The Blessing of New Covenant Is the Nearness of God — Santosh Poonen

The Fear of God in Ecclesiastes

What do you think that memory verse we have for this week? Is it an Old Testament command, an Old Covenant command, or a New Covenant command? What do you think? It is in the Old Testament, but it's very much the heart of God.

Let's turn there, Ecclesiastes chapter 12. I hope you know where Ecclesiastes is, even if you have difficulty pronouncing the name. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and then Song of Solomon. So right after Proverbs.

Ecclesiastes is a, I think, a difficult book to understand or to fully know, but I believe it was written towards the end of Solomon's life when he had walked away from God and yet had a little bit of the fear of God in him, perhaps.

Quite a different book from Proverbs that Solomon wrote earlier when he sought for wisdom, but even then you see that he says the very last verse, or the last two verses of the book of Ecclesiastes, after all that uncertainty and doubt or wondering, feeling like his life was empty and futile, he says the conclusion, verse 13, when all has been heard, after you've heard everything that everybody has to say about something, is this fear God, keep his commandments, and as the New American says, because this applies to every person.

This applies to every person. Because God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. Notice there, even in the Old Testament, he says, I'm gonna bring to light everything that is hidden.

Now you turn to the very last page of the Bible, Revelation 22, and you see the same thing. We hear much about the love of God and Christendom loves to speak about the love of God, and we will always proclaim the love of God, but the conclusion when all has been heard is this, fear him.

Yes, love him. Yes, he loves you, but fear him. And I found in my own life, I've said this before, it's worth saying again, I'm thankful that I was taught the fear of God first, so that I knew the boundaries of his love.

Yes, his love is an ocean, his love is limitless, but his love never condones sin. His love is never contrary to his nature and who he is. And a lot of people who have a misunderstanding of the love of God, try to reason and rationalize the love of God with their own human minds, come up with ideas like, how could a loving God allow for a place like hell?

How could a loving God allow suffering in this world? And all those rational questions that human beings have. And I found that it's because I was taught from a young age the fear of God. Proverbs 9 verse 10 teaches that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

It doesn't say that the love of God is the beginning of wisdom. It's the fear of the Lord that's the beginning of wisdom. And it's because I have a foundation in the fear of God, that I understand his love more.

And there was a point in my life where I would say, if I was to look back, that I wandered away from that foundation of the fear of God and tried to understand his love. Listening to a lot of psychological Christendom, Christian preachers, who teach more psychology than the Word of God.

And as a result, I ended up with a false definition, a false understanding of the love of God. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And it's when you lay that as the boundary, that you understand the love of God more deeply.

It's because I understood my own sin, that I understood God's love more. Without an understanding of sin and how wretched sin is, I could never have understood why Jesus had to come and die. Why did it take God himself coming in the flesh?

Couldn't God have made it so that after all those bad things I did, if I did enough good things, somehow he could make up the difference and accept me? No. It took God himself forsaking himself, as it were.

The Father forsaking the Son. And I wouldn't have understood that depth of the love of God, if it hadn't been for the fear of God, which taught me to see sin and hate sin. So the end of the matter is this, if you read Revelation 22, he starts by saying, I mean read the whole chapter sometime, he talks about the very last page of the Bible.

Judgment and the Fear of God in Revelation

If you think that the fear of God is only an Old Testament thing, I want to tell you, you are mistaken. The fear of God is written all over the New Covenant. Yes, we're shown his love as a father, but the fear of God is there.

He says, verse 14, these are the last few sentences of the Bible. Verse 14, Revelation 22, blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city.

But there's a boundary outside. Is there an outside to your understanding of God's love, or is it everything's inside? Outside are the dogs, and the sorcerers, and the immoral persons, and the murderers, and the idolaters, those who have idols, whether it's your career, your money, or your relationships that you have.

And everyone who loves and practices lying outside of the love of God. Verse 17, the Spirit and the bride say, come, and let this the one who hears say, come, come inside, come inside. Don't imagine that you can stay outside and pretend that you have the love of God, come inside.

Let the one who is thirsty come, let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, here again you see the fear of God being taught.

If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city which are written in this book.

I'm coming quickly, the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you all, amen. So the fear of God is the end of the matter, the conclusion of the matter is fear God, keep his commandments, but he's given you grace to do it.

That's the new covenant. The standard is even higher on in the new covenant than it was in the old covenant, but the grace of the Lord Jesus will be with you to help you, to fear him. Thank God that because we grow in the fear of God, we know sin is worse.

We see things that we didn't think of as sin now as sin, that the grace of God may be more manifest in our lives. Look back on the last week, dear friends, dear brothers, dear sisters, has the Lord convicted you about something in the last, okay, maybe let's not say week, last month.

Is there some area of sin in your life that God's shown you in the last month? If not, I want to tell you you're not growing spiritually and you're not going to know the grace of God is even more. So thank God for his grace.

The New Covenant Brings God Near

And speaking about the new covenant, I would like us to turn to Hebrews chapter eight. I was thinking in the last few weeks that the essence of the new covenant is essentially this, that God says, I will be near you.

If you look at the old covenant, the picture you've given in Hebrews 12 later on is Sinai versus Zion, Sinai versus Zion. Sinai is characterized by this, that God was over there and the people were some distance away and they dare not come close to it.

In fact, he said, if you come close to even the base of the mountain and touch it, you will die in an instant. So of course they stayed far away. The ark later on the ark of the covenant, some people thought they could get close to it and peek inside and God struck them down immediately.

What you see, even though this wasn't God's intent all along, but God was a far away God. He couldn't come near them because they were full of sin. They could clean up the outside by avoiding adultery and avoiding murder and not telling lies with their mouths.

Even if the inside of the cup was still filthy, at least they could clean the outside of the cup and be a good testimony to the Amorites and the Amalekites and all the other rights that were there, the Philistines and all that they could see, man, these are a holy people on the outside.

But God still couldn't come near them and be among them and dwell in them because the inside was still filthy. And the essence of the new covenant is this. God says, I will be a near God. I'll be near you.

We see this in Hebrews 8 verse 10, for this is the covenant. Now this is a quotation from the old testament and God saying, I will make a new covenant. This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel.

After those days, after the days of the old covenant are passed, here's a new covenant I will make. I will put my laws into their minds. What was the purpose of all of this? Saying I'll put my law in your mind, put my, I will give you a new heart, a clean heart, a heart of flesh, not a heart of stone.

What was the purpose of all of that? It's just so that God could still be far away saying, Oh, look at that clean person over there. No, it was so that God could now come and be close to you. He says, I can come close to you.

You're clean. I can come and put myself inside you because you're clean. I will put my laws into their minds. I will write them on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people. They won't have to teach.

Everybody know the Lord goes on to say, all will know me. You will know me. You'll be intimate with me. It's kind of like a father who wrote lots of letters to his children because he was far away in a far country and one day he says, listen, I'm coming.

I'm coming back. One day I'm going to come and I'm going to live in your house and I'll be your dad. Think about, you know, sometimes you meet children whose fathers have to work maybe in the oil fields or in a far off country and they live there for six months or long period of time and they're like, yeah, I have a dad.

He's over there somewhere and he teaches, he tells me, Hey, remember obey, obey mom. I'm not there to check up on you, but you better obey me and better obey all these little things. Do this, do that.

He writes letters to his children. He's a far away God, far away father. And this was what Jesus, what God said is, listen, I'm going to come close to you. I'm going to come and dwell in you. Jesus is going to come first and he's going to open up a way so that I can be yours.

You can be mine. If you go back to second Corinthians six, he's uses similar words also quoting from that same passage, second Corinthians six, and he talks here about why it's so important for us to live holy.

He says, don't be bound with unbelievers. What partnership was 14, second Corinthians six verse 14. What partnership does unrighteousness, does righteousness and lawlessness have with each other? What fellowship is light with darkness?

What agreement where 16 has the temple of God with idols. You are the temple of God. What agreement can you have with idols? How can you have a place in your heart for a little bit more of your own self?

If God is to make that his home, we are the temple of the living God. Just as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk among them. Here is again that new covenant and I will be their God and they shall be my people.

Therefore come out from their midst and be separate says the Lord because I want to be a near God. Why does God want you to be holy? It's not because he's angry at you. It's not because he wants to be a kill joy, a spoil sport.

I remember in my teenagers, I was tempted with this thought. Well, all the fun things in the world seems like God says, no, you're not allowed to do that. Seems like the world could always do this and do that, do that other thing.

And when it came to us, Christian kids, we weren't allowed to do this and weren't allowed to do that. We didn't have a TV in our house. We couldn't be a part of all their conversations. It seemed like, no, you can't do that.

You can't do that. You can't do that other thing. Oh, one other thing on the list. And the devil wanted me to have that idea that God is just in the business of saying, no, no, no, no, no, no. Maybe some of your children feel like that.

You feel like God is always saying, no, you can't do this. No, you can't do that. You know why? He wants to be near you. He wants to come and be close to you. And sin is such a filthy, repulsive thing, hateful, filthy, horrible, horrible thing that he says, I want to clean that up so that I can come close to you.

I want to give you a hug. Let me shower you first and I'll give you a hug and I'll hold you and I'll keep you close to me. That's why he says avoid those things. Young boys, young girls, adults, perhaps we need to hear that too.

Why does God want you to be free from the love of money? Why? Because he wants to hug you. He wants to give you an embrace. He wants to keep you close to him and he can't do that if the love of money is still in your heart.

Worship as the Desire for God's Nearness

Psalm 73 is a psalm that speaks about worship. As you know, let's turn there. Psalm 73, this wonderful passage that talks about Asaph looking at the people in the world who are chasing after these things, chasing after money, chasing after health, chasing after success, whether you do it in the name of Jesus or in the name of some other God.

It's another Jesus. If you're promoting self, if you're looking for something that will make your own success, give you your own success and he saw all of them and saw that they seemed to have a comfortable life but the ones who really wanted to make God their true God, the ones who really wanted to honor Christ, for them life was difficult and he says my foot was almost gonna stumble and then he says verse 21 when my heart was embittered.

Has your heart ever been embittered when you look at how other people seem to have a comfortable life and all the bad things that could possibly happen seem to be happening to you? Why is it that the godly seem to have all kinds of things one after the other just when you feel like okay I got through that now something else got thrown at me.

Why? He says my heart was embittered Psalm 73 verse 21 and then he came to the place of worship. This is true worship. You will hear many other definitions of New Covenant worship and they're all you know if they're truly biblical they're correct but here's one.

Worship is that even when all else is failing as long as God is near me everything is well. I want to show you that in this passage. Verse 25 when whom have I in heaven but you and besides you I desire nothing on earth not even that you'll fix this problem or that you'll heal or you'll even more than victory over sin.

Does that sound like a shock? There's something God wants even more than giving you victory over sin today is that he'll be near you. We'll talk about that here in a little bit. Now sin is horrible I've already said that.

God wants you to overcome sin but not at the expense of him being far away from you while you have overcome sin. He wants you to overcome sin but it'll take some time and he'll work with you and he'll keep you humble and broken so that the thing that you value even more than the fact that you have overcome sin is that God is near you.

This is worship and besides you I desire nothing on earth Psalm 73 verse 25 verse 26 my flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Verse 28 as for me the nearness of God is my good.

This is worship for me. I just want to be near God that's it. I don't have to sing. I don't have to have instruments. I don't have to feel like that. Who else is there? Does it matter? Is God near me?

Then I can worship. The first time you read about worship is in Genesis 22. It was a man, an altar and that which was closest to him Abraham. A man, an altar and that which was dearest to him. All by himself.

He couldn't even take his wife with him. You know so often today we're looking for churches where I do who goes to that church. Do I have friends in the church? Will my children have friends in that church?

Will my this and that? People are picking churches based on that. I tell you I hope you've heard this before. I hope you'll hear it again. I hope that you're here simply to know how to worship God and if one day you show up and there's nobody else here except you.

You say Lord I'm here to worship you. For some reason everybody else is sick. Nobody else is here in this building. The door happens to be open. I'm just going to come here and build an altar for you in my heart and say Lord I want to worship you.

What is it? Why did you bring me here to Mount Moriah this morning? So that I can offer that which is dearest to you. Now praise God that there are others here with us but I hope that even as during the time that we were singing this morning and during every part of our meetings that it's you and God and an altar on which lies that which is closest to you.

What is it that you're holding on to? What is it that you want most? If you can sit here all by yourself even though there are people around you and it's you with your eyes closed. That's why often when I sing I have to close my eyes.

I say Lord I want to picture this altar. What is it that you're laying on my heart before me this morning for this week? There's something that's dear to me that is hindering my relationship with you.

Something that I'm holding on to. Something that has embittered my soul. I want to lay it on the altar before you. It's become easier for me to sing now when I pray that way. When I sing that way. I see myself before God.

Everything naked and bare before him with whom I have to do and I lay on that altar afresh that which is nearest dearest to me. So the nearness of God this is the new covenant that God can be near us.

The Beatitudes and the Blessing of God's Nearness

Now I'd like us to turn to Matthew chapter 5 where Jesus in the first teaching that we hear him giving us about the new covenant. Matthew chapter 5. You know Matthew 5, 6, and 7 in a sense of the inauguration of the new covenant.

He's showing us what does the new covenant really mean. He compares the old covenant with the new covenant. How the old covenant people prayed and how we should pray now. How the old covenant people could get away with lusting with their eyes as long as they didn't commit adultery.

But that was never God's heart all along. They could get away with anger as long as they didn't commit murder. All those things you read about it later on. But at the very beginning he starts by what we have known quite well in Matthew chapter 5 verses 3 through 12.

And I don't know about you but I was convicted a couple weeks ago which is where the thoughts that I'm sharing this morning have come from. I've been just thinking about them for a couple of weeks now.

I tended when I read Matthew 5 verses 3 through 12 because I think I memorized this when I was a kid if I remember correctly. I've known these verses for many years. I still do. I could almost recite them in order perfectly.

But I always tended to look at the latter part of the verse as the goal. For example, blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. And I tended to immediately jump to the kingdom of heaven.

That's what I want. Blessed are those who mourn. They shall be comforted. Lord I want to be comforted. Blessed are the gentle. They shall inherit the earth. Lord I'd love to inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst because they shall be satisfied.

And my selfish self-centered mind immediately jumped to what I could get as a result of being something. So it's sort of this bargain. Okay like you know like Santa Claus where it's like okay I'll be good if you'll give me that thing that I really want.

Now for people in the world it could be money. It could be earthly things. It could be success. But do you want comfort? Do you want inheriting the earth? Do you want satisfaction? Do you want all these other things that he says you'll get that?

Come over getting God himself the presence of God. And that's what Asaph realized that Lord I don't need anything else. I don't need because the other people in Psalm 73 if you read the whole Psalm you realize they are the ones that seem to be comforted.

They seem to be satisfied. They never seem to be hungry. And Asaph realized something in the Old Testament that his eyes were fixed on the wrong thing. Even he was even though he was in the Old Covenant where God promised earthly blessing.

He says I've been missing something. I've been focused on Lord I want that blessing. I want that comfort. I want to be satisfied. I don't want to be hungry anymore. I don't want to be thirsty anymore.

Help me to have a little bit more money. Please heal. Please do this. Please do that other thing. Then it's then he comes to the place where he realized whom have I in heaven but thee and there is nothing not even the blessings the earthly blessings of God that I desire above thee.

I desire you. I desire your presence. And I started to read this passage a little bit differently. Who does it say are blessed in Matthew 5 verse 3? Is it those who have the kingdom of heaven? Does it say blessed are those who have the kingdom of heaven?

No. It says blessed are the poor in spirit. This is the blessing of the New Covenant that you can be poor in spirit not for the blessing that you'll get on top of that. Yes you will still get the kingdom of heaven but God is near those who are poor in spirit.

This is the New Covenant. God wants to be near you. God wants to be near you and if you have been content and seen the glory and the how amazing it is to be poor in spirit because God is near you then you say Lord you'll take care of the kingdom of heaven parts.

I'm not fixing myself on where the kingdom of heaven the kingdom of heaven. Yes what is the kingdom of heaven? God is near me. Blessed are those whom God is near to. I would say is the summary of Matthew chapters 5 Matthew 5 verses 3 through 12.

Blessed. Are you blessed today dear brother dear sister? I know that in Christendom sadly we're tuned to think that oh that's a blessed person. I'm blessed today. Why? Well God gave me a promotion or I finally got a job or or this I have a little bit money or God healed.

Blessed are the poor in spirit and the reason this is important and I hope I'm not trying to you know split hairs here but it was for me a revelation and something that's helping me now that I'm not because the tendency for me was that I was like okay Lord I've been poor in spirit for a couple years now when am I gonna get the kingdom of heaven?

My eye is on that thing that I'm gonna get out of being poor in spirit because that's the blessing I'm looking for and I missed it. He says the blessing is that you can be poor in spirit today until the end of your life.

You'll get the kingdom of heaven. God will give it to you. Don't worry about it. Just be poor in spirit and I found in my own flesh that I was looking for a way to be done with being poor in spirit. Lord I'm measuring Lord I've been poor in spirit for so long and God was near me while I was poor in spirit.

Oh he was. I can think of some of the times when there that were the hardest times in my life that caused me to be poor in spirit and God was near and the regret I have to some extent I'll say I don't feel any guilt no guilt no condemnation but the regret I have is at that time in those times when God was near me while I was being crushed and squeezed and while I was poor in spirit my eye was on that thing that I was gonna get when I got out of this squeezing when I didn't have to be poor in spirit anymore because I'm not being crushed not being squeezed and I said Lord I missed it I missed worship.

Abraham got it. What do you think it was like when he was taking Isaac up every step was a dagger to his heart dagger to his heart dagger to his heart but he experienced worship in the old covenant that many newcomer Christians have missed out on.

Why? God was near him. God was near him and that was the thing that was precious to Abraham to the extent that he could and let's not miss it brothers and sisters God wants to be near you this is the new covenant and if it means that he wants to crush you and squeeze you until the last day of your life you look back in eternity says God you were near me through it all.

Thank you that I woke up one morning even if it is today December 17 2023 and realized I've been looking at the wrong thing. Those who are poor in spirit are blessed because God is near them. They'll inherit the earth absolutely.

That'll happen when it happens that's up to God they'll inherit the kingdom of heaven. Sorry is what theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Verse 3 Isaiah chapter 57. I read a phrase a few weeks ago which I shared with you all as a church before I'll share it again.

God has two thrones one in the highest heaven and the other in the lowliest hearts. He has two thrones one in the highest heaven and other in the lowliest hearts. And this is right from Isaiah 57 verse 14 it will be said build up build up.

Prepare the way. Build up build up build a church. Prepare the way remove every obstacle out of the way of my people. Because that says the high and exalted one who lives forever whose name is holy. I dwell on a high and holy place and also with the contrite and lowly of spirit in order to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.

Do you want revival in your heart. There are many people in Christendom who are asking for revival and praying for revival. It's very clear. It couldn't be more clear. If you need revival in your heart there's only one way to do it.

It's not having 24 -7 prayer and 24 -7 singing or anything like that. It's very simple. Be contrite and lowly of spirit. God will revive you. So blessed go back to Matthew 5. Blessed are the poor in spirit because God is near them.

God is near the poor in spirit and I pray for my own life. This has become the prayer my heart. Lord I want to remain poor in spirit for the rest of my life even if Matthew 5 verse 3b was not written.

You know how this 3a and 3b. Right. Matthew 5 3a is blessed are the poor in spirit. Matthew 5 3b says theirs is the kingdom of but theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Even if Matthew 5 3b was not in my Bible would you want to be poor in spirit.

Because God says you'll be blessed. I will be near you. I will make my throne there with you. Blessed are you poor in spirit. Doesn't matter if you get nothing else out of it thank God that he says I will give you the kingdom of heaven.

But blessed are the poor in spirit. How about this week. You just pause at blessed are the poor in spirit. And just stop there for this week and say Lord it's your job to give me the kingdom of heaven.

He doesn't say that you'll have. You'll have to do this or do that. I will give it to you. It's yours. You will have the kingdom of heaven. Just be poor in spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Memorize Matthew 5 3a this week.

That's that's the essence of what I'm saying this morning. Blessed are the poor in spirit because God is near them. And that takes away so much of the what I want God to do for me mentality that we tend to bring into our Christian lives.

Mourning as an Experience of the Comforter

Okay. Let's keep going. Matthew 5 verse 4a. Blessed are those who mourn. Pause there for a moment. Blessed are those who mourn because the danger is. I want to be done with mourning. Lord I've been mourning.

I wet my pillow with tears every night. I wake up and crying. It's like when will this season of mourning be done. Is that what you want. You're blessed because you're mourning. Do you wake up every morning and you find that the pillow has been wet because of your tears.

You had one of the blessed most blessed nights you could have had. Not waiting for the answer. Are you waiting to be done with that season of mourning. Brothers and sisters. I know I was. That's that's where this burden is coming from.

There were times when I was mourning. I was like Lord I can't wait for the season of joy and I missed it. I missed the presence of God in the night of mourning. Yes he's there when there's joy as well.

And his joy is my strength through the night. But in that night of mourning blessed are those who mourn. Blessed are those who mourn. You will receive the comforter. You know I believe that one of the reason you know it says they shall be comforted.

What is it. Is it some false feeling of comfort. Oh I feel better today. Cried it out as it were. Is that what you're looking for. You cry it out enough and somehow you feel better the next morning. No what is it that I want.

I want the comforter. He's a person that when I'm crying I can feel comfort even though the tears have not stopped. Jesus wants to be with you. The Holy Spirit wants to be with you through the night. And I'm not waiting for the circumstance to change so that I can be done crying and then somehow receive some comfort.

No I want to comfort her who will be with me through the night. Do you know the Holy Spirit in the middle of the night while the tears are still flowing he says blessed are those who mourn. I'm near you when you're mourning.

You see how each one of these things is kind of a lowly place poor in spirit down there somebody that you would feel sorry for. We drive by every time we come come into town or even drive here on Sunday morning.

I drive by that house of neighborly services and I see those people who don't have homes who are experiencing homelessness now and a heart goes out to them. I wish I could do something to help them in some way.

If the Lord gives me the opportunity I will. I have a burden for those people and but it's a picture for me. It says Santosh. Are you coming to my house to this to RLCF today that way like I'm. I'm poor in spirit.

Lord I'm needy. I'll stand here. I mean they wait there in the cold doesn't matter. If it's 10 degrees they're there. They're bundled up. But they're like this place has something that'll help me. That's why I'm here.

That's why they're there. And that's why I'm here this morning. It's a good reminder God allows me to. Maybe some of you should drive that way to come to RLCF every morning says Lord. I'm not coming here full.

I'm coming here needy. I'm coming here desperate. I want to be poor in spirit. I want I want to come with a place that people who really look at me almost kind of feel sorry for me. It's like oh man I feel sorry for that person.

You want to feel sorry for the poor in spirit. Do you want that place in the church. Then God will be near you God. I would paraphrase it this way. God is near those whom others feel sorry for feel pity on.

You want to be that person in the church the one that everybody at our everybody else at RLCF feels sorry for all men feel bad for that person. Look at what they're going through. God is near you brother.

God is near you sister. That's the place we should all be coveting. Blessed are those who mourn. You ever see somebody crying tears streaming down their face. You feel sorry for them. Like man it must be going through something really hard.

Why is it just weeping. Weeping weeping weeping weeping. You know that's the most blessed person. Perhaps you're crying inside your heart today. You're mourning. Don't seek to get out of that circumstance.