Nehemiah # 11 (2006-10-11)
“The obedient Life”-“new Beginnings”
Nehemiah 9:38
38 "In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it." (NIV)
Nehemiah 10:28-29
28 "The rest of the people-- priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, temple servants and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand--
29 all these now join their brothers the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the LORD our Lord. (NIV)
Introduction
As we come to Nehemiah chapter 10, let us remember what we studied in Chapter 9.
We considered last Sunday…
1. The Greatness of God
2. The Goodness of God
and finally,
3. The AMAZING Grace of God
As Chapter 9 comes to a close, we see that God’s people have prayed and fasted and confessed their sins.
…God’s People had sinned and now it is time for some steps of dedication and obedience.
…It is time for a new commitment to God, it is a time of new beginnings.
…So chapter 9 closes with these words:
Nehemiah 9:38
38 "In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it." (NIV)
…Then Nehemiah 10:1-27 is a listing of the people that are signing or putting their seal on this new, binding, agreement with God.
…Nehemiah is listed first, and there is a list of 84 individuals that were prepared to put their name on this agreement.
…This list includes priests, Levites, and various leaders of the people.
…Those who signed were representing all the people who had heard the Word of God read and explained, and now it was time for a new COMMITMENT!!
…Now as we look at Nehemiah 10 and we consider this new covenant that God’s People are signing, we ask the question:
“Was their commitment sincere, was it genuine?”
“Did God’s people really mean what they were saying?”
…Let us look briefly at 3 evidences that indicate that God’s People were sincere.
…These same evidences should be in your life today if you are sincere with your commitments to the Lord.
1. Firstly, there was SUBMISSION to the Word of God.
As these leaders gathered to sign the new agreement….
…It could be that Ezra had introduced this ceremony by reading first from:
Deuteronomy 29:10-13
10 All of you are standing today in the presence of the LORD your God-- your leaders and chief men, your elders and officials, and all the other men of Israel,
11 together with your children and your wives, and the aliens living in your camps who chop your wood and carry your water.
12 You are standing here in order to enter into a covenant with the LORD your God, a covenant the LORD is making with you this day and sealing with an oath,
13 to confirm you this day as his people, that he may be your God as he promised you and as he swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (NIV)
…We also read in:
Numbers 30:2
2 When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said. (NIV)
…A covenant or oath like this was very serious, since it involved the name of God, and if the covenant was broken, it could mean God’s judgment.
…Today, as we have moved from the Old Testament Law to the fullness of New Testament Grace, the arrangements are different.
…Generally, today we do not sign written covenants with God as such…
…Our relationship to the Lord is described as children to our Heavenly Father.
…Our Heavenly Father wants us to obey Him based on Love and Free Will.
…As we consider all that the Cross of Christ means to us, and how we have come out of darkness into light through Salvation…
…A whole new world has opened up to us.
Colossians 3:1-4
1 Since, then, (since you accepted Christ) you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (NIV)
…In Christ, everything has changed for you.
…It is not about signing covenants and taking oaths, no…
…Your obedience to God’s Word now comes from a life that is experiencing Peace and Joy.
…Here is a prayer, prayed by a Christian Athlete, Bobby Richardson, that gets right to the point: ….“Dear God, Your will, nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. Amen.”
—Biblical Recorder
…It is not always easy to Submit to God’s Word and God’s Will.
…Saying YES to God’s Word can be very costly!!!
As we reflect on Church History…
(They Said “Yes!” To God)
“What if Martin Luther ignored his soul’s conviction that there was something radically wrong with the sale of indulgences? Would there have been a Protestant Reformation?
Thankfully, Luther said “yes” to God…. It was then that he could preach salvation by grace and by grace alone in Christ Jesus…and the inspiration that was within him—was recorded in 400 books and pamphlets and 125 hymns worth.
What if William Ashley (“Billy”) Sunday had told God he could make more money playing professional baseball?
..Instead he said “yes” to the Word and God’s Will.
…And he went from city to city preaching the Gospel with passion and an unforgettable style—his love for God and his conviction for eternal life with Christ inspired an estimated 300,000 sinners to say...”yes”...to Jesus Christ.”
Corpse Began To Stir
John Sung, the future “Billy Graham of China,” came to America in 1920 to work on his doctorate in Chemistry. He excelled in his studies. Attractive offers of jobs came to him. Also Christ’s call came to him. After a period of great spiritual struggle, he dedicated himself utterly to God.
Soon afterwards, he had a most unusual dream in which he saw himself in a casket. God seemed to say to him, “John Sung is dead—dead to self, but alive to Christ!” Then it seemed that the corpse began to stir. Angels began to weep! “Don’t weep, angels,” said John. “I will remain dead to the world and live only for Christ!” He became a mighty preacher of the gospel. For 15 years, he was “a burning and shining light” in China and Southeast Asia. He was acclaimed China’s greatest evangelist.
…Maybe today you feel that saying “Yes” to God can be such a big struggle.
…You have your own plans, and God’s Word seems to be intruding into what you had in mind.
…How you respond can literally change the course of your life.
…Are Angels weeping as you struggle to say “Yes”?
…Please understand that God has your “highest Good” in mind.
…Whatever He is asking you to do, is not meant to harm you or disadvantage you….
…Submitting and surrendering to God isn’t as difficult as you might imagine it to be.
…I have a number of friends who live in the Hill Country of Missouri, USA.
…I just ran across this story from someone who lives in that area and I thought it had a good point to make…..The story goes like this….
Just Inches From Bottom
In the hill country of Missouri, close to where I grew up, there are areas that bear the scars of past mining operations. One.. area… has many old holes long ago abandoned. Some of these holes are shallow—no more than six to ten feet deep. Others are much deeper, some as much as seventy-five to one hundred feet deep.
One night a neighbor was possum hunting in this area and stumbled into one of these holes. As he went over the edge, he grabbed a limb and held on for dear life. Fearing he had fallen into one of the deeper holes, the poor fellow yelled and screamed at the top of his voice until he was so hoarse he could yell no more. Then he started praying.
Finally his strength played out, and he could hold on to the limb no longer. So he said his last prayer and let go, expecting to drop to his death. Imagine his surprise and joy when he dropped only six inches and his feet rested on solid ground at the bottom of the hole!—Gospel Herald
Application
…Is God asking you to surrender to Him and His Word but you are still hanging on to your past?
…Are you afraid you will lose too much, if you let go of the world?
..you might lose some of your friends,
..or God may ask you to give some of your assets to the work of the Lord,
..or you will have to give up some worldly pleasures.
…Are you hanging on so tight to the world?
…Are you afraid if you let go you will fall into a deep hole and that will be the end of a good life?
…The Word of God is telling you to submit, to trust God and you will find real Peace and Joy.
…Today can be your day to truly let go of the World…
…God will not let you fall to your death, No, it can be a new beginning as you submit.
…Do you feel like a little bird described in one of the poems by Wordworth?
Bird Yields To Wind
Wordsworth in one of his poems tells about a bird that was carried from Norway by a storm. It fought hard against the gale in its effort to win its way back to Norway, but all in vain. At last it yielded to the wind, and instead of being carried to destruction it was borne to the warm shores of England, to the green meadows and forests.—John T. Montgomery
…The bird struggled and struggled, and the poem tells us that At last the little bird yielded to the wind,
…The words of Jesus are so reassuring to us when we are being blown by the wind…
Matthew 11:28-30
28 "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
…God truly has your best interest in mind.
…He wants you to prosper in this life and the life to come.
…Listen to Jesus’ Words from Matthew in the Message paraphrase, in language that is so clear.
Matthew 11: 28-30 (The Message)
28 "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. 29 Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. 30 Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."
…Missionary, Jim Elliot, puts it this way:
Epigram On Submission
God always gives His best to those who leave the choice with Him. —Jim Elliot
…Today, learn to Submit to God’s Word, God has the best in mind for you.
…So we see that the people in Nehemiah SUBMITTED to the Word of God.
Nehemiah 10:29 all these now join their brothers the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the LORD our Lord. (NIV)
…After SUBMISSION to God’s Word, let us consider a second evidence of their sincerity.
2. Their support for the house of God
… This is found in Nehemiah 10:32-39
Nehemiah 10:32-39
…This section ends with these words:
"We will not neglect (forsake) the house of our God."
Nehemiah is calling the people to care for the Temple of God, in it’s physical appearance and upkeep which is a reflection of where the people are spiritually.
…Nehemiah collected a small temple tax to be used to support the ministry in the House of God.
Nehemiah 10:32 "We assume the responsibility for carrying out the commands to give a third of a shekel each year for the service of the house of our God:
33 for the bread set out on the table; for the regular grain offerings and burnt offerings; for the offerings on the Sabbaths, New Moon festivals and appointed feasts; for the holy offerings; for sin offerings to make atonement for Israel; and for all the duties of the house of our God.
…The Jews were being taught to also give God the first and best, the firstfruits, to God.
…God’s people were to bring the very firstfruits of the harvest to the temple as an offering unto God.
…Today, certainly God blesses those who give God their firstfruits, and not their leftovers at the end.
…Then Nehemiah speaks of tithing.
Nehemiah 10:37 "Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the house of our God, to the priests, the first of our ground meal, of our offerings, of the fruit of all our trees and of our new wine and oil. And we will bring a tithe of our crops to the Levites, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all the towns where we work.
…The word “tithes” means “a tenth”
…So a tenth of the produce went to the Lord each year for the support of the Levites. (Leviticus 27)
…And from Numbers 18, we learn that the Levites then gave a “tithe of a tithe” to the priests.
…And there were additional steps in the tithing process, making a total of 3 different tithes.
…The principle is simply to put God first and bring your “firstfruits” to him.
…If the Jews of the Old Testament could bring 3 different tithes to the Lord, certainly as God’s people today we recognize that we should be good stewards of God’s blessings on our lives.
…As Christians today, may we not stop at the law of tithing of the Old Testament, but go beyond and add our offerings unto God.
…Jesus words bring us to the core issue…when he says,
Matthew 6:20-21
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (NIV)
In Nehemiah Chapter 10, we see that it is one thing to Submit to God’s Word, but …
…God’s people also have to apply the Word, there needs to be a difference between them and the world around them.
3. So finally, there was SEPARATION as the people of God.
…This Jewish remnant of faithful people now were going to apply the WORD to their daily lives.
…God was calling them out from living like the idol worshipping Gentiles that were all around them.
…Now the people are making promises how they are going to live according to God’s Word.
Nehemiah 10:30-31
30 "We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons.
31 "When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts.
(NIV)
…God’s people are called to complete devotion to God, regardless of the cost…
…They are called to be good neighbors with those who the Gentiles, but not to live unholy lives.
…So it is today….
…You and I are called to Holy lives, to live by God’s Word, yet not to participate in the unholy, ungodly practices of this world.
…Pastor Ken, is it really possible to find that balance…how can I be IN this World, but not OF this world?
…We cannot do this in our own strength, don’t bother trying to do it on your own.
…You must rely on God’s Word and an active partnership with the Holy Spirit who will lead us into a proper balance,…
…Enabling us to live a godly life in this ungodly world.
…And through it all, not just surviving, but we can impact those around us for the Kingdom.
…In Nehemiah 10, two special areas of concern are mentioned.
Marriage
Sabbath, the Lord’s Day
Regarding a Jew marrying a Gentile, Exodus 34 warned the people of the danger of constant conflict because of a difference in belief.
Why would a Jew even consider marrying a pagan Gentile anyway?
…Some did it for affection,
…or social status mentioned in Nehemiah 13:28
…or to get ahead in business.
…Maybe the Jews of that day used the argument that we even hear today from some Christians….
… “that through marriage, the Christian will have an opportunity over time to lead the non-Christian to God.
…Statistics indicate that the results are often the other way around.
…In Nehemiah, God is looking for a People who will Submit themselves to His Word, who will separate themselves from the idolatry and unholy practices of the world.
…In God’s great plan of Redemption, as He looked forward in time, He wanted a “pure seed” so that through Israel, He could send His Son to be the Saviour of the World.
…Mixed Marriages did not fit into God’s Grand Scheme.
…Even today, if you are a believer and you are considering marrying an unbeliever, I just want to caution you with God’s Word….
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
18 "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
2 Corinthians 7:1
1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God. (NIV)
…So we see Nehemiah concerned about God’s People marrying the Gentiles…
…And then the second area of concern was the matter of the Sabbath.
…The Sabbath was to be a time of rest and reflection on spiritual things.
…It was to be a day set aside unto God, to break away from the routine of the week and recognize that they had a special relationship with Almighty God.
…The Gentiles of that day were treating the Sabbath, the Lord’s Day, like any other day of the week.
...They would socialize and do business as usual !!
...For the Jews of the old testament, there were a lot of emphasis on what should not be done on the Sabbath…
…such as not gather wood or not lighting a fire
…the focus was on not doing unnecessary work on that day but devoting it unto the Lord.
…Now as I reflect on the Lord’s Day and how we spend our Sundays as Christians today…
…My mind goes back two generations to my dear grandmother.
…In her time, in her church, on Sunday, Christians were discouraged from even reading the newspaper, or shopping at the supermarket or attending a sporting event.
…Then in my parents generation, they were beginning to read the newspaper and sometimes doing a bit of shopping, etc.
…it is so easy to get caught up with the do’s and don’ts, of things you can or cannot do on the Lord’s Day.
…The real heart of observing the Sabbath is to make it special, and dedicate it to the Lord.
…Perhaps you find your week so full, and you might even find it difficult to be consistent in your church attendance.
…Maybe you can identify with the prayer that is entitled:
“You See, God...”
“You see, God, it’s like this: We could attend church more faithfully if your day came at some other time. You have chosen a day that comes at the end of a hard week, and we’re all tired out. Not only that, but it’s the day following Saturday night, and Saturday night is one time when we feel that we should go out and enjoy ourselves. Often it is after midnight when we reach home, and it is almost impossible to get up on Sunday morning. And you must realize that you have picked the very day on which the morning paper takes the longest to read—the day when (we like to do things with the family)…We’d like to go to church, and know that we should; but you have just chosen the wrong day.”—Twentieth Century Christian
…I know many of you often encourage your friends to come to church, but some are not too interested.
….Like ….
Epigram On Church Inactivity
A man proudly said: “I went to church only two times in my life—the first time they sprinkled water on me, the second time they sprinkled rice.”
A hearer added: “Yes, And the third time, they ….will sprinkle dirt.”
…I commend you today for being in Church to honor the Lord and worship with God’s People and hear the Word.
…But it certainly is appropriate for all of us to say:
“Lord, are you pleased with the way I keep the Lord’s Day overall, or are you disappointed?”
“Lord, if you are disappointed, gently but firmly guide me in making appropriate changes”.
…How is your appetite for the things of this world.
…Do you crave for and long after the things of this world?
…Do you have a taste for this world and all that it has to offer?
Psalm 34:8
8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. (NIV)
… the song writer encourages us to keep our eternal perspective….
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
look full in His wonderful face,
and the things of this world,
will grow strangely dim,
in the light of His glory and grace.”
I challenge you to:
…Submit to the Word of God
…And to separate and dedicate yourself to serve the Lord.
…May the Angels of Heaven rejoice as you make a full surrender to the Will of God today!!
…Today can be you time of “New Beginnings”!!
Let us Pray!!
The Fruit of Hope: Endurance
The Fruit of Hope: Endurance
By John Piper
1 Thessalonians 1:2-3
We give thanks to God always for you all, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
In 1 Thessalonians 1:3 Paul gives thanks to God that faith has produced work and love has produced labor and hope has produced endurance. If you took those words all by themselves you might treat faith, hope and love as very general psychological forces that have inevitable effects on our productivity and durability. You might say, for example, that faith in yourself produces hard work, and love for family produces labor to earn food, and hope for victory produces endurance to finish the race. And, of course, that would be true. But it wouldn't be Christian. It wouldn't be of any spiritual or eternal value. It wouldn't be what Paul is talking about here.
When Paul speaks of faith giving rise to work and love giving rise to labor and hope giving rise to endurance, he has in mind some very definite Christian, spiritual transactions between us and God—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.
Notice how Paul links the Christian life of faith and love and hope to every member of the Christian Trinity:
First, notice the relationship to God the Son: at the end of verse 3 the faith and love and hope are "in our Lord Jesus Christ." Paul is not describing general psychological principles, he is describing particular spiritual effects of being in relation to a particular living Person, Jesus Christ. Faith and love and hope which are "in our Lord Jesus Christ" give rise to a particular kind of work and labor and endurance that count for eternity because they come from Christ and honor Christ.
Second, notice the relationship of these things to God the Father. At the beginning of verse 3 it is to God the Father that Paul gives thanks for the faith and love and hope that the Thessalonians have: "Remembering before our God and Father..." So evidently God the Father has been instrumental in producing this faith and love and hope, since He gets thanked for it.
But in verse 4 the connection with God the Father is even more specific. Verse 4 teaches that if faith in Christ produces work, and love in Christ produces labor, and hope in Christ produces endurance, this is clear evidence that the Thessalonians have been chosen by God. Verse 4 connects with verse 3 like this: "We give thanks for your faith and love and hope for (by this) we know, brethren beloved by God, that he has chosen you." We know that you are among the elect of God because of the fruitfulness of your faith and love and hope.
Third, notice the relationship to God the Holy Spirit. Verses 5 and 6 make the connection clear. "For our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction." So the change in these people's lives is not only evidence that they are chosen by God the Father, as verse 4 says; it is also evidence that the Holy Spirit was powerfully at work within them.
Verse 6 spells out the evidence of this just like verse 3 did: "You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit." The fact that affliction didn't destroy the joy of their faith is evidence that the gospel had come with Holy Spirit power and not just in word.
So the upshot of all this is that the faith and love and hope of verse 3 are not general psychological principles that happen to work and make people more productive and stable. Rather they are profound theological realities. They come from a relationship with the living Lord, Jesus Christ. They are the result and evidence of being chosen by God the Father. And they are the work of the Holy Spirit through the preaching of a particular message called the gospel.
What we want to focus on this morning is the relationship between endurance and hope. Our text is verse 3 and in particular the phrase, "endurance of hope." I take this to mean that hope produces endurance, or that endurance is the fruit of hope. My reason for this interpretation is that "work of faith" and "labor of love" seem to have that meaning—namely, a work which comes from faith and a labor which comes from love. Faith produces work. And love produces labor. Similarly then, endurance comes from hope and hope produces endurance.
The question I want to ask this morning is this: How do you keep on going in a path of obedience to Christ—say, in some relationship or some ministry—how do you keep going month after month for years or even decades when there are emotional and relational and spiritual and financial obstacles, and when the normal human encouragements evaporate and you feel forgotten?
What does it take to hang in there when the glamour is gone? The limelight is terribly fickle. It moves from ministry to ministry in the local church. For a while it is on the music ministry. Then there is a special focus on Christian Education. Then comes missions week, and being a world Christian and going across cultures is a glorious thing. Then the international student ministry stands out, then urban ministries, then small groups, then the ministry of prayer and the thrill of being a praying church with teams praying through every service and every morning of the week.
As the limelight moves and focuses on a ministry, it looks bright and exciting, and so the ministry picks up people. There is a sense of thrill and joy and camaraderie and power. But then the limelight moves on. Gradually no one seems to be talking about your ministry any more. It doesn't turn up in the STAR as often. Recruits aren't called for from the pulpit. Other things seem to be getting people exciting now.
Does God mean then for ministries to flourish only when they are in the limelight of attention and glory? Does he want dynamic ministries of music and education and missions and international students and urban concerns and 20:20 groups and prayer only when they have the limelight of church wide attention? The answer is clearly, NO. What then is needed? The answer is: Endurance.
Absolutely indispensable in the ongoing life of the church of God is the power to keep going month after month year after year, even decade after decade in the path of obedience. And for many of us that will mean long-haul endurance in a particular ministry in spite of emotional and relational and spiritual and financial obstacles, even when the encouragements of the limelight and the attention and the glory and the admiration are gone, and we feel like the joys of life are passing us by.
There will be a world of difference between the joy and enthusiasm and admiration when we commission the Roys and Richters and Reyes tonight, and the stress and loneliness and sickness six months from now in Cameroon and Guatemala. What does God require of such missionaries? What does he require of you in your ministry, in your marriage, in the burden of your sickness or disability? He requires endurance. And where does endurance come from? It comes from hope. "I give thanks to God ... for your work of faith and labor and endurance of hope."
Without the endurance of hope, the work of faith and the labor of love will prove to be no real work of God but only the love of the limelight. We do not live in a generation that puts a high premium on endurance in relationships or jobs or in ministry. And we are very much children of our age. If we follow Scripture here we will be swimming against the tide. So be it! This is a call for the endurance of the saints! (Revelation 13:10; 14:12)
Let us probe the connection between hope and endurance by asking a very crucial and practical question: are Christians supposed to endure in the path of obedience in order to inherit the blessings of heaven; or are Christians supposed to endure because the blessings of heaven are certainly and infallibly theirs?
Let's ask it another way: is endurance in the path of obedience to Christ a condition we must meet in order to obtain the inheritance of salvation; or is the inheritance of salvation already a guaranteed gift so that our confidence in it is what enables us to endure?
Or to ask it one other way: Is the message of the gospel. You must endure to the end in order to be saved; or is the message of the gospel, You shall endure to the end because you are saved?
The Biblical answer to all six of these questions is a resounding YES! You must endure to the end in order to be saved. And you shall endure precisely because you are saved. Salvation is both the reward of endurance, and the free gift of grace. We endure in order to inherit the blessings of heaven and because we are sure that the blessings of heaven are certainly ours.
Now the reason I stress this is that the place you must go to strengthen your hope is to the Scriptures, and what you will find when you do is both of these teachings (the "must" and the "shall"; the "in order to" and the "because"). And I don't want you to mangle the Scriptures, or miss the precious encouragement of God in both kinds of texts. Let me illustrate these two kinds of Scripture and try to show how both are really intended to strengthen and sustain your hope and empower your endurance. First, let's look at the SHALLS and then at the MUSTS.
You recall from last week how the new covenant promises were better than the old covenant because they are accompanied with the assurance of spiritual power to fulfill the covenant conditions. For example, in Jeremiah 32:40 God promises,
I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them; and I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.
This is the same as Ezekiel's saying in 36:27.
I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my commandments.
So what do we learn from these verses? We learn that the people of God SHALL endure in the path of obedience. "I SHALL put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me!" "I SHALL put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes." Endurance is a promised gift of the new covenant. It is one of the great SHALLS of God's sovereign grace!
And so we come over to the New Testament and read in Philippians 1:6 "I am sure that he who began a good work in you SHALL bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." God WILL do it. And 2 Timothy 1:12, "I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me." In other words God SHALL keep Paul faithful in the ministry he has been given.
To the Corinthians (l Cor. 1:8-9) Paul says, "Christ SHALL confirm you to the end, blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son." In other words, if God calls you into the fellowship of his Son, he will give you endurance to the end. "He who calls you is faithful, and he WILL do it!" (1 Thessalonians 5:24). "Those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified" (Romans 8:30).
The path from justification to glorification is a path of obedience. This path is the guarantee and the gift of God bought for God's people by the blood of the new covenant: "Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do this will, working in you that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen" (Hebrews l3:20-2l). The blood-bought blessing of the new covenant is the commitment of almighty God never to turn away from doing us good and to work in us what is pleasing in his sight, and thus to cause us to ENDURE in obedience to the end. Endurance is a gift and guarantee of the new covenant sealed by the blood of Jesus for all who trust in him.
And so we take heart when we feel weak, and we look away from ourselves to God's grace and power and rekindle our hope that we can and will endure in the path of obedience to which he has called us.
Now that is one kind of text which you find in the Bible when you come looking for encouragement and strength. But their is another kind also. The first kind says that endurance has been bought by the death of Christ for his people and is guaranteed. The second kind says that endurance is a must for God's people and by it they will obtain the reward of salvation. The first says, You shall endure because you are saved. The second says, You must endure in order to be saved. Let's look at this second kind of text.
As he describes the end times Jesus says, "Because wickedness is multiplied, most men's love will grow cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved" (Matthew 24:13; 10:22; 2 Timothy 2:12). You must endure to the end in order to be saved. Paul says to the church at Rome, "God will render to every man according to his works: to those who by endurance in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life" (Romans 2:6-7). We will obtain eternal life IF by our endurance we press on in well-doing.
He says virtually the same thing in the great epistle of freedom, Galatians 6:8-9, "For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; but he who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. And let us not grow weary in well-doing (i.e. let us endure!), for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart." The reaping of eternal life is attained only by those who sow to the Spirit and do not grow weary in well-doing—those who endure. We must endure in order to inherit (reap) eternal life.
And Hebrews 10:35-36 teach the same thing: "Do not throw away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that you may do the will of God and receive what is promised." You need to endure so that you can do the will of God so that you can obtain what is promised. The inheritance is only given to those who endure in obedience to the will of God (Heb. 3:6,l2f; 6:ll;l0:23;l2:lff).
Those are the two kinds of texts you find in the Bible concerning endurance. The one kind assures us that we SHALL endure because we are saved. The other kind urges us to endure so that we will be saved. Endurance is a gift and endurance is a duty. And these are not in conflict. When dealing with a holy and sovereign God these are not contradictions. We MUST endure to the end for he is holy; and we SHALL endure to the end, for he is sovereign.
In one sense the two different kinds of Scriptures because they have two different purposes. But in another sense they are perfectly one. Consider their different purposes.
The SHALLS of scripture do three things.
1) They turn us away from all self-reliance and boasting (1 Corinthians 4:7) and direct us to the sovereign power of God. "He will cause us to endure!"
2) The SHALLS of Scripture turn us away from all legalism—the thought that we could ever earn the heavenly reward. It was bought by Christ. It is a free gift and cannot be earned. Endurance is not a way of paying for salvation. It is a way of experiencing grace (1 Peter 4:10-11; Galatians 15:10) and living by faith (Galatians 2:20).
3) The shalls of Scripture give confidence and peace to the broken and contrite who cast themselves on Jesus for forgiveness and help.
The MUSTS of Scripture do three things.
1) They remind us that the miracle of conversion is not a legal fiction. You can't be converted to Christ and have everything stay the way it was. There MUST be a change—a change that endures. There must be the "work of faith, the labor of love and the endurance of hope." "Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh" (Galatians 5:24).
2) The MUSTS of Scripture direct our attention to the exceedingly great value of the reward of heaven. If we must endure, and if endurance comes from hope, then I must get my heart free from the love of the world and set it on the value of the things above so that my hope in God will be kindled and I will have the power to endure in obedience to Christ.
3) The MUSTS of Scripture provide us with with a way of testing whether we have any right to claim the SHALLS for ourselves. To whom do the SHALLS of Scripture belong? They belong to those who are broken by the musts of Scripture and who fly to Christ for forgiveness and help.
So the SHALLS of Scripture give the Christian life its peace and security and stability, and the MUSTS of Scripture give the Christian life its urgency and earnestness and mission. The SHALLS base the Christian life on the sovereign grace and power of God. The MUSTS remind us of the necessity to depend on this grace and power.
So in the end both the SHALLS and the MUSTS of Scripture point us to the same thing: they point us away from ourselves to the sovereign grace and power of God. The SHALLS do it directly with promises of grace. The MUSTS do it indirectly by commanding us to do things we can't do without grace.
And so when you read in Scripture that God SHALL cause you to endure (Jeremiah 32:40), the aim is that, with all peace and joy, you would set your hope on the sovereign grace of God, and in that hope find the strength to endure. And when you read in Scripture that you MUST endure (Luke 21:19), the aim is the same: that, with all urgency and earnestness, you would set your hope on the sovereign grace of God and in that hope find the strength to endure.
The SHALLS of Scripture are sweet and reassuring calls to hope in God. The MUSTS of Scripture are urgent and earnest calls to hope in God.
The MUSTS are not telling us to endure in our own strength. And the SHALLS are not telling us that we don't have to endure. Both the SHALLS and the MUSTS are telling us: HOPE IN GOD! HOPE IN GOD! HOPE IN GOD! For this is the great source of power to endure in the path of obedience.
If you put your hope in the sovereign grace and power of God and not in your own strength, or in the approval of others or in money or in fleeting pleasures or in status, then when the limelight shifts off your ministry and your life, and the praise of man is gone, and the glamour of self-denial evaporates and all the supports of men crumble, then you SHALL endure—with the endurance of hope.
Therefore my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, acknowledge your sin, let go of worldly hopes, and trust in Christ for the forgiveness of sins, the power to endure, and the hope of everlasting life.
Amen!
