Sermon Supplements – Page 51

2 Timothy 2:1 & I Need the Water with which I Am to Flow

True gospel ministers are just buckets and pipes.

Imagine you are traveling through a desert and your water runs out. Soon your lips are cracked, your mouth is dry, your throat is parched, your stomach is in knots, and your skin is blistered – you are dehydrated and dying. If you see a bucket lying in the sand, or a pipe lying horizontally in the sand you do not get excited about them, no matter how pretty they may be. But if the bucket is attached to a rope that is attached to a well, or if that pipe is standing out of the sand vertically with a faucet on top then you might begin to get excited. And as you investigate to find that the well is indeed full of clean, clear, cool water then you celebrate. Your joy wouldn’t terminate on the bucket or the pipe, but climax in the drinking of the water.

Only the insane would just stare at the bucket or pipe rest content. Spiritually we are insane. Sin is an insanity; it makes no sense. We are more enamored with the plate than the feast of Christ. We judge the meal by the plate, rather than the plate by the meal. We pass by heavenly delicacies to gorge ourselves on earthly refuse because of the plate.

Demand water from pipes or deem them useless. Better a cracked pipe that preaches Christ crucified than a pretty pipe that pumps the poison of performance.

I am a pipe that drinks what I flow with. I hope by God’s grace that when I present the feast of Christ, I have already richly dined on the meal, and plan to further do so even in the act of preaching. The grace I preach is the grace I need. I hope to come not just having snacked or licked my fingers in preparing the feast, but already overstuffed, and seeking more. We cannot be gluttonous when feasting on Christ; and there is always more bread and wine.

Pray for me that the flow not cease. The fountain is inexhaustible and infinite. I am sinful, desperately needing the water that is to flow through me. I am not strong, but the fountain is full of strengthening grace.

Galatians 6:11-18 & No Other Boast

When Paul writes, “far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he writes it in large letters (v.11). What is the meaning of these large letters? Some speculate that Paul is compensating for a degenerative eye disease (Galatians 4:13-15). Paul could very well have some eye problem, but I don’t think that is the best explanation for what Paul means by these large letters.

Paul would normally dictate his letters to an amanuensis, that is, to a professional writer (Romans 16:22). Near the end of his letters Paul would pick up the pen to write a greeting (1 Corinthians 1:21-23, Colossians 4:18). Paul would do this to authenticate his letters (2 Thessalonians 3:17). Here Paul takes up the pen much earlier, and not just to write a concluding greeting, but an emphatic summary of the entire message of his letter; and he does so drawing attention to the fact that it is in his own hand and in large letters!

When Paul says he boasts only in the cross he shouts it in large letters. Paul is trying to overcome the Galatian’s blindness by these large letters, not his own. All of our redemption is found in Christ alone because of the cross.

The cross of Christ isn’t the fine print of Christianity, it is the bold heading under which everything else falls.

Read verse 14 and the surrounding context again then seeing it like this:

“BUT FAR BE IT FROM ME TO BOAST EXCEPT IN THE CROSS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST BY WHICH THE WORLD HAS BEEN CRUCIFIED TO ME, AND I TO THE WORLD.”

O blessed Spirit of Christ, overcome our own blindness to see this truth in large letters.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling

– Augustus Toplady

Matthew 10:16-42 & Unique Demands

The demands Jesus makes of His own in this chapter are unique. Others have made them, but we do not think them good men, but the worst kind of men. So the uniqueness here is not most deeply in what Jesus is commanding, but more so how He is commanding. Jesus commands these things with supreme authority. Jesus is the only one who can command such things of His followers, and not be tyrannical, not be evil. Indeed, if we have eyes to see, these commands come to us with the force not of demands, but of blessed privilege.

We are worthy of hell, because He is worthy of all glory, and we sought to steal it for ourselves. Yet Jesus so saves us that in calling us to Himself, He sends us out into the world with His power and presence to proclaim His authoritative message, making much of He whom we once so belittled, yea, whom we continue to so belittle. Yes, if we see, we too will depart “rejoicing that that [we] were counted worthy so suffer dishonor for the name. (Acts 5:41)

Only Jesus can say, “Go die for me,” and it come to us as life.

A Weighty Week(end)

As we begin our study in Matthew consider the following quotes.

If we figure that Jesus was about thirty-three years old when He died, He lived around 1,700 weeks. And His four biographers spend a third of their time on only one of those weeks. Have you ever read a three-hundred-page biography where one hundred pages dealt with the subject’s death? Not even for Abraham Lincoln, John Kennedy, or Martin Luther King Jr. do we have such lopsided attention paid to the end of the story. But for Jesus, the ending of His life is the story. – Kevin DeYoung

Nothing is more central to the Bible than Jesus’ death and resurrection. The entire Bible pivots on one weekend in Jerusalem about two thousand years ago. – D.A. Carson

Genesis 49:29-50:26 & The End of the Beginning

By sin man and all creation were cursed. In Genesis 12 we see God’s plan to reverse the curse and bring man into a state of blessedness through Abraham. Abraham is promised three distinct things; land, offspring, and to be a conduit of blessing to all the families of the earth. Our book ends with none of these promises fully realized, but with every reason to expect their fulfillment.

We close with two final requests and deaths. There are many parallels between the account of Jacob’s last words and passing and Joseph’s, although Jacob’s is so much longer. These similarities I believe point us toward the common function or purpose they’re recorded in Scripture. By recalling the promises and making their burial requests both Jacob and Joseph thrust their relatives out of Egypt in hope of the Promised Land. God will visit His people. He will make good on His promises. Egypt is not their home. Their waiting does not mean God is delaying, but rather fulfilling His promises (Genesis 15:12-16).

What Jacob and Joseph do for their relatives, Moses does for his readers. The initial audience wanted to go back to Egypt, but their hearts were never meant to be there. The promises are meant to dislodge their pseudo-homesickness and replace it with a longing for the Promised Land. The promises serve a similar function for us, they buttress a sojourning spirit. They make sin sour and Christ sweet. They eradicate worldly-mindedness and establish heavenly-mindedness.

How can they, how can we be sure of God’s visitation and deliverance? The main point of the last section of Genesis is meant to make the light of faith burst forth in our hearts. Just as God spoke in the beginning such that light came bursting forth, so this last section of Genesis is God speaking, causing faith to burst forth. The last section of Genesis (37:2-50:26) hammers home one doctrine, the providence of God. The 1689 Baptist Confession defines God’s providence this way.

God the good Creator of all things, in his infinite power and wisdom doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures and things, from the greatest even to the least, by his most wise and holy providence, to the end for the which they were created, according unto his infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of his own will; to the praise of the glory of his wisdom, power, justice, infinite goodness, and mercy.

Or Joseph simply puts it this way, “…you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good.”

How can we be sure of full and final deliverance of a happy “The End”? The end of the beginning points us to God’s providence. The same providence that was at work in Christ’s first coming (Acts 4:25-28), is at work now. This time of waiting does not mean God is delaying, but rather fulfilling all His promises.

Genesis 49:1-28 & Blessing, Blessing, Blessing

We only took a few steps on our journey through Genesis before man was cursed. From that point on you long for the one who will crush the head of the serpent so that “his blessings flow far as the curse is found.” In Genesis 12 we gain further insight as God reveals that it is through Abraham that all the families of the earth are to be blessed. Now as Genesis begins to close we see blessings being pronounced three times by Jacob, grandson of Abraham.

In Genesis 47:7-10 Jacob blessed Pharaoh, in 48:15-20 he blesses his grandsons through Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, and finally here he blessed his twelve sons. So the book that began with a curse now ends with a triad of blessings all coming through Israel. In case the triple emphasis isn’t enough the narrator caps this pronouncement by emphasizing blessing three times as well (Genesis 49:28).

But let’s focus in some more. Can we look more specifically within the nation of Israel for where the serpent shattering, curse reversing hope of the nations will come from? Will he be the child of the donkey Zebulun? Or Dan the serpent? Perhaps Naphtali the doe? Will a king come from the wolf, Benjamin? No, none of these will suffice. The pronouncements are too concise. But there are two sons who receive extended treatment; together they comprise 40% of our text. Surely the fruitful bough of Jospeh will again bring deliverance and blessing? No, it is the Lion of the tribe of Judah whom all the brothers shall praise and bow down to. It is one from Judah who will crush all enemies and restore a paradise better than Eden.

Refuse to bow to God’s King, and you are surely cursed. Kiss the Son and know the blessedness of taking refuge in Him (Psalm 2), for “He comes to make His blessings flow as far as the curse is found.” Indeed you are more blessed in Christ than you are cursed in Adam – blessed, blessed, blessed, superlatively blessed.

Genesis 47:28-48:22 & The Terminus of Genesis

From a literary standpoint our book is now coming to resolution. A plethora of themes that we have followed through our book crop up again in our text. Blessing, covenant, faith, sojourning, fruitfulness, God’s faithfulness, God’s Providence, and God’s promises are all touched on again here.

But form a theological aspect our book is unresolved. They are in Egypt not Canaan land, less still are they in that heavenly city that Abraham looked forward to (Hebrews 11:10, 16). They are only a small group of seventy; multiplying more than they have been, but not yet a nation. And God is indeed with them (Genesis 48:21), but not in the manifest way He will be when He dwells among them manifestly in the Tabernacle, and that too is yet a shadow of something greater to come.

So where do all the themes of Genesis find their ultimate, full, and final resolution.

In the second Adam tempted not in a lush garden, but a barren wilderness, who loves the word of God instead of disobeying it, by whose obedience we are blessed instead of cursed.

In that Seed of the woman who crushes the head of the serpent and defeats all of our enemies (Genesis 3:15).

In the Son whose blood does not cry out for our condemnation like Abel, but for our pardon (Hebrews 12:24).

In the singular Offspring of Abraham, through whom all the families of the earth are truly blessed (Galatians 3:16).

In the true Lamb, who like Isaac carried his own wood up the hill, while His Father held the knife and the fire, yet unlike Isaac was not spared, as He was the substitute.

In He who is Jacob’s Ladder, the one meeting place with God where man can meet and be blessed and not cursed (John 1:51).

In the true and better Joseph who though sinned against, is raised up by God as King of Kings using His power not to destroy but to forgive, pardon, and provide for his brothers.

In our true elder brother who like Judah gives up His life for the innocent because of His love for the Father (Genesis 44:33-34).

All of this and so much more from Genesis finds its terminus in Christ. He is the fulfillment of all the Scriptures. In Him all the promises of God to us are “Yes!” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Genesis 46:31-47:27 & The Wisdom Above All Wisdoms

We can divide the passage easily into two chunks demonstrating the wisdom of Jacob indifferent spheres. In 46:31-47:12 we see His wisdom in getting his family settled in Goshen, then in 47:13-27 we see his wisdom in ruling for Jacob. But this is only a way of dividing up the narrative; it is not the point of the narrative. Joseph has received a wisdom from above, but his is not the wisdom above all wisdoms.

When at the end of the text we are told how Israel has settled, gained possessions, and multiplied, you are not to be in awe of the wisdom of Joseph, but the wisdom and providence of God. God promised Jacob that He would make Him a great nation in Egypt (Genesis 46:4), here we see Him doing that. While the Egyptians struggle through the famine spending all their money then selling their cattle, land, and lives, God provides for His people, multiplies them, and forms them into a nation.

A couple of reflections are in order.

First, don’t adore the gift more than the giver. Any wisdom Joseph has is only the faintest echo of God’s. Lightning bugs are amazing creatures, but it’s a fool that celebrates their rear as being as brighter as the sun.

Second. the wisdom of God, like all of His other attributes, is for His covenant people. All of God is for us. This means no enemy is so smart that He can thwart His plans, nor are any of His children so foolish that they can clumsily demolish them.

Revel in this wisdom of God for you as Paul when He wrote,

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’
‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. – Romans 11:33-36

Genesis 46:1-30 & From Nothing to Nation

For approximately 22 years Jacob has presumed his favorite son to be dead. Now he has learned he is alive; can you imagine his exuberant expectation? Joseph was 17 when he saw him last, he will be around 40 when he soon sees him again. God comes and makes many wonderful promises to Jacob at Beersheba, and then ends them with a tender personal promise that he will die peacefully with his firstborn closing his eyes. So they loaded up the wagons to move to Egypt and… genealogy!

Is this the worst commercial break ever? If this was on the TV and non-inspired you might throw something at it. We should have known that we couldn’t make it through Genesis without one more genealogy. I hope our study through Genesis has caused you to see the stunning beauty and perfection of Scripture in all its parts. I hope you no longer come to genealogies and sigh outwardly with disgust, but inwardly with delight. I hope you have seen how packed they are with theological meaning. So what is God communicating? Why this list of descendants and why here?

Although Moses does write in such a way that we anticipate the reunion of Jacob and Joseph, and although that reunion communicates to us much about our heavenly Father, that is not the main agenda of this text. This is not simply a sappy sentimental story, but a thick theological tale. God is going with Israel into Egypt, there He will make Israel into a great nation, and He will bring them out again. As Bruce Waltke comments, “Egypt is the womb God will use to form His nation.”

From old Abraham and barren Sarah a nation will come. From these seventy, God will make a nation. Remember Moses wrote Genesis as part of a series called the Pentateuch. Check out how the next volume begins.

These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt. Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation. But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them. – Exodus 1:1-7

Prior to Jacob the covenant family had only been multiplying by one. Not the quick route from family to nation. With Jacob the fertility level gets kicked up, but seventy is hardly a nation. But in Egypt, God will form His people.

Some may infer from Exodus 2:24-25 that God had forgotten His covenant. But the Exodus passage speaks specifically about remembering the part of the covenaant regarding bringing them back to the land. God has not forgotten or delayed on His promises during the 400 plus years that Israel will be in bondage in Egypt. Everything is going according to plan (Genesis 15:13-14). God is making His people from nothing in faithfulness to His covenant.

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. – Deuteronomy 7:6-8

In faithfulness to His covenant God is still making His people from such nothing today.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. – 1 Peter 29-10

Out of nothing, creation; good, holy, and blest. Only Elohim can do this.

Genesis 45 & How Providence Relates to Forgiveness and Guilt

Finally Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, and in so doing reveals God to them. The revelation they and we receive of God here casts light over the whole Joseph narrative. The Reformation Study Bible comments on Genesis 45:5-8, “These verses, with Joseph’s repeated affirmation ‘God sent me’ form the theological heart of the Joseph narrative.”

Joseph tells his brothers not to be distressed or angry with themselves about their sin. How can they possibly not be angry with themselves? They are repentant, they have sinned horribly; they surely messed everything up by such hideous sin right? Yes, they should repent of their horrible sin, but no, their sin isn’t as big as God’s sovereignty. They didn’t ruin God’s plan by their sin, they accomplished it. Ultimately it is not the brother’s hatred that sends Joseph into Egypt, but God’s love; God’s covenant love for Joseph and his brothers. It is not the brother’s jealously of Joseph that determines the plot of Genesis but God’s jealousy for His glory.

Because they are secondary causes at best, Joseph can forgive; indeed he must forgive, for if he is ultimately to have a beef with anyone, it must be God. Because they are secondary causes, the repentant brothers can rest in Joseph’s and God’s forgivingness.

Learn to apply God’s providence from both angles here. When sinned against know that no human being’s sin against you is bigger than God’s plan for you. When you are the one who sins, the role we much more often play, don’t be so arrogant to think that your rebellion to squelch God’s plan will actually succeed and bring down the kingdom.