Northern Kingdom Living: the Experience of Grace
Read Romans 5:20-21; what does this verse mean?
We find virtual meaning of this verse here in the books of 1 and 2 Kings;
In the NK was sin abounding? They were a very sinful people. Independent of God; they looked to idols to secure blessing and favor; they even reneged on their claim: The Lord He is God when He answered by fire; there was a tremendous effort to extinguish the voice of God among them by the leadership killing the prophets. How much more do you need to hear?
Stats: It was this way for 204 years in the NK; Not just one generation but one right after the other; so in light of this and maybe what you have believed about God what will be His response?
Sadly in our cases when we are living in NK living we think there is no hope or help for us unless we start performing and get ourselves in shape to get something from God; On the other hand some of us have written off those who live around us in this state (children of God) and we write them off; Our question this morning: Where sin abounds God’s grace does not abound, OR WHERE SIN ABOUNDS GRACE MUCH MORE ABOUNDS? WHICH IS TRUE?
Today we are going to look at two incidents where sin abounds grace abounds much more; the only way they are connected is God’s grace;
1. 2 Kings 3:1-27: Grace for the Fight;
a. 1-3; the nature of the person that will experience grace; does he deserve this grace?
b. 4-9; the needless fight; a trade agreement broken; no dependence upon God; they take matters into their own hands (gather their troops); make their own plans; run into great difficulty; looking at imminent defeat; all of this takes place in a short period of time;
c. The necessary thing that must happen if they are to experience grace; they are powerless but not prayer less and one of them has enough sense to reach out to God; and they went down;
d. The need to let God do his thing; do not attempt to do God’s work of grace in a circumstance;
a. Their condition v 13-14;
b. His command v16-19;
c. He completes what He started; v20-26;
2. 2 Kings 4:1-7: Grace for the Fearful; Where sin abounds what much more abounds? What do we have in this story? Fear three things here to look at;
a. The Incident 4:1 her children are going to be taken; this is a law there is not one thing she can do about it unless the debt is paid; She has great fear; What does God do in the face of great fear? This woman is afraid no matter what she knows about God it is clouded in light of her fear. HAS ANYONE HERE BEEN FEARFUL? Can God do anything about our fear?
b. The inclination; v1; what a great place to start with our fear turn to someone who you know might be able to help point you in the right direction;
c. The intervention; v2-7; what does God do in the face of our fear?
a. V2; faith; except a jar of oil; you have nothing to deal with this fear (no money, no resources, you can’t make them come back; you can’t make them change their minds; you have nothing to change this circumstance except a jar of oil; he has given us everything we need; TAKE UP THE SHIELD OF FAITH;
b. V3-6; FOCUS; “SET YOUR MIND”; I WILL KEEP YOU IN PERFECT PEACE” WHAT ELISHA TOLD HER TO DO SHE DID IT ALL; Ps.91; Isa.41: 13; 43:12; Rom.8: 15;
c. V7; the future;
This was not about performance but faith; focus; and the future;
Where sin abounds grace much more abounds; fights of our own making, grace; fear that is foreign to our faith; grace; It is all of grace;
