Progress of Redemption #07 — David Shirley

Prayer for Wisdom and Revelation

Father we thank you this day for causing us to be born again by your spirit. And we do ask that you would grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of you. And we thank you according to your word in psalm 25 where he said.

The secret of the lord is within to fear him and he will show to them his covenant. Show us by your spirit. We pray in jesus name amen. Psalm 15 verse 1 says. The mighty one god the lord has spoken and summoned the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

God Speaks Through Creation and Scripture

The lord has spoken through creation as he says in psalm 19. The heavens are telling of the glory of god and their expanses declaring the work of his hand. Day to day force forth speech night to night reveals knowledge.

There's no speech nor are there words where their voice is not heard. Their line that is their architectural rule has gone out throughout all the earth and their utterances to the end of the world. And in them he has placed a tent for the sun which is as a bridegroom coming out of this chamber.

It rejoices as a strong man to run his course. Its rising is from one end of the heaven and its circuit to the other end and there is nothing hidden from its heat. And as much as we know god's eternal power and godhead through the creation that he has revealed to us we know as he says in luke 16 17.

But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one stroke of a letter of the law to fail or as jesus put it in matthew 5 18. But truly i say to you until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law until all is accomplished.

Thank god that the law of the spirit of life in christ jesus has come to set us free from the law of sin and death. God has also spoken by his prophetic word through the scriptures which paul says in 2nd timothy 3 16 is god breathed that god breathed through men the living scriptures the incorruptible seed of the word of god that lives and abides forever.

And peter says in first peter 120 and 21 that no prophecy no god breathed scripture was ever made by an act of human will. But men moved by the holy spirit spoke from god. And so god has revealed himself in his creation.

He's also spoken through prophets and given us the scriptures through which he has revealed himself. But ultimately in these last days god has spoken according to hebrews chapter one in his son god after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days has spoken to us in son.

That is the method that god has chosen to speak through is his own son whom he appointed heir of all things through whom also he made the world or blueprinted the ages. And he's the radiance of his glory the flashing forth and the exact representation of his nature and upholds all things by the word of his power.

And when he had made purification of sin he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. God's final and full word to mankind is through his son. Everything god has ever said is said again in his son with new clarity and value.

Jesus Christ as God's Final Revelation

And so like the little streams and the tributaries that run down and merge into a great river like the niagara falls so all of god's truth merges and runs into his son. And as john the revelator said his voice was as the voice of many waters so that of him and through him and to him are all things.

Jesus christ is the word that was in the beginning with god the word that was god the word that explained god the exegesis of god the alphabet the alpha and the omega through which god communicates his final and full revelation to us.

And so as we begin to think about god speaking and particularly in relationship to the covenants that god made we'll look at the edenic the damock the noah abrahamic the mosaic the palestinian davidic and the new covenant.

But these eternal covenants that were made were made in eternity. And so these are between the father and the son. And there's always been the father who is a lover and he has loved dearly and perfectly his son his beloved son.

The one who has been loved for all eternity is jesus christ. He's been loved by his father without break in that communication perfect and total communication. There's been a spirit of love between them between father and son for all eternity.

And so we have the father the son and the holy spirit. They are our model for communication. Because there's never been a time when there wasn't perfect communication it's existed forever between the father the son and the holy spirit.

And because their love was so great their love is so perfect and complete. Then god created. He created for his own glory. He didn't need to create in order to have fellowship. He had perfect fellowship.

But because his fellowship was so good so perfect so complete in every way he created much like what he hopes. His design is for the family. When a man and a woman get together and become one flesh then god's desire for that family is that there be such a love between the man and the woman such an agreement between the man and the woman such a wholesome relationship and communication that the natural result of that will be that as they become one flesh and they bring into that union a little baby that baby will be born into such a wonderful environment an environment of communication an environment of love.

And so god is our model in terms of communication from the very beginning. And god who has loved his son for all eternity has sent his son and spoken in his son words that cannot be miscommunicated in any way whatsoever.

His son became flesh and then he died taking our sin upon himself. He died on a cross went to the point of death on a cross obeying his father something that no man has done since god created man and said would you rule for me.

And men have chosen not to rule for god but to rule for themselves. Jesus came and he ruled for god the only man that ever fully completely perfectly pleased god at all he did and all he said and had a perfect heart toward his father and ruled for his father.

And now the good news is that jesus has done for us what we could never do. And he offers us forgiveness on the basis of what he's done in the shedding of his blood. He offers to give us his spirit if we receive him and cause us to be born again to become completely new in him and to have the power to continue the relationship with god and to grow in this grace and to enjoy god and to live by the spirit and to walk in the spirit.

Oh what a tremendous opportunity we have in christ jesus. And so god has spoken in his son. So it's very important as we begin to look through the word that god's words not be over emphasized. They can't be over emphasized because the eternal destiny of every human being depends on their response to god's words.

Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of god. God initiated the program of redemption. God made announcements about his intentions. Now these announcements are designated covenants in the bible.

The Meaning and Purpose of Biblical Covenants

So you might want to think of the covenants in terms of god making announcements god speaking about his intentions particularly concerning man's salvation. Think of a secular covenant if we can say that we're thinking of an agreement usually formal between two people to do something or not to do something something specified something that they've agreed upon and usually involves law in such an agreement.

But when we think of a scriptural covenant we're talking about a sovereign pronouncement of god by which god establishes a relationship a relationship of responsibility between himself and either an individual like abraham or a relationship with mankind in general like he gave us at the noah covenant with the rainbow that he would not destroy mankind again in general.

Or a relationship with a nation like choosing the nation israel or a relationship with a particular family. A covenant is not man made but it's god made and most of them are unconditional. God says i will i will do this.

And there are a few cases like in exodus 19 verse 5. Or in deuteronomy 28 where god says if you will do this then this will happen and i'll do this for you. But in most of the covenants god simply comes and says this is my sovereign pronouncement about what i'm going to do.

The Edenic Covenant and Human Dominion

The first time god ever spoke to man was in genesis 1 28. And god blessed them and he said to them be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

God had said let us make man in our image according to our likeness and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the sky and the cattle over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

And so god created man in his own image in the image of god he created him. And then god said behold i've given you every plant yielding seed that's on the surface of all the earth. And every tree which is yielding fruit and its seed it shall be for food.

And chapter 215 says then the lord god took the man and put him into the garden of eden to cultivate it and to keep it. And the lord god commanded the man saying from any tree of the garden you may eat freely but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.

For in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die. So in the edenic covenant god tells man he wants him to propagate the race. He wants him to subdue the earth to have dominion over the animal creation to care for the garden and eat the fruit and the herbs but to abstain from eating from this one tree the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

And that's on penalty of death for your disobedience. And so if you could sum it up in one word in one sentence anyway what would you say. What is the edenic covenant. Well it's very simply. God requires that man rule for him.

God is setting the terms for the relationship between himself and the man whom he has created in his own image. And god wants to make the decisions as to what's good and to what's evil. Because after all that's what makes something moral.

If god has spoken about something then it's a moral issue. How do you know something is a moral issue. How do you determine and discern if something's a moral issue. Well it's very simple. If god has spoken about it then it's a moral issue.

If god has not spoken about it then it's not a moral issue. Why. Because god is the only one that has a right to make those decisions. It makes me think of first samuel 15 when saul was told to wipe out the malachites and we know that uh he didn't fully obey the lord there uh he he was ruling for god to a degree.

But we see in the end result he really wasn't ruling totally for god. He was ruling for himself. And he made the decision that uh it was best to spare agag and it was best to spare some of the best sheep and cows and things like that and bring them back.

And yet god only has that right. He's the only one with that right to make those decisions. And so saul never really ruled fully for god. He wasn't like uh what we read about david that david was a man after god's own heart.

Yeah he had his problems. But what was so neat about him was his heart was right. And he wanted to rule for god. And he wanted to follow god fully. And it goes all the way back really to the edenic covenant.

What we learn here god requires that man rule for him. But unfortunately mankind created the image of god. Male and female have decided that they will rule for themselves. Satan's main goal is to usurp the place of the most high and through the serpent satan's crafty tool.

The woman was deceived she says and she ate. However the man knew what he was doing when he ate. The root of sin lies in man's desire to be independent of god. How much do you do without god. Jesus said that he did nothing without his father.

Thank god that after adam sinned god sought adam. Thank god that there's something besides the consciousness of what we are in our rebellion against god. But there is the revelation of who and what god is.

The Fall, Judgment, and the Promise of Redemption

Listen to what god says in genesis 3 14 and 15. As god sets the conditions of life for fallen mankind god says here's the way it is. And he gives promise of a redeemer. And the lord god said to the serpent because you've done this curse it are you more than all cattle and more than every beast of the field on your belly shall you go and dust shall you eat all the days of your life.

And i will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel. To the woman he said i will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth.

In pain you shall bring forth children. Yet your desire shall be for your husband and he shall rule over you. Then to adam he said because you've listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree about which i commanded you saying you shall not eat from it.

Curse it is the ground because of you in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you. And you shall eat the plants of the field by the sweat of your face.

You shall eat bread till you return to the ground because from it you were taken for you are dust and to dust you shall return. So god curses the serpent satan's tool and the serpent becomes a graphic warning in nature of the effects of sin.

But immediately though the soul that sinneth it shall die. God makes a promise of a redeemer that there will be a seed of the woman who will come to bruise the serpent on his head. And then god changes the state of the woman.

God changes labor to be burdensome and the earth is cursed with toil and thorns and sweat. And there's an inevitable sorrow in life. There's brevity of life now and the certainty of death because the soul that sinneth it shall die.

Sin is so awful because it kills our relationship with god. Now god's not the author of sin and man's not the author of sin either sin came from without it came from satan. Satan invented sin. And there was a time on earth when there was not sin.

There will be a time again on earth when there is not sin. But sin's not just the personification of an evil principle that works within us though it does but it's an actual evil person that we're dealing with.

And by the time we get to the end of the bible we see that god actually cast this evil person into the lake of fire and brimstone that burns perpetually forever. And so the seed of the woman will be the source of our redemption.

By the woman came sin but also by the woman will come salvation. As galatians 4 4 tells us that jesus christ was born of a woman under the law to redeem those who were under the law. God is so good that he's going to get rid of the sin which is so bad that it keeps us from relationship with god.

And so god tells adam makes a sovereign pronouncement that he will send the redeemer because god is so good. This promise of god was probably the reason why adam named his wife eve the mother of all living.

Because the voice of god the voice of faith caused adam to name her prophetically looking forward to that promise being fulfilled. But we're soon to see the effects of sin. And we read the story of cain and abel and how cain killed his brother abel and the lord god even before that said to cain why are you angry.

And why has your countenance fallen. Because cain was not offering the proper sacrifice to god and he was not walking in faith toward god like abel his brother. And god had accepted abel's sacrifice. But cain said not and cain was angry.

His countenance was fallen. God said if you do well will not your countenance be lifted up. And if you do not do well sin is crouching at the door and its desire is for you but you must master it. However cain didn't master it but he killed his brother abel.

And then the lord said to cain where is abel your brother. And he said i do not know am i my brother's keeper. And he said what have you done. The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground and now you are cursed from the ground.

Noah, the Flood, and Divine Grace

So things continued to go down and we read that the lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the lord was sorry that he made man on the earth and he was grieved in his heart.

But noah found favor in the eyes of the lord. Noah was a righteous man blameless in his time. Noah walked with god and twice the lord says the earth is filled with violence again the earth is filled with violence and so i'm about to destroy them with the earth.

And so god did destroy the earth. He preserved noah eight souls his family. The lord closed the door on the ark that noah had made and then sent the flood for 40 days and 40 nights upon the earth. And god started over with noah and his family after the flood because god was going to establish now the principle of human government to curb the outbreak of sin we need some law and some order because of the evil heart of men and the violence particularly murder that has been done on the earth.

But because god is so gracious god sent a rainbow and established a sign of a covenant that god would not destroy the earth anymore by water and he hasn't. But in terms of government the one thing that god brings out is in genesis chapter 9 and verse 6 whoever sheds man's blood by man his blood shall be shed.

For in the image of god he made man. And so with this government man is made responsible to protect the sanctity of human life and so much so that it says whoever sheds man's blood by man his blood shall be shed.

That is capital punishment not a right we have as individuals. But that's the purpose of government. And god set the rainbow in the sky told him to populate the earth to be fruitful and to multiply again.

And god said to noah this is the sign of the covenant that is this rainbow which i've established between me and all flesh that is on the earth. So you see it's god doing it it's god's grace. And then of course he the other thing he added in this new relationship with noah uh is what some have said is my life verse uh verses three and four where it says every moving thing that is alive shall be food for you.

I give all to you as i gave the green plant only you shall not eat flesh with its life that is its blood. And so added to the diet of man is the meat of animals thank god. And one other thing that god says is uh concerning ham verse 25 through 27 he says that ham will be the servants of his brothers and that japeth will be blessed through the line of shem.

But that all divine revelation is going to come through semitic men because christ will descend from shem. And so verse 26 says blessed be the lord the god of shem by the fact of god establishing human government and god establishing that there's a special relationship between he and shem and that he is the god of shem.

Then human government has some relationship to god's overall plan. And i think this points to a time of rule on earth through the descendants of shem and particularly the seed of the woman who is jesus christ that he will at some point establish the perfect government and he will rule on this earth.

Oh what a day to look forward to. But we see here with noah that without god man is simply dead in the water the waters of judgment the waters of destruction. But because of the grace of over all mankind his reign does fall on the just and the unjust.

But he says this rain will never destroy the whole earth again. And so he gives us the rainbow and says protect the sanctity of human life. That's the main basic purpose of good government. Well soon we read that the whole earth used the same language and the same words and they said come let's build for ourselves a city and let us make for ourselves a name.

And so when the lord saw this intention this godless ambition on their part it almost sounds like genesis 1 again. Then the lord said let's go down and confuse their language that they may not understand one another's speech.

So the lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth and they stopped building the city. Therefore its name was called babel because there the lord confused the language of the whole earth.

The Abrahamic Covenant and the Promised Seed

And from there the lord scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth. And then god turns to this one man and calls him out of ur the chaldees. And in genesis 12 we read now the lord said to abram go forth from your country and from your relatives and from your father's house to the land which i will show you and i will make you a great nation and i will bless you and make your name great and so you shall be a blessing and i will bless those who bless you.

And the one who curses you i will curse and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Now isn't it great to see god meet the need of mankind here. Because man needs to know that he can be delivered from satan and from sin.

And this effect that keeps wiping him out. Man needs to know that god has a plan and so god reiterates that plan through abraham. And so we know that the promise of the seed the messiah the one that he started in genesis 3 15 that he would build a great nation.

And through that nation the whole earth is going to be blessed because from the seed of abraham will come the messiah. God does have a plan and he's going to work it out. Uh in the book of acts when stephen was in act 7 standing there he says he the glory of god appeared to our father abraham.

And as they begin to stone him stephen says behold i see heaven opened up and the son of man standing at the right hand of god and they stoned him. He saw the glory of god which was jesus christ the messiah.

And galatians 3 16 tells us now the promises were spoken to abraham and to his seed. He does not say into seeds that is plural as to many but to one seed. And to your seed singular that is christ the messiah.

So the promise that was given to abraham was that from him would come that promised messiah that god promised way back in genesis 3 15. Now what is the content that surrounds the covenant with abraham.

Well we know that god keeps coming to abraham and watching over him in genesis 15. Uh the lord came to abram in a vision. He said do not fear abram i'm a shield to you your reward shall be very great.

And abram said well lord well what will you give me since i'm childless. And the heir of my house is eliezer of damascus. And abram said since thou has given me no offspring. Uh one born in my house you know is my heir.

Then behold the word of the lord came to him saying this man will not be your heir but one who shall come forth from your own body he shall be your heir. And he took him outside and said now look toward the heavens count the stars if you're able to count them.

And he said to him so shall your descendants be. And abraham believed in the lord and he reckoned it to him as righteousness. Well what is god doing. God is saying abraham i'm the one that called you out of earth the caldees.

I'm the one that made the promise. Back in genesis 3 15 i'm the one that's going to provide you the son. And in chapter 17 god reiterated it again. When abram was about well 99 years old the lord appeared to him and said i am god almighty walk before me and be blameless.

I will establish my covenant between me and you. I will multiply you exceedingly. Abram fell on his face and talked with god said as for me behold my covenant is with you and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations.

No longer shall your name be called abram but your name shall be called abraham. And i will make you the father of a multitude of nations. And i will make you exceedingly fruitful. And i will make nations of you and kings shall come forth from you.

And i will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generation for an everlasting covenant to be god to you and to your descendants after you. And i will give to you and to your descendants after you the land of your sojournings all the land of canaan for an everlasting possession.

And i will be their god. God is complete in himself. He is el shaddai and he's going to do it. And notice that the method that god chooses is to talk to abraham like he's his friend. Uh god makes promises.

And then god comes and shares his plans. And he comes to abraham several times said i'm going to do this and i'm going to do that. And just reminds him of what he's going to do. And uh it reminds me of what jesus said to the disciples.

I don't call you servants any longer but i call you friends because jesus was disclosing things about his life to them. And that's the way it is with friends. I know you probably get upset if your friends don't tell you what they're doing.

And you find out through the great vine or you find out from other people things that some of your closest friends are doing. And you wonder why didn't they tell me about it. You know i thought they were my friend because friends share plans and that's what god is doing.

He's just talking to abraham as a friend and sharing the plans that he has. And the response that god expects from this kind of a covenant is that we trust that god will do what he says that we wait expectantly.

Now we know that abraham had the wrong response. He tried in his own strength and his own ability to produce ishmael and would hope that ishmael would be the one that god would work through. And abraham even said to god he said oh that ishmael might live before you.

But god said no but sarah your wife shall bury you a son and you shall call his name isaac and i will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And so we see that grace is god doing it and god expects trust a committed faith and faithful perseverance in his promises.

Paul says that abraham grew strong in faith and he gave glory to god. That is he didn't waver in unbelief but he was fully assured that what god had promised god was able to perform. And so he grew in his faith and gave the glory to god because that's the great thing about faith it gives god all the glory established with abraham was one of trust expecting that god would do what he said he would do and what god has promised god is able to perform.

And that's the reason that abraham is called the father of all them that believe because god wants the same relationship with me and with you to realize by revelation the things that god has said he would do and has done for us and will yet do.

And then to just reckon them to be true and to rely upon them waiting expecting relying on his word and resting in him. As we watch god perform his word. Oh may the lord create this kind of relationship with us that he had with we will have to grow in it because abraham grew strong in faith and then he was able to give glory to god.

Moses, the Mosaic Covenant, and the Law

Now god begins to develop the family line of abraham. And we know that 430 years later after they have been down in egypt and they only had 70 people go down into egypt but they came out with millions and for years they just made bricks and babies developing into a great nation.

But at this time the people need a leader and they get one in moses. They need direction from god. They need law and order. And so we see the revealed law of theocratic israel. And god gave this to israel through moses.

The basis of all the laws in this covenant is the holiness of god as it's reflected specifically in the 10 commandments. Now the elements of this law that they were given were first of all uh the commandments.

They were given the law to express the righteous will of god. Read exodus 20 verses 1 through 26. Besides commandments they were given judgments and these judgments were to govern the social life of israel.

You read exodus 21 verses 1 through 24 and then they were given besides commandments and judgments ordinances and the ordinances were to govern the religious life of israel. You can read exodus 24 verse 12 through chapter 31 in verse 18 and you'll see all the ordinances that govern the religious life.

As we have commandments judgments and ordinances one expresses the righteous will of god. One governs the social life and one governs the religious life. And if we want to see the ultimate purpose for which this law was given we can just turn to romans chapter 7 and read verses 7 through 12.

The law was like a trusted slave that tutored a child toward the future. What shall we say then is the law sin. May it never be. But on the contrary i would not have come to know sin except through the law.

For i would not have known about coveting if the law had not said you shall not covet. But sin taking opportunity through the commandment produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead.

And i was once alive apart from the law. But when the commandment came sin became alive and i died. And this commandment which was to result in life proved to result in death for me. For sin taking opportunity through the commandment deceived me and through it killed me.

So then the law is holy and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. And so we see that god is good and god is holy. But man is so bad that he can't obey god's good law. And so the law reveals the sin in man and the need that we have for god because man can't do it we don't have the ability to be responsible in the relationship with god.

The lord explains it even further in the book of leviticus. And he says that we're to be perfect and we're to walk before him. That's the seed of the moral law. Be perfect. Jesus said be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.

The seed of the ceremonial law is to walk before god. And so be perfect and walk before me be holy. For i am holy. That's morality. But walk before me. And so god provided you know the heart response of worship before him.