Yes & Amen - Part 3

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. Verse 3,. Then Nathan said to the king, Go and do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.

And you remember that David was the second king in Israel, right? Who was the first king? Saul. And Saul ended poorly, didn't he? Yes, he did. He not only ended poorly throughout, he had some good moments, but Saul willfully at times disobeyed God.

David, however, was what? A man after God's own heart. What does that mean? David wanted what God wanted. David wanted to see the Lord glorified. Who did Saul want to see glorified? Yes, Saul wanted to see Saul glorified.

So now David wants to build a house for God. He wants to build a temple. And we know that ultimately it was the Lord's will for his son Solomon to build the temple. But look what happens. And I love this.

This is an amazing thing. Nathan, the prophet is speaking for God. He says in verse 11,. The Lord tells you that he will make you a house. So this starts out with David wanting to build a house for God.

And God says, no, David, I'm going to build you a house. A dynasty, an everlasting kingdom where David's throne would be established and one of his descendants would sit upon the throne forever. Look at verse 12.

When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you who will come from your body and I will establish his kingdom and he shall build a house for my name and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

And I will be his father and he shall be my son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But my mercy shall not depart from him as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.

Now there's something you've got to pay attention to here. In one sense, the Lord is speaking about Solomon. And we know that because he says what if he commits iniquity. So in a sense, the Lord is speaking about establishing Solomon's throne.

However, remember the title of the message, all the promises of God are fulfilled in who? In Christ. Verse 16,. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.

So if that is true, and we believe the promises of God are true. If that is true, if the throne is established forever and a descendant of David is on the throne right now, who would it be? It would be Christ.

Luke chapter 1 verse 31,. The angel Gabriel says to Mary, And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call his name Jesus. And he will be great and he will be called the son of the highest.

And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. And of his kingdom, there will be no end. Why? Because all the promises of God in him are yes and amen.

You know, one of the most rewarding things about not just reading the Bible, but studying the Bible. One of the most rewarding things is to see how it all fits together and how Christ is at the center of everything.

One last example. Turn to Jeremiah chapter 31. So where's Jesus in the pages of the Old Testament? He's everywhere. You just need to look a little closer. Jeremiah chapter 31. And of course we could talk about how the Old Covenant, the Law of Moses, even that was fulfilled in Christ.

Jesus said in Matthew 5 .17, Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to do what? Fulfill. And in Galatians 3 .24, Paul explains how the purpose of the law was to bring people to Christ.

The law shows people their need for a Savior because when you look at the commandments, you realize I've broken the commandments and they lead a person to Christ and the forgiveness that he offers. Now, one of the things, let me just say this about the Old Covenant.

It was different than these other covenants. Why? Because it was temporary and it was conditional. The Old Covenant was conditional upon the Israelites keeping it. Now, did they keep up their end of the bargain?

No, they did not. We're going to read about that. But the Old Testament contains three great unconditional covenants. We've looked at two of them, the Abrahamic Covenant, the Davidic Covenant, and now finally we will look at the New Covenant.

Jeremiah 31, starting in verse 31. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember.

How long? No more. If you are part of the new covenant, your sins are not remembered. They are done away with. And how are these sins going to be forgiven? How is the covenant going to be brought about through the blood of Christ?

Because all the promises of God are what? Fulfilled in Christ. In him they are. Yes. And amen. Matthew 26 verse 28 says, this is Jesus speaking for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

This is the only hope of heaven. This is the only hope. This is the promise of God that he made with mankind, a promise that he will keep that if a person would repent and place their faith in the blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sin, they will be delivered from the day of judgment.

And not only delivered, there's an inheritance waiting the kingdom, an inheritance in the kingdom of God. But you need to know this is not just a one time decision. I think this is the problem with evangelicalism.

Historically that people have it in their mind that this is a one time decision. It's true. We do make a decision in a moment of time, but it's not just a one time decision. It is a life long decision.

And I trust that everyone listening to this message has either made that decision or is continuing to make that decision day by day. Or if somebody hasn't made that decision to follow Christ, they will do it before they do it right now.

And just resolve in your heart. I am going to follow Christ. Not just right this moment. And then you get in your car and drive down the road and two hours from now, you're just not really feeling that same emotion.

It's now it's later. It's tomorrow. It's next week. It's next month. It's next year. We make that decision to do what to believe, to obey and to follow him day after day. Now go back to second Corinthians.

And that is where we will close. Going back to what the Lord told Jeremiah, you may have noticed what he said. That part of the new covenant is where God, instead of writing his law on tablets of stone, that's what he did to Moses.

The 10 commandments were two tablets of stone. What does God do in the new covenant? He writes his law where? In the hearts of men. How does he do that? The thing that sets the new covenant apart, there's several things, but I think one of the major factors setting the new covenant apart is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

It is the Holy Spirit who assures us that we are indeed children of God. It is the Holy Spirit who changes our hearts. It is the Holy Spirit who guides us into all that is true. See, God is dependable.

He keeps his covenant. He keeps his promises. And now in the new covenant, we can depend on God, the Holy Spirit, that he is the guarantee that God has saved us and he will keep us saved. You know, it's great that God saves people, but if he can't keep them saved, what good is it?

This is the thing about people who believe your salvation can be lost. It looks like sometimes people lose their salvation. They're saved, they love God, they're in church, and then five years later, they're gone, they don't care.

To us, it can look like people lose their salvation. That is not the case. It just proves they were never actually saved to begin with. But really, what good would it be if God saved a person, but God was unable to keep them saved?

2 Corinthians 1, verses 21 and 22. Now, he who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. Say the word guarantee.

Guarantee. Notice, also, there are no first and second class citizens in the kingdom. Sometimes you'll hear, especially TV preachers, you'll hear, this man is anointed. We have an anointed teacher of God.

Have you heard this? Yeah, our pastor is anointed. What do they mean by that? That he's higher up than everybody else. You know, there's the haves and the have nots. That is totally unbiblical. What does the scripture say?

Verse 21, now, he who establishes us. Who's us? Who's he writing to? Believers in the Corinthian church. They had a few problems, if you didn't know that already. He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God.

So what's the point? Every believer is anointed. Every believer is anointed. Anointed means to be set apart. You're consecrated. You now belong to God. In the Old Testament, when someone was anointed, what would they do?

They'd take a horn of oil and pour it on their head. We talked about David. When David was anointed king, what happened? Samuel poured oil on his head. What is the oil symbolic for? The Holy Spirit. So if you are saved and you have the indwelling Holy Spirit within you, you are anointed.

Forget the anointed televangelist. You're anointed. All God's people are anointed, set apart unto God. And what does he do? What does the Holy Spirit do? He says he seals us. And it is a what? Guarantee.

Ephesians 4 verse 30. Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God by whom you were sealed until you mess up? No. Sealed until the day of redemption. So the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a seal, as a guarantee that we belong to God.

And because God is our father, what's the symbolism there? As a father, he will love us and he will provide for us. And he has made provision in his son, in Christ Jesus. Or in him, all the promises of God are yes and amen.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.