Will God dwell on Earth?
A Sermon on 1 Kings 8:27
Scripture
27But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded?
Sermon Description
The Old Testament recounts the desire of David, the great king of Israel, to build a house of God befitting His glory and splendor. God redirected David’s desire and Solomon, David’s son, fulfilled this desire at a later time. Solomon built and dedicated a magnificent temple for God’s dwelling place among His people as a place for God’s people to commune with Him. In the sermon on 1 Kings 8:27 titled “Will God Dwell on Earth?” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones expounds this theme of God’s dwelling among His people in this special Christmas Day sermon by showing how the Son of God dwelt on earth in the incarnation. Jesus “tabernacled” among His people; He literally came to dwell on earth. This reality is a great paradox: that God could come and take on flesh and be the means of salvation. How can Christians respond in any other way than in great amazement and faith at this momentous occasion. Through the incarnation there is now a way to meet and commune with God that is impossible without the Lamb of God coming to taste death on the sinner’s behalf.
Sermon Breakdown
- God came down to dwell on earth. This is a literal fact, not a story or fairy tale.
- The incarnation is a marvel and wonder. God confined himself to a womb, stable and manger. The creator contained in his creation.
- This is a paradox - Jesus is fully God and fully man. He humbled himself, made himself of no reputation but did not empty himself of deity. He laid aside the manifestations of his glory.
- Jesus shared in the human experience - he grew, learned, worked as a carpenter, faced temptation. He identified with us and our sin though without sin himself.
- The purpose of the incarnation was to bring us to God. Jesus is the only way to the Father. He died to reconcile us to God.
- We need God's help in trouble, defeat, drought, famine, pestilence, mildew and the plague of our own hearts (sin). Jesus meets this need.
- In Jesus we find forgiveness, pardon, new life, sustenance and blessing. He deals with our sin so we can meet with God.
- Our response should be amazement, worship, adoration, praise and rejoicing. Do we understand the incarnation? It should produce this response in us.
- We should be amazed at God's love in sending Jesus. We should worship him for dying on the cross so we can meet God.
- We should rejoice that God has visited and redeemed us, we know him as Father and our sins are forgiven.
Old Testament
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.