Hail Thou once despised Jesus,
Hail Thou Galilean King! Thou didst suffer to release
us, Thou didst free salvation bring. Hail thou agonizing Savior,
bearer of our sin and shame. By thy merit we find favor, life
is given through thy name. ? Hask, O Lamb, by God appointed
? ? All our sins on Thee were laid ? ? By almighty love anointed
? ? Thou hast full atonement made ? ? All Thy people are forgiven
? Through the virtue of thy blood, Opened is the gate of heaven,
Peace is made twixt man and God. Jesus, hail, enthroned in glory,
there forever to abide. All the heavenly hosts adore
thee, seated at thy Father's side. Therefore, sinners, thou
art pleading, There thou dost our place prepare, Ever for us
interceding, Till in glory we appear. Worship, honor, power,
and blessing, thou art worthy to receive. Loudest praises without ceasing,
meet it is for us to give. Help ye bright angelic spirits,
Bring your sweetest, noblest lays. Help to sing our Savior's
merits. Help to chant Emmanuel's name. Please be seated. Good evening. Sarasota Brethren also there
meeting tonight and watching the service. If you'd like to
turn with me in your Bibles to Romans chapter 8 for our scripture
reading tonight. Romans chapter 8. We'll begin reading at verse
18. For I reckon, I impute, I consider
it to be so, without any question, without any doubt, that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory that shall be revealed in us. For the earnest expectation
of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of
God." Now what he's talking about in the next few verses is the
effect that the fall has had on creation. and all the groanings
of this world, the animal world, the conflicts that go on between
prey and predator and all the storms and earthquakes and everything
that takes place in this world as a result of the fall. And
so he says that the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the
manifestation of the sons of God, for the creature was made
subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath
subjected the same in hope. because the creature itself also
shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious
liberty of the children of God, the new heaven and the new earth,
where the lamb will lie down with the lion, and these things
that are the result of sin will be no more. For we know that
the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until
now, And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption to wit, the redemption of our body. Long
as we're in this body of flesh, we're going to have the same
conflict that we see in the world. It's the result of sin. the spirit
worn against the flesh and the flesh against the spirit so that
we cannot be what we want to be. But we've grown within ourselves
with hopeful expectation that the Lord is going to give us
a new body, just like he's going to make a new earth. And that
new body will not be in conflict with with its nature. It'll be
perfect for we are saved by hope. That doesn't mean that your wishes
save you. Christ himself is our hope. He's the one that does the saving.
We are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For
what a man seeth, why does he yet hope for? You've never seen
the Lord Jesus Christ with your physical eyes. You've never heard
his voice with your physical ears. Anybody that says they
have is either duped by the devil or they're lying. But we hope for that we see not. Then do we with patience
wait for it. Likewise, the spirit also help
with our infirmities for we know not what we should pray for as
we ought. James says we We have not because
we ask not, and when we do ask, we often ask amiss that we might
consume it upon our own lust. That's part of the struggle that
we have as sinful men. But here the Lord's assuring
us that as a child of God, you have the Holy Spirit interceding
for you. He's groaning, praying for you. But the Spirit itself
maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the hearts
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession
for the saints according to the will of God. We have one, whoever
lives, who's seated at the right hand of God and makes intercession
for us. And his prayers are always answered
with yes. And we know. And we know. I mean, how many times have you
heard Romans 8, 28? You know, all things work together
for good. All things work together for good. That's not what that
verse says. We know that all things work together for good
for them that love God and those that are the called according
to His purpose. We worship and serve a God of
purpose And we believe that everything he does is according to his purpose
and his purpose will stand. His will will be done. All will
be accomplished in the end to his glory and to the salvation
of his people. Let's pray together. Our merciful
heavenly father. Oh, what great hope and comfort
you put into our hearts. When we read these infallible
words of truth, words that settle our souls, give hope to our hearts
and knowing the Lord that that you have prepared a place for
us and that you will come again and receive us unto thyself.
We long for that day, Lord, as we look at the world and the
the groanings of creation and the consequences of the fall.
We can identify for we experienced those same things, but we wait
for that with patience. Lord, we pray that you would
increase our faith and cause us to believe thy word. But we
ask it in Christ's name and for his sake. Amen. Number 298. Lauren Culver sang
this a couple years ago as a solo, and it's a very nice hymn, but
I'd like us to learn it. If it's familiar to you, please
sing out to help the rest of us learn it. Let's stand together.
298. 298. God leads us along. so In shady green pastures so rich
and so free, God leads his dear children along. Where the water's cool flow bathes
a weary one's feet, God leads his dear children along. Some through the water, some
through the flood. Some through the fire, but all
through the blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives a song. In the night season and all the
day long. Sometimes on the mount where
the sun shines so bright, God leads his dear children along. Sometimes in the valley in darkest
of night, God leads his dear children along. Some through
the waters, some through the flood, some through the fire,
but all through the blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives a song in the night season and all the day long. Though sorrows befall us and
Satan oppose, God leads his dear children along. Through grace we can conquer,
defeat all our foes, God leads his dear children along. Some through the waters, some
through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the
blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives a song in the night season and all the day long. Away from the mire and away from
the clay, God leads His dear children along. Away up in glory, eternity's
day, God leads His dear children along. Some through the water, some
through the flood, some through the fire, but all through the
blood. Some through great sorrow, but
God gives a song in the night season and all the day long. Please be seated. I like the
chorus to that song. all through the blood, all through
the blood. I'm so thankful for that. Let's open our Bibles together
to 2 Corinthians chapter 4, 2 Corinthians chapter 4. I started to title this message,
what are you looking at? And that would be an appropriate
title. And I've changed it to, what does faith see? What does faith see? We come into this world with
nearsight. All we can see are those things
right up close. We can't see the things far away.
And the scripture says, while, verse 18, while we look not at
the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen,
for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things
which are not seen are eternal. The natural man cannot see anything
but that which is temporal. Now the Lord's not suggesting
that we don't see temporal things. We do. We do see temporal things. But when the Lord gives us grace
to see the eternal, it's kind of like when I turned 50 years
old, I had to have bifocals. And when I first put them on,
it took a while to adjust to them because, you know, you have
to figure out where that line is in the bifocals. And if you
weren't looking through the right part of the glasses, everything
was a blur. I don't have that problem anymore. I just naturally
see exactly. I can see far away. I can see
up close. I can see the temple, the temporal, and I can see the
eternal. But like a child, I understand
that when a baby is born, he can't see but just a few inches
beyond his face. If you're going to relate to
a child, You've got to get right down
in their face for them to be able to see you. And that's the
way people live their lives. They live their lives only able
to see the temporal. They can't see the eternal. And only faith, only through
the eyes of faith, can we see that which is eternal. That which is not connected to
the nature of this world. And that's what he's talking
about here. In first Corinthians chapter 13, the Lord says, now
we see through a glass dimly, darkly, but then face to face. Now we know in part, but then
shall I know even also as I am known. So, though we have faith
to see the eternal, we're always saying, Lord, I believe. I see what you're talking about.
I'm focused on that, but you know, these bifocals are confusing
me sometimes. And help thou mine unbelief. Where is our unbelief? It's our
old man. He's never believed anything of God. So when the
Scripture says, Lord, I believe, the new man believes. He believes
perfectly, believes everything God says. He doesn't question
any of it. He believes it. It's the old man that stands
in question. It's the old man that doubts. It's the old man
that fears. And so we're always as believers
saying, Lord, I believe. help thou mine unbelief." Well,
what the Lord's talking about here is He's talking about setting
your affections on things that are above, where Christ is seated
at the right hand of God. Not being controlled by and driven
by the nearsightedness of temporal things, but having our eyes of
faith set on those things which are eternal. Now what things
are seen and what things are not seen? He says those things
which are seen by the natural man, they're temporal. Well the
previous verse, and I would be I would be insensitive at best. I would be callous and hard-hearted
to say to anybody that's going through a trial, it's a light
affliction. And it's just for a moment. I
can't say that to you. I would never say that to you.
To you, it's a great burden. But for God to say to you, for
God to say to you, And if he says this to your heart, your
afflictions are light. Look at verse 17. For our light afflictions, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. Now how does the natural man
see affliction? He sees it the same way Job saw
it. Job, by the way, is not a... several people have commented
about preaching from Job and how little they've heard preached
from Job. I think one of the reasons for
that is because people misunderstand the book of Job. They think it's
a book about suffering. They think it's a book about
affliction. It's not. It's just like the rest of the
Bible. It's a book that distinguishes the difference between law and
grace. And until a life, everything,
people say, well, you know, Job said, my Redeemer liveth, and
you know, and all these things. I said all those things. Before
the Lord showed me the truth of His grace in the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, I said everything Job said. But the
scriptures are clear. Job admits himself at the end.
He said, Lord, I have heard about Thee by the hearing of my ear.
But now mine eyes have seen thee, and I repent in dust and ashes."
It wasn't until Elihu came and showed Job the righteousness. Job was insisting on his own
righteousness. That's how people deal with troubles.
They get angry at God. They accuse God of wrongdoing.
They justify themselves. And that's what the Lord's saying.
We don't look at things like that. We look not the eye of faith
now. Now I know that your natural
man looks at your afflictions and you cry out and you doubt
and fear and wonder why some things happen, but if you've
got bifocals, and you're able to look beyond those things that
are right in front of your face, and you'll be able to look through
the eyes of faith to those things which are not seen. We look not
on the things which are seen, but the things which are not
seen. We sing that hymn sometimes,
turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face, and
the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of
his glory and grace. I reckon, and we just read that
in Romans chapter eight, what Paul say, I reckon that the sufferings
of this life cannot be compared to the glory that shall be revealed
in us." We look not on the things which are temporal, but on the
things which are eternal. The eye of faith looks beyond
the temporal circumstances of affliction and understands that
these things are not something to be angry at God about. The eye of faith knows. We just
read in Romans 8.28, you know You know, if God's given you
faith, faith is the substance of things hoped for, it's the
evidence of things not seen, it's the one thing that distinguishes
the believer from the unbeliever. And it's the only thing that
you have that's true evidence of your salvation. Don't look
for evidence of your salvation anywhere else. How do I know
I'm a believer? Because I believe. I believe
God. I believe the gospel. The Lord's
given me faith to put my trust in Christ and he's enabled me
to see beyond the temporal to the eternal. He's given me bifocals. How does the unbeliever look
at afflictions? He either gets angry or he just resigns himself
to it. You know, it'll go away eventually.
We'll just bear it out, you know. This soon shall pass. Or, I've
seen this happen a lot. Men take pride in the success
that they have in getting through their afflictions. I'm gonna
conquer this. My heart goes out to anybody
that suffers with cancer, but if God heals you of cancer, don't
say you beat cancer. You didn't beat cancer. God healed
you of it. You didn't beat it. But isn't
that the way man deals with his afflictions? He takes pride in
the fact that he was able to overcome it? Or he gets angry
at God or resigns himself to it? What's the believer say? What's the one who's able to
see the eternal say? These things are necessities. Count it all joy, my brethren,
when you fall into divers, trials, and temptations, knowing, knowing
that the trine of your faith worketh patience. Patience, when
it is complete, makes you perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.
Oh, Lord, whatever you have to do, I know it's right, and I
know what you do is right. That's being able to see the
eternal. Can you see that? The natural
man can't see it. He can't look at the eternal. The natural man is just like
Elisha's servant in 2 Kings chapter 6. You know that story very well.
We've talked about it on many occasions. I love that story.
where the king of Syria is waging war against Israel, and every
time he makes his plans to send out his army to a certain place,
Elisha, the prophet of God, tells the king of Israel about the
plans of the Syrian king. And the scripture says in 2 Kings
6, not once or twice did this happen. It happened a lot. And
finally, the king of Syria gets together his cabinet and he says,
we've got a traitor in the ranks. Somebody who knows our plans
is telling our plans to the king of Israel. And one of his servants
says, oh no, we're all loyal to you. But there's a prophet
down in Dothan. And he knows what you say in
your bedchamber. He knows your pillow talk. He's
telling the king of Israel everything you're doing and every plan you're
making. And so the king of Syria puts his army together and says,
let's go get him. And so they surround the town of Dothan with
the army of Syria, chariots and men with swords. And the servant
of Elisha goes out and he sees this army surrounding his little
town and he runs back in and he says, oh, master, what shall
we do? What shall we do? And Elisha
never even looks out the window. He said, don't worry about it.
They that are with us are more than they would be with them.
And then Elisha says, Lord, open his eyes that he might see. And the servant goes out, and
behind the Syrian army is a host of angels with flaming swords
protecting Elisha and his servant. And Elisha prays to the Lord
and says, Lord, blind them, blind them. And the king of the army
of Syria is blinded. And Elisha takes these blind
men by the hand and leads them down to Samaria where the king
of Israel was. And the king of Israel sees the
army coming and he says, father, he calls the prophet Elisha,
he calls him father, he says, father, shall we kill them? And
Elisha says, oh no, don't kill them, feed them. And they made
a feast for them. And they bread and wine, they
fed them to their full, and the scripture says they went back
to Syria and they didn't come back. They didn't come back. You see, we wanna pull the sword
out and kill our enemies, don't we? And God says, no, just feed
them. The grace of God is sufficient.
Your afflictions and your trials and your troubles, you understand
that they're from God and He that is with you is more than
He that's with them? Oh, that's being able to see
with eternal eyes. That's the eye of faith. The
natural man cannot see it. What does he say? while we look
not on the things which are seen, for they are temporal, temporary. They're just for a moment. They're
light afflictions for a moment. They're temporal. But we look
through the eye of faith to that which is eternal. How's your eyesight? I know sometimes
you're like I was when I first got my bifocals and I'm that
way too. Sometimes you get a little confused
about which is temporal and which is eternal. But you know what? If God gives you faith, He always
brings you back to the truth. He always enables you in all
of your struggles with whatever afflictions He's ordained for
you. He enables you to know that these things work together for
good for them that love God and those that are called according
to His purpose. So, we look not on the things
which are seen. We don't look at our afflictions
like the natural man looks at his afflictions. We see them
as ordained of God for the good and the salvation of our soul
and for his glory. And we see them as something
that's just for a moment, just for a moment, not long, just
a little while. That which is seen that the natural
man looks at is his works. He looks at his works. I met
someone this week who was telling me about a gospel church in the
city that I used to live in. And I became very curious about
it because I didn't know that the man was preaching the gospel.
So I went online today and I listened to two messages. I couldn't listen
to the whole thing. I just would listen to bits and
pieces, you know. But it wasn't a gospel at all. It was Calvinism with a heavy,
heavy emphasis on proving your salvation by your works. And I thought, I find no comfort
there. We don't look at that which is
seen. We don't look at our works to
try to get proof of our salvation. We certainly don't look at our
works as means of our salvation. We don't look at that which is
seen. We don't look at our holiness. Remember when the Lord said,
don't be like the hypocrite. Who, one of the things, This
guy listened to preach today. He had his pastoral prayer at
the opening of the service and it lasted 10 minutes. a prayer, and it was so flowery,
and I thought about what the Lord said about these Pharisees.
He said, don't be like the Pharisees who stand on the street corners,
and they wear these long phylacteries, and they offer these long prayers.
Why? Because they are seen of men. They do it in order to be seen
of men. They have their reward. When the Lord separates the sheep
from the goats on the Day of Judgment and He says to the sheep,
I was hungry and you fed me, I was in prison and you visited
me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was a stranger and you
took me in, what's the sheep say? Lord, when did we do those
things? We're not looking to our works.
We're looking to the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, His finished
work. He's the one who made an end
of sin. He's the one that finished righteousness. He's the one that
put away our sin and established perfect justice before God. We're looking to His work. Not
unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name be glory and
praise forever. We look not on the things which
are seen. We don't look at it as a means
of our salvation. We don't look at our works as
a means of our salvation, not by works of righteousness which
we have done. No, it's His faithfulness. It's His work. We look to that
which is not seen. That which is seen is the law.
Anybody can see the law. Anybody can see the law. Thou
shalt not honor thy father and thy mother. Thou shalt not bear
false witness. Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not commit adultery. Anybody can see that. And the
Lord said to the Pharisees, He said, I didn't come to judge
you. You've got one already that judges you, even Moses, in whom
you trust. We're not looking to the law.
The law can't save us. The law doesn't show any mercy
toward us. As I said Sunday, the law will
send you to hell and not shed a tear. That which is seen is the law. We don't look to the law. We
look to the one who kept the law. That Pharisee in the temple
who prayed unto himself and said, God, I thank thee that I'm not
like other men, an extortioner, an adulterer, unjust. I tithe. I fast twice a week. I thank
thee that I'm not like that publican over there." He was comparing
himself to the law and believing himself to have maintained some
faithfulness to the law of God. You know, I've asked people,
what is it to be a sinner? And they'll say, well, it means
breaking one of God's commandments. That's what it means to be a
sinner. They're looking to the law. We look not on that which is
temporal, but that which is eternal. You've never kept any of God's
commandments. Not for a moment. We're sinners. There's only one
that's maintained obedience to the law of God. Christ is the
end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes. We
look not on the things which are temporal. We're not looking
to our obedience to the law. We're not looking to the law
to justify us. We're not looking to the law
for anything. The rich young ruler, when he asked the Lord,
what must I do to be saved? The Lord told him, he gave him
the law, didn't he? And what'd he say? These things have I done
from my youth up. What did Paul say about the law?
He said, the law is good, holy, and just, but the law has never
made anyone good. It's never made anyone holy.
It's never justified anybody. The law is spiritual, Romans
chapter 7, but I am carnal, sold under sin. Can't keep the law. Not looking to the law. We look
not to those things which are temporal, but to that which is
eternal. The eye of faith doesn't look
to the law for its salvation. It doesn't look to its works.
It doesn't see afflictions the same way the natural man sees
affliction, not the eye of faith. And the eye of faith does not
look to this world as its home or for its happiness. Say that
again. Not the eye of faith. I know
your temporal vision, your myopic vision, that vision that you've
had from your nature, that short-sightedness, that near-sightedness. Yeah,
we sometimes get looking down through the bottom of our glasses
and we think, you know, this home is our happiness, this world's,
you know. But the eye of faith wins out,
doesn't it? This world is not my home. And
I know that it cannot make me happy. The natural man puts down his
roots, he builds his monuments, he makes a name for himself.
What's the eye of faith say? Looking for a city whose builder
and maker is God, which have foundations. There's no foundation
in this world. What's God say about this world?
The devil is the God of this world. all the things in this
world. Faith just can't find anything
in this world to put down its roots in. It can't find anything
in this world to satisfy its longing for Christ. We look not
on the things which are temporal, the things which are seen, for
they are temporal, but we look to the things which are not seen.
For they are eternal. The temporal is passing away.
The eternal faith, the eye of faith, does not look to its possessions
for its security. It doesn't. You remember what
the church at Laodicea, they said, we are rich and increased
with goods and in need of nothing. What did God call them? A lukewarm
church. You know, being lukewarm is comfortable,
isn't it? It's not comfortable to be cold.
It's not comfortable to be hot. But to be lukewarm is comfortable.
Faith can never find comfort in this world. The church at
Laodicea, the Lord said to them, you don't know that you're naked
and poor and blind and wretched. You don't know that. Why? Because
you're looking at that which can be seen. You're looking at
your bank account for your security. You're looking for your possessions,
for your home. You're looking at this world
to make your home, and it's not there. We look not at the things
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. Turn with
me to Luke chapter 12. For the things which are seen
are temporal, the things which are not seen are eternal." Can
you see the eternal? Can you? There had to come a
time when God gave you eyes to see. Because you didn't come
into this world being able to see the eternal. You came into
this world spiritually blind. And when God When the Lord Jesus
Christ healed a blind man, and he did it on several occasions,
that guy's vision was perfect. He didn't have to have glasses.
He didn't have to have corrected vision. When the Lord gives you
faith to see, you see the eternal. You know that's where your hope
is. Luke chapter 12, oh, the Lord would deliver us
from the temporal. Look at verse 16. And he spake
a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich
man brought forth plentifully. And he thought within himself. Why? Because he was looking at
the temporal. He was looking at the things
which could be seen. He didn't have eyes of faith
to look beyond his circumstances. He thought within himself. Anytime
we think within ourselves, we're in trouble. Everything you think
to be true about God is wrong unless God's taught it to you.
Unless it's, unless it's come from your ability to see the
eternal. Lord, I, I, we, we just, you
know, we, we don't need to have our thinking tweaked. We don't
need to have it improved. We need to have repentance. That's
a changed mind. That's a completely different
way of looking at things. That which is seen is temporal. This guy thought his temporal
things was his hope and his security. So he says, what shall I do in
verse 17? Because I have no room where
to bestow my fruits. And he said, this will I do.
I will pull down my barns and build greater. And there will
I bestow all my fruits for my goods. And I will say to my soul,
soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years. Take thine
ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But, but God said unto him, thou
fool. this night thy soul shall be
required of thee, then whose shall these things be which thou
hast provided." Oh Lord, I don't want to be like that man. Do
you? We look not on the things which
are seen, for the things which are seen are temporal. We look on the things which are
not seen, for the things which are not seen are eternal. You're not going to see the eternal.
Unless God gives you sight to see. We're born nearsighted. We're worse than that. We're
born blind. But you understand what I'm saying. We're born blind
to the eternal. All we can see is the temporal.
All we can see are the things that are right before us. Faith
does not look to the world for its home or for its happiness. Now I want to make a statement
that might be a little confusing for a moment but hopefully after
we go to Psalm 51 you'll understand it. That which is eternal is
not your sin. Faith doesn't doesn't look at
sin. Turn with me to Psalm 51. Turn with me to Psalm 51. Here's my point. I don't want
you to look at your sin with some sort of false humility.
Oh, I'm just vile, I'm just, you know, I'm just... And then,
because it's either going to create a spirit of hypocrisy
or it's going to create a spirit of great despair. Here's the way Paul said in Romans
chapter 7, he said, O wretched man that I am, after everything
he said about his own sin, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from this body of death? Thanks be to God. Through Christ Jesus I am free. There is now therefore no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Your sin is temporal. Your sin, you can see it, can't
you? You can see it. But the eye of faith has to look
beyond sin. Look at what David says in Psalm
51. Verse three, for I acknowledge
my transgression and my sin is ever before me. Against thee
and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight,
that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest and be clear
when thou judgest. God, I'm taking sides with you
against myself. You're right, I'm wrong. I have
no justification for my sin. and it's ever before me. It shames
me, it condemns me. You are just in calling my sin
and punishing me for my sin. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity
and in sin did my mother conceive me. I've been a sinner all my
life. I came forth from the womb speaking lies. I've drank iniquity
like water. That's all I've ever been able
to do is sin. Ever since I was born, all I've ever been able
to do is sin. Do you believe that about yourself?
If God's given you the eyes to see that which is eternal, you
know that's true. Because you're comparing yourself
not to yourself. You're comparing yourself not
to other people. You're not even comparing yourself to the Lord.
You're comparing yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ and you
know That you have fallen short of His glory in everything pertaining
to your life. And that's what sin is. All of
sin and falling short of the glory of God. What in your life
measures up to the glory of God? Nothing. So David said, I've
been a sinner all my life. Look what he says. Behold thou
desirest truth in the inward parts and in the hidden parts
thou shalt make me to know Christ. Lord, I need for you to speak
to my heart. I can't wallow in my sin. I can't
pretend to be humble because I'm loathing myself. I need a Savior. I need a Savior. I need one to deliver me from
my sin. You see, that which is seen is
your sin. But that which is eternal is
the Savior. We look not on that which is
seen, for that is temporal. But we look on that which is
cannot be seen, for that's eternal. And that's what David's saying
in Psalm 51. My sins are before me, but I can't live this way.
I need for you to reveal wisdom to my heart. Purge me with hyssop
and I shall be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness,
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy
face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Lord, that's
what I need. I need my sin to be put away.
I need it to be covered by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within
me. What is the right spirit? A perfect,
sinless life? No, it's faith. Faith is the
right spirit. A humble and contrite heart,
he will not despise. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher, cast me not away from thy presence, and take
not thy Holy Spirit from me. What does the Holy Spirit do?
What's he do? He leads us into all truth, revealing
to us the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Restore unto me the joy
of thy salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. I introduce this by saying sin
is temporal. Sin is what you see. And God
says, we look not on that which is seen, which is temporal. but on that which is not sane,
which is eternal. What is it that's not sane? The natural man, as I said a
few moments ago, cannot see that his afflictions are but for a
moment, and worketh for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory. He cannot count it all joy. He
cannot suffer. He cannot reckon the sufferings
of this world, of this present life, to not be compared to the
glory that shall be revealed in him. While our natural eye
sees the temporal, and suffers the afflictions, the eye of faith
looks to the end. It looks to the end. Turn to
me to Hebrews chapter 12. Hebrews chapter 12. Look at verse,
look at verse five. And have you forgotten the exhortation
which speaketh unto you as children, my son? Despise not the chastening
of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. For whom
the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. If you endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as sons. For what son is he whom the Father
chasteneth not? But if you be without chastisement,
whereof are all partakers, then you are bastards and not sons.
Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected
us, and we gave them reverence. Shall we not much rather be in
subjection unto the Father of the spirits and live?" How are
you going to be in subjection to God when He's chastising you? Only by seeing that which is
eternal. seeing that which the natural
eye cannot see. For they verily for a few days
chastened us after their own pleasure, but he for our profit,
that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now I know no chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous nevertheless
afterwards it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them
which are exercised thereby. You believe that. Peaceable fruit of righteousness
is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the natural man cannot
see. We look not on that which is
seen, which is temporal. We look on that which is not
seen, which is eternal. The natural man puts down his
roots in this world. He cannot see. He cannot see
heaven. Go back with me to our text in
2 Corinthians. I hope to deal with this a little
bit more on Sunday. But look at verse 1 in chapter
5. For we know, for we know that
if our earthly house of this tabernacle, that's our body,
be dissolved, if we die, We have a building of God, a house not
made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan
earnestly, desiring to be clothed with our house which is from
heaven. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked.
For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not
for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality
might be swallowed up of life. That's what's not seen. The natural
man can't see that. Oh, we long for that day when
this mortal is going to be made immortal, when this corruptible
is going to be made incorruptible, and mortality is going to be
swallowed up with life. We can see that. Now, he that hath wrought for
us the selfsame thing is God, who also giveth unto us the earnest
of his Spirit. Therefore, we are always confident
that, knowing while we are at home in this body, we are absent
from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. The natural
man, all he can do is walk by sight. All he can see is what's
right before him. All he can see is what's in this
world. Faith looks beyond. Sees that glorious habitation
that the Lord has made for his people. We have to read Revelation 21
real quick. Revelation 21, just a few verses. Revelation 21, I saw a new heaven
and a new earth. For the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. And
I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And
I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle
of God, that's Christ, That's Christ. That's what we're looking
for. Behold, the tabernacle of God
is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be
his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God,
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall
be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there
be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, write
for these words are true and faithful. We look not on the things which
are seen for the things which are seen are temporal. The eye of faith looks at those
things which are not seen for the things which are not seen
are eternal. And conclusion. We're looking
to Christ. Looking unto Jesus, the author
and the finisher of our faith. The natural man can't see. They
can't see what the Lord Jesus Christ did in eternity past. They cannot see him as the lamb
that was slain before the foundation of the world. They cannot see
him entering in to a covenant with the Father to save a particular
people. They can't see what the Lord
Jesus Christ did in that covenant as our surety. When he said to
his father, as Judah said, father, I will be their surety. And if I don't bring them back
here, put a charge it to my account,
charge it to my account. Is it possible? for God to charge
the Lord Jesus Christ with any guilt for not having brought
back Benjamin from Egypt? No. No. The natural man can't
see Christ in that covenant of grace. The natural man cannot
see Christ in the fulfillment of righteousness. They don't
believe that he accomplished everything necessary for the
salvation of God's people through his perfect obedience to the
Father. They do not believe that he accomplished
holy justice when he shed his precious blood on Calvary's cross.
God said, when I see the blood, I will pass by you. You know
what? I see the blood. I do. My eyes of faith are looking
to that shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the only hope that
I have. The shed blood of the Lord, we look not on the things
which are seen, but the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal, the things which are not seen
are eternal. The eternal blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ covers all our sins, puts them away once and for all. The thing which is not seen is
the putting away of all of the sins of all of God's people once
and for all. Oh, what comfort. We have a sin
bearer. We have a surety. We have a satisfaction
before God. We have an intercessor. We have
one who has made us perfectly holy. Sanctified he that sanctified
and they that are sanctified are all is one whereby he's not
ashamed to call them his brethren. Oh, we have a... That which is not seen can only
be seen by that. I'm asking, this is the assurance
of your salvation. Can you see these things? Can
you see the Lord Jesus Christ seated at the right hand of God,
right now, alive, interceding for you? Is that your only hope? Is that your only hope? Can you see that he finished
the work of redemption? That he's ruling and reigning
over all the affairs of this world? Can you see that he's
with his people right now? Where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. And when
the gospel's preached, he's pleased to speak. Can you see that? Can you see that he's coming
again? Let not your heart be troubled.
Do you believe in God? Believe also in me. Do you believe
in Him? In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go and prepare a place for you. Has that place been
prepared? Or is there something you've got to do to kind of clean
it up a little bit and get it a little bit more ready? I go
and prepare a place. I will come again. and receive
you unto myself that where I am there you may be also." Can you
see that? Can you see that? Has God given
you faith to see that? We look not on the things which
are seen, for the things which are seen are temporal. We look on the things which are
not seen, for the things which are not seen are eternal. Lord, give me eyes to see. What would you have, what would
you have me to do for you? The blind man, the Lord asked
the blind man, Oh Lord, that I might see. I want to see. 273 and a heart back to him. Let's stand
together. Walk in the light, so shalt thou
know that fellowship of love. His spirit only can bestow who
reigns in light above. Walk in the light and thou shalt
find thy heart made truly His, who dwells in cloudless light
and shrine in whom no darkness is. Walk in the light and thou
shalt own thy darkness passed away. Because that light hath on thee
shown in which is perfect day. Walk in the light and even the
tomb, no fearful shade shall wear. Glory shall chase away
its gloom, for Christ hath conquered there. Walk in the light, thy
path shall be a path, O thorny bride. For God, by grace, shall dwell
in thee, and God himself is light. Thank you.