Old Testament Archives - Page 57 of 143

The Day of the Lord (Joel CCD)

Christ Church on May 23, 2021

INTRODUCTION

We’re in dire need of a revival. Evangelicals need to be born-again. The Pentecostals need to be Spirit-filled. The Reformed need a reformation. The Methodists need a Great Awakening. Joel lays out for us what such a Heaven-born revival consists of, what God’s people should do to ready for it, and the consequences of indifference towards the coming Day of the Lord.

THE TEXT

Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand… (Joel 2)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

After imploring the priests and the people to mourn and fast (1:14) in response to the locust swarms devastating the land––cutting off the ingredients for the meat & drink offerings (1:9)––Joel then invites his audience to look through the locust plague, and discern the cosmic implications.

There are two trumpet blasts in this text (v1 & 15). The first describes the day of the Lord as a marauding army and the right response to it (vv1-14); the second trumpet blast describes how a contrite people will enjoy the relenting of God, and experience the Day of the Lord as a day of the Spirit outpoured (vv15-32). The Day of the Lord is first described as a day of horror, and thus an appeal to repent is made. But then for those who repent, the Day of the Lord is described as a great deliverance.

The warning trumpet should be sounded, for the day of the Lord is near (v1). This is the Helms Deep of the OT. It is a day of unrivaled darkness (v2), Eden turns into Mordor, and none can escape (v3). The locust swarms give way to an invading army: swift as horses (v4), determined, well armored (v5), fierce and fearful (v6), disciplined and indefatigable (v7); they move with remarkable coordination and are not deterred by pain (v8); this invasion will be total, leaving no place to hide (v9); these events shake the earth and throw the heavens into turbulence (v10). This is Lord’s army and has come at His command (v11). The prophet closes this description of the coming day of the Lord with the rhetorical question: “Who can abide it?”

The Lord Himself then speaks to the people to describe the right response to the news of this coming day of judgement: “turn to me (v12).” This returning is to be entire, heartfelt, and accompanied with fasting, weeping, and mourning; and lest they think they can go through the motions of mourning, He admonishes them to rend their hearts and not their garments (v13). This repentance is founded upon God’s covenant mercies (v13, Cf. Ex. 34:6-7). Repentant sinners hope for a repentant God. But should God relent from His wrath, and leave the blessing of the restoration of the meat and drink offerings, it will be purely from His great mercy (v14).

Now the second trumpet blast sounds. All the residents of Zion––the elders and infants, the bridegroom and his bride––are summoned to solemnly assemble (vv15-16, Cf. 1:14). Joel paints a touching picture of what this repentance should look like: priests and people in the temple courts, with the priests crying out on behalf of all the people, “Spare thy people, O Lord (v17).” If Judah responds with this sort of total repentance, the result will be God’s aroused jealousy and pity (v18). What will follow is His restoration of the Deuteronomic blessings: bountiful crops, reproach removed, and the invaders driven back (vv19-20). The land shall be refreshed, and all which the locust had eaten would be restored (vv21-25). The people would enjoy the Sabbath rest of the Promised Land once more, and offer thankful praise without shame, all so that it might be known that the Lord is in their midst (vv26-27).

After this, the Spirit of God would be poured out upon all the people (vv28-29). The Cosmos themselves would reverberate to this radical turning of the redemptive tides (vv30-31). The repentant people, being restored to communion with God, are assured that the Lord shall ever be their Deliverer, and any who call on Him shall enjoy this salvation (v32).

THE LAYERS OF PROPHECY

One of the key tactics of the prophets is how they look through current events. The immediate tragedy of swarming insects was just a forerunner of a greater day of judgement which awaits. Think of it as standing atop a high hill and being able to see the next ridge, and beyond that a higher mountain, and further still the Snow-capped peaks.

Joel has rebuked the people for failing to respond appropriately to the locust swarm (the first ridge). He then employs the locust as a portent of coming invaders (the higher ridge). The prophecy then concludes with a Messianic crescendo foretelling the downfall of all God’s enemies, and Zion enjoying His blessed reign (the Snow-capped peaks).

So the people ought to have responded to the locust with full-throttled repentance. In order to stir them up to this, Joel warns that an army––fiercer than the swarms they just endured––will soon invade (likely the Assyrians, Cf. v20). Looming behind this is an even greater “Day of the Lord” which will be experienced one of two ways: either great blessing, or great ruin. All of it hinges on the sort of repentance. Is it heaven-born sorrow––which God alone gives––or just earthly sorrow?

Innovation is often mistaken for repentance. But just because we’ve made some innovations culturally, doesn’t mean we have repented. Repentance is a returning. Returning to God’s Word. Our modern debates within Christendom center––as they always do––on the authority of God’s Word. The rejection of God’s word as the standard for justice, in favor of embracing Marxist and humanist definitions of justice indicates that we are not truly interested in righting wrongs. Those loudly ringing the bells of social justice are offering a semblance of repentance, but it is mere innovation. It is not reformation, which would be a humble return to God’s Word.

THE SERMON AT PENTECOST

This text from Joel was the text which the Apostle Peter went to in Acts 2:17 to describe the day of Pentecost. Peter insists that what Joel prophesied had come to pass in this marvelous outpouring of the Spirit. This wasn’t innovation, this was a return to what God had promised He would do when Messiah came. Peter informs us how to read Joel. The Day of the Lord had come

God’s compassion forms the basis for Joel’s vision of the future blessing of the outpoured Spirit. An army of destruction comes, but those whom God mercifully humbles and brings to repentance––the first fruits of the outpouring of the Spirit––will enjoy deliverance. The fire fell, and now empowered a nation of priests for prophetic service in a new temple, the church (Cf. Num. 11:16-30).

A PROPHETIC PEOPLE

Joel’s vision is of a prophetic people. To quote Spurgeon: “Unless we have the spirit of prophecy resting upon us, the mantle which we wear is nothing but a rough garment to deceive.” The Spirit emboldens us to proclaim that Jesus is Lord (Cf. Rom. 10:13). When the Spirit applies what Christ purchased, the result is a new heart. A heart assured that sin is forgiven.

A mom no longer riddled with shame will be bold in teaching her children to follow Christ. A formerly resentful teen will no longer cower before his peers. A businessman whose confidence is in Christ’s work and not his own will freely speak up about Jesus in his workplace. This is because the Spirit gives boldness.

Kingly Obedience (Ascension 2021)

Christ Church on May 16, 2021

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INTRODUCTION

The progress of the gospel throughout the world is certainly going to have the effect of making your neighborhood a lot nicer, but that should not be considered as the extent of it. We look forward to the time when every son of Israel is at peace under his own fig tree, but there are also larger geopolitical issues involved. And those issues are directly related to what we are celebrating on this Ascension Sunday.

THE TEXTS

“And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh” (Matt. 2:11).

“And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it” (Rev. 21:24–26).

“Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers; They shall bow down to you with their faces to the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I am the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed who wait for Me” (Is. 49:23, NKJV).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXTS

Our first text is one we are accustomed to refer to in our Christmas celebrations because the story is given to us in the narrative of Christ’s birth at Bethlehem. But the story is also proleptic or anticipatory. What August did unwittingly, what Herod rebelled against doing, these rulers from the east did gladly, and that was to serve the interests of the holy family. These men worshiped the Lord, and they brought gifts to Him. That is what all the kings of the earth are summoned to do (Ps. 2:12), and which all will eventually do. Revelation tells us that leaves from the trees of life will be made readily available for the healing of the nations, and the New Jerusalem, which is the Christian church, will provide light for the nations to live by. The nations, and their kings, will bring their glory and honor into the Church. What the devil offered to Christ on that very high mountain as a bribe (Matt. 4:8) is instead brought into His Church as bounden tribute. This all happens when the Gentile nations bring sons of God in their arms and carry daughters of God on their shoulders. They will support the Church, not as lords over the Church, but as sons and daughters of the church themselves. Just as Jacob bowed down to Joseph, so also the mighty ones of the earth will acknowledge the wisdom of God resident in the Church, and will do so as they bow down.

A VOICE OF AUTHORITY

But before the kings of the earth will recognize the great authority that has been bestowed on the Church, something else must come first. The rulers of the Church will have to recognize it first, and they will have to repent of acting so embarrassed. The Church is not a social club with an interest in theological topics, in which we dabble during our Sunday meetings. Rather the Church is a militant army that makes the gates of Hades tremble as though they were the gates of Jericho.

There is something in the carriage of this kind of authority that makes carnal rulers shake, even when it appears that they are holding all the cards. “When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid” (John 19:80). Why on earth would Pilate be afraid?

MIGHTY THROUGH GOD

A robust eschatology encompasses all of history. The “end times” are the last chapter in the story, and if you understand the last chapter, you understand the whole book. And as God is the author of the entire story, and because we are His friends, He has invited us to read His story in manuscript, well before final publication.

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled” (2 Cor. 10:3–6).

These words were written, and understood, and acted on, by the apostle Paul, who lived two thousand years ago. That being the case, he was clearly playing the long game. And because he was playing the long game two thousand years ago, we have no business refusing to play that same long game. Every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10-11). The earth will be as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2:14).

So as God gives opportunity, and we stand before rulers and kings, we should be bold to declare what the magi in Bethlehem saw so clearly. We should be willing to echo what Paul said to Agrippa.

“For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely: for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him; for this thing was not done in a corner. King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian. And Paul said, I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost, and altogether such as I am, except these bonds” (Acts 26:26–29).

Where does such authority come from? It comes from the recognition that the Christ who was crucified was the same Christ who was raised, and the Christ who was raised is the same Christ who has ascended to the right hand of the Father— where He has been given blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, amen (Rev. 7:12).

A Swarm of Locust (Joel CCD)

Christ Church on May 16, 2021

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INTRODUCTION

The phrase “senseless tragedy” is often employed when describing some crime or calamity. But as Christians, no tragedy is senseless. How are we to understand national tragedy? Joel gives us the pattern for how to respond to such tragedy, by his response to a swarm of locust.

THE TEXT

The word of the LORD that came to Joel the son of Pethuel. Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers? Tell ye your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children another generation. That which the palmerworm hath left hath the locust eaten; and that which the locust hath left hath the cankerworm eaten; and that which the cankerworm hath left hath the caterpiller eaten. Awake, ye drunkards, and weep; and howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth… (Joel 1:1-5).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

After the brief personal introduction (v1), Joel invites the old men to give their assent to the uncommon magnitude of the tragedy that has befallen Judah, and then commands them to tell of this tragedy to future generations (vv2-3). Typically this command to tell future generations is in regard to great deliverances by the Lord’s hand (Cf. Ex. 10:1-2, Deu. 6:7, Josh. 4:6, Ps. 44:1), but here the devastating tragedy is to be retold to children’s children. The plague is then described in vibrant simplicity: the land has been devastated by wave after wave of locust (v4).

The drunkards are implored to weep, for their source of pleasure is cut off, and now must face the world (v5). The locust are likened to a foreign nation, fierce as lions (a theme then developed in 2:1-11 and then employed by St. John’s Apocalyptic vision); and the ruination the locust swarms brought was total (vv6-7).

The nation of Judah (often likened to a virgin, Cf. Amos 5:2) is to lament like a bereaved virgin (v8). The reason for the lamentation is that the locust swarms have utterly consumed the elements of the meat and drink offerings (vv9-10). The farmers and the priests are both exhorted to mourn, for the livelihood of the one and the ministry of the other are cut off (vs11-13).

The response to the tragedy should not be passivity. Rather, in the midst of the mourning, the priests should gather the elders and call a fast (v14). Joel provides a prayer for the nation to pray (vs15-18). The locust plague heralds that the Day of the Lord is soon at hand, and that Day will bring an even more severe judgement (v15), the rites of worship are unable to be performed, and joy and gladness along with it (v16), the Promised Land, which ought to be a land of rest, is laid desolate (v17), the flocks groan in the pangs of starvation and drought, and winnowing must follow (v18). Joel then speaks for himself (v19), demonstrating true prayers of contrition, the devastation was total––even the wild beasts who receive their meat and drink from the Lord (Cf. Ps 42:1, 104:21) were touched by this devastation (v20)––and from the Lord alone can there be restoration (Cf. 2 Chr. 20:12).

MEAT AND DRINK OFFERINGS

Leviticus 2 gives the prescriptions for the meat offerings. For the grain/meat offering, the worshipper would bring fine flour, oil, and frankincense. The priest would take a portion of these elements and burn them, while the rest would be a portion for the priests. The drink offering (Lev. 23:16, Num 15:6-7) varied in amount (between a quarter to half a hin––which is a little more than our modern gallon). It was never offered on its own, but always accompanied other offerings, and was explicitly only to be performed once Israel entered the land (Lev. 23:10). The wine could only be enjoyed once Israel entered her rest.

When examining the Mosaic offerings, the propitiatory nature of the sacrifices is often prominent. However, what ends up in our peripheral vision is that because our sin has been covered we’re enabled to meet with God (Ex. 29:42).

INVITATION TO MOURN

The locust swarm, and subsequent famine, directly impacted this important symbol of faithful worship. In light of this devastation, Joel invites all the people of the land to mourn and lament. While the mourning over the fact that the sign of communion with God was cut off, Joel is eager that they not neglect what the sign pointed to: their covenantal union with God by His free grace.

National lamentation is a bitter pill that only God can prescribe, and which we desperately need in our own time, in order to heal our cancer of proud self-sufficiency. Edward Topsell put it this way, “Oh how stubborn is the conceit of our hard hearts, which will not be taught till they smart, nor yet be instructed till they be corrected.” Tough cuts of meat often need to endure a salty brine to make them tender. Stubborn nations and sinners often need a salty brine of suffering in order to soften their hearts. But national tragedies should bring about national lamentation and thus, in the end, national repentance and reformation.

But the plague of locust isn’t merely an event that happened and that Joel is simply responding to. He’s not using the locust swarms as a helpful sermon illustration. Rather, Joel wants us to see that the tragedy transpired at Yahweh’s command and according to His purpose, and, as such, are revelation. Swarms of locust are Divine revelations. God was saying something to Judah through clouds of insects.

WHEN GOD SHUTS THE TEMPLE

So what was God saying? We get a main clue by what Joel highlights as worthy of great mourning. The wheat, oil, and new wine were cut off. The rites of worship in the temple would also be unable to be performed. God is the one who sent the swarms, and so it was by His hand that the meat and drink offerings were suspended. God, who commanded Israel to commune with Him and meet with Him by these offerings, put His foot in the side of these offerings. The God of the offerings, cancelled the offerings.

When man is in rebellion to God, the primary symptom is various attempts to invert the Gospel. Man tries to make God palatable to man, instead of making man acceptable to God through Christ. We have churches ordaining women to offices which scripture explicitly state are reserved for men. We have churches repenting for sins conjured up by the woke-craft of Marxist mobs. We have churches providing cover for sodomy and all other varieties of sexual pollution. They do it all in an attempt to make God palatable to man, instead of bringing man to God.

Many a church has an orderly worship service, a liturgy based on biblical principles, they have bread and wine on the table, and water in the baptismal font, and yet they are tombs. God has seen fit, this year, to empty many such churches. God shut the temple. God cancelled the meat and drink offerings. Faithful mourning, as Joel demonstrates, can only come from loving what God loves and hating what He hates. This pandemic we face should bring us up short. God hates false religion so much that He cancelled church. God hates pretentious and presumptuous worshippers, and so he sent them to cover their faces and hide in their houses.

MAY THE SMOKE ASCEND

But this is why Joel invites Judah to mourn. We mourn that God has withdrawn Himself, and we plead with Him to relent. True mourning longs for the glory to be restored. For the smoke to ascend once more.

When Christ ascended, He brought us with Him. Our worship is the offering of ourselves, and it is in our worship that we ascend to God by Christ as a sweet savor. But if our worship is all tidy and in order, but our hearts are full of bitterness, our minds are polluted with lust, our hands are covered with the blood of hatred towards our brother, God will look on it all and say, “Time to shut it down.” Only through Christ, can our worship be made right.

Heavier Than Wet Sand

Christ Church on April 25, 2021

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Introduction

Some sins are out in the open, and everybody in the church knows that they are sins. I am thinking about theft, drunkenness, adultery, and the like. But there are other sins that are harder to identify, and because of this they can even function openly in Christian circles. I am thinking here about things like desire, envy, competition, and ambition. Now there are some situations where some of these are perfectly fine, but they are still dangerous. For example, consider desire—the quarry from which many sins are hewn. This is a word which, thankfully for the writers of rock ballads, rhymes with fire. Perhaps we would be better occupied with that which gives desire that sinful crackle. This is what our spirits’ desires naturally run to, and so what we are investigating is the sin of envy (Jas. 4:1-3, 5-6).

The Text

“A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but the fool’s wrath is heavier than them both. Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?” (Prov. 27:3-4).

Summary of the Text

The writer of Proverbs begins with an illustration. A heavy stone is hard to pick up (v. 3), and the same thing is true of sand (v. 3). And when a fool gets angry, that is heavier than both or either of them. You should rather have your pick-up truck filled with wet sand than to encounter an angry fool. Then, building on that first thought, since we are now at the next level, wrath is cruel (v. 4). The synonym anger is outrageous (v. 4), but envy carries everything before it. Envy is therefore a formidable sin. It is the full bloom of folly’s rose.

Definitions

Jealousy is to be possessive of what is lawfully your own. Because we are sinners, we sometimes give way to jealousy for wrong causes, or in a wrong manner, but Scripture is clear that jealousy is not inherently sinful. Our God is a jealous God; His name is Jealous (Ex. 20:5; 34:14). Simple greed or covetousness wants what it does not have, and wants to have it without reference to God’s conditions for having it. The thing that it wants may have been seen in a store, a catalog, or a neighbor’s driveway. This sin is tantamount to idolatry (Eph. 5:5), putting a created thing in place of the Creator.

But envy is more than excessive jealousy, and is far more than simply a lazy or idolatrous desire. Envy is a formidable sin, as our text shows, because it combines its own desires for the object (status, money, women, whatever) with a malicious insistence that the other person lose his possession of it. In two places Paul puts malice and envy cheek by jowl (Rom. 1:28-29; Tit. 3:3), and this is no accident. In the Bible, when envy moves, violence and coercion are not far off (Acts. 7:9; 13:45; 17:5; Matt. 27:18). Envy sharpens its teeth every night. We may therefore define envy as a particular kind of willingness to use coercion to deprive someone of what is lawfully his. Of course an envious man may be a coward as well, and so fall under Pope’s condemnation—“willing to wound, and yet afraid to strike.”

The Natural Condition of Man

We see in the letter of James that the spirit within us “lusteth to envy” (Jas. 4:5-6). This is our natural tendency; it is a universal problem. We should see also that a recognition of our complicity in the sin is the way of escape. That recognition is called repentance, and can only be found in Christ. This is because outside of Christ, envy is the natural condition of all mankind. Before we were converted, what were we like? “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another” (Tit. 3:3). That is what we are like. “Being filled with all unrighteousness . . . covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder . . .” (Rom. 1:29).

When we are brought into Christ, this does not grant us automatic immunity to this sin—we must still guard ourselves. We have to reckon ourselves dead to sin and alive to God, and that includes death to this sin. For example, the godly have to be told not to envy sinners (Prov. 3:29-32; 23:17-18). And we have to guard ourselves against sanctimonious envy, the kind Judas tried to display in his false concern for the poor (Mark 14:5,10; John 12:3-6).

The Invisible Vice

In striking contrast to many other sins, nobody readily admits to being envious. Envy is petty and malicious. Envy is unattractive to just about everybody, and in order to operate openly in the world, it has to sail under false colors. Envy is clandestine; envy is sneaky. To admit to envy is to admit self-consciously to being tiny-souled, beef jerky-hearted, petty, and mean-spirited, and to admit this is dangerously close to repentance. To be out-and-out envious is to be clearly in the wrong.

And so envy often decks itself out with the feathers of admiration, and tends to praise too loudly or too much. One writer said to “watch the eyes of those who bow lowest.” The praise can come from someone who does not yet know his own heart, or it can come from someone who is trying to position himself to get within striking distance. Guard your heart; don’t allow yourself to become an unctuous or oily flatterer.

Envy occupies itself much with matters of justice, and becomes a collector of injustices, both real and imagined. Since envy cannot speak its own name, the closest virtue capable of camouflaging the sin is zeal for justice. And since true Christians should be very much concerned with genuine justice, be sure to run diagnostics on your heart as you do so. This is because our modern political tangles are a veritable festival of envy, everywhere you look. Trying to find envy in our political disputes is like trying to find some beads at the New Orleans Mardi Gras parade.

And envy gets worse as a person’s gifts get greater—when dealing with talent, artistic temperaments, and great intellectual achievements. We sometimes assume that we can “cultivate” our way out of the temptation, which is the reverse of the truth.

Heading It Off

Because we are all a bit naive about this sin, in ourselves and in others, we glibly assume that if God only blesses us a little bit more, that will make it clear to everyone that we are nice people and that there is no reason to envy us. But of course, this only makes everything worse. Should the “neighbor” in the tenth commandment assume that if God only gave him a bigger house and faster car that this would somehow resolve the problems of his green-eyed neighbor next door? Is he serious?

Many of you are at the beginning of your lives, your careers, your accomplishments. And you need to know that when marked success comes to some of you, the poison will start to flow. Even in the church? Yes, even here, but if we take note of our hearts now, if we internalize these truths now, we are laboring for the peace and purity of our congregation—one of the things we are covenanted to in our membership vows. When James takes aim at conflict in the church, he takes aim at envy. So remember that the love of Christ is forever, and envy is transient. Speaking of the earthbound, Solomon says, “Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished; neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun” (Ecc. 9:5-6).

Gore Vidal once said, “Whenever a friend succeeds, a little something in me dies.” In stark contrast, the apostle Paul said, “Love does not envy” (1 Cor. 13: 4).

Covenant Life Together #1

Christ Church on April 11, 2021

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INTRODUCTION

One of the things that happens when you move into Reformed or Presbyterian settings is that you start hearing the word covenant a lot. I had a friend who once accused us of talking about covenant peanut butter and covenant jelly. He wasn’t wrong, but then again, neither were we.

THE TEXT

“The meek will he guide in judgment: And the meek will he teach his way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies . . . The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; And he will shew them his covenant” (Psalm 25:9-10, 14).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The Scriptures are covenantal from front to back. The Old Testament is actually the Old Covenant, and the New Testament is the New Covenant. God made a covenant with Adam in the Garden, but Adam transgressed that covenant of life (Hos. 6:7). God made a covenant with mankind, promising not to inundate the world again (Gen. 9:8). God made a covenant with Abraham (Gen. 17:9), and we are gathered here this morning because the covenant-keeping God continues with His faithfulness (Rom. 4:13). And marriage is described as a covenant (Mal. 2:14; Prov. 2:17), not a mere contract. In short, our lives together in this community are a tight weave of covenantal bonds.

It is our responsibility to understand what this means. But if we must learn to judge rightly, it must begin with meekness (Ps. 25:9). If we are meek—teachable, humble, receptive—then God will teach us His way (v. 9). For those who learn what He is teaching, and who keep His covenant and testimonies, all His ways are mercy and truth (v. 10). This shows us that what we learn dictates the way it goes with us in the way as we walk there. We learn mercy and truth, and the Lord shows us mercy and truth as we walk in that way. A few verses later, we are told that the secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, which adds another component (v. 14). We are to fear God, walk before Him in meekness, and He will surround us with mercy and truth. And He will show us His covenant.

COVENANT BONDS

A covenant is bigger than the sum of its parts. A covenant is stronger than the mere agreement that caused the parties at the first to enter into it. The covenant over-arches everything, and exists in its own right. Your families are held together by covenant. This congregation is a covenant community. We are in covenant with all the saints all over the world, and every week we partake of the cup of the new covenant.

I said earlier that a covenant is not a “mere contract.” The signatories to a contract could together decide that neither of them wanted to be under contract anymore, and this means they could shake hands and be done with it. Smith didn’t have to deliver the widgets any more, and Jones didn’t have to pay for them. This is because the parties to a contract (mutually) have authority over it. But this is not true of a covenant. A landlord and a renter could mutually agree to tear up a lease, and nobody did anything wrong. However a man and woman could not decide that neither of them wanted to be married any more, and just walk away. A covenant has objective existence outside the current wishes of the parties.

The covenant of grace is like the peace of God—it passes understanding (Phil. 4:7). Also like the peace of God, it serves as a shield. Certain evil darts simply cannot get near you.

MULTITUDE OF SINS

Now one of the things we have commented on frequently is the fact our church community is enjoying extraordinary growth. We are grateful to God for it, and yet one of the first things we should reflect on and anticipate is the likelihood of increased friction and difficulty. Why would the devil want to leave us alone? “Now in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution” (Acts 6:1, NKJV).

A multitude of people means a multitude of sins. And why is God bringing us a multitude of sins? So that our love might have something to cover.

“Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins” (James 5:20).

“And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8).

“Hatred stirreth up strifes: But love covereth all sins” (Prov. 10:12).

Love “beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7).

FERVENT CHARITY AMONG YOURSELVES

This is Peter’s express instruction to us. Forbearance is characteristic of koinonia fellowship, and it grows out of fervent love, it flourishes because of fervent charity.

When a new member comes into fellowship with us, he is looking out over a sizeable lake of sins and foibles. Not only so, but he is bringing some new ones in. The next new member to come in after him will be looking out over a sizeable lake of sins and foibles, but one that is a little bigger now.

This is not an arrangement where we all come together once a week, with the implicit agreement that we will all pretend that nobody has ever struggled with anything. Not at all. That is not what church is supposed to be. The covenant community is not a place where nobody sins. Neither is it a place where everybody has acquiesced in their sin, surrendering to it.

THE CHRIST OF THE COVENANT

I said earlier that a covenant has objective reality outside the will of the parties to it. It would be more accurate to say that this objective reality is one of the parties to it—Christ is Lord of the covenant. He is the Head of the church, the new covenant community, but He is also involved in all our lesser covenants, such as marriage.

The reason we are able to love one another fervently, covering a multitude of sins, is because Christ is here.