to these kids? Don't you know that the things of the Lord are for the older people? He said, no, let the children come to me.

Listen, young person, Jesus is calling you today. Jesus is drawing you close today. The kingdom of God is not just for adults. So whatever age you're at, maybe you're eight years old, maybe you're 88 years old, God is calling you today and God has a plan for your life. And as you continue reading the chapter of 2 Kings 22 and move into 2 Kings 23, you see what a life submitted to the Lord can do. As later, we'll see that Josiah will bring reforms to the nation of Judah. And so, don't sit on the sidelines, just waiting to get older to get serious about your faith. If you're young in here today, trust in the Lord, pursue him with your whole heart, and he will use you to do great things. I truly believe, like he used Josiah here in this passage.

So continuing now with this story in verse three, Josiah begins this project to renovate the temple. He notices that it's becoming disrepair, not only in disrepair, but there were things added on to the temple that had to be torn down as there were altars built to these false gods in the temple. And so Josiah sends his secretary to tell the high priest to collect the money in the temple. They had this money box that when you came to worship, you would drop in your money. And I imagine that was still going on even as people came to worship false idols and false gods, they were still adding to the offering box. And so Josiah tells the high priest to collect all of this money and let's begin restoring the house of the Lord.

And I want to highlight here Josiah's care for God's house. This is a lesson that I think all of us can learn, that it is good for us to take care of the house of the Lord. And I'm so thankful that we do have a generous church that gives weekly, and part of your offerings, it goes towards keeping this house in order, keeping it updated, keeping things in repair. And so as you're sowing into the kingdom, part of that investment is doing just this, what is going on here is helping to keep God's house in order. And so we all play a part in keeping this church a nice place of worship. And I'm very thankful that we do have a nice place to come and worship the Lord. I'm thankful that we can have air conditioning and electricity, but all of this is only possible because of your generosity and because you care for God's house. And so let's continue to have this care for the house of the Lord as we see Josiah did as well. And so Josiah begins this project to renovate the house, to repair it, to restore it.

1. The Recovery of God's Word

And so now we come to verse 8. And this brings us to the first of our three points that we see today as we look at this story, and the first is the recovery. We're going to look at the recovery as God's word was recovered. So looking again at verses 8 through 10, this high priest, he comes to Shaphan the secretary, and he says, I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord. I have found the Book of the Law.

What an amazing discovery. I can't think of a greater discovery in all of the world. Scientists are finding out new things and new species as they go lower into the ocean. These are great discoveries. They're finding new universes and planets and galaxies, which is amazing. But I don't think any discovery is greater than what is found here as the high priest finds God's word. And what has been found here, this Book of the Law, this refers to the first five books of the Old Testament, which was known as the Torah or the Pentateuch. These first five books that Moses had written. And the fact that it was either hidden or it just had been completely lost, just shows you where this nation was at spiritually. That God's word was nowhere to be found, more than likely over the span of 55 years as Manasseh and Amon had ruled the nation.

And this never would have happened if the kings had been obedient to what God's law had prescribed for them as kings. Before the monarchy took place, before Saul was even king, before the Israelites had even gone into the promised land, God, through the voice of Moses, commanded the people on what the king should do when he sits on his throne and begins to rule. And we see this in Deuteronomy 17. And Deuteronomy 17 verses 18 through 19, it says:

"And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them."

This had not been happening. I don't know how long this had been neglected. We are told later that once Josiah begins his reforms, he reinstitutes the Passover, which had been, it says, neglected since the time of the judges. So we know that none of the kings of Israel nor Judah had kept the Passover. So what that tells me is, I think that not one king obeyed this command that God had prescribed for all of the kings to do. Because if any of the kings had done this to write down the whole copy of the law and to read it daily, they would have seen, hey, I'm supposed to keep the Passover. And we're told that none of the kings kept the Passover.

And so it's no accident to see how, and it's not a coincidence, that the nation of Israel had been taken away into captivity because they had abandoned God's Word. And when you fail to read God's word, when you fail to obey God's word, it doesn't matter if you're a king or a commoner, moral compromise and rebellion will always coincide with that. Failure to read God's Word and obey its commands will always lead to moral compromise and rebellion.

And again, I find this interesting that the law was found inside the temple. That all the while, while this pagan worship and idolatry was going on inside the temple, God's word was there, but it was just collecting dust. It wasn't being opened. It wasn't being read. And sadly, over the last 50 years, there's churches in America where the same thing has been going on. Where they've been so concerned with their programs and appealing to the culture, and trying to please the lost with their programming, that they've lost sight of the word of God. And so their sermons are now more of self-help, and how do you find your best life now, and we'll throw a couple of verses in there if it will help support my argument. But God's word isn't the center of the Sunday morning in many churches, sadly.

And we know that this was going to take place. Paul tells us this in 2 Timothy chapter 4, where he says:

"For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths."

And so sadly, this is happening in some churches today where sermons are dumbed down and movies are brought in because we need Hollywood to enlighten us on how to follow Jesus. So we'll watch a movie and say, this is what the movie says about our Christian walk with the Lord. Or we have props and smoke and flashing lights, and I'm not saying that if you have those things, you're a church that's condemned to hell. But a lot of pastors have lost sight of the centrality and the power of God's Word, and they're focusing more on what the world wants. And the sad thing about that is, when that is your approach, you're constantly going to be chasing the next thing, what's popular, what's a fad.

But Isaiah 40, verse 8, it tells us this:

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever."

And so I'm thankful that as a church here at Christ the King Church, that we elevate this book. We make sure that God's word is magnified, that God's word is exalted, that we make God's word central, not just on Sunday mornings, but in all of our lives. And I know that that is one of the reasons why you're here today is because you know that when you come to church on a Sunday morning, the book is going to be open and read.

And so, there's another application for us here. This idea of having the book in the house, but it not being opened, it not being found. And that's in our own houses as well. When I ask you, where is the book in your house? Where is God's Word in your house? Is it somewhere sitting on a bookshelf all the while? If you would look at your week and how you spend your time, that everything else is elevated above the Word of God. Let's not let that be said about us. Let's open the book. Let's find the book. Let's treasure God's word. Let's read his word and endeavor to obey it.

Fathers and husbands, listen, this responsibility falls on you all the more as leaders of your home to find the book and to open it and to read it, not just with yourself, but with your family as well. Let's let God's word be central in our home. If someone stepped into your house for a few days and they watched how you orchestrated your home, they should be able to say, in this house, God's word is central. And if it's not, why is that? Maybe work has gotten busy. There's a stressful time of your life, and you're getting home exhausted, and you just want to unwind and chill, or spend time with your family, which is great. It's good to rest. It's great to spend time with your family. But if that is what's taking place over you spending time daily in God's Word, it's going to be an endeavor that is not going to bear fruit. But when you open God's word, even when you're tired, even when you're exhausted, and you endeavor to do what it says, and you recognize this is the living word of God, you will receive power and strength from his word, and that will allow you to be fruitful as you do these other things in your home.

And so I want to charge you and encourage you to recover the centrality of God's word in your life. I want to echo what Pastor Matt said last week that the daily reading of God's word and reading through God's Word, from Genesis to Revelation daily over the years, is the greatest way that you will grow in your life spiritually. If you are looking to grow in your walk with the Lord, there's no better way to do it than to open God's Word daily and read it. Now, there's a lot of other ways that you can grow spiritually. I'm thankful that we have sermons to listen to, and there's great podcasts and content, things that can teach you God's word and help you grow, but nothing can take the place of the daily discipline of spending time in God's Word.

And so maybe at the beginning of the year, you were inspired and challenged to get in God's Word, and you maybe were reading through the plan pretty well the first couple weeks or first couple months, but now you've found yourself in April, and you've fallen off of that. I want to encourage you to go home and pick up the book, to go find the book and share it with your family. I have found the word of God again, and we are going to read God's word and start today. Don't worry about catching up. That happened with me a few times when I would do a Bible reading plan. I'd get so far behind, I would just say, well, I'm so far behind. I'm just not gonna read the Bible anymore. This year, I'll wait till January next year to try again. Don't let that be you. Don't burden yourself with trying to catch up on the front of your bulletin today. It shows you where we're at today in the Bible reading plan. Just go home, open there, and start reading. And I promise you, if you do this daily and you submit to his word, that you will grow in your walk with the Lord. Okay, well, let's move on here. So that's the first thing we saw, the recovery.

2. The Response to God's Word

Now let's look at how Josiah responds to this book being found and read. Let's look at the response that we see in verse 11. It says, when the king, when Josiah heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. Josiah was cut to the heart. Josiah was undone. When Josiah recognized how not only him, but the whole country had been failing to obey God's law, it produced this brokenness and this mourning inside of him. In those days, to tear your clothes was a sign of mourning and brokenness and contrition. A lot of people would tear their clothes when they heard that a loved one had died. And so in a way, Josiah was saying that he recognized the spiritual death in the nation as he was exposed to the word of God.

Josiah, the first thing that he focused on as a king was the physical problem. He was trying to restore the temple and remove the idols, the things that he could see physically. But as he heard God's word read to him, he recognized that the problem was much greater. That there was a spiritual problem in the nation as well. And I imagine that as he heard that account of Deuteronomy being read, and he recognized that him as a king, his responsibility was not only to read this law, but to write it down and have the high priest examine it, to make sure it was accurate. That broke him as well as he recognized all the ways that as a king, he was failing to obey the word of God.

And this is what God's word does. This is one of the reasons that as you read God's word daily, it will help you grow in your life because God's word exposes the sin that you have in your life. God's word confronts you where you're at. It illuminates our failures and shortcomings. That's one of the reasons why we have God's law. It acts as a mirror to us in our lives. It shows us the character of God. It shows us what God cares about and what he's asked of us. And as we read God's word and see his commands and his laws, it exposes our shortcomings. It exposes our sin.

Hebrews 4:12, it says:

"For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart."

How many of you have experienced that piercing sword in your life as you have read God's Word? A lot of times, honestly, it can be painful, feeling that conviction, recognizing where you've fallen short, recognizing what God is asking of you, the reformation he's desiring in your life, the things that he's asking you to forsake and get rid of. It can be painful. It can be challenging. But our response should be that of Josiah, when we recognize how we have fallen short, our response should be brokenness and contrition.

Also, in the book of Hebrews in chapter 3, verse 15, it says this:

"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion."

This rebellion was talking about the people of Israel as they were wandering in the wilderness, and they continued to harden their hearts against the Lord. Even in that time, God was speaking to them. God was giving them his word, yet they were hardening their hearts. Listen, do not harden your heart against God's word. God has given us his word so that we can know how he wants us to live and how we can relate with him. But if we read his word and our heart is hardened and we have no desire to obey it, it's a fruitless endeavor, and we will continue in our rebellion.

So heed the words of this passage as you hear God's voice, as you hear his word preached, as you hear his word, as you read it daily, allow the Lord to soften your heart. And this is only a work that the Holy Spirit can do. So this is a prayer that all of us as believers need to have. Lord, soften my heart today to receive from your word, to hear from your word, but also to have the desire to obey your word. And so when you're confronted in your sin, don't harden your heart.

Josiah could have hardened his heart when he heard the word read to him, he could have said, you know what, tuck that away. Let's not tell anybody about this. I didn't know about this. Obviously, my grandfather didn't know. Let's just tuck it away, forget about it. Let's keep doing what we're doing. But he didn't. He had a brokenness and that brokenness, as you continue reading the passage, you'll see it leads to reformation, that Josiah brought about a period in the nation of Judah of reform. As he tore down the idols, he reinstituted the Passover. He brought the nation back to a true form of worship, and that all started with him, his response to the word of God when it was read to him. So that's our second point.

3. The Reality of God's Wrath and Christ's Grace

Now, our final point this morning is the reality. And what is this reality? Well, looking at verse 13, the second half of verse 13, Josiah said:

"For great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not obeyed the words of this book to do according to all that is written concerning us."

Josiah realized that God's wrath was being poured out on the nation because they had refused to obey his word. And that is the reality for all mankind who is lost in their sins as well. That there is coming a day of judgment where God is going to pour out his wrath on all of those who are not in Christ. You see, the law had exposed Josiah to his shortcomings. He realized that he was a sinner, and he realized, no doubt, as he read Deuteronomy chapter 28, and it talked about what God would do to the nation if they refused to obey his commands. The blessings that would come with obedience, but also the curses that would come with disobedience. And the same is true for us today who are in our sin.

Romans 3:23, it says this:

"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

You see, nobody is immune to sin. There's not one person in here who has never sinned. And so that means that there's gonna come a day of judgment where God is going to pour out his wrath on all sin that has ever been committed. Now you might say, well, that doesn't sound very loving. Why would a God who is loving pour out wrath on mankind? Because yes, God is loving, but God is also holy. And God is also perfect and righteous and pure. And God is also a judge and as a holy and righteous judge, God cannot tolerate sin. If God were to just overlook sin and say, well, you know what, I just love everybody, so I'm not going to judge sin. He wouldn't be a good judge. He wouldn't be a righteous judge. And so you can't separate God's love from his holiness. You can't separate God's love from his righteousness. These things have to work together. And so all sin will be punished.

Romans 6:23, it tells us:

"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

And so all of us have sinned, what we have earned because of that sin is death. But God. The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Listen, if you are in Christ today, that wrath that you deserved, that wrath that you earned, that death that you earned for your sins has now been applied to Christ. That is why Christ in the garden, that's why he was sweating drops of blood. That's why he was praying, Father, if there was any other way, take this cup from me. The cup that he was talking about was not the cup of pain and suffering he would feel physically on the cross. The cup that he was talking about was the cup of wrath that was going to be poured on him for the sins of his people. But then Jesus said, nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done. And so because of Christ and because of his love for you, he went to the cross.

Romans 5:8 tells us this:

"But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

So all of us at one point were lost in our sins. We deserved God's wrath, but even while we were lost in our sins, before we had decided to follow Jesus, Christ died for you, making it possible for you to be reconciled back to him. You see, the love of Christ was manifested on the cross. That is why Good Friday is a good Friday because it's the greatest display of love that has ever been poured out as Christ died on the cross, absorbing our wrath, absorbing our punishment, absorbing the death that we deserved. It was poured out on Christ.

But not only does Jesus take your punishment, this passage tells us he gives us eternal life as well, which Romans 6:23 told us. We have been given his righteousness. So not only now do we not have to fear that day of judgment, we can look forward to that last day where we are going to meet Jesus face to face because we are covered in the righteousness of Christ. But not only do we not have his wrath poured out on us, as Peter said, as he preached on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:17), he said, God's spirit is now being poured out on you. So we in Christ don't have God's wrath poured out on us. We have his spirit now poured into us, and we can now walk in the fruit of his spirit and in the power of his spirit. And this is only possible because of the work of Christ.

Conclusion and Invitation

And so wherever you're at today in your life, know this, that Jesus Christ has given his life so that you can be saved. You may have come in here today far from the Lord. You may have come in here today lost in your sins. You may have come in here today with your heart hardened, but as you have heard the gospel, as you've heard God's word, even over the last few minutes, God is stirring your heart. Listen, do not harden your heart. Look to Christ. Look to our sacrificed Messiah who laid his life down for you because of his love for you, and trust in his sacrifice, and you will be saved. Look to Christ today.

But the first step is that brokenness over your sin. Have you experienced that brokenness? Have you experienced that point where you've recognized what your sin is in light of who God in his holiness is? Let's have that response of Josiah, let's be broken over our sin, and let's repent and take it to the Lord and trust in Christ today. As you do that, you will be saved. You will find healing, you will find restoration. There will come reformation in your life as you submit to Christ, and then you open his book.

If you're here today and maybe this is you, maybe you're hearing what Jesus Christ has done for you and you're choosing today to serve the Lord, but you're thinking, oh, this is great, but I don't have a Bible. Come talk to me after church. I will get you a Bible today. There's nobody in here should go home today without a physical Bible if you do not have a Bible. We will get you a Bible today because we want you to start this journey of following Jesus and getting into his word every day. So look to Christ today. Stop trying to live a life of your own good deeds, of your own merits to get you into heaven. Listen, no good deed will ever be enough to get you into heaven on your own merits because all of us have sinned. We've all fallen short. We all need the saving work of Jesus Christ. So look to him today.

Why don't we stand this morning? I believe that there are some of us in here today that if you're honest, you have lost the book. That the cares of this life, the busyness of life has distracted you. Maybe you've been bitter against God for some reason. For whatever reason, you have stopped reading God's word. You have stopped opening his word. You have stopped leading your family in the reading of his word. Look, if that's you today, there's no condemnation. I think if we're all honest, we've all had that time in our lives where we've not read God's word as we should, or maybe we didn't view God's word as it really is, his living word spoken to us.

Maybe recently you've just viewed God's word as a checklist that you just go to every morning to knock it off your day so you can mark off that box saying, I've read the Bible today. Maybe you've lost sight of what God's word really is, his living word speaking to us. Let's go back to the book. Find the book. Open his word daily. Ask the Lord to stir within you that desire to read his word. And then as you read it, obey it. As you read it, tell others what it says. As you read it, share it with your family. And I truly believe that as we do this daily in our lives, that our lives will flourish, our families will flourish, our communities will flourish, and like what happened in Josiah's day, we will see revival happen in our city and in our country.

But look, if those that are in here today, if we're not opening the book, if we're not opening God's word daily, who's going to do that? And so let's endeavor today to go back to God's word. There's no better day than today to begin your journey of reading through God's Word. And we can reclaim this year of the Bible. Like I said, maybe you've fallen off. But you can start again today. And again, it's not just so you can say, oh, great, I read the Bible today. No, it's because of what happens when you read God's word and submit to it daily. Amen.

The Final Word

The Final Word

Matt Bell

Download

Sermon Summary

In this sermon, Pastor Matt explores the narrative of 2 Kings 1, where King Ahaziah of Israel suffers a severe injury and foolishly seeks counsel from the false god Beelzebub rather than the true God of Israel. In response, God sends the prophet Elijah to confront the king’s idolatry and pronounce judgment, leading to a dramatic standoff where God’s supreme authority is demonstrated through fire from heaven until a third military captain humbly surrenders to the Lord's mercy. Contrasting this Old Testament judgment with the grace found in the New Testament, the pastor points to Luke 9 to show how Jesus—God's ultimate and final word—came not to call down fire on rebellious sinners, but to absorb God’s wrath on the cross, inviting everyone to turn to Him alone in times of crisis.

Sermon Transcript

Introduction

We are going to open our Bibles to the book of 2 Kings, 2 Kings chapter one, which is in the Old Testament. We're in a series as a church this year called the Year of the Bible. What that means is that as a church, we are reading through the whole Bible together day by day, week by week; there's a Bible reading plan. And the great thing about doing this is that you can jump in at any time. Even if you didn't start the Year of the Bible with us, it's the whole year and you're here. And so you can jump in with us at any time, at any week, and every week, we have the chapters that we as a church are reading in your handout. And so if you look in your handout, you'll see on the bottom of the second page, on the inside, there are the chapters that we are reading as a church this week.

Now, we're starting a new book of the Bible this week, the book of 1 Chronicles, and with each new book of the Bible, when we begin that book, we're producing an introduction video and an overview video that explains the whole picture of that book and what you're going to find in there and helping you to understand it a little bit better. And if you want to see these introduction videos, there's a slide on the screen there. You can sign up to receive them via email or via Telegram, or if you subscribe to our YouTube channel, you can get it there as well.

And we really believe at this church that the Bible is the Word of God. And so this is why we're putting this emphasis on it this year. And I can say honestly that for me, the greatest catalyst to my own personal spiritual growth has been the discipline of daily spending time reading the Word of God. Nothing has caused me to grow more as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus, than every day opening the Bible and just reading what God's word says. Every single one of us in here daily nourishes our physical body. We're all going to eat something today to give our bodies sustenance, to give our bodies some calories, some strength to burn. And it's the same with our spiritual life as well. We need nourishment. We need fuel for our spiritual life. And the Word of God is that fuel. Jesus said, man does not live by bread alone or calories alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So let me encourage you, jump in with us this week. Watch the introduction video to 1 Chronicles. I think it'll be illuminating for you.

Background on the Kings of Israel

So, we're in the book of 2 Kings chapter one. I want to give you a little bit of background because this is sort of an obscure part of the Bible for many Christians. Many Christians spend the majority of their time reading the New Testament. The New Testament, of course, tells us about Jesus. And so that's not a surprise that we would want to spend our time reading about our Savior, our King, our Lord, God in the flesh. But one of the things that Jesus says in the New Testament is that the Old Testament is about him. So all of the Bible is all about Jesus. And so even as we're reading through some of this history of the Old Testament, we can still see Jesus in there, and I'm going to, at the end of the sermon today, show you where we see Jesus in this very wild story that we're going to read from 2 Kings.

So let me give you a little bit of background. For the past few weeks, we've been reading through the books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings. And it comes as a surprise to no one that the subject of the Book of Kings is kings. Very good. You're paying attention. Kings. More specifically, the kings of ancient Israel. And these books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings, they cover roughly 400 years of history. From, give or take, 1000 BC, a thousand years before Christ, to roughly 600 years before Christ came. That's the period of time that we're dealing with.

Now, most people are familiar with the most famous king of Israel: King David. We're familiar with King David, not so much because of his life as a king, though some of the things that he did in his life as a king were pretty infamous. We're mostly familiar with David from his younger years and a story of a great battle that he had with a giant named Goliath. So because of this story of David versus Goliath, which transcends the Bible—I mean, that's just in the culture. You could say to anyone, "That's a real David and Goliath situation," and they'll know exactly what you're talking about. So most people have heard of the most famous king of Israel, King David.

But what most people don't know is that Israel, the nation of Israel, as a united kingdom of the twelve tribes of Israel, only had three kings. Israel only ever had three kings. David was the second king. A lot of people know about the first king of Israel, King Saul, then King David, and then most people know the third king of Israel, Solomon, David's son. And that's where most of our knowledge of the kings of Israel drop off drastically.

But the books of 1 Kings and 2 Kings tell us the history of the children of Israel after King Solomon. And after King Solomon died, this kingdom of Israel, these twelve tribes, had a civil war. And they split. And so that's why I say Israel only ever had three kings because after Solomon, that nation disappeared. And two new nations were formed. There was the one tribe that stayed loyal to David, the tribe of Judah. They stayed loyal to David and David's house, and the lineage of kings that came from David. That nation became known as the kingdom or the nation of Judah. There was one very tiny little tribe, Benjamin, that joined them. They were in the South. Their capital city was Jerusalem, where the temple was.

But the ten northern tribes rebelled and entered into a civil war, and they broke away from following David's house and the lineage of kings that came from David. And that nation became known as the nation of Israel. Not to confuse anybody, but they took the name of the nation, and so not always, just because something has the name Israel on it, doesn't mean it's the exact same as what came before, just so you know.

So, the kingdom of Israel only ever had three kings, the United Kingdom. After Solomon, the third king, there's a civil war, there's a split into two different kingdoms: Judah in the south, Israel in the north, the upper ten tribes. In our text today, it centers around a king named Ahaziah, who was the eighth king of the northern kingdom of Israel. And he was the son of an extremely wicked king named Ahab, and his mother was Queen Jezebel. That's his parents, Ahab and Jezebel.

Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 22 and 2 Kings 1

So with that little bit of background, why don't we stand to read the Word of God this morning? And we're actually going to start at the end of 1 Kings. The very end of 1 Kings, in verse 51, it starts with Ahaziah's background a little bit. So let's look at 1 Kings chapter 22, verse 51:

Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. He served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger in every way that his father had done.

Now, 2 Kings chapter one:

After the death of Ahab, Moab rebelled against Israel. Now Ahaziah fell through the lattice in his upper chamber in Samaria, and he lay sick; so he sent messengers, telling them, "Go, inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Ekron, about whether or not I shall recover from this sickness." But the angel of the Lord said to Elijah the Tishbite (he was a prophet), "Arise, go up to meet the messengers of the king of Samaria, and say to them, 'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Ekron?'"

Father, we thank you for your word this morning. I pray that you would help us see what you want us to see today. To hear from your Spirit what you want us to hear today. That we might live for you as we sang this morning, "Lover of my soul, I want to live for you." Lord, help us to examine our hearts and to see if there's any place in which we are not living for you, that we might confess that, receive forgiveness, and to walk in your ways. In Jesus' name. Amen.

You may be seated.

Two Questions: Where Do You Turn?

This passage in 2 Kings one begins with two questions. The title of my sermon today is "God's Final Word, The Final Word." And this first section has two questions. One question from King Ahaziah, and a more important question from God himself.

It begins by telling us after the death of his father, King Ahab, that a surrounding nation, Moab, rebelled against Israel. It saw that Israel was in a weakened state. And so they rebelled. During King David's reign, he had conquered the people of Moab and subjugated them so that they were now subjects of the kingdom of Israel. And they had to pay tribute to the kingdom of Israel. But when Ahab dies, they recognize there's this political upheaval, and they don't have to do this anymore. So they refuse now to live as subjects of the kingdom of Israel and King Ahaziah, and they refuse to send their taxes to King Ahaziah. And so his reign, King Ahaziah, his reign begins with political upheaval and economic downturn.

But then it goes on to tell us that he suffers a great accident that leaves him bedridden and ill. He's walking on his roof. He leans up against the lattice, the railing, and the railing gives way. And he falls from the upper story down onto the ground, and he is greatly injured. In fact, he probably has some sort of internal injury that's causing him to run a fever. He's not able to get up. He's bedridden. And so in this state, when he experiences this political crisis and now this personal health crisis, he decides he's going to seek help from an outside source. And his question is, "Will I recover? Will I recover from this illness? Will I recover from this sickbed? Or is this the end of my life?"

Now, the problem is not that he has questions. The problem is where he goes with his question. He doesn't go to the God of Israel with his question, the God who had appeared to his ancestor and called his ancestor Abraham. He doesn't go to the God who had delivered his people from Egypt and slavery. He doesn't go to the God who had delivered his people into the nation of Canaan and given them the promised land. He doesn't go to that God. He goes to a false god. He seeks the counsel of an idol, Beelzebub. And this is not a one-off action with Ahaziah. This was the pattern of his life, as we read at the end of 1 Kings. His whole life, he had abandoned being faithful to the covenant that God had made to the children of Israel, and he was an idol worshiper, just like his parents before him.

Now, here's a question we all need to answer this morning. Because it's not only King Ahaziah that suffers crises in their life. We all will face confusing times, difficult times, personal crisis, health crisis, relational crisis, economic crisis. In this life, we will have tribulation. That's what Jesus said. The question we all need to answer this morning is when those moments come, where do you go? Where do you turn in those moments of hardship? Where do you look for answers? To whom do you seek counsel from? It wasn't that Ahaziah had questions. That's not the problem. The problem is where he went with his questions.

God's Question for King Ahaziah

Now, I said that this section has two questions. The first from King Ahaziah, but somebody else has a question. And we read it was God. God has a question for King Ahaziah. And so he sends Elijah the prophet to intercept Ahaziah's messengers with this question.

And this is something that God would do regularly. He would send his messengers, the prophets, who would go and they would confront the kings of Israel. The kings of Israel were called to be God's servants, to execute justice in the land, to apply the law of God, God's law that he had given them, the Ten Commandments. The king's job was to make sure the Ten Commandments were obeyed by the people, and that God was worshiped. And when they strayed from that responsibility, when they would stray into idolatry and false worship, God would send prophets, his messengers, who would go and pronounce to them the word that God had spoken, calling the nation and the kings back to faithfulness and to the true worship of God. These prophets like Elijah, their primary ministry was preaching, calling people to repentance and faith in the true and living God. Calling people to turn, literally, to turn from their idols and to turn back to the God who had saved them and delivered them.

And the question that God puts in the mouth of Elijah, and the question that God wants answered from King Ahaziah is this: Why are you inquiring from idols? Why are you seeking answers from idols? Remember the psalm we opened with this morning? Psalm 115. Idols have eyes, but they can't see. Idols have ears, but they can't hear. Idols have mouths, but they can't speak. Why are you inquiring of this false god? Is it because there is no God in Israel that you have to seek counsel from idols?

Now, this section ends in verse 4. We only read through verse three, but let's look here at verse four. After Elijah asks that question, he says this in verse four. Now therefore, this is God's pronouncement:

"Now therefore thus says the Lord, You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die." So Elijah went.

God pronounces this judgment upon King Ahaziah. You're not going to come down, but you are going to die because you have sought after idols.

The Messengers Return

Now, the story continues in verses 5 through 8 with two more questions. There are a lot of questions in this section, in this passage of scripture. There's two more questions, and in this section, King Ahaziah has both of them. Let's look at them in verse 5 as the story continues:

The messengers returned to the king, and he said to them, "Why have you returned so quickly?" And they said to him, "There came a man to meet us and said to us, 'Go back to the king who sent you and say to him, Thus says the Lord, Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are sending to inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Ekron? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.'"

This first question that King Ahaziah asks is, "Why are y'all back so early?" That was quick. I sent you out to go to another country, to go to another nation, to go inquire of this other god, and you barely got out of the castle, and now you're coming back. What's up with that? That's his first question. Why are you back so quickly?

And the messengers deliver not the word from Beelzebub, which no doubt would have been, "Yes, you're going to be great. Everything's gonna be fine with you." They come back with a word from God, the true and living God. That's not what he sent for. It's like if you send your family out to—this is a really bad illustration, but you send your family out. There's no way to make this illustration work, so I'm just gonna leave it. You send somebody out for something, and they come back with something else, and I'll let you fill in the blank on what that is. Oh, no, you know what? I just thought of it. Okay. Say you're a vegan. No shame, no condemnation. There is no problem with that. And you send your family out to go get you some vegetables, some green beans, some bean soup, you know? Some healthy stuff. And they come back with steak. What? What is this? What is this? That's the situation here. They came back with some real food. Not some rabbit food. They came back with steak. Look, there's grace for everyone here this morning. I want you to know that.

So he continues with his second question. He says in verse 7:

He said to them, "What kind of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things?" They answered him, "He wore a garment of hair, with a belt of leather about his waist." And he said, "It is Elijah the Tishbite."

Ahaziah immediately recognizes who this man is. Immediately. He is Elijah the prophet. Elijah was someone who was known to King Ahaziah's family. He had had many run-ins with his parents, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, in many heated confrontations, one very famous one where fire fell down from heaven in this confrontation between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. We read about that in 1 Kings. And so King Ahaziah knows exactly who he's dealing with. He knows that Elijah is a true prophet of God who operates in the power of God, who declares the true word of God.

And what tells him it's Elijah is his wardrobe. He's wearing a garment of hair, camel's hair most likely, and he's tied that garment with a leather belt. Elijah, a quite fashionable individual. What I want to ask you, does this wardrobe sound familiar to you at all? Yes. That's a KBI graduate right there that had the answer to that. There's another man later in the Bible who wears the exact same outfit. It is John the Baptist. The forerunner of Christ, the man who was sent to prepare the way for the ministry of the Messiah. And this forerunner of Christ, it was said he would come in the same spirit and power as Elijah. And he also came in the same wardrobe. Just so that no one missed it. John the Baptist said, "I want the same outfit," and he went to a designer and had him make the exact same wardrobe. So, the same spirit, power, and wardrobe as Elijah is what John the Baptist ministers in.

A Conflict of Authority

And so he recognizes this as Elijah, and so he now sends messengers to Elijah. We read about this in the next section, where true power and true authority are put on display. Here now is a conflict between authority, between power. The king, King Ahaziah, he believes he has power. He's the king. Even though Moab's rebelling against him. Now, he's going to have a confrontation, just like his parents did, between his power and authority and God's power and authority.

And so we read in verse 9:

Then the king sent to him a captain of fifty men with his fifty. He went up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of a hill, and he said to him, "O man of God, the king says, 'Come down.'"

You have been summoned by the king. You must come now. He sends a captain of fifty men with his fifty men. "Go and bring me Elijah, bring him to me. Command him, he must appear in my presence." This is a conflict of authority. Who has the true authority? Is it the prophet, the true prophet, with the word of God? Or is it this false king sitting on a false throne serving a false god? Who's abandoned the Messianic line of David, who's set up in his family heritage his own glory and his own kingdom. Where is this true authority?

And so Elijah responds by saying, in verse 10:

But Elijah answered the captain of fifty, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty."

Elijah says, this is a test to see where the true authority is. Is it in these idol worshippers and this false god? Or is it in the God who made heaven and earth, the true God of Israel? Here is the test, he says. It will be a test of fire.

Then fire came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

Now, this would have been a great opportunity for King Ahaziah to say, "Whoa. I'm dealing with something powerful here. This is not like the idols who have all of these worshipers but have no power. I'm dealing with the true and the living God. I better humble myself before him. I better return to him and to his word, and to his law, and to his covenant." But does anybody here think that that's what he does? No, that's not what he does. No. He thinks, let me try that again.

So in verse 11:

Again the king sent to him another captain of fifty men with his fifty. And he answered and said to him, "O man of God, this is the king's order, 'Come down quickly!'"

"I don't know who you think you are, Elijah, but the king is commanding you. I don't know who you think you answer to, but you better obey this king. Here is his order: Come down quickly."

But Elijah answered them, "If I am a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume you and your fifty." Then the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed him and his fifty.

I think if I had been sitting on the throne, if I had been King Ahaziah, I would have said at this point, "Maybe I should alter my course a little bit. Maybe it's time to course correct." This is an opportunity for repentance. This is an opportunity for a change of heart, a change of direction. But not King Ahaziah. King Ahaziah says, "Let's do it again." That's double, that's triple down. Double or nothing, double or nothing. This is King Ahaziah.

The Third Captain's Humility

Verse 13:

Again the king sent the captain of a third fifty with his fifty. And the third captain of fifty went up and came and fell on his knees before Elijah and entreated him...

So the first two come in the authority of the king. They come on the king's side. They come as a part of this regimen and this system of idolatry and rejecting God. But this third captain, one guy in the story wises up. He says, "If I do the same thing as these other guys, I'm gonna get the same result. I'm going to try something different. I'm going to try coming with contrition. I'm going to try coming with humility. I'm not going to come with arrogance commanding the man of God, and essentially commanding God that God has to get on this idol's terms, I'm going to come humbling myself, begging God for mercy."

So he comes on his knees and he falls down before Elijah, and he entreats him. He says:

"O man of God, please let my life, and the life of these fifty servants of yours, be precious in your sight. Behold, fire came down from heaven and consumed the two former captains of fifty men with their fifties, but now let my life be precious in your sight."

He's saying, "We're here because we have to be here because King Ahaziah has sent us, but we're not his servants. We're your servants. We serve your God. Please spare our lives. Let our lives be precious in your sight. We are your servants."

Then the angel of the Lord said to Elijah, "Go down with him; do not be afraid of him." So he arose and went down with him to the king.

And so this captain, this third captain, comes and he doesn't approach the man of God with arrogance, with pride, in the false authority of this human king. Instead, he comes in humility. He surrenders himself to the Lord. You see, the first captains, they came in opposition to the word of God. They came standing over and against and in judgment of God and his prophet and God's word. But not this last captain. He comes surrendering himself. He comes in humility. He comes asking God for mercy. And what does he receive? Mercy.

There's a scripture in the Bible that says God says to the proud, "I will show myself proud," but to the humble, "I will show myself humble." I will show mercy to the humble. There's another scripture in the Bible that says God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble. This man experiences grace because he approaches God in humility, surrendering his life to the Lord, not in service of this idol and its false king.

God's Final Word to Ahaziah

And so Elijah comes down, and we see here in the final section God's final word. God's final word to King Ahaziah. Now, all of these other words, this question that was sent by Elijah, this question that was sent by his messengers, these signs of fire from heaven—these were all opportunities for this king to repent. But King Ahaziah refused to repent. And so he hardens his heart in pride and unbelief, and so God's final word comes through the prophet Elijah.

And we read in verse 16:

And he said to him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Beelzebub, the god of Ekron—is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of his word?—therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.'" So he died according to the word of the Lord that Elijah had spoken. Jehoram became king in his place in the second year of Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, because Ahaziah had no son. Now the rest of the acts of Ahaziah that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel?

Here God gives his final word. And judgment falls on him. He worshiped false gods. He led Israel to do the same. When he is confronted by the true word of God from the true God of Israel, he refuses to repent, he hardens his heart. But as it turns out, there was a God in Israel. As it turns out, that God's word stands above every word. As it turns out, that word supersedes even the word of the king, that there is no word above the word of God. His word, God's word, stands above even the kings of the earth. Even the kings, even our president, even our governor, every authority is under the authority of the word of God. And when kings and people in authority refuse to humble themselves under the authority of the Word of God, the Bible is very clear that they will experience this kind of judgment from God, in this life and in the life to come.

And so it is with all of us. If we harden our hearts against the word of God, against the gospel of Jesus Christ, if we approach God's word in arrogance and in pride, setting ourselves up as authorities over the word of God, not humbling ourselves under the word of God, not approaching God in humility, but in arrogance, thinking that we are somehow sufficient on our own, we too will experience this kind of end to our lives. And friends, that's not what I want for anybody here this morning. God has the final word. His word is decisive. His word is the end.

Jesus is God's Final Word

Now, there's a story in the New Testament that connects to this story here. It's in the life of Jesus. And Jesus, like God, has been rejected by the people of Samaria. We read at the beginning that this happened in Samaria. Samaria was the capital city of these ten northern tribes of Israel. And Jesus, in his life, some 800 years later, is on his way to Jerusalem where he will die for the sins of mankind. He's there on his way to go do what God sent him to do: to redeem the world. And as Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, he passes by the same city, Samaria. The same city that we read about here. And this story we read about in Luke chapter 9.

And so Jesus, on his way to the cross, sends messengers ahead of him to the people of Samaria. Just like before, when God sent messengers to the people of Samaria, his prophets to the kings of Israel, calling God's people back to covenant faithfulness. Jesus, on his way to the cross, sends messengers ahead of him to go and see if they will welcome him in Samaria. You see, God was not welcome in Samaria, in the kingdom of Israel, in the time of the prophet Elijah. The question now stands: Well, Jesus, will God in the flesh, will he be welcome in Samaria as he approaches the cross?

And so he sends messengers into these towns ahead of him to see if they will welcome Jesus in, that Jesus might minister there to them. We know that wherever Jesus went, what did he do? He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He cast out demons. He opened blind eyes, he unstopped deaf ears. He taught them the word of God. He fed the multitudes. I mean, what more could you ask for? And yet, when the messengers enter into Samaria and say, "Jesus is on his way, would you like him to stop by and bless you?" They reply by saying, "He is not welcome here. Just keep walking on by, Jesus. Don't bother stopping. You can't come to Samaria."

So they refuse him. They reject him. And two of his disciples, named James and John, they have an idea. They say, "That sounds familiar. God's messengers rejected in Samaria. What happened the last time? Fire came down from heaven. Jesus? Would you like us to call down fire from heaven on these Samaritans?"

Now, when you read that story in Luke chapter 9, if you don't know the background, if you don't know this story, it seems like that's kind of an extreme escalation there, John and James. Kind of went from, like, one to 100 really quick. But they're logically concluding, Jesus is God's Messiah. Jesus is God's messenger. And this is what happened the last time they rejected the word of the prophet.

But Jesus tells them, "No. No. No. We're not calling down fire from heaven." Jesus rebukes them and tells them, "You are operating in the wrong spirit." Jesus says, "I did not come to destroy life, but to give life." And we read in John 3, verse 17, that the Son of Man did not come into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world through him might be saved.

You see, there was a time for the ministry of Elijah. There was a time for the ministry of John the Baptist, who came in the spirit of Elijah. Their job was to prepare the way for Christ. These men, they were bulldozers. There's no question about it. But Jesus did not come to be a bulldozer. Jesus came for a different purpose. Jesus didn't need to prepare the way; Jesus came to be the way. Not to pour out wrath from heaven, but to absorb God's wrath for us on the cross. Jesus says, "You're operating from the wrong spirit here, folks."

And Jesus—hear this—Jesus is God's final word. God's final word is Jesus. Jesus is the Word made flesh. And so we need to be very careful in the world in which we live. What spirit are we of? In the world that we live in that not a day goes by where we don't see people rejecting our Savior, blaspheming our Savior, taking his name in vain, living in open-handed, high-handed sin, rebellion, idolatry. We need to be very careful that we don't find ourselves with the wrong spirit in our hearts.

Jesus came to save sinners. And if we're operating in the spirit of, "I wish I could just call down fire from heaven on these people right now"—there was a time for that. But we live in a different time. We're to be of a different spirit. We're to be of the ministry of Jesus, the one who absorbed the wrath of God, who came to save the world, to save sinners, to call them to himself. Jesus is God's final word.

Where Are You Turning?

And so when you find yourself in a crisis, when you find yourself not knowing which way to turn, not knowing which way is up, your world turned upside down. Where do you turn? Where do you go? Friends, turn to Jesus. Turn to Jesus. He is God's answer to whatever it is that you are facing.

You might say, "Jesus, he won't accept me because of the things that I've done, the way that I've lived my life." Look at him on the cross, absorbing the wrath of God on your behalf. Look at him on the cross with arms outstretched, welcoming all who would come to him, who would come to him in faith and who would trust in him and in his word. You can come to Christ today. I don't know what burden you carry. I don't know what crisis you are in, but I do know that Jesus is the answer. Jesus said in the world, we would have tribulation, but he said, "Take heart, because I have overcome the world."

Where do you turn in moments of crisis? To friends, to neighbors, to lovers, to substance, to therapy devoid of the scripture, devoid of God? Where are you turning? Where are you placing your hope? Where are you going to for answers today? Let it only be Christ.

Now, friends are good. I'm not saying you can't go to friends. Counsel is good if it's godly and based on the word of God. But let us put our hope and our trust in our Savior, the one who bled and died to overcome the world.

You say, "I don't know if Jesus can handle my situation." Friends, he defeated death. He rose on the third day. If he can overcome death, I can promise you whatever you've got going on, he can handle it. He can deal with it. He is the true king, not on some manmade false throne. He is the true descendant of David. He's the true heir. And he sits on the throne of heaven, ready to hear, ready to act, ready to engage on your behalf, if you will come to him in faith. If you will trust in him.

Jesus is God's final word. Let us go to Christ in faith. Let us forsake all idols. Let us forsake all other forms of seeking answers outside of Christ, and let us go first to him and to him alone.

I'm not saying we can't go to doctors. I'm not saying we can't take our medication. That's not what I'm saying. I have to be clear about that. Those things are fine, those things can be good, those things can be used by God. But we don't put our faith in them. We don't trust in them. We trust in God. We put our faith in God, not in the pill in the bottle. God may use that, and glory be to him. But Jesus is where I'm putting my trust. And I pray that you would as well.

Easter Sunday 2026

Easter 2026

Matt Bell

Download

Good Friday 2026

Good Friday 2026

Matt Bell

Download