Bulletins - FBC Holt

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Lovingkindness
All Sufficient Merit
Be Thou My Vision
Prayer of Confession & Assurance of Pardon
Psalm 32:1–5 ESV
1 Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. 3 For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. 4 For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah 5 I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
Introduction
It was a pleasure to celebrate Easter with you last week. Gary brought a wonderful word to help us see the power of God on display in Jesus' resurrection and how that same power is at work in the hearts and lives of believers even today. A power that makes us new creations; something that we cannot achieve ourselves despite our best efforts but is freely given by God through Christ Jesus.
Having heard what God has been revealing to us through the men over the past several weeks, I am in awe of how He has given each of us a message to share that builds on what he has been teaching us in the previous weeks. If this doesn't drive home the fact that God is alive and working out all things by His power, I don't know what will.
I. What is Eternal Life?
Considering the power of God that works in the hearts and minds of sinners to save, sanctify, and raise us up to eternal life, I want to pose two questions for us to consider this morning: The first is ‘What is eternal life?’ – and the second is – ‘What is it to know God?’
The danger with asking these questions is that we might try to answer them. We are not eternal beings by nature. Every one of us came into being and – for a time – are bound to this physical existence until we pass away. Because of this, we do not naturally understand the nature of God, for His nature is eternal. His nature is supernatural because it is over/above our physical nature. So, to avoid getting ourselves into a theologically sticky situation, let’s turn to the Bible to search out the answers we seek.
Before we turn to our scripture for this morning I want to take a short but intentional detour to Isaiah 40.
Isaiah 40:9–13 ESV
9 Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” 10 Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. 11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel?
Isaiah 40:14–19 ESV
14 Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. 16 Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness. 18 To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? 19 An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains.
Isaiah 40:20–25 ESV
20 He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. 21 Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. 24 Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. 25 To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One.
Isaiah 40:26–31 ESV
26 Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing. 27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? 28 Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. 30 Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; 31 but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
I wanted to take us here to place a strong emphasis on one fact that should be clear before we can receive the truth that is to follow: We must understand that we understand very little when it comes to understanding God (myself included). In a quote from R.C. Sproul, he says,
The more I learn about God, the more aware I become of what I don’t know about him.
R. C. Sproul
We will circle back to this point later but for now let’s turn to John 17.
John 17:1–5 ESV
1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
II. The High Priestly Prayer
a. Context: After Passover meal and before Jesus's crucifixion. A prayer for the disciples' benefit – and ours. A prayer of faith that all God had sent him to accomplish would be and is fully completed.

III. THIS is Eternal Life.
Did you catch that in verse 3? Jesus helps uncover some of the mystery of what we can expect eternal life to be: To know God and His Son. But this only leaves us to ask another question, doesn't it? What does it mean to know God?
a. This verb “to know” (ginōskō) implies an intimate understanding of something that goes beyond basic comprehension. It is an experiential relationship that goes beyond simply having all the necessary information to “get it”.
Jesus’s statement is nestled between the only two requests he makes for himself in this prayer. In verse 1, he asks God to glorify him so that he can glorify God. In verse 5, he again asks God to restore to him the glory that he shared with him forever before [John 1:1; Heb 1:1]. This is incredible! H is revealing to us that the most important thing to him was not saving the world from sin; it was glorifying God through humble obedience. We are simply receiving the benefits that come from God glorifying himself through Jesus. I don’t know about you, but this perspective is a punch to the gut: This isn’t about us at all. This has been and always will be about God revealing himself to the world so that he may be worshiped and glorified by his creation for all eternity. Coming to terms with this truth is necessary for us to be able to even begin to know God. Often, we flip the script and think of ourselves as the one who is deserving of glory however small that glory might be. Paul acknowledges this in Romans saying the world, “… exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…” [Romans 1:19-25]. This includes each of us before we were saved...
IV. Knowing God
God wants to be known: Being restricted by our limited understanding, we often throw different covers over the idea of God to give it a shape we can better comprehend. But these efforts limit his true nature and prevent us from loving him as we should. But God desires to be known intimately by each one of us; not merely considered or served:
Jeremiah 9:23–24 ESV
23 Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, 24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”
Hosea 2:16–23 ESV
16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord. 21 “And in that day I will answer, declares the Lord, I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth, 22 and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil, and they shall answer Jezreel, 23 and I will sow her for myself in the land. And I will have mercy on No Mercy, and I will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.’ ”
From the generic “God [Baal]” to “Husband [intimate knowledge]” remembering no more the gods we once loved. Betrothed forever to him [eternal life] and in HIS faithfulness we will know Him. For those whom there was no mercy, mercy will abound. For those who are not God’s people, God will say “You are mine” and we will respond “You are my God”.
V. Knowing (But Not Really)
Is it enough to say, “I believe God is real”? To come to church more than twice a year? Is it enough to chide and debate those who do not understand the Bible and so ‘prove’ we are more correct in our understanding?
Ezekiel 33:31 ESV
31 And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain.
Matthew 7:21–23 ESV
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
We so quickly trick ourselves into thinking we can “fool” God with our actions and outward appearance in this life. We forget that he knows our hearts and minds and “nothing is hidden from his sight”. This problematic attitude comes from a lack or complete absence of understanding of the nature of God.
VI. Knowing (Really This Time)
I promised to return to the first point of how little we truly know of God, I want to encourage you now with that very same point: We can never fully know God [“Come on dude, how’s THAT encouraging??]. If God is eternal in His nature, the things to know of God are also eternal. That is, growing in our knowledge of God is an eternal pursuit. If you’re like me and get bored of things quickly, this may seem daunting or even undesirable. Before you write it off completely, hear this: while it is an eternal process, it is also eternal in its pleasures. It will never fade or become joyless, for the joy he gives us in Jesus is eternal joy. The wisdom he gives is eternal wisdom. The life he gives us is eternal life.
Job, when finally confronted with the incomprehensible vastness and glory of God, gave us the only way any of us should respond by saying,
Job 42:5–6 ESV
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 6 therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
At first, Job got the concept of God - that is the hearing. But then He realized the true nature of God which made Job see himself in a right manner leading him to repentance.
David speaks in this way in Psalm 52 saying,
Psalm 52
It is in the dust and ashes of a broken and repentant heart that He lifts us up and restores us. It is here that he blots out our sins and remembers our transgressions no more. It is here that he covers us in the cleansing blood of Jesus and clothes us with his righteousness. It is here that our hope is found and the things that once held us captive are destroyed forever. He waits for those who he calls to him with everlasting patience and on the day of your salvation brings you into His glory to be known forever by the power of His Spirit. And He is faithful to do it, always patiently waiting for you to see Him:
2 Peter 3:9 ESV
9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
And then comes the joy:
Psalm 30:5 ESV
5 For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.
Psalm 30:11 ESV
11 You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness,
Psalm 126:5 ESV
5 Those who sow in tears shall reap with shouts of joy!
Closing Encouragement:
Hosea 6:1–3 ESV
1 “Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. 2 After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. 3 Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.”
- - Isaiah 40:9–31ESV
- - John 17:1–5ESV
- - Jeremiah 9:23–24ESV
- - Hosea 2:16–23ESV
- - Ezekiel 33:31ESV
- - Matthew 7:21–23ESV
- - Job 42:5–6ESV
- - 2 Peter 3:9ESV
- - Psalm 30:5ESV
- - Psalm 30:11ESV
- - Psalm 126:5ESV
- - Hosea 6:1–3ESV
Come Unto Jesus

Isaiah 40:9–31ESV

John 17:1–5ESV

Jeremiah 9:23–24ESV

Hosea 2:16–23ESV

Ezekiel 33:31ESV

Matthew 7:21–23ESV

Job 42:5–6ESV

2 Peter 3:9ESV

Psalm 30:5ESV

Psalm 30:11ESV

Psalm 126:5ESV

Hosea 6:1–3ESV