Dec 24, 2017
by: Jack Lash Series: 2Corinthians: Paul's Most Underappreciated Epistle | Category: Advent | Scripture: 2 Corinthians 1:20
- Introduction
A. Read 2Corinthians 1:20
II. 2Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him.
A. Review
1. Eden, Abraham, Moses
2. Return from exile
3. A sampling of promises
B. There are many promises we left out, not only more promises, but different kinds of promises.
1. Messianic prophecies
a. Promises which the NT tells us were fulfilled in the coming of Christ (over 100),
b. Other promises which seem obviously to be referring to the coming messiah.
c. All these promises find their ’YES!’ in Christ Jesus.
2. Messianic themes
a. Restoration — brought back home (last week)
b. Water in the wilderness — Is.35:1-2
(1) People who know the wilderness know the transforming power of water
c. Healing — Is.35:4-10
d. Shepherd of Israel — Ezek.34
e. Husband – Hosea, esp.3:5, Isaiah 54:5ff. (Tim Keller sermon, “The True Bridegroom”), Jer.2-4
f. All these promises find their ’YES!’ in Christ Jesus.
3. General promises
a. Promises to be present with His people
(1) Every promise that God would be with us finds its YES in Jesus, our Immanuel.
b. Promises to be in relationship with His people
c. Promises to shield and protect His people
d. Promises to take His people unto Himself
e. God’s promises to help and to deliver His people
f. All these promises find their ’YES!’ in Christ Jesus. He is the fulfillment of all of God’s promises.
C. But before we move on to consider the last half of the verse, I want us to consider three general categories of promise and how they find their YES in Jesus.
1. The promise of love
a. Isaiah 43:1–5 Thus says the LORD, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine...For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior...you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you...Fear not, for I am with you.
b. Zechariah 2:8 “He who touches you touches the apple of His eye.”
c. Jesus is the YES to God’s promises of love for His people and of His commitment to their good.
d. The only sure means we have of knowing God’s love for us is in Jesus Christ.
e. As Alexander MacLaren said, “The only way to make absolutely certain of the fact that God’s heart is full of mercy to us is to look upon Him (Jesus) as He stands revealed to us, not merely in the words of Christ, for, precious as they are, these are the smallest part of His revelation, but in the life and in the death which open for us the heart of God.”
2. The promise of redemption
a. In the OT there are many promises of forgiveness and the removal of guilt for sin.
b. Psalm 103:8–12 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 9 He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. 10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. 11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
c. These promises find their YES in Christ Jesus. Our hearts condemn us, our enemy accuses us, people judge us, but Christ went to the cross for us.
d. God forgave us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. (Colossians 2:13–14)
e. Christ suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God. (1Peter 3:18)
f. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus! (Romans 8:1)
3. The promise of final deliverance and relief, of eternal life and joy
a. Isaiah 40:1–2 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
(1) This is what God says to each of His precious ones at that moment when they come to the threshold of death.
(2) Comfort my child. Your struggle is ended, your sins are pardoned. You’ve suffered enough.
b. But it’s not just relief coming for the children of God. It’s pure, unadulterated joy.
(1) The ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isaiah 51:11)
c. All these promises find their ’YES!’ in Christ Jesus.
(1) In His resurrection, Christ said a resounding YES to these promises.
(2) It’s one thing to make promises that after you die, you will enter into a new kind of existence which is even better than the one here on earth.
(3) It is quite another thing for someone to die and go into that new existence and come back to confirm those promises. And that’s exactly what Jesus did.
(4) We don’t just have hope of being resurrected after we die, but we have a resurrected Savior to prove it!
III. 2Corinthians 1:20 For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. THAT IS WHY IT IS THROUGH HIM THAT WE UTTER OUR AMEN TO GOD for his glory.
A. God made hundreds of precious promises. He sent Jesus to fulfill them all.
B. But it doesn’t do us any good unless we add our Amen.
C. Jesus fulfilling all of God’s promises, Jesus being all He was and doing all He did means that the key to life is an amen.
D. “Amen” is a transliteration of the Hebrew word ʿām