Communion With God

Ascension Presbyterian Church Longwood

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:06

Please take up your Bibles and turn to the book of Genesis in Chapter 15 going to read the first six verses of Genesis 15

00:27

Brethren this is God's holy and infallible word

00:36

After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying

00:43

Do not be afraid Abram. I am your shield your exceedingly great reward

00:53

But Abram said Lord God, what will you give me seeing? I go childless and the heir of my house is

01:00

Eleazar of Damascus Then Abram said look you have given me no offspring indeed one born in my house is my heir

01:12

And behold the word of the Lord came to him saying this one shall not be your heir

01:18

But one who will come from your own body Shall be your heir Then he brought him outside and said look now toward heaven

01:31

And count the stars if you are able to number them and he said to him so shall your descendants be and He believed in the

01:43

Lord and he accounted it to him for righteousness And the

01:50

Lord be pleased with our study of his holy word, please pray with me now the

01:59

Lord Nothing rivals communion with you

02:06

We were created for this very purpose You have redeemed us for this and Glorification all the glories of Heaven will be the perfect realization that we have communion with God Communion with you by virtue of our union with Christ Impress this simple yet almost fathomless depth of significance of What it means to be in communion with God and we ask this in Jesus name

02:46

Amen, please be seated The title of the message today is communion with God and That phrase is going to be uttered

03:01

Dozens of times within the message, so I hope if if one thing Stays with you today.

03:08

It will be this notion of communion with God Today I would like to answer four questions

03:18

This will form the structure of my message and this will help you as we're going along first What is communion with God?

03:28

What is communion with God second

03:34

How is communion with God broken How is communion with God broken third how and by whom is

03:51

Communion with God restored and finally what is required from you?

04:04

What is? communion with God the preeminent

04:11

English speaking and writing theologian has to be John Owen and He gives us a very

04:19

Helpful workable definition that will help us consider the subject of communion with God Owen says our communion with God consisted in his communication of himself

04:38

Unto us with our Returnal unto him of that which he requireth and accepteth

04:49

Flowing from that union which in Jesus Christ we have in him

04:58

Communion with God is God giving himself to his people

05:05

This is only accomplished by virtue of our union with the

05:11

Lord Jesus Christ if there be no union with the Lord Jesus Christ, there can be no communion with God the basis and foundation of communion with God is this union with Christ by God's grace

05:30

Believers have been united unto him Married to him who is the lover of your soul

05:42

He is your covenant King as in all unions

05:49

There are mutual. There is a mutual communication God gives himself to his people and they give themselves to him

06:04

He accepts our love Trust and obedience and faithfulness.

06:10

These are pleasing in his sight in this most glorious of all unions this

06:21

Where our maker is our husband he looks for and longs for the returns of Love, I want you to look at the text that we started with today

06:34

This is an unusual message for me. And that is more of a topical message not an exposition.

06:42

I Want you to see something and it's very important and it is going to be found throughout

06:48

All that we consider today look again at the second half of verse 1 it says

06:55

Do not be afraid Abram. I Am your shield your exceedingly great reward that statement your exceedingly great reward the greatest gift that God would give to Abraham or to any man would be himself

07:20

We love the benefits of being reconciled to God we love the forgiveness of sins

07:28

Every pagan who doesn't believe in God wants to avoid the consequences of his sin

07:37

Everyone when posed with the question, do you love heaven or want to go to heaven or would you like to go to hell?

07:43

Everyone would said if there is such a thing I'd like to go to heaven everybody believes those things but few

07:55

See the greatest treasure of this life in the life to come

08:02

Far exceeding without a rival is communion with God Communion with God is the greatest gift the greatest reward that a person can enjoy and in fact, it is the

08:17

Essence of our created state in Adam and we were created for this thing

08:24

We have been redeemed for this thing Glorification will be the full realization of this thing face -to -face communion with God We're going to survey very briefly some important characters in Scripture And I'd like you not to turn with me to any of these but just to pay attention

08:49

First I want to consider Adam The first man

08:57

God formed him from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a

09:08

Living being that's found in Genesis 2 and it's it's an amazing thing children.

09:14

I want you to imagine That God was like a sculptor of clay

09:20

The dust of the ground and that word Adam means earth or dirt or clay and and he scoops up the dust of the ground and He builds the form of Adam But Adam is not animated and is not alive until God breathes into his nostrils

09:42

And the clay sculpture is animated with life and in this communication of himself to Adam God creates

09:52

Adam and breathes life into him and Adam is now made to have fellowship and communion with God a few verses before that in Genesis 1

10:07

Certainly in controversial, but I believe an intra -trinitarian Discussion let us make man in our image

10:19

According to our likeness In theology, we call this the imago

10:26

Dei the image of God Man is distinguished from all of the other creatures

10:34

He was created for communion with God That's what we were created for Communion with God Man in his created estate was

10:50

Made to walk with God It seems that God walked with Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the day and after Adam sinned a great breach enters in a breach with God the fellowship with God is broken

11:09

Walking with God is is different And they don't want to draw near to God.

11:17

They're hiding in the bushes and the trees because of sin Genesis 3 says they heard the sound of the

11:27

Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day and Adam and his wife created for communion with God hid themselves from the presence of the

11:40

Lord God among the trees of The garden I've often wondered why the unbeliever

11:53

Wants nothing to do with God or his worship For me as a believer, it's inconceivable that I could draw a breath without God But what the answer is here in the pages of Scripture our new fallen nature in Adam Causes us to flee from the presence of God We don't want to be in the presence of God because we don't like his holiness

12:25

Communion with God is no longer our highest aspiration communion with God is uncomfortable because of sin and that Startling narrative the

12:39

Lord calls out to Adam Whom he made from the dust of the ground and and breathed this

12:49

Supernatural life into him. He cries out and he asks him a rhetorical question because God knew where he was

12:56

He says Adam, where are you? And all the scripture all the guys who are in favorable relationship

13:05

With the Lord say here I am Your servant is wait you

13:10

Lord here. I am speak to me Adam says, oh the consequences of sin.

13:20

I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked

13:27

And I hid myself the Lord says have you eaten from the tree and notice immediately

13:39

Adams abdication of responsibility husbands Don't abdicate your responsibility you love and cherish and protect and provide for your wife

13:49

Don't blame her for your problems. You're responsible The man said the woman whom you gave to be with me

13:59

She gave me of the tree and I ate And the

14:04

Lord God said to the woman. What is this that you have done? And the woman said the serpent deceived me and I ate if communion with God is the great ideal of our

14:20

Primitive integrity in creation, then it follows that Satan doesn't want that for us and he enters in and he deceives and the woman

14:34

Falls, but the greater fault was Adam himself Into sin later in the chapter

14:46

It introduces something there's a promise it's very big about Jesus and Genesis 3 15 you're all familiar with that But there's something

14:56

I want to make much of because it helps us transition into the next person and I'd like to consider It says in verse 21

15:04

Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them

15:14

Adam has he's the Dominionist over creation He's the vice -regent of God.

15:22

He is the one charged with managing the created order He's hiding from his maker in the bushes the one who is created to commune with he hides from him

15:38

And God doesn't leave him in that state he goes and rescues him and Clothes him with skins and children.

15:48

I don't know if you know this but Adam and Eve had a very warm and loving relationship with the animals of the garden and outside the garden

16:00

This is the first sacrifice for sin God is going to kill the animals

16:08

He's going to let out the blood that there might be remission of sins that there might be a covering for the guilt and shame of Adam and Eve This premise leads us to the second person.

16:24

I like us to consider today And that person is

16:30

Abel The rest of these are gonna go a bit quicker Abel said in Genesis 4 we learn about Abel That Abel is the second born son of Adam and Eve Eve is longing for salvation

16:49

Hoping maybe Cain or even Abel would be the one who would be the Redeemer to save her and Adam from sin

17:00

It says in verse 2 that Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain was a tiller of the ground

17:08

In the process of time it came to pass That Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the

17:15

Lord. It makes sense. He works in the fields He's a farmer. It makes sense that he would bring the fruit of the earth

17:23

But I believe that Abel and Cain were instructed by Adam He recounted to them the story of his corruption and falling into sin and the need of a blood sacrifice

17:39

So Abel takes on this responsibility I'm going to be the keeper of sheep

17:45

And I don't believe it's just for lamb chops and wool that Abel does this

17:51

I believe the primary motivation Is that he could make an acceptable offering for his sins and he could dwell in the presence of God with unbridled communion

18:06

Abel brought the firstborn of his flock And the fat

18:13

And the Lord respected Abel and his offering But he did not respect

18:22

Cain and his offering We know how the tragic story ends

18:28

Cain would kill His brother Abel brethren at Abel In a very profound way sought the highest human end he longed for communion with God The story continues with a great figure

18:52

Enoch. Enoch lived 65 years and begot Methuselah. That name should be familiar to you for a very old person

19:01

After he begot Methuselah Enoch walked with God 300 years

19:09

And had sons and daughters Now what's interesting here is

19:15

I don't know why the structure of that sentence is that way It could be just genealogy

19:22

But it sounds like something happened in the life of Enoch that transformed him around the time of the birth of Methuselah That he would walk with God And communion with God in his presence for 300 years

19:40

And children this part is very exciting And it says and Enoch walked with God and that didn't mean that he just Was casually interested in the

19:53

Lord It says in Amos can two walk together unless they be agreed

19:58

Amos, uh, excuse me Enoch Loved to be in the presence of God Enoch's compelling life story is one of union with Christ communion with God In Hebrews 11 5 it said by faith

20:18

Enoch was taken away so that he did not see death And was not found

20:26

Enoch doesn't die. He's just taken up. God had taken him it says in Hebrews For before he was taken he had this testimony that he pleased

20:39

God But without faith it is impossible to please him

20:45

For he who comes to him must believe that he is that he is a rewarder of those who

20:52

Diligently seek him Enoch's walking with God Is his communion with God?

21:01

Because of his great love and desire for God God plucked him out of his earthly existence

21:10

And translated him to the heavenly realm That he might have an even greater communion an eternal face -to -face communion with God I want to pause here because I want you to think about something as we continue

21:30

What are the what's the great compulsion of your life? Why are you getting out of bed in the morning?

21:41

Is it the accumulation of wealth? It's the building of your family

21:48

There's a lot of good things Or maybe neutral things that could Do you wake up every day longing for communion with God?

21:59

These great saints it would seem that the preeminent thing of their life was communion with God All the other blessings and benefits came after that I think that what we'd like from God Is for him to Give us what we want

22:21

It's a natural man's Approach to God everybody wants to be healthy and wealthy

22:29

The pagans want that Do we desire the giver more than the gift?

22:41

Enoch Loved the giver More than the gifts more than the benefits

22:50

Compelling figure is no, uh, i'm not going to do every person in the bible. Don't be alarmed

22:57

In genesis chapter 6 I just want this simple idea to keep

23:03

Hitting us. This is the genealogy of noah Noah was a just man

23:11

Perfect in his generations Noah walked with god

23:22

Read the story of noah. Noah is a preacher of righteousness and he's out by himself

23:29

Preaching righteousness and on a hundred year ark building project he is

23:35

Maligned made fun of he is spat upon. No one respects noah

23:42

But noah walks with god Noah is listening to one voice.

23:49

He's listening to the voice of god And he's walking in that righteousness

23:59

Well now our central figure at least in terms of our text abraham Genesis 12.

24:10

It says that abraham was called. He was the lord asks him to go out of his country

24:16

From his family and from his father's house to a land that I will show you

24:23

The lord appeared to abram and said to your descendants I will give this land

24:28

And we think about abraham we think about extraordinary wealth and the giving of land and the future posterity but But we fail to appreciate the gift the biggest gift

24:45

Is god Made it possible for abraham to commune with him What's lost in the land promises the descendants?

24:58

More numerous than the stars of the heavens that we read about is The greatest reward

25:05

It's as if god is saying to abraham. I am your god

25:11

Commune with me I am your exceedingly great reward

25:21

This is the greatest gift given to abraham And in fact the covenant promises to abraham are entirely based on communion with god

25:33

The promise of a people a nation for the purpose of communing with god

25:40

Abraham's natural descendants are the ones who are entrusted with this communion in the old covenant

25:49

They were given a place in canaan that they might commune with god there

25:57

It's just not to make abraham rich It's so that Abraham would be the father of the faithful and all of his descent see the covenant promises is

26:09

The communion with god that abraham enjoys is going to be given to abraham and isaac and jacob

26:15

And all who follow after him in this pattern of faith and believing in god and trusting him

26:22

And having it accounted to them as righteousness Abraham communes with god.

26:30

So he's promised the descendant according to the flesh jesus christ the promised seed who comes to save Brethren, why does jesus come to save?

26:47

That man might commune with god Say we the biggest thing

26:54

The the most foundational thing to the gospel the most foundational thing to us as the created one in the image of god the foundation

27:04

Of all of this is lost on us because we think about all the benefits I would like to not go to hell i'm so thankful for jesus

27:15

But does our soul love the one who slays the dragon and It enables us to be set free from his grip.

27:24

It's a very different thing No one wants to go to hell but how many

27:33

Want none, but christ abraham would be an example for The gentiles in faith

27:49

It's jesus. The lord says to him In genesis 17. I am the almighty god walk before me and be blameless and I will make my covenant between me and you and Will multiply you exceedingly my covenant

28:06

Is with you And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you and their generations

28:16

For an everlasting covenant To be god to you and to your descendants after you

28:27

God is so communing with abraham that He consults with him and tells him about the impending destruction of sodom and gomorrah and the lord said

28:39

Shall I hide from abraham what I am doing? We read the scriptures and god is contemplating in this very way and the scripture saying

28:50

I need probably need to tell Abraham the one whom I am in communion with what i'm about to do in the destruction and judgment of sodom and gomorrah

29:04

Abraham communed with god and loved him so much that he was willing to offer his son isaac the long promised heir

29:19

And god says because you have not withheld your son isaac the promised one

29:25

I know That you love me I know you love the giver more than the gift in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed because you obeyed my voice

29:40

I want you to listen to this because we we hear this story and we miss the simplest phrase i'm going to combine isaac jacob and joseph and this one for the purpose of illustration

30:06

And I want you to focus again on the idea of communion with god. Listen. This is from genesis 39

30:13

Now joseph had been taken down to egypt And potiphar an officer of pharaoh captain of the guard an egyptian

30:25

Brought bought him from the ishmaelites Who had taken him there verse 2

30:34

The lord was with joseph Let me read over that And we want to get on to the part where god makes him the prime minister of egypt

30:48

God makes him the prime minister of egypt and makes him the salvation of his family who sells him into slavery is because The lord was with joseph

31:00

The lord communed with joseph. We want to go on to the secrets to his success

31:14

This is what we need to give more attention to think about how you would blow past that statement The lord was with joseph

31:24

Jacob when he blessed joseph and his son says this This is all about covenant communion with god god before whom my fathers abraham and isaac walked

31:36

The god who fed me all my life long to this day The angel who has redeemed me from evil bless the lads referring to joseph's sons

31:49

Let my name be named upon them the name that represents communion with god

31:55

I want that to go on into perpetuity in my grandsons And the name of my fathers it continues abraham and isaac and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth the blessing was asking god to Commune with his people with his descendants

32:22

I've only got one scripture. I'd like to turn with you have you turn with me, please turn to exodus chapter 33

32:32

Thank you for your patience, but when communion with god is your all in all we can sit here all day and do this genesis exodus 33

32:48

These words are utterly astounding Again, the singular thought is communion with god for us

32:59

The lord said to moses depart and go up from here you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of egypt

33:05

To the land, which I swore to abraham isaac and jacob saying to your descendants. I will give it It's not just to make them rich so that he might commune with them

33:17

And I will send my angel before you and I will drive out the canaanite and the amorite and the hittite and the parazite and the hivite and the jebusite

33:25

Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey for I will not go up in your midst Lest I consume you on the way for you are a stiff -necked people the the idea of communion with god is in jeopardy because of their sin

33:45

Verse five says the lord said to moses say to the children of israel You are a stiff -necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you

33:52

Now therefore take off your ornaments that I know What to do so the children of israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by mount bereb

34:03

Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp far from the camp and called it the tabernacle of meeting

34:12

And it came to pass that everyone who sought the lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp so it was when moses went out of the tabernacle that all the people rose and Each man stood at his tent door and watched moses until he had gone into the tabernacle

34:33

And it came to pass when moses entered the tabernacle that the pillar of cloud descended

34:40

And stood at the door of the tabernacle And here it is And the lord talked with moses

34:54

All the people saw the pillar of clouds standing at the tabernacle door and all the people rose and worshiped each man in his tent door

35:03

So the lord spoke to moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend

35:14

Skipping down to verse 12 moses said to the lord see you say to me bring up this people

35:19

But you have not let me know whom you will send with me Yet you have said I know you by name and you have also found grace in my sight

35:29

I want you to pay very close attention to this Now therefore I pray if I found grace in your sight

35:36

Show me your way That I may know you and I might find grace in your sight

35:45

And consider that this nation Is your people moses? Moses Likes the idea of deliverance from egypt

35:54

He likes the idea of the forgiveness of sins and the sacrificial system being put in place

36:02

But it seems that the key thing for moses is that he would know god

36:09

This is the treasure of moses And he says to him

36:15

If your presence does not go with us do not bring us up from here If there be no communion with you we can't go up free from here

36:25

For how then will be known? That your people and I have found grace in your sight

36:33

Except you go with us Something very interesting i'm not going to have you turn there in psalm 103

36:45

In verse 7 I love psalm 103 and I forgot about this

36:53

It says he made known his ways to moses

37:00

His acts to the children of israel, I think there's a distinction being made

37:08

Everybody wants salvation. Everybody wants blessing. But how many want to know me?

37:14

god says moses wanted to know god's ways

37:23

Communion with god drives moses to know god more intimately longing To see his glory

37:31

Well, i'm going to skip david because of time and wrap us up here in our definition from john owen this communion with god is only

37:46

Possible by virtue of union with christ, but but I sincerely

37:54

Have to ask the question of the people of god whom I know and love And those of you who are guests today

38:02

Is communion with god the priority? The great people of the faith as zach prayed about the list of people in hebrews 11, they're all characterized by this

38:15

This is the thing communion with god Is that true for you?

38:23

Christ has come in the incarnation And if you know anything about this subject of communion with god, the only possible way that sinful man

38:33

Can be reconciled to a holy god is through a mediator And we have a perfect mediator who is christ jesus the lord.

38:41

He is both god and man in one person This high priestly prayer in john 17.

38:51

He said I do not pray for these alone But for those who will believe in me through their word that they all may be one with us the forgiveness of sins

39:09

That the reconciling to god is brought to its teleological end

39:17

That the people of god might be one with god That's the purpose of all of this

39:26

Created for it Redeemed for it died for it

39:33

Salvation is for it glorification Is for this end so we possess it now.

39:39

Why do we not esteem and treasure this notion? of communion with god

39:48

He says and as you father are in me think of the perfection of that union between the father the son and the holy spirit

39:59

That they also may be one in us communion with god

40:09

First 24 father. I desire that they also whom you gave me may be With me where I am that they may behold your glory back in john 14

40:25

If anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him listen

40:34

It's everywhere In the scripture and we will come to him and make our home with him

40:45

Maybe your life feels a little disordered Maybe you feel something's not right

40:55

It may be that you don't have communion with god or if you are a christian who has communion with god

41:00

Maybe you've neglected this entirely That would be source of a lot of strife

41:07

I believe in your life About the church.

41:12

You're no longer strangers and fellow citizens and members of the household of god built on the apostles and prophets

41:21

Jesus christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom the whole building being fitted together

41:27

Grows into a holy temple in the lord in whom you are also being built together for what?

41:35

A dwelling place for god in the spirit This is the end of it all

41:44

Created for it redeemed for it. It's what heaven is is communion in the presence of god our glorified state the perfection of our communion with god

42:00

Last text we started in genesis. We hit a lot of other places is revelation 21 and this will be our conclusion the future

42:13

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away

42:23

Also, there was no more sea Then I john saw the holy city our call to worship was

42:34

You have come to mount zion We started today with that John sees the holy city

42:43

The new jerusalem coming down out of heaven from god

42:50

Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying behold

43:00

The tabernacle of god is with men And he will dwell with them

43:07

And he shall be They shall be his people and god himself will be with them and be their god

43:23

This is one of the grandest and loftiest ideas in all of the scripture And if you be in christ, this is your present possession

43:40

A couple words of application will close here If you have no desire for communion with god,

43:53

I'd have to say you're still in your sins and you're hiding in the trees You don't even know it

44:00

You don't want to be in the presence of god because of his holiness and your unrighteousness and you

44:06

Subconsciously, you don't even know it. You were created for communion with him and the breach of sin has broken

44:12

And if you don't have that today Come out of the trees The father the son and the holy spirit are at work in drawing sinners out of the trees

44:27

That they might commune with him If you're a christian you need to repent today because you have

44:37

Really wanted the gifts more than the giver all the things that we care about My wife gives me many blessings and good gifts, but I better love her for her most

44:56

Isn't that right? We better love god for who he is

45:02

All of this stuff of salvation is that we could have unbroken fellowship with him

45:09

We need to repent of our hard -heartedness in our transactional way we're like A wicked nephew who only calls his uncle when he wants money

45:24

May god help us to esteem communion with him And may we as a church

45:33

Go out into the streets and share the good news That jesus likes to take profane sinners

45:43

And to clean them up and wash them and make them a resplendent beautiful full of glory bride

45:55

Was laughing recently one of my kids was talking about a teenage awkward phase

46:02

I thought that was funny Parents don't ever notice the awkward teenage phase of their kids because they love them so much

46:12

The church maybe it has it's in an awkward phase. It doesn't look very righteous and pure but But god loves us so much and christ loves us so much.

46:22

He sees past that and sees a glorious unspotted wrinkle -free glorious bride glorious church

46:33

Because he loves us so much Let us continue our communion with god with The lord's supper in just a moment.

46:48

Please pray with me Oh lord

46:59

This is the chief business of man We were created for this

47:08

You redeem us for this help us to come out of the trees And find in you a welcoming savior well willing to forgive and to restore

47:20

Oh lord Help us to long for this communion with you like these saints of old and we ask that we would possess this in an ever -increasing way until The day it is perfected in glory and we ask all these things