2 Samuel 7 : 14 – 29

2 Samuel Chapter 8

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The idea of bearing the burdens of our brethren.

• Galatians 6 : 1 – 10
• 1 Thessalonians 5 : 1 – 22

Consider the below three stories about dealing with burdens:

• Jesus Heals the Paralytic – Mark 2 : 1 -12
• Widow of Zarapheth – 1 Kings 17 : 8 -16
• The Good Samaritan – Luke 10 : 25 – 37

What are the practical issues with serving each other in these ways? How do we overcome them?

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Sons and Daughters of God –

Are We Living Up to Our Calling?

Introduction: We studied this past Wednesday evening the promises God made to David and his offspring, specifically saying, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son” (2 Sam. 7:14). This promise was not just given to David’s offspring, Jesus, but to all those who become the offspring of Jesus. 

Romans 8:12-17 expresses the benefit and challenge of becoming “sons of God.”

• As seen in our earthly families, there are immense advantages to “family” and immense benefits to becoming a heir. It is amazing to consider, we have been adopted into a heavenly family. 
• As sons of our Father, we are no longer living as slaves, but adopted as sons & daughters, having all the full rights and benefits that would be given to a natural born child.
• But as is seen in verse 17, to be brought into God’s family means we are called to participate in the work and purposes of the family head. Therefore, if we are to be glorified with him, we will also suffer with him.

1. Our Purpose as Sons of Our Father
   1. “Sons of God” is not a term used only for those who follow Jesus. It was first used in the heavenly realm.
      1. Deut. 32:8-9 The Lord placed angels (or spiritual beings) over the nations and called them “sons of God.” We also see this in Daniel 10
      2. Job 1:6, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themself before the Lord, and Satan (Accuser) also came among them.” In this case, we even see these sons of God gathered in a type of council possibly for the purpose of giving a report to God. Since Satan’s desire is to destroy mankind, it seems that he has taken it upon himself to accuse man before God in order to insist their destruction. Cf. Rev. 12:10. “The accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.” 
      3. Psalm 82 describes a similar council, calling it a “divine council.” In this case, we see those within the council who have not kept their charge before the Lord. This again reminds us of Daniel 10 and the angel of the Lord mentioning his battle with the prince of the kingdom of Persia and the future battle with the prince of the kingdom of Greece.
      4. Compare John 10:33-36. They failed their purpose to faithfully deliver the word of God to the nations. “The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said, you are gods’? If he called them gods to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be broken—do you say of him whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?”
   2. Let’s stop and make a few conclusions:
      1. The fact that these beings are called sons of God indicates that their existence and purpose is defined as image-bearers of God. They not only serve God, they reflect all that God is and even stand in the place of God. This is evident in the Psalm 82 text in which the Lord condemned them for failing to reflect and teach God to the nations.
      2. The heavenly realm existed before the creation of the heavens and earth. In that heavenly realm, we get glimpses of how God ordered his spiritual universe. God did not just “do” everything by himself. In other words, he didn’t always just “speak” and it happened, like in the Creation story. Spiritual beings were created to participate in God’s work in the heavenly realm. Again, this is evident in Daniel 10. 
      3. Now transition to the creation of our earthly realm (Genesis 1:27-28). When God created the heavenly realm, he also had in mind an eventual “expanded dwelling place” and a new creation. We also were made in the image of God. We also were given a high calling, not only multiplying the image of God throughout the world, but also having dominion over the world. 
         1. In Psalm 8, David said, “What is man that you are mindful of him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet.” 
         2. This passage is quoted in Hebrews 2:5-10 proclaims that God’s plan is to put the world to come under our control. The writer then shows that though we have not yet attained that position, Jesus is leading us to the same glory and honor he received. But the path to the goal is through suffering.
         3. Therefore, we are immediately able to see our similarity in this earthly realm in comparison to the angelic beings. In each realm God created sons of God – image bearers – who have glory, honor, and dominion over that realm.
   3. Though we fractured ourselves as image-bearers, the Lord was determined to bring us back into his image. Romans 8:14-15 tells us, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Further, both Paul and the Hebrew writer tell us that the path to glory, honor, and dominion is suffering. 
   4. Why suffering? The creation of the earthly realm obviously did not sit well with Satan and a host of angels who have followed him. Thus, “there was war in heaven” (Rev. 12:7). Satan was determined to destroy God’s new creation. Thus, there are many answers to this question, but the two that fit this lesson are:
      1. The devil/serpent/dragon brought on this battle through his desire for power and his pride and arrogance. Thus, we are called into the battle. Satan has tried to defeat God, defame God’s goodness, and ultimately destroy us through the power of sin and death. That is why we suffer – we willingly join the battle. 
      2. But most importantly, we are willing to suffer to show God’s manifold wisdom, to show that our God is worthy of praise, glory, and honor, and thus to judge these wicked angelic beings for calling God’s character into question. 
         1. Through us God defeats the idea presented to Eve that God is “holding out on us” and doesn’t want us to enjoy what he has.
         2. Through us, God defeats Satan’s accusation in Job that God is just bribing man to obey him and that man would not love God if he had to suffer.
2. Divine Power to Make Us Sons of Our Father (2 Peter 1:3-11)
   1. Peter begins his second letter by immediately making the connection with the same purposes we have previously seen. Through God’s divine power, he “called us to his own glory and excellence.” 
   2. He has also “granted to us his precious and very great promises” (to say the least!!), so that we can “become partakers of the divine nature.” Do you recall the “divine council” of Psalm 82:1? Again we see God making us sons like him in order to participate with him in his purposes. “Partakers of the divine nature!” Who can grasp the thought? It is a pursuit above all pursuits! 
   3. Please note some of the key words in the text:
      1. Vs. 5: “make every effort…” 
      2. Vs. 8: “yours and increasing”
      3. Vs. 10: “be all the more diligent”
   4. Partaking of the divine nature; becoming like our Father:
      1. Virtue relates directly to the characteristic of God already mentioned in vs. 3. It means “excellence” or “goodness.” It is an excellence of character or moral excellence that is seen in how we live our daily lives.
      2. Knowledge: Not just knowledge of the Word, but knowledge that brings us to know God. God supplied us with a book that one can study for a lifetime and not learn it all or see it all; there is still more to understand. And yet, how many Christians remain satisfied with the basics?
      3. Self-control is the foundational quality of a person who is mature. Self-control has to do with what we do with food, with our tongue, with possessions, with sexual desire, with our emotions, with our work, and with our time. A person who lacks self-control is doomed. A self-controlled person does not allow his feelings and urges to control him. He is able to say, “No” to himself. He is disciplined.
      4. Endurance/steadfastness is the ability to bear up in the face of difficulty. One is able to remain steadfast whether he is dealing with persecution or dealing with the constant pressures of temptation or in the lap of luxury. He does not give in to the desire to relax and quit.
      5. Godliness is a loyalty toward God so that a person is fully conscience of God’s presence at all times and responds accordingly. Godliness is a mind and a life that is the opposite of the ways of the world.
      6. Brotherly affection is a love of family members and thus a love of brethren, our spiritual family. Peter has already gone to great lengths to stress this: “love one another fervently from a pure heart.” This is the most important command that Jesus left His disciples (Jn. 13:34), and yet it is repeatedly violated.
      7. Love: Jesus defined love when he sacrificed his life so all could be saved. This may be the one command in which we are most lacking, and yet it is the primary description of being God’s image-bearers. We  involve ourselves in the lives of others so we can share Jesus with them. “Love” lays down his life, as John says (1 Jn. 3:16).

Conclusion: God made a heavenly realm and then expanded his dwelling place in an earthly realm. The time will come when God merges these two realms together (Eph. 1:10). In both realms, God created sons of God, those who would reflect him and bring about his purposes. And in both realms rebellion marred God’s creation. But when God created us as his sons and daughters, he also created us to be crowned with glory and honor and have “dominion over the world to come.” He said we would even judge angels (1 Cor. 6:3). Now, are we living up to the title sons and daughters of God? 

We must not simply think in terms of us becoming better people, better Christians, better fathers and mothers to our own children. Those goals are certainly important but only when they are seen in how we practice and grow to the greater purpose of reflecting God’s image and preparing for the future goal of the world to come. God’s purpose for us is glory and honor, not becoming “Dad of the year.”

Berry Kercheville

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2 Samuel Chapter 7

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Colossians 3 : 12 – 17

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Are You Ready for Your Upcoming Trial?

Introduction: For some, the above question might seem a bit odd. “My upcoming trial? Why would you be so sure that I have a trial coming up?”

The answer is fairly simple. First, God has repeatedly warned that every person will suffer trials/tribulations. There is no escaping it. It actually falls within the purposes of God. Second, all one needs to do is observe the lives of men and women over time. Severe tribulations happen; eventually they always happen. 

Job was quite surprised by his trial. That is something we often do not consider. Job was not just mildly surprised, he was shocked! He argued for 28 chapters the injustice of it all. “Trials were not supposed to happen to me!” We can easily watch others go through it, but deep in our minds think it wouldn’t happen to us. Somehow we will be wiser! We will be able to escape it!

You will remember that Job had a fourth friend named Elihu, who listened to all the erroneous speeches of Job and the other three friends. Elihu spoke last, and in his first speech he addressed this issue of why Job was suffering the trial. 

1. Your Upcoming Trial: Job 33:13–30
   1. Vs. 13: Elihu began by rebuking Job’s words that God does not answer any of man’s words. In other words, God let’s man suffer, but never gives him any answers. “It would sure be nice if I could get an explanation!” 
   2. Vs. 14ff: Elihu’s answer is that God does speak to man in two different ways (14). You will note this in verses 15 & 19:
      1. Vs. 15: “In a dream, in a vision of the night…” We know from our OT studies that though dreams and visions were not necessarily a regular part of the lives of the patriarchs, they were the primary way God revealed himself to his people (Joseph). Since the first century God’s revelation has been through Jesus and his apostles (John 16:13; Ephesians 3:3-5). 
      2. Vs. 19: “Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed and with continual strife in his bones…” Thus Elihu points out that though Job had desired a verbal interaction with God, the suffering he was enduring was another way God “spoke” to him. Just as God would train and discipline his people through his words, so he also disciplines him through trials. This is confirmed in Hebrews 12.
      3. Further, you will notice in verses 17-18, 27-28, & 29-30, Elihu repeatedly mentions that God does this to keep a person from “going down into the pit.” Those words do not just refer to physical death, but primarily losing one’s soul in the eternal second death.
      4. Notice further in verse 29 that Elihu says that God does this two or three times in a person’s life.
   3. Finally, two reminders:
      1. As we can see in this text, the type of trials and tribulations spoken of are not minor bumps in the road. these are major events that at the time feel to be hopeless, or at the very least, beyond bearable. 
      2. Would any of us have believed that Job needed a trial to bring his soul back from the pit? Remember God’s words: “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (1:8). If God would have a man like Job go through a horrifying trial – all ten children killed in one day and an illness so terrible that his bones were sticking out – then how could we possibly think we do not need a trial, or that God would not put us through a trial?
      3. After all, Hebrews 12 tells us that if God did not discipline us in trials, then we are not consider children of God! 
2. Preparing for Your Upcoming Trial, Hebrews 5:11-14
   1. The letter to the Hebrews is specifically written to help Christians go through suffering without falling away or failing our calling. I don’t think we typically read Hebrews for that purpose, and that is what caught my attention as I was re-reading Hebrews and restudying certain parts of the text, especially Hebrews 5:11-14. 
   2. It also struck me that the Hebrew letter follows the same principles that we just read from Elihu’s speech. Not only did Elihu direct Job to the ways God speaks through his revealed word and suffering, but he even speaks of a “mediator, one of the thousand, to declare to man what is right for him” (Job 33:23)
   3. We tend to think of Hebrews 5:11ff as a rebuke, but it is more than that. The writer is giving a reason why the Hebrew Christians were on the verge of falling away  (6:4-6). The way they approached their Bible study over the last number of years had left them seriously vulnerable.
   4. Consider, do you think the Hebrews saw themselves as vulnerable? Likely not. After all, just like us, they were still going through all the outward steps of Christianity. That’s the danger in “slipping” or “drifting” as mentioned in 2:1. It isn’t noticed until it is too late. Further, the writer compared them to the “wilderness generation” of Israel who were too fearful to enter the land. It wasn’t that they quit believing in God or in the classic sense of falling away just quit altogether. That is what is subtle – falling away in 2:3 happens simply when we are neglectful. 
   5. Proverbs 1:24–31 “Because I have called and you refused to listen, have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded, because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof, I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when terror strikes you, when terror strikes you like a storm and your calamity comes like a whirlwind, when distress and anguish come upon you. Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but will not find me. Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD, would have none of my counsel and despised all my reproof, therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way, and have their fill of their own devices.” 
   6. We Christians can have a bad habit of putting our confidence in our past forgiveness of sins without being acutely aware that we are still in grave danger! Is there any living Christian that is no longer vulnerable to sin?
      1. Hebrews 3:12-13 “Take care, my brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Does that text not apply to you? Does it not apply to me? 
      2. Even Paul said, “So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:26-27).
3. Trial Preparation: Not Lazy in Hearing
   1. The Hebrew writer had a nearly impossible task. How does he get the attention of listeners who aren’t listening! He is trying his best to get them to understand how spiritually endangered they are to losing what God had promised. As he was attempting to explain the amazing high priesthood of Jesus in order to increase their zeal, he finally just says it: you are lazy Bible students! 
   2. Compare 5:11 with 6:12. The whole text is bookended with the same word: lazy, sluggish, dull! This sluggishness has caused them to be weak and vulnerable to their trials.
   3. Notice the words: “we have much to say, and it is hard to explain.” Their laziness in their study of the scriptures made it difficult for even an inspired writer to explain biblical concepts that are more difficult. Consider the implications:
      1. The difficult parts of God’s word are not optional reading. In is unimaginable the insult we give God when we neglect major parts of scripture because these sections of scripture make us work hard. 
      2. The message of the writer is, we cannot be content with the knowledge we already have and be too lazy to increase it without losing our ability to stand in the day of trial. It is learning God’s word, all of God’s word that gives us the “shield of faith” that we need to overcome tough trials.
   4. “Ought to be teachers”: Considering the typical church culture of today, these words completely obliterate us!  The writer is not talking about standing in front of an audience, but he is talking about being able to explain the biblical text to someone who needs it. Consider:
      1. This is an expectation, a goal of growth and maturity(Cf. Eph. 4:15)
      2. When we never strive to verbalize God’s word we never really know it. 
      3. Further, by not reaching the goal of “speaking the truth,” we remain a spiritual child even to the point of forgetting the basic principles of the oracles of God. We continue to need milk endlessly! 
      4. Finally, we are missing solid food. Can you imagine watching a 10-year old, a 20-year old, a 40-year old getting up to the table a sucking on a bottle! That is the writer’s analogy.
   5. “The mature”: Verse 14 defines the mature. Not only is a mature person able to explain God’s word, he has attained to that goal by training his “powers of discernment by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.” The idea of knowing good from evil is not simply knowing what is moral and immoral. It includes recognizing when my heart is being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin and when the deceitfulness of Satan’s doctrines are causing me to be weakened in faith. 
   6. Finally, the writer defines maturity as one who is skilled in the word of righteousness as opposed to a spiritual child who is unskilled in the word. 

Conclusion: This text should be a wakeup call to young and old. Until our death, we live in grave danger of slipping and drifting. Hebrews 5:11-14 is one of the key ways of winning this battle. The more we know the word, the stronger we will be.
“Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stand, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it” (Hebrews 4:1)

Berry Kercheville

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