2 Samuel 7:27 For you, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, have revealed to your servant, saying, I will build you an house… David gives the promise of God to him as a reason for praying that his house might be established forever. He intimates that otherwise he would not have found it in his heart to do so. In like manner, the promises of God to Christians incite and encourage them to pray for bestowments that they would not have otherwise ventured to ask for. I. THE GREATNESS OF GOD'S PROMISES. They set before us blessings so precious, vast, and enduring, that, apart from the declarations of God, we should never have dared to think of them as possible for us, or to pray for them. From the goodness and power of God in general we might have ventured to hope and pray for some blessings, but not such as are now the common subjects of Christian prayer. Look in this view at some of the Divine promises, or declarations which are equivalent to promises. 1. As to the believer himself. Promises as to: (1) Pardon of great and numerous sins, long practised. Repeated pardons. (2) Renewal of nature and character. Deliverance from slavery to sins the most natural, the most habitual. "A new heart," etc. (3) Adoption into the family of God. The Spirit of adoption. Participation of the Divine nature. Free access to God. Fellowship with him. (4) Victory over the mightiest enemies. (5) "Grace sufficient" for all circumstances, and highest good from them. (6) Fulness of spiritual life, of knowledge, holiness, strength, joy. "Filled unto the fulness of God;" "Filled with the Spirit" The indwelling in the heart of Christ, of God, by the Holy Spirit. Truly there are heights of godliness, goodness, and blessedness attainable in this life, to which most of us are strangers. (7) Heaven. Seeing God face to face; being with Christ, being like him in body, soul, condition; reigning with him as kings; experiencing "fulness of joy, pleasures forevermore." Let any one examine the statements of Holy Scripture on these subjects, and consider what they mean; and he must perceive that they set forth blessings which, apart from the assurances thus given, men could not have conceived of, much less imagined that they could ever be their own. 2. As to the future of the kingdom of God on earth. The attraction of all men to Christ; the universal spread of the knowledge, worship, and service of God; and consequently of peace, union, and brotherhood; obedience on earth to God's will as it is obeyed in heaven. In opposition to such a prospect is the whole history and experience of the world, with the exception of a small fraction; the depravity of mankind, the power of error, superstition, idolatry, priestcraft, old habits of wickedness, etc. Such a vision could never have appeared to men; or, if it had occurred to an active imagination, could never have been regarded as a matter for serious prayer and endeavour, if God had not given it by his prophets and by his Son. II. THE EFFECT WHICH THESE PROMISES SHOULD HAVE ON OUR PRAYERS. They should: 1. Impel us to pray. Not lead us to neglect prayer, as if the Divine purpose and promise superseded all need for prayer. "Thus saith the Lord God: I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them" (Ezekiel 36:37). The blessings promised are for these who seek them. 2. Enrich and enlarge our prayers. The measure in which we receive is according to the measure in which we desire and ask (Luke 11:5-13; 2 Kings 13:18, 19). 3. Greatly encourage them. Leading us to pray with confidence and importunity. Petitions that would have been presumptuous without the promises are now sober and reasonable. We need not and ought not to be deterred either by: (1) Our sinfulness and God's holiness and threatenings. (2) Our insignificance and God's majesty. (3) The greatness of the blessings promised, and our or incapacity to receive them; the difficulties in the way of the fulfilment of the (4) the difficulties in the way of the fulfilment of the promises. Sufficient that they are the promises of God, and he (1) "Jehovah of hosts," having all things under his control, unchanging and eternal and; (2) "God of Israel," our God, our covenant God, who has taken us to be his, and given himself to be ours in Christ Jesus. All that he has promised appears only to befit such a sublime relationship. (See further in homily on ver. 25.) - G.W. Parallel Verses KJV: For thou, O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee an house: therefore hath thy servant found in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. |
    |