Hallowed be Thy Name
King David Pt.8
2 Samuel 7:21-29      9-20-2009

Summary: God is great in that He is unique as seen in the uniqueness of His people whom He redeemed for His own sake with awesome miracles so He could publish His fame by the miracles and by having a special people. And He makes future promises for the further expansion of His fame, which gives David boldness to pray for Him to activate the near fulfillment of those promises (simultaneously yielding and insisting). Now God publishes His fame not by physical blessings on His people but by missions and our holiness. So be bold to pray for the activation of redemption in your life for the sake of His name.

Introduction
The Fame of God in Redemption - 22-24
God is Unique
Unique people
Redemption for His name
Fame through Miracles - 23
Fame through His special relationship with Israel 24
The Fame of God in Promise Keeping - 25-29
Why pray the promises?
Simultaneous yielding and insisting
Courage to pray
Operation Activate Redemption
Fame in the New Testament
Missions
Holiness
Why is it so slow?
Because we forfeit grace
Neglecting grace
Forfeiting grace
Resisting Grace

2 Samuel 7:17 Nathan reported to David all the words of this entire revelation. 18 Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said: "Who am I, Lord Yahweh, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far? 19 And as if this were not enough in your sight, Lord Yahweh, you have also spoken about the future of the house of your servant. Is this your usual way of dealing with man, Lord Yahweh? 20 "What more can David say to you? For you know your servant, Lord Yahweh. 21 For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your slave.  22 Therefore you are great, Lord Yahweh! There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears. 23 And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself, and to perform great and awesome wonders for your land and before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt, from the nations and their gods. 24 You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, Yahweh, have become their God. 
25 "And now, Yahweh God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised, 26 so that your name will be great forever. Then men will say, ‘Yahweh of Hosts is God over Israel!' And the house of your servant David will be established before you. 
27 "Yahweh Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying, 'I will build a house for you.' So your servant has found courage to offer you this prayer. 28 Lord Yahweh, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant. 29 Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, Lord Yahweh, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever."

Introduction
When Tracy and I went to Mexico we rode a shuttle bus to where we were going, and after a couple minutes we recognized the song that was playing on the radio. The lyrics were in Spanish, but we knew the tune. It was one of my favorite worship choruses. I tried to talk to the bus driver about it but he didn’t seem to know any English. But it made me so happy to be that far from home, in a foreign country, and to get on a random bus and hear the name of the Lord Jesus Christ being praised in another language. I loved that. Deep in the heart of everyone who loves God is a desire to see His name widely known and honored. One of the surest ways to get an “amen” in a room full of believers is to read Philippians .2:9-11.

Philippians 2:9 Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

If that isn’t the greatest passage in the entire Bible then surely Revelation 5:13 is.

Revelation 5:13 Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!"

An occasional Mexican bus driver is wonderful. But every created being in every place – every human being, every angel, all the countless different spiritual beings – seraphs, cherubs, rulers, powers, authorities – every single creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea all singing exuberant and heartfelt praises to the Lord Jesus Christ – that will be the happiest day of our lives because of our desire for the honor of His name. There is no greater desire. That is why when Jesus taught us to pray the very first thing He said was “Hallowed be Thy name.” In other words, “May the knowledge of God be reverenced and honored by all.” Jesus commanded us to pray for that, and He obeyed His own command.

John 12:28 Father, glorify your name!

That is our greatest desire and our first prayer. And it is also the unifying principle that binds all of God’s holy Word and all of the covenants together.
We have been studying through 2 Samuel 7, the chapter where God made promises to David in the Davidic Covenant, and then David responded with an extended prayer. Last week we studied the first half of the prayer, which was astonished thanksgiving, which climaxed in verse 21. Verse 21 is the center and high point and controlling idea of this whole prayer.
At first glance this prayer seems scattered. First David talks about His unworthiness, then God’s uniqueness, then redemption of the people of Israel from Egypt, then he asks God to fulfill the promises He just made about establishing David’s kingdom forever. But that is not just a bunch of scattered thoughts. They are all tied together by the principle of verse .21.
David has a profound sense of his own unworthiness and so he says, “Who am I that You would make promises like this to me? I’m not worthy of any of this God, so why are You doing it?” And the answer to that is verse 21.
21 For the sake of your word and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made it known to your slave. 

Why the blessing if David is not worthy? Because it was for God’s own sake. God is going to do these great things for His own sake – because He wants to.
Then in verses 22-24 he starts talking about God’s redemption of His people from Egypt. And the first word in verse 22 in the Hebrew is “therefore.” It is not an unrelated idea. David is not changing subjects. And you can see that when you get to verse 23.

23 And who is like your people Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself, and to make a name for himself

See the connection?
Verse 21 – Why did you do it God? For Your own sake.
Verse 23 – You redeemed Israel to make a name for Yourself.
Now look at the end of verse 25.

25 …Do as you promised, 26 so that your name will be great forever. 

Those three statements in verses 21, 23 and 25 tie everything together. It is not a scattered prayer. It is a prayer about one grand topic – God doing great things for the sake of His name.
When Scripture speaks of the name of God it sometimes means authority (like “Stop in the name of the law”). When people cast out demons in Jesus’ name it means on Jesus’ authority. Other times it refers to His status (God gave Jesus the name that is above every name). Other times it is just another way of simply referring to God Himself. “Praise His name” essentially means “Praise Him.” But in contexts like this it refers to His fame – that which is known of Him. So you can substitute the word “fame” for “name.” One writer said God’s name is the glory of God gone public. It is the reputation and knowledge of God.
The fame of God in this world is a very, very important thing – for a couple reasons. For one thing, it is important because His fame is part of His majesty and greatness and glory, and nothing is more important than the glory of God. The best thing that can ever happen – the highest possible good - is for God to be glorified. The most righteous, excellent, virtuous thing anyone could ever do is glorify God. And since God’s character is perfectly righteous, excellent, and virtuous and He always does what is best, His greatest passion and highest priority is to glorify Himself.
To make some other priority more important that glorifying God is idolatry. And God is not an idolater, so He makes His own exaltation His highest priority. If you have a good heart you will glorify God above all. And God has a good heart, so God glorifies God above all. That is why He cares so much about His fame.
Secondly, God’s fame is important because of His love. Knowledge of God is the most valuable and most beneficial thing there is, and so it is loving for God to make Himself known as widely as possible. If there is some knowledge that will save people’s lives and benefit them in countless ways then the most loving thing to do is to circulate that knowledge as widely as possible.
Sometimes it bothers people that God is zealous for His own glory because if we were like that about our own glory it would be selfish and arrogant. The reason it would be selfish and arrogant for me to try to become famous, because knowledge of me does not benefit anyone. But for God it is just the opposite. It would be unloving for Him not to make His name famous because people need the knowledge of Him more than they need anything. If you are the Grand Canyon, the biggest favor you can do for everyone is to simply allow yourself to be seen. If you are a spectacular mountain then the biggest favor you can do for humanity is allow yourself to be looked at and photographed and hiked up and skied down and camped in, etc. And if you are God the greatest favor you can ever do for mankind is to allow yourself to be known as widely as possible. And so God’s love drives Him to be passionate and zealous about His fame.

The Fame of God in Redemption - 22-24
So let’s take this verse by verse and watch how it all comes together. In verse 22 David’s gratitude lifts his eyes to contemplate the greatness of the Giver.
22 Therefore how great you are, Lord Yahweh! 

But the greatness of God is such a huge, broad, expansive idea – you cannot really process what it even means unless you break it down to some specifics. And when you do that there are a lot of directions you can go. Many times when we want to highlight His greatness we think about the creation. If we want to be staggered by how great He is we look up to the stars and start thinking about the awesome vastness of the universe. But that is not the only thing that shows God’s greatness. In fact, it is not even the greatest thing. In this prayer David is going to meditate on something even greater than the creation. And this thing that is so great and that displays God’s greatness so wonderfully is something that can only be said about God. This act that God did that David is going to talk about – this act that is more magnificent even than the creation – this act is a work of such awesome power that it proves the uniqueness of God. So before mentioning the act David begins with God’s uniqueness. 
God is Unique

22 …There is no one like you, and there is no God but you, as we have heard with our own ears.

God is unique. Deuteronomy 32:17 says that the gods of other religions are all demons. None of them are actually gods. There is only one God, Yahweh, and no other being in existence is anything like Him. The distance between the second greatest being in existence and God is infinite. 
And so God is not only unique, but He is the only being in existence who is unique (in the absolute sense). He is uniquely unique. If you had some skill where you were the only human being on the planet who could do what you do – that would make you unique in that one particular area. But in every other area you are not unique at all. Even if you are the best in the world at something there are millions of other people who are much better than you at everything else besides that one thing. The only unique human being was Adam, and that only lasted less than a day. No matter how talented or strange or different or special you are, you are still human and there are billions of other humans. There are no unique humans, no unique animals, no unique angels, no unique demons. No created thing is unique. 
The only being in existence who is completely, totally, utterly unique is God. There is no one who is exactly like Him in any area. That is why when someone comes along and says something like, “God is one of the highest priorities in my life” you know that person probably does not know God. If He is one of the highest priorities – one among several, then those several other things are in the same category in your mind with God. And if you believe in a god who is the same category with something or someone else, the god you believe in is not the true God.
And that is also why it is so absurd to suggest that all religions are fundamentally the same, and they all lead to essentially the same place. If that were true the Bible would not say that there is only one God and there is none like Him and all the gods of the other religions are demons. That is why Scripture calls the gods of other religions “lies.” Jesus Christ does not belong in a list with Mohammad and Buddha and Confucius and Joseph Smith. Those men were all created, sinful, finite, limited, needy, creatures who died and stayed dead. Jesus is the eternal, perfect, sinless, infinite, Creator God who raised Himself from the dead and ascended into heaven.
Take the most exceptional men and women who have ever lived – those people are rare, but not unique. Jesus Christ is utterly and absolutely unique.
Unique people 
But David’s point here is to focus on His uniqueness in one particular area - the uniqueness of His people.

23 And who is like your people Israel

God is so absolutely and utterly unique that His people are unique. There is no people like the people of God. In the Old Testament the people of God was Israel; in the New Testament it is the Church, but in both cases the people of God is a unique people – unlike any other group on earth.
Why? Because they are more numerous than any other people group? No. Because they are smarter? No. Wealthier? No. Better looking? No. Then what is it? What makes them so special?
Redemption for His name

23 And who is like your people Israel--the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for himself

What makes the people of God unique is redemption. They are not unique because of their own innate qualities or their accomplishments; they are unique because of what God has done for them. They are uniquely blessed by God. He went out to redeem them. To redeem means to free someone from slavery. The nation of Israel started out as slaves in Egypt, and God freed them. Why did He do that?

23 …to make a name for himself

But how does that make a name for Him? How does redeeming Israel – freeing them from slavery – publish God’s fame around the world? Many other peoples have been freed from slavery throughout human history, so how does freeing Israel from Egypt publish God’s fame and make His people unique? Two ways – 1) because of how He did it, and 2) because of the result.
Fame through Miracles - 23
First, God’s fame was increased because of the manner in which He freed Israel.

23 … and to perform great and awesome wonders for your land and before your people, whom you redeemed from Egypt, from the nations and their gods.

When God redeemed His people He did so with displays of power that made it crystal clear that what was happening could only be the work of God. He did things that only God can do, so no one had to wonder whether it was really from God or not.
God never expects us to believe something or someone or some message is from Him based on blind faith. He uses miracles to prove that it is from Him. When He gave the Ten Commandments He did not just expect people to somehow know intuitively that it was really God who gave those. He knew that lots of people claim to speak for God, and so He enabled Moses to do all kinds of miracles so everyone would know that He was truly a spokesman for God.
And God did the same thing with the prophets. He gave them the ability to know what would happen in the future with 100% accuracy. And He told His people – “If anyone ever comes along claiming to speak for me and his predictions of the future only have 99.9% accuracy – put him to death. He’s not My spokesman.” Then when Jesus came He did thousands of miracles, and they were the most spectacular miracles ever performed. So there was no question He was who He said He was. And then He commissioned His Apostles to write the New Testament, but first He gave them the ability to work miracles, so everyone would know they were truly speaking for God. And God even preserved the historical proof of these miracles so you and I can know for sure that the words we read in the Bible are indeed the very words of God.
Fame through His special relationship with Israel 24
The other reason why God’s redemption of Israel published His fame was because of the special relationship that resulted from it.

24 You have established your people Israel as your very own forever, and you, Yahweh, have become their God.

The result of redemption is a relationship between God and His people. They are His very own forever.
What does that mean? If God is the Creator and Lord of all then everything is His. He owns everything and everyone. So if God already owns everything and everyone what does it mean when we say we are His very own?
Amos 3:2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your sins.

That term “known” refers to knowing someone in a unique love relationship. All people belong to God, and God knows everything about everyone, but only His redeemed people know Him in this kind of close, love relationship. When it says He redeemed them in order that they might be His own people, that means they became His very own in the sense that your wife or husband is your very own.
And the point of this is not to say something about God’s people – it is to say something about God. This is all part of David’s description of the greatness of God. One of the most amazing things about God is His people. If you are not impressed with God’s people your eyes are blind to His awesome work in redemption. There is something seriously wrong with your relationship with God if you do not love the Church. I know all about the problems in the Church – believe me. I know what it is like to be mistreated in the Church, lied about, gossiped about, disappointed, and all the rest. I know very well all about the horrible things that often take place in the Church. But in spite of all that the Church is an amazing thing. It is a place of redeemed saints who love the Lord. And if that is not enough to attract you to the Church there is a real possibility that there is no real love in your heart for God at all. 

The Fame of God in Promise Keeping - 25-29
So, God’s people are unique – there is no people on earth like the people of God, because of redemption. God wanted His fame to be known around the world, so to publish His fame He redeemed His people with awesome works of mighty power with all kinds of miracles, signs and wonders. And it delighted the hearts of God’s people when His name was known and honored widely among the nations. The more you love Him the more delight you have in the honoring of His name.
That summarizes verses 22-24. But David is a long way from being done with this prayer. Up to this point in the prayer he has not asked for anything. It has just been all astonished prayer and thanksgiving. But starting in verse 25 David starts turning God’s promises into prayers. He asks God to fulfill what He has promised.

25 "And now, Yahweh God, keep forever the promise you have made concerning your servant and his house. Do as you promised
Why pray the promises? 
Is that necessary? Do we really need to pray for God to keep His promises? Isn’t God going to keep His promises anyway – whether we pray or not? If not, it is not much of a promise. And if so – if God is going to do whatever He is going to do no matter what we do – whether we pray or not, then what is the purpose of prayer? Some people say that the only purpose of prayer is to align your will with God’s. It does not actually have any impact or effect on what happens – it is just so we can get a sense of being involved. 
But that is not what the Bible says. Scripture teaches that we should pray so that things will happen. The Bible doesn’t just tell us, “Pray that this will happen” – many times it says, “Pray so that this will happen.”

Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. 

That implies that if you pray you won’t fall and if you fail to pray you will fall. There is a different outcome depending on whether you pray or don’t pray. I could show you many, many places in Scripture where it speaks of God responding to prayers. God was going to do one thing, but then someone prayed, and God listened to that prayer and did something other than what was going to happen prior to the prayer. In Exodus 32 God was going to destroy Israel, but then after Moses prayed He decided not to. When Joshua prayed for more time in his battle and God answered the prayer Scripture says that was a day when the LORD listened to a man (Joshua 10:14). God carries out His work through the prayers and actions of His saints. Just because He promises to do it does not mean He will do it apart from human agency.
So we cannot accept the idea that prayer has no effect. But that still leaves us with the problem of the promise. If we need to pray in order for the promise to be fulfilled, then does that mean if we fail to pray it will go unfulfilled and God will break His promise?
The solution to this promise is in understanding the partial and ultimate nature of God’s promises. Many of God’s promises are fulfilled in a partial way now depending on our prayers and faith and actions, and in an ultimate way someday unconditionally. This is the “already but not yet’ principle of the Kingdom that we have spoken of before. God promised that the descendent of David would enjoy all kinds of blessings. That was fulfilled in a partial way in Solomon and other kings in his line depending on their faithfulness. But someday it will be fulfilled in an absolute way by the Messiah.
David had no doubt that the absolute fulfillment would eventually happen. What he was praying for was the near fulfillment. The near, partial fulfillment of God’s promises in this life are activated by prayer. If God has made some great promise that has a partial fulfillment for us now in this life, when will we get that partial fulfillment? And how much will we get? And will we get it now in this current situation we are dealing with? The answer to those questions is up to what God decides, and much of what will influence God’s decision is prayer. And so here at the end David is praying for the activation of the near fulfillment of these promises.
Simultaneous yielding and insisting
If your prayer life has dried up, try this. Turn God’s promises into prayers. And that will enable you to do an amazing thing – the thing that David does here. He yields and insists at the same time. He insists on what God has promised, and he yields in every aspect not included in the promise. That is what faith does.
Selfishness is the exact opposite. Selfishness will insist on its own will. That is what the “name it claim it,” “prosperity” preachers promote. You come up with your own specific demands about specific ways you want God to fulfill a promise and you “claim” that – insisting on something that God has not specifically promised. Selfish, self-will insists on things God has not promised and fails to insist on things God has promised. We are not interested in His will, so we read His promises and think, Ah – yeah, whatever. Ho hum. And we fail to be steadfast in making that our hope.
Both faith and unbelief will insist and acquiesce at the same time, but on opposite things. Faith insists on what has been promised and yields in everything else; unbelief is just the reverse.
Courage to pray
The reason true faith can insist on what God has promised without that being selfishness is because what God has promised He has promised for the purpose of His fame.

25 … Do as you promised, 26 so that your name will be great forever. Then men will say, 'The Yahweh of Hosts is God over Israel!' And the house of your servant David will be established before you.

Do you see what David is doing? He is doing exactly what Jesus taught us to do – he is saying, “Hallowed be Thy name.” He is praying for God to honor His name by fulfilling the promises.
When you understand that it is all for His sake then you will have courage to ask for awesome things from Him according to His promises. You do not have to hold back on the boldness of your prayer because it is for His sake. And it serves as a motivation, which is something we could all use more of in prayer.

27 "Yahweh Almighty, God of Israel, you have revealed this to your servant, saying, 'I will build a house for you.' So your servant has found courage to offer you this prayer. 28 Lord Yahweh, you are God! Your words are trustworthy, and you have promised these good things to your servant. 29 Now be pleased to bless the house of your servant, that it may continue forever in your sight; for you, Lord Yahweh, have spoken, and with your blessing the house of your servant will be blessed forever."

Operation Activate Redemption
So, can you see the flow of thought in the second half of David’s prayer? There is no people on earth like the people of God, because of redemption. God wanted His fame to be known around the world, so to publish His fame He redeemed His people with awesome works of mighty power with all kinds of miracles, signs and wonders. Someday that will happen in an absolute way, but here David prays for that promise to be activated right then in David’s situation. And he was bold and motivated to ask for that because it was for the sake of God’s great fame.
Fame in the New Testament
Now, let’s think about the implications of all of that for us. Because the implications are profound. God is still just as zealous for His fame now as He was in David’s day. But there is a difference. As I was studying the concept of God’s fame this week, I sifted through the hundreds of times the word “name” appears in Scripture, and I noticed a difference in emphasis from the Old Testament to the New in the passages that speak of God’s fame. Many, many times in the Old Testament one of the prophets will tell the people of Israel: “You are being punished, but God will restore you for the sake of His name.” The fame of God was tied mostly to the outward blessings of His people.
But in the New Testament you don’t see that at all. In the New Testament the Church suffers and is persecuted and it does not diminish the name of God at all. I could not find anything in the New Testament about God’s fame being tied to the good or bad treatment of the Church. The way His fame is spread in the New Testament is different. There are two ways God publishes His fame in this age.
Missions
The first is through the proclamation of the gospel. We spread the fame of the Lord Jesus Christ through evangelism and missions. In Romans 1:5 Paul says that the Apostles received their apostleship for the sake of His name.

Acts 9:15  But the Lord said to Ananias, "Go! This man is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles and their kings and before the people of Israel.

That is why we do missions – to spread the knowledge of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why we preach the gospel. When the news about Jesus was declared to the people in Ephesus…

Acts 19:17  When this became known to the Jews and Greeks living in Ephesus, … the name of the Lord Jesus was held in high honor.

One of the grandest, highest, most exalted expressions of praise in the whole Bible is in Revelation 5, when the elders and the living creatures sing a new song. It is in response to that song that the most spectacular act of worship ever takes place – when every created being in existence shouts in unanimous praise to the Lord Jesus Christ. That section of God’s Word shows us the highest, greatest worship ever. Jesus Christ is never more exalted than He is there. Listen to the new song:

Revelation 5:9 You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because … with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 

One of the things that will make His praise on that day so glorious is the fact that it will be coming from so many different languages and peoples and cultures. And so we are committed to missions to reach as many different people groups as we possibly can with the gospel so that we spread His fame as widely as we possibly can.
Holiness 
The other emphasis in the New Testament regarding His fame has to do with the holiness of the Church. When we obey Him we increase His fame, and when we disobey we hinder His fame.

Romans 2:23 Do you dishonor God by breaking the law? 24 As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."

1 Timothy 6:1 All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect, so that God's name and our teaching may not be slandered.

Our hypocrisy and sin bring dishonor to His name. But our obedience brings glory to His name. 
2 Thessalonians 1:11 we constantly pray for you, that our God … may fulfill … every act prompted by your faith. 12  We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you

Titus 2:11-14 is the perfect New Testament parallel to the second half of David’s prayer in 2 Samuel 7. David cared deeply the fame of God, and he wanted that fame to be published as broadly as possible so he prayed for the activation of the promises that would bring about that fame. And if we care about the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we will do the same thing. We will pray and work for the activation of the promises connected to redemption for the sake of the fame of the Lord Jesus Christ. The difference is, in our day that fame is tied to our holiness rather than to temporal blessings.

Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. 12 It teaches us to say "No" to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope--the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, 14 who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.

He redeemed is – freed us from slavery. But this was not an enslavement to Egyptians like Israel dealt with. This was an enslavement to sin. And Jesus gave His life to free us from ungodliness and worldly passions. He purchased for us self-control, uprightness, godliness, and eagerness to do good. He did that because when we are self-controlled, upright, godly, and eager to do good that publishes and displays His great fame.
And so what should we do? I thought about titling this sermon, “Operation Activate Redemption.” Jesus died to redeem us and free us from sin. And that will happen in an absolute way at the resurrection. But for now the promise can be activated early and experienced in a partial way. And so we cry out with David, “Dear Lord God, deliver us from sin! And do it for the sake of Your fame.”
So insist on the fulfillment of God’s promises and yield to God’s will in how and when He answers your prayers.

1 Thessalonians 5:23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. … 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

There is a clear promise that God will sanctify you. That is the main promise of the New Covenant – that God would give His people obedient hearts. So we meditate on a promise like that, think through the meaning and significance until the thought of it brings joy and thanksgiving – especially when we think about the fact that it is for the purpose of the honor of His name. It is all part of His great plan to magnify His glory. And that makes you bold to cry out in prayer and insist on it, and beseech God to activate it even now.

Why is it so slow?
I do not know how all this hits you, but I can tell you the biggest question I had in my mind this week as I studied this. If our sanctification is so important to God, and our purity and holiness glorifies His name so much, then why doesn’t He grant more of it? Why does He allow the process of sanctification to be so slow? We all know what it is like to come to wit’s end and beg God with every ounce of earnestness in us to deliver us from some besetting sin, and we have done that one hundred times, and still we seem just as frequently defeated as ever. If He has such strong desire for our holiness, and we have such strong desire, and we cry out in prayer for Him to activate our redemption now in a greater way, why does He allow the progress to be so slow?

Because we forfeit grace
I won’t presume to try to tell you all the reasons – no doubt that would take the rest of eternity. But I will mention one reason. The activation of the promises of redemption is slowed down because we neglect, resist, and forfeit grace.
Neglecting grace
The most subtle way we miss out on grace is by neglecting the means of grace – such as your spiritual gifts.
1 Timothy 4:14 Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through a prophetic message when the body of elders laid their hands on you. 15 Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress.

If you want to make spiritual progress you have to make sure you do not neglect your spiritual gift. That word means to ignore or give no thought to something – neglect.
Forfeiting grace
Another way to miss grace is to forfeit it.

Jonah 2:8 Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.

The word means to leave behind. There is grace to be had, but it is left sitting on the shelf – forfeited in favor of some treasured idol of the heart.
 Resisting Grace
And the next step up from that is to outright resist grace. In Acts 7:51 Stephen condemned the people for resisting the Holy Spirit. 
It can be a very subtle neglect, or a less subtle forfeiting, or a flat out resisting; but one way or another we fail to receive the grace God offers. And there simply is no progress in sanctification apart from His grace.
That is the reason on our end. As for God’s side – no doubt He has more reasons than we could ever know. We do know a few of them. One reason why it the sanctification process needs to be as slow as it is is if God did not allow us to understand how difficult it is we wouldn’t have nearly as much appreciation for the gift. If it were an easy thing to be transformed into the image of Christ we would have a small view of God’s grace. If God didn’t allow us to see the persistence of our own wickedness we would have a skewed understanding of ourselves. We would imagine ourselves to be naturally pretty good and strong, and not very far from holiness, and it would be impossible for us to grasp our own unworthiness. If God didn’t allow us to experience the desperation of our plight of being enslaved to sin we would not have much joy in being rescued from it. If we only had the opportunity to prefer God over something that had a small tug on our hearts then we could only honor Him a little bit. But when you have the honor of preferring God over something that is extremely appealing and alluring, you can honor God in a great way. In His perfect wisdom God has made this era – the time between the First Coming and the Second Coming – a time of overlap of this present age and the age to come. There is a purpose for that. There is a purpose of the suffering, a purpose for the struggle we have with the flesh, a purpose for the difficulty and slowness of sanctification, a purpose for how hard it is to learn Scripture, a reason for the difficulty and distractions in prayer, a reason why God wants us to fight in a real warfare against a real, powerful, vicious enemy who does not fire blanks. He knows what He is doing. Our task is not to question the manner in which God chooses to glorify His name. Ours is to seek the glory of His name with every fiber of our being – especially through the activation of our promised sanctification, and to devote ourselves completely to resist, forfeit, or neglect available grace; but to seek after it with everything in us because of our passion for the fame of God.
If you want to be happy in life, set your heart on the glory of His name. Seek that. Do whatever it takes to make His fame supreme in your affections, so that more than anything else you desire to see Him known and honored. If you are looking for meaning in life – and you are wondering how your job or school or whatever you do has importance and significance, look for it in connection to the fame of God.

Benediction: 2 Thessalonians 1:11 We constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith. 12 We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you