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Title: How different our blessing suddenly becomes
I. We are not off the hook, there is work to do!
v5 “But to him who does not work…”
We need to fully understand exactly what Paul is and is not saying here. What he’s saying, as he further builds on his appeal to Abraham, is that it is not the work that justifies the person before God, but again, the faith of that person.
The danger of misreading this verse is that we come to the conclusion that we are to do no work, but just to sit around and believe in Jesus and all will be well. There are a thousand Biblical ways to refute that line of thinking, but let me just offer a few broad observations to correct this erroneous line of thought.
1. Christ himself worked.
Consider His miracles, consider even his healing on the Sabbath. Consider his mission in preaching to the masses, discipling the 12, and giving his life up at Calvary.
2. Christ commanded us to work.
Consider the great commission in Matthew 28:18-19. Consider the call to Peter when Christ says, “I will make you fishers of men!”
3. Other parts of scripture tell us of a harmony between our faith and our works.
Consider the third chapter of James which essentially teaches us that the inevitable result of Godly faith is that it produces Godly works.
So we, therefore, understand what Paul is saying to us in verse five as to mean that it is our belief that comes first, and this belief is what justifies us before God. And part of that belief is not only doing, but taking joy in what we are commanded to do by Christ and scripture.
II. The Appeal to David
v6 (read) We saw two weeks ago that Paul made his bold appeal to the life and faith of Abraham with the thought in mind that if he could show the Jews that Abraham was justified by his faith, and not only by his works, then he would win a multitude of the Jews to his line of thinking.
Likewise, in his secondary appeal, Paul appeals to yet another of the huge names of the Patriarchs of the Jewish faith as he now appeals to King David.
Point: Paul wasn’t trying to make his point based on some obscure scripture reference and some new way of understanding scripture. On the contrary, Paul was pointing out the obvious and direct truth of his conviction using the two biggest names in Hebrew history!
Likewise, as I attempt to teach you each Sunday, I’m not trying to do by finding some obscure reference and then convincing you charismatically that my understanding is superior. Hopefully what I do when I prepare a sermon is to expose the text to you, to offer my convictions and observations based on a careful study of the original
language, a thoughtful way of helping you to understand my points through analogy and personal example, and, most of all, by bathing the entire teaching in prayer, that the Holy Spirit would really be the one coming out of my mouth, and into you ears each Sunday. I don’t take this lightly, you shouldn’t either.
III. So what did David say?
V7/8 (read)
Do you notice anything about David’s poem, which Paul quotes from in Psalm 32:1-2? The subject of his poem, the “blessed” people…what are they doing? Nothing. We see that they are blessed because God has chosen to bless them. He has chosen to forgive their lawless deeds. He has chosen to cover their sins. He has chosen to not impute sin unto them.
Essentially, David was looking around and said: “You know what, that guy, that gal who God has forgiven, they are blessed! They didn’t do anything to earn it. They didn’t do anything to maintain it, they just got it! And, man, nothing, and I mean nothing, beats that!”
Recently I was at the dentist and I was told that an electric toothbrush would be a good thing to get my oral hygiene in better shape. So I went on eBay and found a really nice brand new Oral-B electric toothbrush for about 1/4 of the retail price. I was excited! I said to my wife, “Look at what a good deal I got!” I said to God, “Thank you for that little blessing!” I said to myself, “Wow, how wonderful a tool the internet and little patient research can be!”
Now, imagine my situation a bit differently. I am sitting in the dentist chair and my dentist says, “Ben, you could really benefit from an electric toothbrush, it would greatly improve the chances of you keeping your teeth healthy. I recommend an Oral-B 7000 turbo deluxe, with the G.P.S. system and automatic traction control. It retails for $250. But I have an extra one, and I’m going to give it to you.”
How different my blessing suddenly becomes.
And now imagine I am not at the dentist, but rather on the operating table of the world’s greatest surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic. And that surgeon is doing exploratory surgery based on a fear of a rapidly spreading cancer. As the surgeon opens up my chest cavity he sees the worst possible scenario; multiple tumors, cancerous cells spreading at a geometric rate, and no hope for survival.
After the procedure the surgeon explains the bleak outlook but then offers this: “Ben, you are dying, and you are dying quickly. There is nothing I can do, there is nothing you can do. If no solution is found you will die very soon. But there is hope. I have available for you a new body, one that not only has no cancer, but one that lasts forever, a body that will pass seamlessly from this dimension to the next, a body that is so eternal in nature you can use it to stand in the presence of the Almightily Himself and this body will hold.
Of course my answer would be, “Well, this sounds amazing, can you give it to me right now?”
The great surgeon would then smile kindly and say, “I already have.”
How different the nature of my blessing suddenly becomes.