The Message of the New Testament | Mark Dever

Mark Dever. The Message of the New Testament: Promises Kept. Crossway, 2005. 560 pp.

Getting a Window Seat

Some things can be seen only from a great height. Go to the highest point in a city and what do you see? Sweeping vistas that both delight and inform.

That is what I hoped these “overview sermons” would do for my congregation, and what I hope they will do for you.

The sermons in this book are more expositional than topical, but they are expositional with a difference. Rather than looking at particular Scripture passages through a microscope, we are looking down from an airplane.

There is another kind of expositional preaching that is, I think, more rare, but that also serves the church well. This is what I call an “overview sermon,” like the ones contained in this volume. An overview sermon attempts to give the burden of one particular Bible book in a single message. If a typical expositional sermon makes the point of the biblical text the point of the sermon, an overview sermon simply makes the point of a whole book the point of the sermon.

I found that an overview was beneficial . . . for me as a pastor. When I preach a passage like Ephesians 2, do I approach the chapter in context? That is, am I using chapter 2 in the same way Paul uses chapter 2 within his larger argument as it unfolds in Ephesians?

I want the members of my church to become so familiar with the books of the Bible that they know how to turn there as easily as they turn to popular Christian books. So when members of the church struggle with conflict, I will encourage them to read the book on conflict resolution by Ken Sande, but I also want them to have been trained by an overview sermon to immediately ask themselves, “I wonder what James says about this situation?” When members want to learn about the Christian life, let them read C. S. Lewis and J. I. Packer; but let them also think to read 1 Peter and 1 John! When people struggle with discouragement, by all means read Ed Welch on depression; but also read Revelation! When people worry they are slipping into legalism, I hope they know to reach for Martin Luther or C. J. Mahaney on the cross-centered life; but I also hope they know to reach for Galatians. I am even happy for the congregation to read Dever on the church, but I would prefer for them to know Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians.

Promises Kept

The New Testament tells the story of how all the promises made in the Old Testament were actually kept. And as we understand what God is doing in the grand scheme of history, our own disappointments and hopes will begin to fall into perspective.

In order to view the whole New Testament, we will look first at Christ, then at God’s covenant people, and finally at the renewal of all of creation. Think of three concentric circles. First, we focus on Christ; then we expand outward to the new covenant people; and, finally, we take in all creation.

The point of the New Testament, indeed, the point of the whole Bible, is that God has made promises to us, he has kept those promises to us, and we are called to trust him because he is the keeper of promises! God has revealed himself to humanity through his promises. And that is why faith is so important. At the end of the day, the Bible does not lie on the shelf like a passive object for us to investigate. At the end of the day, it turns and looks at us and says, will you believe and trust? Or as Lady Wisdom cries out in the book of Proverbs, “Who will trust? Who will follow? Who will believe what I say?”

God gives his Word and his promises to us. He calls us to trust his Word and to believe his promises. Adam and Eve did not believe in the Garden of Eden. Jesus believed throughout his life, and particularly in the Garden of Gethsemane. And as you and I hear and believe God’s Word, we are restored to the relationship with him for which we were made. This is the hope in which we can trust, because this hope will not disappoint. This is what the Bible–Old Testament and New–is all about.

Taken from The Message of the New Testament by Mark Dever, copyright ©2005, pp. 15-17, 23, and 33-34. Used by permission of Crossway Books, Wheaton, IL 60187. For more information, visit www.crossway.com.

Like this post? Subscribe to our feed .