Sufficiency for Godly Living #1 - Living by God's Sufficiency — Bob Hoekstra

We who deserve the worst in Jesus Christ, we found the best. We thank you for your great mercy and your wonderful grace. Thank you for new life and we want to learn how to walk and grow and serve and be conformed to the image of Christ.

We pray for your Holy Spirit now that you would open up the scriptures to us, Lord. Give us ears to hear and eyes to see and hearts to receive. And Lord, we ask you to accomplish your work in each of our lives right now.

You know right where we are. You know what we need. You know what is best for us to hear and how to respond. We just pray you would touch us and work in us to will and to do of your good pleasure. In Jesus' name, amen.

God's Sufficiency for Godly Living

We start today the first of six studies on God's sufficiency for godly living. God's sufficiency for godly living. One of our six study biblical seminars is called Growing in the Grace of God. Every true Christian, every true believer, everyone who knows the Lord knows that we are birthed into the family of God by grace, born again by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Well, the scriptures teach us that we are not only birthed by grace, but we are to grow by grace. And the Growing in the Grace of God seminar is really an overview of the first half of Bible college class I teach at Calvary Chapel Bible College called Growing in the Grace of God.

These six studies, God's sufficiency for godly living, are an overview of the second half of that class. God's sufficiency for godly living is really another way to say growing in the grace of God. Our first study is about living by God's sufficiency.

Everyone naturally early on in life learns about living by man's sufficiency. And man, to make a way for man in the world of man, calls man to do what he can do and be what he can be and get with it and make it happen.

And we're all familiar with the kingdom of man. But the kingdom of heaven is not like that. Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. Jesus said, my ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts.

They're higher than the heavens above the earth. In the kingdom of heaven, we are called upon to learn to live by the sufficiency of God, not the sufficiency of man. And it has to do with godly living as well.

Godly Living Depends on God's Grace

Our first heading is about the relationship between godly living and God's sufficiency. We'll look at some verses that remind us that we are called to godly living. Second Corinthians chapter 1. We will be in Second Corinthians a lot in this study.

Second Corinthians chapter 1 verse 12. For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God.

The apostle Paul, when he ministered out through the world and traveled and shared the word of God, he conducted himself in godly sincerity, and that didn't come out of fleshly wisdom. It all happened by the grace of God.

A good reminder here, the godly living is by the grace of God. And we're called to live godly. Also in Second Corinthians chapter 2 verse 17. For we are not, as so many, peddlers of the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.

Again, a picture of godly living, sincere living, living before God, not just before man. Chapter 4 verse 2. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.

We're called to godly living. We want to stay away from things that are shameful, craftiness, trickiness, deceitfulness. We want to just live the truth and share the truth, and in that commend ourselves in our walk with God before others.

One more reminder of godly living. Chapter 7 verse 1. Therefore having these promises, the promises that if we come out of the ways of the world and walk with God, he'll be our God and change our lives.

Therefore having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, or that could be rendered growing in godliness out of reverence for the Lord.

We're called to live godly. But the issue at hand in our studies is how are you going to do that? Where is the resource for godly living? Yes, we're called to live godly. From the earliest part of the scriptures, you go back to Exodus and Leviticus and Deuteronomy where the law is given, the message resounds, be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

God is a holy God. In walking with him we're called to walk in godliness. That's the call. That's the what when we say what our lives should look like. But what we're going to concentrate most of the time on in these six studies is where do we find the sufficiency to grow in that path of godliness?

The natural mind thinks you just got to get to it and make it happen. No, that's the kingdom of man. The kingdom of God draws on a different resource. God's sufficiency for godly living. Second Corinthians 3 .5, one of our theme verses for all six of these studies, reminds us of God's sufficiency and how it's related to godly living.

Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves. But our sufficiency is from God. Here's the fact of the matter. You and I, we are not sufficient of ourselves. We don't have the adequate resource for anything that is eternal, godly, that will save souls, transform lives.

Then where do we get the sufficiency? Our sufficiency is from God. Oh, to learn the wondrous shift from living by our sufficiency, which isn't sufficient, to living by God's sufficiency, which is fully sufficient, is the difference between life and death, defeat and victory, weariness or abounding.

Godly living, it is completely related to God's sufficiency. Without God's sufficiency, there'll be no godly living. All true godly living flows from the sufficiency of God at work in and through our lives, and we'll talk much in these six studies about how that takes place.

The New Covenant as God's Provision

That brings us to the issue of the new covenant. The new covenant, it's mentioned in the next verse, 2 Corinthians 3, 6, which is the second of our two theme verses, 2 Corinthians 3, 5 and 6. Who, that is God, who also made us sufficient as ministers, the word means servants, servants of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit.

For the letter kills, but the spirit gives life. The new covenant, we are servants of the new covenant. We serve God in and under the terms of the new covenant, but are we familiar with it? Maybe you're somewhat like me and thousands of Christians I've seen through the years and ministered to the last five years at home and abroad.

The new covenant is not a real familiar item with many Christians. If you've been saved very long, you hear the term often every time you have the Lord's Supper. This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.

So we hear the phrase, but don't that often get to have an opportunity for an expositional, biblical, correlation, topical study on the new covenant? That's primarily what this is all about, because the sufficiency of God is provided for us under the terms of the new covenant.

A covenant is an agreement. You could call it a contract between two parties. You also could use the word arrangement. When it comes to the new covenant, I like the word arrangement. I'll tell you why.

In human terms, when you talk covenant, what is a major, major issue in human contracts? Equity, equality. Well, let's see if what you bring to the contract matches what I bring to the contract, whether it's a house or a job or whatever.

Always looking for equity. Well, when you look at the new covenant, it fits better to call it an arrangement. I mean, what do we bring to the table in this agreement with God? We bring broken, empty lives, fallen in sin, and floundering in human inadequacy.

Well, you can sure bargain for a lot with that, can't you? What does God bring to the contract table? Everything those empty, broken lives need. So to call it a contract is kind of, you know, boing, wow.

There doesn't seem to be an equity here. No, God is gracious. We get a very good deal in this new covenant. God's new arrangement for living is one way to define it. The new covenant, it's a wonderful thing.

It's how God has arranged for you and I to live life in Christ. The new covenant, what's the new part about? Well, it's not so much chronology as it is character. The character of the new covenant is its newness.

Perhaps you remember the phrase in Romans 7 that we serve in newness of the spirit, not the oldness of the letter. The oldness of the letter, that's the law. The newness of the spirit, that's the new covenant.

Newness, spiritual vitality from the Spirit of God. In Hebrews 10, there's a phrase, the new and living way, contrasted with what? The old dying way, the law. The law gets old fast. Some folks think they're going to keep it if it kills them.

Well, it will, it will. If you're doing it on your own resource, why will the law kill you? Because the message of the law is be holy. Not be better, not be good, not be improving, not be better than he is.

It's be holy, be as holy as God. How hard do you have to try to be as holy as God? Well, you can't try hard enough. It kills you. But there's the new and living way, the grace of God that provides life.

Remember Lamentations 3, the phrase, His mercies are new every morning, fresh, vital, alive, available. That's the new covenant. Newness, freshness, vitality, it never runs out. There's always sufficient for us to draw upon.

The new covenant, it's a glorious reality. I remember in the early 1970s, I'd been pastoring for five or six years. The Lord used Pastor Ray Stedman, Pastor Chuck Smith and a few others to begin to speak to my heart from the Word, to open my appreciation of the new covenant.

And it became the section of the Word of God here in 2 Corinthians 2, 3, 4, 5, right through there. We're absolutely transforming in life and walk and ministry. I pray it has the same impact on your own life.

The new covenant, the sufficiency we need from God for godly living with God is available under the terms of the new covenant of the grace of God. Now those verses listed next, we're not going to read or study any of them.

You can tell there's enough there for a couple studies in themselves. I put them there for your own use and reference just to let us know that the new covenant is not an isolated issue in the Word of God.

Though many of us are not familiar, when I taught Bible college classes on the new covenant, I've asked for a show of hands how many ever had an extended study on it, and it's always under 5 every time.

And yet it's a major issue in the Word of God. The new covenant is mentioned by name in the passages listed before the parentheses. Jeremiah 31, Matthew 26, Mark 14, Luke 22, 1 Corinthians 11, 2 Corinthians 3, Hebrews 8, 9, and 12.

All mention the new covenant by name and teach on it. Within the parentheses, all of these passages, along with many others, talk and teach about it but don't use the term right in the passage. Isaiah 59, Jeremiah 24, Ezekiel 11, and chapter 36.

And two major sections in the New Testament, Galatians 4 and 5, and Hebrews chapter 7 and elsewhere. So the new covenant is not an isolated issue in the Bible. In particular, if you have computers and Bible search programs, you can punch up a bunch of these verses and watch the places it's taught explode throughout the Word of God.

But though it is a somewhat new study topic for many of us, don't think it's some unique, esoteric, weird, or what is he, a leader of the new covenant called? What is this? Just to get a bigger setting on how basic it is to life with Christ, the next line of Scripture is beginning with Luke 9 .23.

New Covenant Living and Christian Discipleship

That's a verse on Christian discipleship. Jesus said, if any man would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, death to self, and follow me. That's Christian discipleship. Know to self, death to self, my only option, every day follow Jesus.

Here's a question. What is the difference between Christian discipleship, described there in Luke 9 .23, and new covenant living, which we're going to be studying? No difference at all. Same exact issue, just described with different terminology.

Another passage, Ephesians 5 .18. Remember it says, be filled with the Spirit. Spirit-filled life. Here's a question. What is the difference between Spirit-filled living and new covenant living that we'll be studying?

Same answer, no difference. They're the same issue, just described in different terms. One more. John 10 .10. Jesus said, I came that you might have life in heaven more abundant. Abundant life in Christ.

Same question. What's the difference between abundant life in Christ and new covenant living? Don't want to bore you, but there's no difference. They're the same. Same issue, described in different terminology.

Why does the Lord do that? You'd think we need to hear about this over and over again, huh? Maybe even from different perspectives. Well, 1 Peter 4 describes the grace of God as the manifold grace of God.

You could say the many faceted aspects of the grace of God. It's like an infinitely glorious heavenly diamond. You know, you lay a diamond down and every perspective you take on it, a different facet jumps out at you.

A different color and lighting. A different insight into the wonders of that gem. Well, that's just a simple little physical parable, really, of the grace of God. Every place you stand and look at is a new perspective, but you're looking at the same thing.

I have found that this is a glorious perspective upon which to look at life in Christ. Look at it from the perspective of living life with Jesus Christ under the new covenant. This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

So this is not something isolated. This is not something new and weird and different. It's just one more opportunity, maybe in a fresh new way, to consider living in Christ day by day. For godly living, but by the sufficiency of God.

The New Covenant Promised to Israel

Now let's think more together about the new covenant. The next two headings are closely related. The new covenant promised to Israel eventually. And the next heading of the outline, the new covenant inaugurated for the church now.

The new covenant promised to Israel eventually. We can see this in Jeremiah chapter 31. Now we'll be very interested in the section called the new covenant inaugurated for the church now because those verses will tell us the new covenant is for you and I to live by now.

But don't lose interest in the heading, the new covenant promised to Israel eventually. Because as we look at these verses, we're going to see three aspects of the new covenant, which we can draw upon now.

Jeremiah 31, 31 and following. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant. There it is. 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.

What covenant was that? That's the old covenant of law. This new covenant is a covenant of grace. My covenant, that is covenant of law, 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 all shall 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 no more. The new covenant promised to Israel eventually. Someday Israel as a nation will come into this new covenant. Now they're living under the burden of having rejected the Messiah who brings the covenant.

Of course, many Jews one by one for the last 2 ,000 years have been coming to Messiah and live under this covenant now. Maybe you, by natural human bloodline, were Jewish in origin and you have come to Christ as Messiah.

This is your covenant. Someday the nation will come. Particularly it will happen as the end of Romans 11 describes it and it says, Thus all Israel shall be saved. Speaking of the end of the tribulation, where Christ returns to the earth and those Jews left who have not died in the great judgments of the tribulation will see the one, as Zechariah said, whom they have pierced and they will fall in weeping faith before him and enter into this covenant by faith.

Just like we do by faith. That's what awaits Israel eventually. In a minute we'll see that this has already been inaugurated though for us, the church now. But what are the terms of this covenant that Israel awaits and we now live in?

What are the terms? Three of them here gloriously laid out. Number one, forgiveness of sins at the end of verse 34. For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more. Forgiveness of sins is part of the new covenant.

Now I must admit, maybe you too, that that's really all I thought of when I heard of the new covenant. This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you. Oh yes, forgiveness of sin by the shed blood of Jesus.

Yeah, that's glorious. But that's just part of it. Praise God for that part. But that's just part of it. What else? Not only forgiveness of sins, but a personal relationship with God. Verse 34. 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.

The open door of intimate opportunity to get acquainted with God. It's one of the provisions of the new covenant. We'll talk more about that when we come into Hebrews in a moment. But take special note of this third provision of the new covenant.

And that is an internal working of God. Enabling His people from the inside out. Verse 33. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. Now notice this.

I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. Oh, what a difference this is from the old covenant. The old covenant of law. Think of it. The message was inanimate. It wasn't alive. It was a message of words carved in stone external to man.

An outside inanimate message. The new covenant, it's inside. It's alive. It's the Spirit of God at work. What a difference. The old covenant, the law externally in stone saying, Be holy. Oh, it's describing what life should look like, but it doesn't provide life.

God intended for life to be godly, to be holy, to be righteous. The law demands it. It describes what life should be, but it doesn't offer life. It's an external inanimate message. Then what is the glory of the new covenant?

That message is brought internal by the work of the Holy Spirit. That message of holiness is brought inside of man by the Spirit of God, placed in our minds, embedded in our hearts. In other words, God begins to develop that godly, holy life from the inside out.

In other words, this is God's sufficiency for godly living. God at work in us, developing a godly life deep in our heart to flow forth. That's what awaits Israel someday as a nation. But our next heading reminds us that all of that is already inaugurated for the church now.

The New Covenant Inaugurated for the Church

The new covenant is inaugurated for the church now. Hebrews chapter 8 speaks of that. Hebrews chapter 8. Hebrews chapter 8 verse 6. But now he has obtained a more excellent ministry, he being Jesus, our great high priest, has obtained a more excellent ministry than the high priests of the old covenant of law.

Inasmuch as he, Jesus, is also mediator of a better covenant, covenant of grace, so much better than the covenant of law, which was established, this better covenant, on better promises. The old covenant had promises.

Basically, the law said, do this and you'll live. Do this and I promise you, you'll live. Do these commandments and you'll be living life abundant. Sure, because they describe godly, holy living. Here's the problem.

No one on their own can do them. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and the glorious standards of God. There are better promises in the new covenant. Basically, the new covenant says, now you live, you're able to do this.

If you draw on the right life. The right sufficient resource. Verse 6. Now he has obtained a more excellent ministry. Inasmuch as he is also mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

This better covenant, the new covenant, is established already for the church to walk in. Verse 7. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. Because finding fault with them, he, God says, God, seeing the shortcoming in the law, that it can't enable people to do what it demands, says, Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel.

Verse 9. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers. Does that sound familiar? Same exact passage we just read in Jeremiah 31, is now being quoted in Hebrews 8, and applied to New Testament believers.

Verse 9. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers. Does that sound familiar? Same exact passage we just read in Jeremiah 31, is now being quoted in Hebrews 8, and applied to New Testament believers.

And it goes on to quote that passage thoroughly. Then verse 13. In that he, God says, a new covenant, he, God, has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old? Is ready to vanish away.

The new covenant of grace, causing the old covenant to show its inadequacy, that it's obsolete, that it cannot produce what it demands. The new covenant, here in Hebrews 8, is applied to the church of Jesus Christ.

Yes, the book is called Hebrews, because it was written to Hebrew believers. But that doesn't mean it's not for Gentile believers. It was addressed to Hebrew believers, because early Hebrew believers in the early church were tempted to go back to the law and the ritual.

It was more culturally acceptable, less persecution, and more familiar. But in Christ there is no East or West, no male or female, no Jew nor Gentile, all one in Christ. What's written to one is written to all.

This is written to the brethren, as we'll see in a moment the term is used. The brethren, that is brothers and sisters in the family of God. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 15. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us.

Who is the us? Well, verse 19. Therefore brethren, the family of God, brothers and sisters in Christ, the church of Jesus Christ. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us. For after he had said before, this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord.

I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds I'll write them. What is this? The same quote of Jeremiah 31 about the new covenant promised. And the Holy Spirit witnesses to us by quoting this passage and then applying it to us.

How is it applied to us? Verse 19. Therefore brethren, in light of this new covenant. Therefore brethren, having boldness, having present tense right now our possession. Having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way.

Now notice this. Which he consecrated for us. That could be translated, which he inaugurated for us. It could be rendered, which he dedicated, initiated, instituted, set in place for us. But notice, past tense.

He inaugurated for us, already happened. Already available. It's the new covenant that we live in today. The new and living way. That which is promised to Israel eventually is already inaugurated for the church now.

Should be no surprise in that. For both it's provided by the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Well as a people, the nation rejected Jesus. But individuals who followed him, he gave them the right to be called children of God.

John chapter 1. And for all of us, we now follow Jesus, the Messiah, the mediator of the new and better covenant. This new covenant is instituted for us. What does that mean? It means forgiveness of sins is ours in this new covenant.

Yes, we know that. We're forgiven. It means an intimate relationship is available to us. By this new and living way, Hebrews 10, 19 and 20, we can boldly go into the holiest. Think of the old and dying way.

The old way that got so old. The old covenant of law. How many went into the holy of holies? One person one day every year for everyone else. Pretty meager intimacy with God in that respect. There's a great message there, of course.

All of the sacrifices, the temple, the ritual, teaching us that God is holy, man is not. There must be the shedding of blood for forgiveness of sins. You don't just walk up to God and say, hey, you created this, I want to know you.

In fact, I got a few questions. Not quite. God's holy, we aren't. The law teaches that. The temple, the ritual, the sacrifices. And that one man who went in one day a year, he didn't go in boldly either.

He went in on tiptoe, praying he would come back out. In fact, they tied a rope around the high priest's ankle because if he died in there, no one could go in and get him. Have to pull him out. Pretty meager relationship, huh?

Well, this was just foreshadowing the need of man and the provision of God. Now the new covenant fulfills it all. This is the new and living way. Every one of us, every day, any time, all day, can just boldly go right into the holiest.

The veil has been torn, not from bottom to top by man, but top to bottom by God. Verse 20, that boldness to go into the holiness by the blood of Jesus is by a new and living way, which he consecrated for us through the veil that is his flesh.

When his body was torn in the cross, the veil was torn in the temple. Now the door is open by the blood of Jesus Christ and intimacy with God. So forgiveness of sins and intimacy with God. Now, we're going to concentrate in these six studies on the third provision, the inner enabling work of God that provides for us the sufficiency we need to become more and more what God calls us to be.

The Lord's Supper and the New Covenant

Godly living by the sufficiency of God. One last verse, Luke 22, 20. We have alluded to this already a number of times, this verse, but let's read it, Luke 22, 20. Likewise, he, Jesus, also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you.

When did Jesus speak this? At the last supper as he instituted the Lord's Supper. My own appreciation of the Lord's Supper just exploded in dimensions, much bigger when the Lord began to show me the significance of the new covenant.

I always appreciated the bread and the cup. The bread is body, the cup is blood. It's about his death and burial and resurrection. But he said specifically, this cup is the new covenant. Why is it so blessed to comprehend the new covenant even to appreciate the Lord's Supper?

Because it's too easy to think of the Lord's Table only in terms of forgiveness. The new covenant is forgiveness and more. It's forgiveness plus intimacy with God plus sufficiency to function and grow and serve.

It's also God's sufficiency for godly living. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. It's a reminder of this provision of the new covenant through Jesus Christ. Drinking it is confessing of the new arrangement for living with God.

Based on his blood, oh, think of the amazing and effective price paid to establish the new covenant. No wonder the new covenant offers such amazing and effective provisions when you consider the amazing and effective price paid to establish it.

Living by God's Sufficiency

In conclusion, let's read once more one of our key theme verses for these six studies, 2 Corinthians 3 .5. 2 Corinthians 3 .5. How do we walk in this? What are the primary implications and applications for our lives?

Well, here again, the heart of the new covenant for daily living, 2 Corinthians 3 .5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.

What are we to do with that? Embrace it, believe it, stand on it, act on it, adjust our thinking to it. And I mean all of it, including the uncomfortable kind of humbling aspects of it, like not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves.

People say, well, you've got to reach down deep. For what? There's nothing there. We're not sufficient to think of anything, anything godly, anything eternal, anything Christ-like, anything life-giving, anything justifying, sanctifying, edifying, transforming as coming from ourselves.

That's humbling. We're to embrace it, agree with it, say, okay, Lord, I wouldn't normally like to think about myself in those terms, but you're God, you know what's right, I bow down before that. It's good to be humbled before God.

We'll talk much about that in our studies along the way. But not only does God want to humble us, but He humbles us so we can receive His encouragement. What is that? Be encouraged. Though you and I cannot supply anything needed to make a life godly, our sufficiency is from God.

The same God who calls us to godly living is willing to share His resources with us that we might grow in godliness. Sure, we don't have what it takes. Let go of that great American testimony. I can do it.

We can do it. You know you can do it? Sure you can. Forget it. It's the kingdom of man. Yeah, you can build towers of Babel that way. Yes, you can put men out in space trying to find out where life came from.