The Gospel - The Worst In Us Overcome Through The Best God Has To Offer......
Sermon Matching Blog: http://tbcmarion.org/index.php?option=com_preachit&tmpl=component&id=92&view=audiopopup:
Sermon Matching Blog: http://tbcmarion.org/index.php?option=com_preachit&tmpl=component&id=92&view=audiopopup:
I'm wondering how you answered my previous question: The death of David's child, the gospel of grace or the gospel of Law? You see, a Biblical world view takes us beyond the facts and circumstances of our lives, even the failures, and finds meaning, purpose and truth in the big picture. The big picture always gives us a gospel of grace, though the details often seem to point to a gospel based on reward and punishment, a gospel of works. So I asked her, “did you read the rest of 2 Samuel 12?” “The rest?” For instance: verse 22 "He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The LORD may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23 But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” 24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The LORD loved him; 25 and because the LORD loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah."
The entire Old Testament testifies to a way of salvation being accomplished by God through the son of David. The Old Testament also paints a picture of how God plans to accomplish this salvation – the death of the Son of David, the Lamb of God. The New Testament makes clear that Jesus is this son of David who dies for the sins of the world. Passages like: Acts 2:22-40; Romans 1:1-6; Galatians 3: 23-29; Revelation 5. All of these passages, and many others, point to God accomplishing His purpose in the world through the death of the innocent Son of David. 2 Sam. 12 is a very powerful proclamation and illustration of this gospel, as the innocent son of David dies so that God might forgive the sin of David, and secure a means by which David stands blessed. If David had not comprehended this mercy, do you think for one second he would have assured his servants that he would one day go to his son? If David had embraced a gospel of Law, would he have entertained going home to make love to Bathsheba? If David had embraced a gospel of works, would he have dared go into battle expecting the blessing of God to provide victory for him, in spite of his sin and his temporary cover up? David seemed to fully embrace the grace which had been provided for him, and his entire disposition and behavior dramatically changed when the child died. What this woman called punishment, I call an OT proclamation of the gospel, as God takes the innocent son of David to atone for the sins of one He loves – namely David, but also me and you. Would you for one second deny that God’s grace continually brings blessing into David and Bethsheba’s life, beginning with Solomon? When I asked this, my friend simply responded: “God was now free to bless David because the punishment of taking his son was enough.” I left our time saddened by the fact that she most likely would continue to walk through life understanding God to be the type of God who exacts punishment when we sin, and bestows blessing when we obey, never fully comprehending that every gift we receive from God is based on the same gracious love that is the foundation of the gospel we proclaim. (At this point I suggest you pause and read Galatians 2 and 3).
The third Gospel I mention, and the one I have come to fully embrace, teach and preach, is the gospel of grace, built from beginning to end on the person of Jesus Christ. The entire world is searching for grace. We see this when we watch television, we witness this when we go to the movies, we are made aware of this when we read our newspapers, and we are in touch with this need when we search our own individual lives. We understand intuitively that without grace this world is nothing more than a "dog eat dog" carousel bearing witness to the blind faith we exercise in a survival of the fittest motif, in which the weak are eaten alive and the strong are allowed to trample under foot all who would oppose them. We have all witnessed, one way or another, what this kind of world looks like. It may be the graceless bully of our youth who taught us this; or the x-spouse with a ruthless lawyer by her side; or the parent who we could never please no matter how hard we tried; or the best friend that abandoned us in our hour of need; or the government that summed up our worth as persons with rulings like Roe vs. Wade birthed within a culture preaching the “fact” of evolution; or the Pharisaical brother who set us aside because of our shortcomings; or the son or daughter who never did embrace us as father and mother; or the sibling that left us long ago because we never quite lived up to our responsibility in maintaining the family name; or the preacher who never understood our value to the ministry of the church; or the professor who wrote us off because our thinking was a bit more creative than they were accustom to seeing; or the girlfriend that found “other options” while our heart lay crushed in her hands; or the boss who would rather risk a future without us rather than tread water along side us; or the grandchild that found something else to do over Christmas holidays. We all have stories of un-grace, stories of what people have done to us, stories of what we have done to others, and stories of life being life and people being people. Within our memories and our dreams, dare I say nightmares, are glimpses of what a world without grace would feel like and be like and look like if un-grace had her way within every aspect of human life.
Written on Monday, 11 July 2011 13:01 by Rick Farmer
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