Grace OPC Sewickley PA

Sermon Book: Romans

The New Creation in Us

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of the “New Heavens & New Earth” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 4, 1990.

About this sermon

Isaiah 65-66, 2 Peter 3:13, and Revelation 21 describe the new heavens and new earth in terms of rejoicing, endurance, righteousness, and the presence of God. Romans 14 and 2 Corinthians 5 then show the new creation already at work in the life of the church.

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Sermon transcript

Tonight our scripture reading begins in Romans Chapter 14, and then we’ll turn over to 2 Corinthians Chapter 5. This is Romans Chapter 14, and we are reading from verse 13. Therefore, let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this, not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother’s way. I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself, but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean.

For if because of food your brother is hurt, You are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil. For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. So then let us pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another. Do not tear down the work of God for the sake of food.

All things indeed are clean, but they are evil for the man who eats and gives offense. It is good not to eat meat or to drink wine, or to do anything by which your brother stumbles. The faith which you have had as your own conviction before God, happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. But he who doubts is condemned if he eats because his eating is not from faith, and whatever is not from faith is sin.

I’m turning over to 2 Corinthians 5, a familiar passage to you. 2 Corinthians 5, reading from verse 17. Therefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. Your things have passed away, behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation. Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against him, and he has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were entreating through us. We beg you on behalf of Christ he reconciled to God. He made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. who are winding down our series on the New Heavens and the New Earth.

And I thought this evening that we would move through the passages that we have considered in which that phrase occurs, literally, and zero in on the principal idea of each of those passages so that we might attach them together or weave them together into a nice beautiful tapestry.

Our first passage as we are moving through these verses, in order of their appearance in scripture, brings us to Isaiah. This is a famous passage from the prophecy of Isaiah, a beautiful one, a compelling one. God is declaring through the prophet, Behold, verse 17, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. And as we move down through the passage, it becomes apparent to us specifically what the principal idea is here. What is the principal focus as the Lord speaks through Isaiah? Note verse 18.

But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create, or if you will, in what I recreate. For behold, I create Jerusalem or recreate Jerusalem for rejoicing and her people for gladness. So at the heart of this message concerning the new heavens and the new earth, at the very center of this vision which has been given to Isaiah is joy. Is joy. As we read in that 18th verse, you see, it is the joy of the people of God. God is creating a new world, and he is demanding his people to be glad and rejoice in what he is making, what he is reestablishing.

He is creating a city that will be known principally for its rejoicing. I create Jerusalem for rejoicing, and a people known for their gladness. So the joy has reference with regard to the people and their estate, but no first 19. I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my. So it’s the perfecting. Not only the joy of the people. But the joy of God.

The new heavens and the new earth. spoken of under the heading of joy and the perfecting of joy for the people and for God. But note also in this passage some other characteristics that are given to us here. In this passage Isaiah becomes the servant of something larger than just those particular concerns for the Jew or for Israel as a nation. There is a universalizing that takes place in this prophecy that carries you beyond the specific concerns for Israel and the specific concerns of the Jewish people.

The new heavens and the new earth. The expanse of it all. before your eyes. The comprehensiveness of it. It’s a cosmical vision. Takes you beyond the boundaries of the mere land, beyond the particularities of a specific nation. Places you in the midst of universal concern.

The provincial for the parochial concern of Israel in the time of Isaiah was the promise of coming deportation and exile. There was the promise of that coming judgment. But there was also the promise of a restoration, a restoration from captivity. Now joy would be associated with the promise of the coming restoration from captivity.

But when Isaiah now is given this vision of the new heavens and new earth, the joy that he’s spoken of here carries him far beyond the joy that is specifically attached to that restoration. There is a universal life of the joy in view. We move past that joy that belongs specifically to the restoration of Jews from Babylon as they come back from exile.

And even more than this, the joy that is imbued here is seen to be much more than just a remedy for the plight and the distress that Israel as a nation is facing. For as we read from verse 20 on to the end of this chapter, we note that the language that is used here suggests that we are dealing with nothing less than a remedy for creation’s illness, malady, and distress. The distress of the entire created order is in view, and its remedy is in view. For creation groans under the curse and the effects that have come to it because of the curse.

So what we are observing when God does grant Israel restoration from captivity is but a microcosm of the great macrocosmic intent of God. You can see a little of the coming day of the new heaven and new earth, when the Jews are restored to Palestine, when they come back from the land of captivity. But this pushes you on to the greater consideration yet, as there has been joy for these people in this circumstance, So there shall come the universalizing of joy and the perfecting of joy for all of God’s people, his elect, whom he shall ultimately gather from the four corners of the earth, establishing them within his kingdom.” Now there’s also another dimension to this joy that is spoken of here. It’s what we might call a liturgical dimension.

Now don’t become frightened. I know this is a Presbyterian Church and we’re not heavily into liturgies. But the word liturgy merely means service. It merely means worship. So it’s nothing that need offend us naturally, automatically. We have our liturgy, our own liturgy, as simple and as uncomplicated as it might be.

But there is a liturgical interest here with respect to this joy. Now we’ve moved from verses 17 down through 25 to take into consideration the universalizing tendency in which this vision of Isaiah is moved with respect to the joy in view. But if we look at verses 13 through 16, we see that the joy that is spoken of here is specifically related to the issue, the matter of worship.

Those who do not worship God, or falsely worship, or vainly worship. Those who, in fact, in their pursuit of their idols, now experience joy. Those who are presently experiencing a festival in the pursuits of their gods. There shall come an end to their pursuits, and even the possibility of such pursuits.

And there will be a perfecting of the joy that is in view, as that joy is part and parcel of the worship of the true and living God. The new heavens and the new earth belong to those who worship the true God truly. It may well appear that those who pursue the idols of the world, vain and empty worship in this world, are presently experiencing a festival of joy, but in the end there will be for them an emptiness and a deep and abiding sorrow while the people who belong to God shall in fact enjoy an eternal festival in his presence. The new heavens and the new earth characterized by joy. What of us? What of our joy and its focus? What of the source of our joy? It is an uncommon joy.

It partakes of the nature of the new heavens and the new earth. It flows forth from that reality as a river. All right, we move on to chapter 66, second appearance of the phrase the new heavens and the new earth that we have in scripture. It occurs in verse 22. And here, A little bit more briefly now. The focus is principally on the matter of permanence. Now we’ll deal with that a little bit and expand it some. But note what is said in verse 22.

For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before me, declares the Lord, so your offspring and your name will endure. Looking for stability? Looking for consistency? Despairing of finding it in this world order? A little bit discouraged with yourselves, maybe. Your own repeated failures and falling.

The fact that you are so upset with yourself If there is anyone who is unstable, you say it is I. Attached then to the coming new heavens and new earth is permanence, stability, establishment in the very best sense of that word. You being established permanently, enduring before the war, your name enduring permanently, not moved, fixed, immovable, and you as consistent as the world in which you have come to dwell by God’s grace. Is God a rock? Is God unshakable and unmovable? you then likewise in the new heaven and the new earth.

Permanence. Permanence. Thought. What stands opposite permanence? You might say impermanence. Or maybe better, chaos. So moving back to permanence in light of that which stands opposite, what might we say? Captures the sense of permanence as it characterizes the new heavens and the new earth. Opposite chaos. Opposite the upheaval of chaos. Opposite the unsettledness The turmoil, the turbulence of failings. The fear. The call. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. And the former heavens, former earth passed away. And there’s no more sea. There’s no more sea. Why? Because the sea is the opposite.

It’s peace. It’s the image of turbulence, turning, and chaos. perfect, perfect peace. Is it any wonder that we find in this context then, verse 12. Thus says the Lord, behold, I extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream. In the new heavens and the new earth.

Perfect peace. Do you look for peace in this world? My peace I leave with you, my peace I leave, not as the world gives you, give I to you. Different kind of peace. Peace from another world altogether. The only true peace for us is found in the realms of eternity. And that peace is presently accessible.

We turn then to 2 Peter. Chapter three. For the third occurrence of this phrase, the new heavens and the new earth in the Bible. It’s second, Peter three verse thirteen. But according to his promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new word in which righteousness. Well, in which Righteousness dwells. Here, the focus is unmistakable. We don’t have to strain at all to understand and see what is at the center of things here. It is, as Peter says, righteousness. So we’ve moved from joy to peace to righteousness. And this righteousness is at the center of our hope. We long for it. We hope for it. We look after it. You remember the fourth Beatitude?

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Righteousness there again mentioned, spoken of as an object of our yearning. Righteousness at the center, then, of the new heavens and the new earth, at the center of our hope. And we are looking for that righteousness just as Abraham looked for a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Hebrews 11, verse 10. spoken of along a similar line. We seek a city which is to come. Interestingly, the scriptural heading for hymn 184. There is a green hill far away without a city gate. We look for a city which is to come. Hebrews 13 verse 14. At the center of which is righteousness. Our heart sticks upon that. Now, what might this righteousness be that is spoken of here by Peter, that is intimated by the passages in Hebrews? Those Hebrew passages help us focus upon what is specifically in mind.

You see, in that Hebrews 11.10 passage, which speaks about Abraham looking for a city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God, sets forth that city for which he looks and longs, sets that city over against a city, all cities, that have no foundation, whose builder and maker is not God. Such a city Abraham is left, Earl of the Counties, a city in which righteousness does not prevail, but unrighteousness and the oppression of the righteous. Now, we might be thinking of the righteousness spoken of here in Peter as a subjective character of righteousness, something that is attached to our sanctification. Well, that may be partly what is in view, but not principally what is in view.

What he has longed for is an environment in which righteousness rules, the very righteousness of God, in such a way that injustice is completely impossible. in such a way that oppression of the righteous is impossible. That’s what’s specifically in view, and that for which we long. We long for a world in which the righteous is no longer existent. Injustice no longer exists. And we know that the only place where we will find that is in the New Heavens and in the New Earth, in the New Jerusalem. And we long for it.

Now in that latter passage, you see in Hebrews 13, verse 14, what the writer does there is he contrasts the city which is to come, after which we long, with the city that has stood in direct opposition to Christ, to the Lord Messiah, and crucified him outside the city wall.

He himself suffering the injustice and unrighteousness of men. He being oppressed for the sake of God and his kingdom, for the sake of the truth. Then looking at Peter. How are we to understand his approach to righteousness there in verse 13, chapter 3?

Peter’s vision stands particularly in contrast to the rise of false prophets who have been described for us in chapter 2, and the mockers who have been described for us in chapter 3 at its beginning. whose presence in the world and in the church makes the life of the people of God a special place. So we long for the new heavens and the new earth. in which righteousness dwells. The righteous rule of God. God’s righteous reign over all things. Injustice and unrighteousness. Nowhere to be found. God’s purpose then made absolutely plain and clear. the lines along which his righteousness lies absolutely plain and clear to us. We, judging the righteous judgment, in keeping with his own righteous sentences.

That brings us to our last passage, Revelation chapter 21. The last occurrence of the phrase, the new heavens and the new earth, in the Bible. A passage that I’ve already quoted for you tonight, and one that is known, I’m sure, to you very well. But what stands here at the center? We’ve spoken of joy and peace righteousness. What stands here as we come to the end of God’s program of revelation? Why it’s the summing up of all things. It’s the greatest of all considerations. The consideration that includes all other considerations. It’s the perfect conclusion. the perfect conclusion.

Note what is said, And I heard, verse 3, a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and he shall dwell among them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be among them. And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. And there shall be no longer any death. There shall no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away. Now what stands at the center of that declaration, of that vision?

The presence of God. the presence of God. In the end, the quest for joy, the quest for peace, the quest for righteousness, if properly pursued, will prove to be the quest for the presence of God. Do you long to be in His presence? Is that your chief motivation? Is that your hope without equal? As the heart pampers after the waterworks, so longeth my soul for God. When shall I come and appear before God? Isn’t that what it’s all about? Will not being in his presence mean the perfection of joy and peace and likeness? And will it not mean you are perfect in this? And that’s why you must long for it. above everything else.

As we read down through the 21st chapter and into the 22nd, we see that this presence of God is worked out in a two-fold way for us here. First of all, with regard to the realization of the theocratic ideals, the Mouth Order, But if all that means is that the pope of Israel with respect to the throne that was established within her as a scene for and a site for the rule and reign of God, that is going to be realized in full measure in the new heavens and the new earth. God’s throne in the presence of his people and his people gathered around that throne as his subjects and his servants, eternal worshiping servants. but also the realization of the hope of the garden, the garden of Eden. Originally, the garden was the place in which God made occasional visits.

He came and then he left. The hope was for an estate that could carry one beyond even that wonderful condition and a state of man, one in which God would never leave, and never have to return, because it was always And you would know he was there because you can see him. Because you can see him. Chapter 22, verse 4. And they shall see his face. And they shall see his face.

Well, this brings us to the end of the consideration of our hope and expectation with respect to the new heavens and the new earth. And those of you who were with us on Friday night for the Calvin Forum ought to be especially encouraged in light of what you hear from scripture.

Because as we concluded matters, surveying the 20th century, looking at the spiral, the dismal spiral into theological and political confusion in our age, out of which have come all kinds of theological and political fantasies, erected so as to remedy our plight and solve our predicaments, we are confronted with a terrible disease, the disease of secularism, the triumph of the temporal. That’s what secularism is. It’s the triumph of the temporal. A terrible disease, the disease of modernism. Modernism means the ascendancy of the present condition so that everything is viewed in terms of the present situation. There can be no other situation.

But in light of this depressing spiral into theological, political confusion, and in light of the fantasies that are established, erected in order to remedy the circumstance, there continues to be mediated unto us, we who will listen, the message of the new heavens and the new earth.

And that message of the new heavens and the new earth extends to you by the Spirit, its own form of medicine, its own ointment for your healing, for your comfort and consolation in our present situation. the one who promises them in Revelation chapter twenty one verse five to make all things new.

Shall indeed fulfill his promise. And as a down payment upon the promise made, ensuring its certainty. He has already raised Jesus Christ from the dead so that that one may participate already in the reality of the new heavens and the new earth. That is what it means to speak of Jesus as having been seated in the heavenly places. But we are those who are by faith united to him. And the one who promises to make all things new is already at work in us to make us new, by giving us a new birth unto a lively hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

If any man be in Christ, he is new creation. The old things are already passing away. Behold, all things are already becoming new. And how is that affected presently in the earth, in your life, in your circumstance, in this church? Is it not by root? By root of that joy, peace, and righteousness in the Holy Spirit that is expressing itself presently in our midst.

So we move from 2 Corinthians 5.17 to Romans 14.7. The very characteristics of the new heavens and the new earth that we have spoken of this evening are encapsulated there for us. The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.

That joy is being extended now as you become a servant for comfort, say, along with them. You become a vehicle for the extension of comfort and joy to them. Don’t be a taker, be a giver. The Church has too many takers. Be a giver. By that you demonstrate that the new heavens and the new earth are already operative in you. You are a source of comfort and joy to others. be a servant of stability. We’re talking about oaths and vows in our Sunday morning services. Don’t let those oaths and vows fall, because your determination to maintain those oaths and vows become a testimony for peace, permanence, stability in the midst of the people’s God. And what about Reggie? Don’t you become an oppressor? Don’t you become an enemy of the truth? A friend of false prophets? Sitting in the seat of the scornful, in the company of the mockers. Be the friend of righteousness and insist upon it for yourself and for the assembly of which you are a part. And the new heavens and the new earth expresses itself in new life and in the life of new age. through the holes.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

February 4, 1990
The Perseverance of the Saints

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Bible and Calvinism” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, November 29, 1987.

About this sermon

Three reasons for preaching in a redemptive-historical way come first, before turning to the perseverance of the saints. The church is, collectively, Christ’s own body, so our perseverance finally rests on God’s, not our own.

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Sermon transcript

This morning we are reading from Romans 8, and we will begin in verse 28. You might not be able to keep from saying this as I read it. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate them, he also called and whom he called them he also justified, and whom he justified them he also glorified.

What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the charge of God he left? It is God that justifies us. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword, as it is written. For thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us, for I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Today, O Lord, as your Son travels across the face of the earth, so also does your Word. And that testimony concerning yourself, what glory is it after all that the heavens declare? Is it not the glory whereby you have redeemed for yourself a people, and that through your outstretched arms? Lord, today that message is heard in every continent, and congregations gather that they may hear the word. Lord, as we have hungered, so may we be satisfied by your word.

Amen. My habit has been to give to you exegetical messages. of what has been called a redemptive historical type. That is, messages that move through a particular passage, a particular passage in the Bible, while endeavoring always to relate that passage to the broader concerns of God’s program of salvation, historically culminating, as it does, in the person and work of Jesus Christ. My messages have moved through particular passages, while endeavoring always to relate that passage to the broader concerns of God’s program of salvation historically culminating in the person and work of Jesus Christ. My hope in this regard has been threefold.

First, to place before you the Word, the Word of God. As I have said many times, echoing Surely what we hear in scripture itself, your life is found in the word of God. To that end, we neglect the word to our detriment. If I have been the reason for anyone becoming negligent of the word, its private reading or its public hearing. I repent here and now. Be in the Word and don’t miss those opportunities that you have for being in the Word. It is your life.

Second, my hope has been to convince you of the essential historical basis for your faith. The history of God’s redemptive work is a factual, substantial frame of reference, one into which you have been introduced because of what God has done for you. I cannot emphasize this too much, because I think that our habit of mind is to dismiss history as that subject we put up with, endured, when we were in junior high, high school, or maybe in college. But please understand, the Bible’s approach to this matter You are introduced in Scripture not to a make-believe world, not to an imaginary world, not to a mythological world. You are introduced to a world of realities. And there you are confronted with the drama, the historical drama, of God’s redemptive program as it focuses upon his people, his activities for them being their redemption. The significance of this is that as you read that history, you are not reading a history that is removed from you, distant from you, an abstraction from which you are disassociated, rather you are reading your own history. The story in the scripture is your story, and as such, you are a participant in it and not a spectator.

That is the significance, I might add, of God’s covenant. My hope has been, by way of the word, to persuade you about grace and its magnitude. I know that it is often the case when we speak about grace that we consider it exclusively as God’s gift and in light of our own unworthiness, we being sinners. I do not mean any disrespect, but my effort with regard to preaching, as it focuses on grace, is to bring you even beyond that description of it. My effort has been directed towards the objective which says, I hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit, and therefore we have been positioned by grace in this drama of redemption in such a way that that drama’s fullness and its finality have already been played out upon the stage of the world for our eternal benefit. Thus, even in our present circumstance, we enjoy, through this grace, our God’s eternal beneficence. It has been in the interests of expounding this grace This grace which is ours through our God, because of Jesus Christ, that I have embarked on this current series of messages for Bible and Calvinism.

The style and the approach of these messages have been different. These messages could be called topical in style. and analytical in approach. Rather than ordered around a particular text, they have developed a theme. And being analytical, they are more logical in their development instead of dramatic, or historical, or even existential in the best sense of that word. Oftentimes, these kinds of messages, the topical, are easier not only to construct, but to understand. They are useful, therefore, in that they not only set before us a compact presentation of a doctrinal interest, they are also able to supply us a breather if there has been a heavy diet of messages of the redemptive historical time.

Now, as you know, I am thoroughly committed to the first type of preaching, the type I described first of all. But my experience has taught me that the second type often comes as a welcomed refreshment to both people and preacher. This has been something of a hiatus. But if you are longing to get back to those exegetical messages of the redemptive historical type. My destination will be after the Christmas season, the pastoral pitfalls and a little unfinished business.

We will be taking up Second Timothy and also type. In following our exposition of those books, we will resume our messages on Matthew six and seven with an eye towards completing our messages on the Sermon on the Mount. For the present, we have this topical series on the five points of Calvinism to complete, and we have arrived at the fifth and last point, namely, the perseverance of the saints. This particular subject we will consider in two parts, the first part this morning and the second next week. Specifically this morning, we will look at perseverance in terms of the journey of the people of God and God’s promises concerning our success in that journey. And next week, we will look at perseverance in terms of our destination, where we are headed, and God’s bountiful blessing to us from and in glory.

Perseverance of the Saints. That journey under God’s sovereignty, in which we are sustained by the promises of God, and that infallibly. Perseverance of the Saints. That journey under God’s sovereignty, in which we are sustained by God’s promises, and that infallibly.

Here we may need something of a different orientation that is usually given to this point in Calvinistic doctrine. For as I have suggested to you as we have gone through the five points, each one of the points is a corollary to a doctrine which Calvinists hold dear. Specifically, I have related this last point to our doctrine of the Church. And it is well to remind ourselves of this fact.

For too often, as we move through the five points, it is so easy for us to become exclusively oriented to the individual and the individual’s place in the economy of salvation. Now, I don’t mean to gainsay the comfort that is gained by root of that individual concentration. Me, in my predicaments, speaking to me about the kinds of security that are extended to me through these wonderful doctrines of the Scripture. Me then delighting in those securities and delighting in them to the full.

But our habit of mind too often is to leave things at that level, as if the concern of those early Calvinists or the concerns of Scripture itself were exclusively individualistic. We take stock, for instance, of the first point of Calvinism, total depravity. It is the individual, we say, and we say again, and specifically me, that is totally depraved. The individual, we go on, is the object of God’s unconditional election, and with our thoughts concerning our own individual unconditional election, there we stop.

As far as the benefits of Christ’s atoning death, we tend to think of those benefits exclusively in individualistic terms. are the recipient of the Holy Spirit’s irresistible work upon us in grace. But by the time we get to the fifth point, we have pushed upon us in an unmistakable way an explicit reference to the collectivity of the people of God.

It’s the perseverance of the saints, you see. It might be well for me to say a word about the saints. Individualism has even prevailed there in a rather unfortunate way in that the Roman Catholic Church has made the saint truly an individual exclusive in his or hers identification, to the point of removing those Saints from the general company of the people of God. So here it is, the perseverance of the Saints, a point at which we cannot avoid our doctrine of the Church. the company of the reading.

That assembly which is the Lord. Now you might think that. Present day Calvinists. Would do well at this point. That they would not fail to point out to us. The corporate character of God’s workings with regard to his plan. Nevertheless, I consulted three classic texts this last week.

Systematic theologies written by tried-and-true Calvinists, and treatments of the five points of Calvinism by other tried-and-true Calvinists. In those three classic texts, with regard to this specific point, the perseverance of The Church wasn’t even as much as mentioned. To give you an idea of how far we have strayed from our Reformation moorings, all I need do is encourage you to read the final book in Calvin’s Institutes.

The Doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints according to Calvin is a sub-point of the Doctrine of the Church. The larger issue is the perseverance of the Church, Christ’s body. The Church of Jesus Christ shall, in fact, endure through every trial, persevere through every ordeal, overcome every failing every stumbling every fall every descent into sin even and in the end, according to the Word of God, enter glory purified and without blemish.

And you have God’s Word on it. I remind you of those Old Testament passages where the church is seen within the figure of the nation of Israel, and within the picture of that remnant which God is preserving for himself. Statements like that spoken in the midst of Israel’s declension during the days of Samuel, for instance. For the Lord will not forsake his people. What are those messages of Isaiah? Again, a prophet writing in times of severe declension amongst the people of God.

Can a woman, he writes, forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, that woman may forget, yet I will not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hand. And again, for the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee.

Isaiah 54. And in the New Testament, what further passage do we need? Amazing to me! was the absence of citation with regard to this passage in the treatment of this particular point of Calvinism. In the volumes I reviewed this past week, Matthew 16 verse 18.

Upon this rock I will build my church And the gates of hell will not prevail against it. It’s appropriate that we read this morning from Psalm 107. For in that psalm, there is mention made of the gates of death. And that’s what is in the mind of Jesus when he makes mention here of the gates of hell. What is in view is the strongest thing beneath God. In all the world, there is nothing stronger than death, the last enemy.

Yet, even the gates or the counsels of death will not prevail against the Church. Yes, the Church shall persevere in her journey to glory. As Calvin said, perseverance becomes hypothetical or exceptional, apart from the church. The Westminster Confession of Faith says, apart from the church, there is ordinarily no possibility of salvation. It is in this context, then, that we take up those classic texts concerning the Lord’s care for us all, for His own, and for us individually. as part of the church, as members of the body, receiving these promises and abiding in them. Think of those statements that we have rehearsed time and time again from John’s gospel.

Whosoever believeth shall not come into condemnation. I give my sheep eternal life, says Jesus. He that believeth in me hath eternal life. I will raise them up at the last day. They shall never perish,” he said. From Paul we have those glorious statements. There is now no condemnation for them that are in Christ Jesus. Our life, he writes, is his with Christ in God. He that has begun a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ. It is God who worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

We have been chosen unto salvation. God hath chosen us from the beginning to salvation through sanctification and belief of the truth. All of this, quotations out of the epistles of Paul. And what further evidence could we gather from the letter to the Hebrews, or Peter, or John’s letter, or Jude, or the book of Revelation? But know that I suggest gives us more comfort, more encouragement, more of that spirit of certainty before our God than that one which we read today. It is with you as it is with me. Oftentimes you have found, have you not, found yourself pulling that passage out and reading again and again. And by the time you’re done, you’re in the ceiling. You’re no longer on the ground.

We could have a period of testimony here this morning, and each one of you, I dare say, could get up and tell of an instance in your own life when that passage specifically spoke to you. It speaks to you, as I have suggested, from within the context of our considerations about the doctrine of the church, God’s promises to his people, Christ’s love of his bride, and the fact that they will not be denied. But in not denying you, in not being denied themselves, rather, they will not deny you. of every good thing. This passage then inspires comforts.

The saints, those individuals whose journey, though distressing, ends at that place to which the Church shall be infallibly brought in the end. the saints persevere to the end. Now one last word is appropriate for you, and as we have gone through these passages, as you thought a little bit about the doctrine this morning, maybe you have already leaped to this conclusion. Why in the end It seems as if it isn’t the same who are persevering. But rather it is God who is persevering with his things and for his thing and therefore the perseverance doesn’t depend upon us as much as it depends upon him and our perseverance is only the reflection of his perseverance with us and for us.

So even more so. Don’t despair. Don’t despair in your life. Please. Remember your father’s care and his love and his mercy. He’s not forgetting. And he will never forsake you. Never. Father, refresh us in our knowledge of you. Teach us again about your Church and how dear to you she is. And that we, as members of the Church, are promised that as she endures, we too shall endure. and we have your word on that. Comfort us, then, Lord, when things look desperate or even when sin overtakes us and compromises us. May our confidence be not our righteousness, not our merit, but our God who perseveres with and for us. We glorify you through Christ.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

November 29, 1987
Total Depravity

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Bible and Calvinism” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, October 18, 1987.

About this sermon

The evil in public and private life shows total depravity, and Scripture defines sin as touching mind, emotions, and will alike. Against that bleak picture stands Christ’s conquest of sin on our behalf.

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Sermon transcript

Our scripture reading this morning is from Romans chapter 5. We are beginning with the twelfth verse, and we will read to the end of the chapter. This is Romans 5, 12 through 21. Therefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned.

For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses. even over them that had not sinned, after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that is to come.

But was as the offense, but not as the offense, so also is the free gift. For if through the offense of one many are dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace which is by one man, Jesus Christ, This has abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sins, so is the gift. For the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one, much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let us pray briefly. Now, Lord, in this circumstance, we beseech you that your word that does not return to you void would in fact accomplish your will in our lives. Is it a matter of turning us from sin, then, Lord, let us return. Is it a matter of encouragement in distress? Lord, may we be encouraged. Are we doubtful with regard to our salvation? May we receive from your word assurances of your love. Lord, we pray that if we are in need of rebuke, encouragement, strength, your word would be granted to us in full measure. We ask also that if salvation is that which is needed, that salvation may come today to sinners in need. We pray this in Christ’s name, amen.

We have spelled out for you the five points, the so-called five points of Calvinism. To many of you, these five points are well known. Historically, you are aware that Calvin was not responsible for the five points. But later on in history, those five points were developed as an answer to many who were denying the truth that Calvin was endeavoring to put before the church. Those five points are presented to us in the famous acronym to the five letters. Each of those letters reminding us of a central central doctrine of our faith and confession.

The key of the two is for total depravity, and that will be our subject for this morning. This is our doctrine of man. The U is our doctrine of God, that God in his electing grace is not conditioned in his choice of us by anything in us at all. Not his foresight of faith in us, not our righteousness, not anything meritorious on our part at all. rather than God’s election is unconditional, thus the U of TULIP, unconditional election. The L is our doctrine of Christ and his saving death. Our confession is that Christ died for the elect, that he shed his blood for his elect And therefore, we speak of the atonement as limited, and thus the L. The I is our doctrine of the Holy Spirit.

The grace extended to us by God through His Holy Spirit is irresistible. What power in the world can resist God? If God is at work and chooses to do thus and so, who can stay his hand? Our doctrine of the Spirit is that the grace of our God by the Spirit is irresistible, thus the I. The P of TULIP is our doctrine of the Church. We believe in what is called the perseverance of the saints, that those who are called of God supplied by him with grace, will in fact endure for eternity in the embrace of the Lord.

The five points, then. Tulip, T-U-L-I-P. This morning we are faced with the first of the letters. T, our doctrine of man and the matter of total depravity. It sounds ominous, doesn’t it? It sounds fierce, foreboding, and well it might be. What is wrong? What is wrong with me? What is wrong with us? What is wrong with the world?

The truth of the matter is, as difficult as I, you, us, the world, as difficult as it is for any of us, all of us, to admit it, The problem, the difficulty with us in the world is sin. There is a tragic failure, generally, in the modern world, and in this of course not different from even the worlds, the ages that have preceded There is a tragic failure in the world to come to grips with this truth. There is a tragic failure in the world to come to grips with the broad sweep of evil. This is quite ironic that we could be so blind that the world could be so blind in the midst of a century that has witnessed the greatest in terms of their scope the greatest atrocities in the history of civilization and yet the world congratulates itself.

That it is not barbarian. The culture. And by and large quite well behaved. If you need a lesson in the scope, the magnitude of evil in this century, I encourage you to pick up a tome written by Paul Johnson entitled The Modern World. It is awesome. It is devastating.

We live a bit insulated, somewhat isolated, drawing around ourselves certain comforts and protections that shield us from the harsh true reality of things as they are. When the world Our world is faced with something of the magnitude of the evil at work in it.

It seems that it can only be jolted, and that among a few. Take, for instance, Mr. Johnson and his book, The Modern World, by what is obvious and what is outlandish and what is bizarre. Those crimes, those transgressions and offenses that cry out for headlines, as if they were walking up the street and slapping you in the face, demanding of you an acknowledgement.

When there is that occasion to take stock of the evil in the world, It is a very short-sighted approach indeed. Only that which is most obvious, outlandish and bizarre. I think that this is why we are having such a great difficulty, especially as we are influenced by the media. For you see, the media approach to evil is not in terms of evil subtleties.

I think, for instance, of one of the more popular TV programs of the last few years, Hill Street Blues. Now, there were evils and crimes out in the street, and they were plain and clear, demanding redress. But while you are witnessing these crimes out in the street, you are also witnessing the going on in the bedrooms of the people who were supposed to be taking care of the problem of crime in society, with no sense, no sense of the evil, the subtlety of that evil at work as well there. behind the closed doors, as much as in the streets. Domestic evil, private sin, is always portrayed as normal, the way things are. It’s just being human. I can kill I’m not in the habit of ripping people off. I can’t help but think of that magnificent exchange, regardless of what you think of the participants.

The Watergate hearings. John Ehrlichman is being examined. He is being examined by Lowell Weicker, Senator Lowell Weicker. The discussion is about the matter of public versus private morality. Ehrlichman is contending that though there may have been faults in his behavior, there are certainly other faults that need redress, and those faults are found in senators as well as presidential henchmen. and the evils that he had in mind were those like the fact that Senators come to the chamber inebriated, outlandishly drunk to conduct the business of this country. The writer’s response is, that’s nobody’s business. Ehrlichman’s immediate retort is, Mr. Senator, that position is completely and utterly indefensible. And Ehrlichman, despite his crimes, was right. The division, then, between public and private morality, where the private life hid from view, domestic evil, if you will, is portrayed as normal, just being human. just being yourself, and whose business is it anyway?

Well, in the midst of all of this, one might well ask the question, whatever became of sin? Someone did ask that question, Carl Menninger. In a book that he wrote a number of years ago, I don’t commend the book to you in its view of sin and theology, but I do commend to you the question, whatever became of sin. And he had reference, not just simply to society at large, he was referring to the religious establishment. He was referring to those who were supposed to be pointing out sin and providing a remedy for sin in the lives of people. But there is. even within the church, an improper understanding of the matter of evil and sin as a testimony to a growing blindness, possibly even a willful blindness on the part of the church herself.

For some, now you see, sin has been translated. It’s been translated into terms that are appropriate to the 20th century. Sin is the failure to recognize your self-worth. That’s what you’re told. Sin is the failure of anyone to live by the philosophy or the psychology, I’m okay, you’re okay. why it doesn’t exist. You see, that’s no fault theology. No one’s to blame. None of us are guilty.

I sat in a classroom in the theology department in Duquesne University The professor was having obvious difficulty, he was struggling with this whole matter of sin and its definition. I think you can appreciate his dilemma as he expressed himself in conclusion. He said that sin is separation from God. Any ordinary Christian believer conversant in the word knows that he’s bypassed a great deal to get to that point. He is talking about sin in terms of its effects, because he does not want to consider sin in terms of its actions. What is sin?

Have you wept over it? Has it broken your heart? broken the heart of somebody else’s. You know firsthand. What is. Sin is portrayed in many ways in the Bible. To begin with, sin is described to us in a way that we might not quickly understand. First of all. It is described for us to find for us as an estate. As a domain into which you have entered the domain, the realm of sin and environment, if you will.

This is what is at work when David, the king, makes his confession in Psalm fifty one. You remember what he says, in sin did my mother conceive me. He doesn’t have in mind there an act by his mother. He has in mind there an environment in which his conception took place in the domain of sin, in a world in which sin abounds, in which everything in that world is affected by sin.

We try to acknowledge this in our catechism. All mankind is born in a state of sin and misery, says the catechism. It’s a condition. It’s an environment. It is a state into which we have been introduced, and according to David, from birth. But sin is more than a state. Sin is an act.

We hear elsewhere in Scripture. First, John three, four, that sin is lawlessness. Remember how the confession Defined in the catechism in any one of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God, you cannot avoid it. As much as my professor at Duquesne University was trying to avoid that clear and proper truth, it cannot be avoided. Sin is action. It is lawlessness. It is rebellion against God, against his law, against him. against the standard that we find in Jesus Christ.

But as Jesus Christ has told us, informed us, informed us well, sin, this rebellion, is more than an act, an action, that we can gauge by transgressing a societal barrier. like murder, adultery, lying. You see, as is made clear by Jesus and by the word, sin also is an attitude. Paul says, Whatever is not of faith, but does not arise from the attitude of faith, the conviction of faith is sin. When Paul then deals with sin, he doesn’t merely deal with those overt acts of sin that are obvious and plain. He deals with attitudes of heart. Malice, envy, hostility, pride. So sin, according to the Word, is an estate, it is an act, it is an attitude. We are told that it is original.

What does it mean to speak of original sin? Original sin is what is being expounded for us when we read Romans 5. We are told that originally our head, Adam, transgressed, and we, his children, were in him in that act, and therefore we, too, come into this world sinners.

Just as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, so death spread to all because all sin. The old Puritan rhyme, in Adam’s fall we sinned all. And sin is actual. Don’t think that it’s merely Adam’s fault for We’ve all added our contribution. By concrete acts of disobedience and rebellion against God and sin is universal.

There isn’t one person in the world today who is not a sinner for all have sinned. They come short of the glory of God. Romans three twenty three. It is personal. And it must be personal to each one of us. The man who goes down to his house, justified according to Christ in his parable, is that one who said, God be merciful to me, a sinner. All of this, then, true with regard to the biblical portrayal of sin and a state, an act, an attitude, original with Adam, actual with us, universal and personal.

But having understood what sin is, then we are compelled to understand what toll it takes, what it does. The effect of sin is total. The effect of depravity is total. Thus, T in Tulum, total depravity, our doctrine of man. It affects the entirety of our personalities.

There isn’t one aspect of our personality that isn’t infected by the disease, by the cancer. At the center of our personality is what the Bible calls the heart, and we are told in Jeremiah that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can understand that is the truth. Because this is the case, sin permeates us thoroughly, be it our minds, our emotions, our wills.

It renders us incapable in ourselves. It renders us incapable of acceptance with God. God is holy, perfectly holy and righteous. How do we, as sinners, appear before him? Left to our natural estate in sin, we are cut off from him. The natural man, we are told by Paul in 1 Corinthians 2.14, does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. He cannot understand them. We are told by Paul in Romans 8, those who live in the flesh cannot please God. We are rendered completely incapable of pleasing Him.

We who are affected by sin, this incapacity, this inability is then labeled as a spiritual death. While living, we are dead. So Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 2, we are dead in our trespasses and sin. A dead man does nothing. Before God, we are, as it were, dead, incapable, utterly incapable of saving ourselves.

That is what necessitates a savior. If you are not a sinner, you don’t need a savior. If you are not a sinner, the Christ of the Bible is of no help to you whatsoever. The Jesus of the Word is of no value to you. We are told, God sent his Son into the world to save sinners.

And then Paul says, among whom I am the chief. We are landed then in spiritual death, which leads on to physical death. The wages of sin is death. After that, the judgment is appointed once for man to die, and then the judgment, Hebrews 9.27. The impact, the effect of sin.

Well, given that starting point, you see, the only way we can go from here is up. Well, you see, you started from the bottom. And it’s much more hopeless than you imagine. It’s not just the weight of your own particular sins that are weighing upon you.

The confession of those sinners that we find confessing in Scripture is such that it’s as if coming to expression in them is the sin of the whole world. The weight of the transgression of all humanity is upon them, and they are acknowledging it. What hope can there be? Not just my sins, but everybody’s sins. How do I get out of this condition? Is there any rescue at all? Not from me. That’s clear enough. Looking into my heart, I know the truth, and I know that there is no good thing that dwells in my flesh. In and of myself, I stand under condemnation.

But you see, do you understand, answering the magnitude of evil, answering the full description of sin is the Lord Jesus Christ, the one sent as God’s answer to sin. Do you understand what’s happening before that, too, in Bethany, when Jesus is standing outside of that tomb and calling for Lazarus?

The man is dead. What can he do? Can he hear? No, he can’t hear, unless by the power of God his ears are opened and he responds. to that which has the power of life in itself. That’s who you’re faced with. After you have been confronted and sobered, confronted by and sobered by your sin, who greets that? when he comes out of the tomb who greets him first? His only hope and your only hope the living Christ who gives life to those who are dead Now, this he does in order that you might not live in sin anymore. So that already, for you who believe already that magnificent power of life is at work in you, no more slaves to sin, it having dominion over you. You rather being liberated. Go on from Romans 5 and read Romans 6, that magnificent chapter.

In which part of the state of the Christian, that one who is turned from sin to God, no longer living as a slave to it, but as one who lives as a slave to righteousness, the spirit of God given to you, given to me that we might resist him and stand against the evil. against the wiles of the devil.

What has God done then for sin? He has sent his son into the world to die upon the cross, taking our sins upon him, that this one who is without sin might become sin for us, in order that we might become the righteousness of God in him. What has he done, what has God done about our sin? He has sent to us his spirit to give us life from the dead, that we might in this life yet resist sin unto glory. And what has he done about our sin?

He has promised us through his son and through his spirit that he is going to come, he is going to remove all sin from us. He is going to wipe every tear from our eye that we have shed in contrition before him, and he is going to introduce us to an environment, to an estate, to a world in which acts and attitudes of sin are utterly impossible.

Utterly impossible. And that is your hope. Can you imagine a world and a life in which sin can’t even happen? Hasten the day. Bring it quickly. come quickly. The tragedy of a soul bent down by iniquity and sin. The confession of my heart Be merciful unto me, O God, a sinner. The testimony of us all, that sin has infected us thoroughly. That our depravity has touched every aspect of our personality. We incapable, then before you, our God. yet what capability we lack you supply in your son by your spirit unto a day when all sin will be removed and we in perfection will dwell with you in God

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

October 18, 1987
Confessing Jesus as Lord

This sermon is from the Rev. Charles G. Dennison sermon archive, part of “The Name of Jesus Christ” series, and was preached at Grace Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Sewickley, PA, during a worship service on Sunday, February 1, 1987.

About this sermon

‘Kurios,’ Lord, carries real weight behind Paul’s confession in Romans 10, weight already visible in how Christ exercises that lordship in Mark 11’s triumphal entry. The Old Testament’s own language of belonging supplies the pattern here. To confess Christ as Lord is to confess ourselves his possession, his bondslaves. Admiration alone falls short of that confession.

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Sermon transcript

The first fifteen verses. Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, that the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise.

Say not in thine heart, who shall ascend into heaven? That is, to bring Christ down from above. Or who shall descend into the deep? That is, to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what sayeth it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thine heart, that is, the word of faith which we preach, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord, shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring glad tidings of good things.

Let us pray together. Before You, our God, we bow. We know that Your Lordship is exerted over us, that we, with all proper humility and submission, might render unto You that obedience that is Yours. Encourage us, Father, by Your Word. May we push away from ourselves that which would stand between us and You. And, Lord, we pray that we might have that receptiveness, therefore, to accept from you all that you would say to us for our good, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

We have been talking about the titles of Christ understanding him in terms of his name and the names that he bears those titles which the Scriptures and the church have given to him. We have spoken about the name Jesus itself. We have talked about its significance on the background of our consideration of Old Testament the fact that the New Testament name, Jesus, is the equivalent to the Old Testament name, Joshua, and that those names mean salvation is of the Lord. We have also spoken about that title, Become Named. The title, Become Named, Christ itself, which means the Anointed One. Christ being the New Testament equivalent to the Old Testament title of Messiah.

This morning, we want to think about the most basic Christian confession of all. Not so much an acknowledgment of the significance of Jesus’ name, not even a consideration of what that title become name meant, the title name Christ. Rather, this morning, we want to consider Jesus as Lord.

It is believed by many that this simple confession was the basic confession, the most fundamental confession of the early church, and that this confession was reflected in 1 Corinthians 12, verse 3. You might recall that in that verse Paul says these words, Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, Jesus is accursed. And no one can say, and here comes the confession, Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit. It is this confession that stands at the heart of what Paul is saying in Romans 10, that ninth verse.

And I realize that that ninth verse is most likely a passage that you have memorized at one point or other in your Christian life, that if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. the focus then upon the confession that Jesus is Lord.

Nothing more basic than that. But what does it mean? What does it mean to call Jesus Lord? Or more pointedly, what does it mean for me to say, Jesus is my Lord? And we forget. the confrontation between Thomas and the Risen Christ there in John one and after the invitation by the Risen Christ, Thomas convicted it flies out my Lord and my God. The personal reference certainly unmistakable. So also for each of us. What does it mean for the church to say, Jesus is Lord? And what does it mean for you to say, Jesus is my Lord? So in understanding this title, we might think of the Greek word that We have translated the Lord from the New Testament.

That Greek word is Kyrios. You might be familiar with that word in another context. If you have listened to great works of music, if you’ve listened to Bach’s D Minor Mass, or if you have listened to some requiems, those Those pieces of music are filled full of references to the Lord under the title of the Kyrie or the Kyrie Eleison. Those words coming into the worship of the church from earliest time incorporated by the Roman Church in its liturgy and also used repeatedly in the mass. Kyrie eleison, the cross, the prayer, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy.

But understanding this word, Kyrios, takes us into a realm different from that which we considered when we took up the title name Christos, or Christ. For the title name Christ, Christos, took us into the religious realm and brought before us the anointing that took place so that someone may well be set aside for God, be set aside through ordination, through anointing. But we pass, as it were, from the religious realm in our consideration of the term Kyrios, We pass from the religious realm, per se, into the social, political, and economic realm, now taking up this title. The term kurios, the term war, arises from a social, political, economic background.

The root idea is that of a master. If we merely take stock of some of the parables of Jesus, we think of how he often speaks of a master who has servants, and he expects certain things from these servants, and he might go away into a far country, return, and when he returns, expect payment or obedience. or reception and welcome from his servants, the master-servant relationship, that being part of what lies at the root of the idea of the Lord. Politically, the idea is expanded from the domestic realm to the national or international realm. Politically, We must see the master then, we must see him in greater and more grandiose terms, not just simply having a household, but having a palace, not simply having servants and a parcel of ground, but a large expansive domain.

The Lord is King. He rules from his throne. He rules over his dominion, and all his subjects acknowledge his rule and reign, his authority. But in each instance, whether it is the domestic or the national, whether it’s master or king, the relationship between the Lord, the master, and those over whom he rules is precisely the same.

In each instance, that relationship can be described in no other way adequately than that of an owner to those and those things that he owns. Therefore, when we think of the term Lord, our mind ought to run immediately to consider the fact that to ascribe to Jesus Christ Lordship is to ascribe to him that position of owner and ownership and all that that entails. There is a beautiful example of this towards the end of Jesus’ life. It’s an event that occurs in each of the first three Gospels. You can read about it in Mark chapter eleven.

Jesus is approaching the city of Jerusalem, and he sends his disciples into a village to make requests, or I guess he doesn’t actually make requests, does he? He sends his disciples into a village to take a donkey for his use, and he gives them instruction if anyone interrupts, if anyone asks you a question as to what you are doing, you simply say, the Lord has need of it. Well, you see, what Jesus is doing in that instance is expounding for us the significance of his Lordship. Does he really own that donkey? Yes. The Lord has need of it. as if it were his sin. They go and take the donkey as if it belongs to Jesus.

His Lordship there beautifully expounded. Now you know me well enough to realize that I will ground all of this in the Old Testament. And that’s where a great deal of the power of it comes from. You see, the background of our ascription that Jesus is Lord comes to us from the Old Testament consideration of the person of God, Jehovah, in his treatment of his people, Israel. Yes, Jehovah is Lord.

He owns everything. All things are his possession. But you see, even though that is a fact, the earth is his, the heaven is his. Still, Jehovah becomes Lord in a special sense when he delivers is people from oppression. When the people have finally arrived at Sinai, the Lord rehearses for them there what has taken place, and he places before them the consideration. Yes, I own all things, but you have become my possession. You are a nation of three so royal priesthood of people of my own possession, he said in Exodus nineteen verse five.

So even though Jehovah is the Lord, he possesses all that he is created. He becomes Israel’s Lord in a special sense when he delivers his people from their oppressors. How wonderful this affirmation, this consideration is when we pair it up with our consideration of the person of Jesus. Jesus in the Gospels, even before he accomplishes his work of redemption, is acknowledged as Lord. He is recognized to be such. He is the one who owns everything. But he becomes his people lord in a special way when he accomplishes the work given him and his people by root of that work are delivered from all of their enemies from their oppressors. This is why you see when Peter preaches his sermon in Acts chapter two to the people in Jerusalem. He is able to conclude that message in the thirty-sixth verse with these words.

Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ. This Jesus, whom you crucify. So it is. Jesus, experiencing then that same pattern that we observed in Jehovah in the Old Testament. The one who possesses all things, he being God’s equal, the same as God, this one becomes Lord in a special sense when he is exalted and he puts to flight the enemy, the oppressors of God’s people.

Yes, when we consider the Lordship of Christ, and when we confess Jesus as Lord, we are acknowledging all of this. And how short-sighted, in fact, how sinful and how obstinate it is for those to arise who fail to see the parallel between the Old Testament consideration of Jehovah and what we observe in the person of Jesus. The match is perfect, so that all that is ascribed to Jehovah in the Old Testament is now ascribed to Jesus in the New. By saying that Jesus is Lord, we are saying Jesus is God. and as God and Lord my Lord and my God Jesus is my owner he owns me and I am his possession what a marvelous marvelous thing Do you need to consider that in depth, to think about it?

That we are the possession of God? That in our confession of Jesus as Lord, we are acknowledging that we belong to Him? What power is ours in this? Does not the power of the Lord who made all things come to our aid. Are we not strengthened with the might of the One who is greater than all, the One who by but a word creates everything, establishes what we see? More than power, what of comfort?

Jesus is my Lord. He is my owner. And how wonderful an owner he is. He is no cruel taskmaster. For he has delivered me from my oppressors, that I might delight as a servant in his house. And how wonderfully he cares for me. Is there any power? Is there any threat? that assails me that is beyond him? Can there be any power, any threat directed towards me that is greater and stronger than he? No. And now, what about me, empowered by this Lord, comforted by him? What of me?

Am I not, as Paul describes himself, a bond slave? A bond slave to him. He owns me. I am his possession. His will, mine. I have no life but that which I find in his house and before his throne. Jesus is Lord, my Lord and my God. Jesus is your Lord, your Lord and your God. You belong to Him. You are His bond slaves.

In light of all of this, we live as those who give praise unto Him and acknowledge His Lordship in all that we do, in all that we say, in all that we are. Let us pray. Father, discipline us with the knowledge that you are the Lord, as we have confessed. And Father, may we be mindful of the pattern of Lordship, that though all things are yours, you also become the Lord over your people by those things which you accomplish for them. breaking the chains of oppression, setting them free from the powers of sin and death, that truly they might be free indeed. Our God, now we, your bondservants, would serve you, acknowledging your ownership of us as we delight in pleasing you, our God.

The sermon text provided above is derived from the sermon audio recording making use of generative tools. It has not been manually edited. While transcription tools have a high degree of accuracy, the output may include generative textual, punctuation, and/or formatting errors.

February 1, 1987