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Paul Mahan

The Hope Of Glory

Colossians 1:27
Paul Mahan December, 13 2020 Audio
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Colossians
What does the Bible say about Christ in us?

The Bible teaches that Christ in us is our hope of glory, emphasizing the mystery of the gospel revealed to believers.

Colossians 1:27 tells us that Christ in you is the hope of glory. This profound statement reveals the significance of having Christ dwelling within believers. The apostle Paul emphasizes this mystery throughout his letters, indicating that true salvation and assurance come from knowing that Christ is in us. It is not just a theological concept but a powerful reality that transforms lives, providing hope and the assurance of eternal life. Those who are in Christ find their identity and purpose rooted in this remarkable union with Him.

Colossians 1:27, Ephesians 1:4-5

How do we know if Christ is in us?

We know Christ is in us through the evidence of faith, love for God, and a desire for His Word.

The presence of Christ in a believer is evidenced by several key factors: a genuine faith in Him, a deep love for God and His truth, and a continuous desire to be nourished by His Word. Paul encouraged believers to examine themselves to ensure that they are in the faith, affirming that those who are truly regenerated will experience a transformation in their desires and affections. They will love what God loves and hate what God hates, signaling the presence of the Holy Spirit, who works in hearts to conform them to the likeness of Christ.

2 Corinthians 13:5, Romans 8:9-10

Why is being in Christ important for Christians?

Being in Christ is essential for Christians because it assures them of their salvation and eternal inheritance.

Being in Christ is foundational to the Christian faith. Ephesians 1:4-5 states that believers are chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. This signifies that our identity and security are rooted in Him. Without this union, Christians would lack the assurance of salvation and hope for eternity. Christ’s righteousness becomes our own, securing our position as heirs of God's promises. It is a source of comfort and strength in living a life that glorifies God. Thus, being in Christ is not merely a theological statement, but the essence of a believer's life, influencing every aspect of their existence.

Ephesians 1:4-5, Romans 8:17

How does the love of God manifest in us?

The love of God manifests in believers through a transformation of heart and a deep affection for His truth.

Romans 5:5 teaches that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. This transformation is essential to Christian life, as it cultivates an earnest love for God, His Word, and His people. When Christ is in us, this divine love compels believers to seek to glorify God in all aspects of life. It results in a desire to worship, serve, and collaborate with others in spreading the gospel. This love not only defines our relationship with God but also shapes our interactions with fellow believers, building a community characterized by grace, mercy, and mutual support.

Romans 5:5, 1 John 4:19

What does it mean to be predestinated in Christ?

To be predestinated in Christ means being chosen by God for salvation before the foundation of the world.

The doctrine of predestination is a significant element of sovereign grace theology, reflecting God's sovereignty in choosing individuals for salvation. Ephesians 1:5 speaks of believers being predestinated to adoption as children through Jesus Christ, according to His purpose and grace. This concept underscores the unconditional nature of God's election, demonstrating that salvation is not based on human merit but on God's sovereign will. This doctrine provides deep assurance and comfort to believers, affirming that their salvation is secure as it is anchored in God's eternal purpose. Understanding predestination encourages a proper perspective of grace, fostering humility and gratitude in the hearts of the redeemed.

Ephesians 1:5, Romans 8:29-30

Sermon Transcript

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You can read your title clear.
I'm going to read it for you here in just a minute. We just
read it. Your title to heaven is, Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is your title. Colossians chapter 1. Go to Colossians
chapter 1 and read one verse with me. Colossians 1 verse 27. He talks about the mystery made
manifest, the gospel revealed to His saints, to His saints,
to whom His chosen ones, His sanctified ones are called by
the gospel, to whom God would make known what is the riches
of the glory, the glorious riches of this mystery, the glorious
gospel of Christ among the Gentiles. That's us. which is Christ in
you, the hope of glory. Christ in you, your title to
heaven, your hope of glory. And once again, I do not want
to merely explain this text, but I hope and pray the Lord
will cause each of us to examine ourselves whether or not we are
in the faith. whether Christ is in us. I hope that we can hear this
and believe that Christ is in us. Paul said this, listen to
this. He said, examine yourselves whether
you be in the faith that's in Christ. Prove your
own selves, know ye not your own selves, have that Christ
Jesus is in you, lest you be reprimanded. A castaway. Don't you know? We ought to know.
We can know. We can know. John wrote it over
and over again. By this we know. We've passed
from death unto life. Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Now at the outset, a person who's not interested, a person who does not care, most people who
are not here right now, it's obvious Christ is not in them. Christ is not in that person.
I hope and pray that he will reveal himself in them. Paul
said, I travail, this is what I do, I travail until Christ
be formed in you. But now, before looking at Christ
in us, we need to first see, look at chapter 1, go back to
chapter 1, how this began. Every single epistle begins this
way. Chapter 1, before we look at
how Christ is in us, in His people, look at this. Verse 2, to the
saints and faithful brethren in Christ. That's the first thing
we need to see. That Christ, we're in Christ. Salvation, eternal life, glory. To be in glory, heaven someday,
is to be found in Christ first. Found in Christ. Look at Ephesians
1. Ephesians 1. Here's good proof
Christ is in you. When I say Ephesians 1, you light
up. How many times have we read this? It never goes over. Why? It's
the Living Word, it's His voice. These are His promises, exceeding
precious promises. Ephesians 1, if you're in Christ,
Christ be in you, you never tire, but rather glory, glory in reading
then. Ephesians 1, look at it, verse
1, Paul, an apostle by the will of God to the saints, apostle
of Jesus Christ to the saints, faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace to you. Peace from God,
our Father. He's our Father. And from the
Lord Jesus Christ. Lord of heaven and earth, blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessing in heavenly places or things. Where is it? In Christ. According
as He hath chosen us in Him, in Christ, before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy, without blame, before
Him, in love. He did it in love to us. put
His love in us, having predestinated us, predetermined in, to the
adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according
to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of
His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved. In whom we have redemption. Through His blood, the forgiveness,
we have forgiveness. Past, present, and future. According
to the riches of His grace. See that? Riches of His grace. Wherein He hath
abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. He's made known
unto us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure
which He had purposed in Himself. Here it is. And in the dispensation
of the fullness of time, when it's all over, He might gather
together in one all things in Christ, both in heaven and on
earth, even in Him, like that ark, in whom we have obtained an inheritance,
being predestinated. Paul just wrote in Romans 8,
heirs, an inheritance, being predestinated. according to the
purpose of Him worketh all things after the counsel of His own
will that we should be to the praise that we should be to the
praise of His glory who first trusted in Christ. I trust in
Christ. Don't you? I don't trust in myself. I don't trust in man. I don't
trust in the flesh. I don't. Do you? I trust Christ. Well, you're in. You're in for
Him. You're in the kingdom. In whom
you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel
of your salvation. In whom? In Christ also after you believed
was sealed. Noah was shut in the ark, pinched. Somebody said after hearing that
message on reconciliation, pitched, he said, I feel like I've been
pitched. Good. Because if you trust Christ,
you are sealed to the Holy Spirit in Him. The Spirit of God is
the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possessions, until the redemption of the sons of God. We just read
about it in Romans 8. And what's it all about? Praise
of His glory. Praise of His glory. In Christ. Now that's a mystery, isn't it?
To be in Christ. But I think I know something
about that. Don't you? We just read it. In
Christ. In God. Church in God. Says that
all the time, doesn't it? Church in God. Church in Christ.
Says you're dead. It says you're dead. Colossians,
we're going to get to that, maybe. Colossians 3. You're dead and
your life is hid, this new life, Christ in you, is hid with God,
where is it? In Christ. It's a mystery, but God's will. But here it is, here it is again.
That God before the world began. knowing all things, working all
things, chose a people, none of them worth choosing, loving,
set his love on, set his mercy and grace and his affection on,
chose those people to redeem them, to save them from this
untoward vile world. And he gave them to their Redeemer,
Jesus Christ, the captain of their salvation. He said, you
go to earth. And he agreed to come to this earth and to live
for them. To live a perfect life for them
that God is pleased with them. And then to take their sin in
his body upon a tree, made a curse for them, and God made him sin
for them. And God gave them His perfect
righteousness and gave Him their sin. He was punished by God. The wrath of God was all poured
out on Him. And He paid it all. There is
no wrath. Christ was condemned and He died
and He went through hell for God's people. There is therefore
now no condemnation to them that were in Christ, that were crucified
with Christ. Do you hear me? But I'm a sinner.
Shall I say all that again? Do you want me to repeat it again? Sure, you're a sinner. You'll
be a sinner to the day you die. That's who Christ came for. And the
fact that you know you're a sinner means you're... and you know
it and you mourn over it and you want to be found in Christ,
you are. I mean, just go ahead and say
it. If that's what you hope to be found in Him, you are. Because
people that don't care are not. But those who do are. I'm getting
way ahead of myself here. No, I'm not. I'm right where
I'm supposed to be. In Christ. I've got Christ. And in the last
day, when it's all over, they'll be in glory. They'll be in heaven
with Him. That's what He calls glory. It's
where He is. Because they're in God's love,
they're in God's purpose, they're in God's Son, they were crucified
with Christ, they were buried with Christ, now they've been
quickened by the gospel, they've been redeemed, they've been regenerated,
they are saved from wrath to come. Somebody say Amen. What does all that mean to you?
How does all that sound to you? That's a good sign. It's a good
sign. It's a good sign. All right,
I'm going to give you five things. If you've taken notes, and I'm
sorry, ladies, I didn't send you my outline. You didn't ask for it. But five
things. Number one is to be Christ in
you, or in us, is to be in us by union. Secondly, it's to have
His Word in us. Thirdly, it's to have His love
in us. Fourthly, it's to have His Spirit in us. And fifthly,
it's to have His glory in us. Christ in us is to be in union
with Christ, to have a union with Him. Christ in union with
us and we in union with Him. It's a mystery. God's people have always been
in his heart, in his mind, in his love, in union like a bride
betrothed to her husband. That's what his people are called,
his bride, his wife, and he's the bridegroom, he's the son
of the father, and this marriage, this kingdom, is all about Christ's
union with his people. And it's a marriage, and Paul
talked about it in Ephesians 5, for this purpose shall a man
leave his father and mother and cleave unto his wife. And the
two become what? One. He said, that's a mystery,
but I speak of Christ and His church as a union. And it started with
Christ, who set His love on a forlorn woman. Republicans and Harlots,
sinners. And he did this before they were
ever born. He had to. The children being not yet born.
They haven't done anything. The purpose of God according
to the election. But they were all given to Christ, the bridegroom,
to come here. And in time, they are born in
the flesh. They're born in the flesh. Human
beings. And they're sinners. Sinners. And they got to be saved by grace.
They got to be born again. They got to be born again. Now, listen, because this is
beautiful and this is why God made this the way it was, the
way it is. When Adam knew his wife Eve,
you know what that means, don't you? He cleaved, literally cleaved
to his wife and the two became literally one flesh. Right? They were joined together. Those
two became one, this union. When a child of God is born again,
the Lord Jesus Christ comes through the preaching of the gospel to
his people. And he puts his seed in his bride. And a new creature comes. Life begins. Like a man and his
wife. It's beautiful. That's why I
made that. It's a picture of Christ. He comes and He does
this through the preaching of the gospel. It's a mystery. It's
a mystery. Christ in love and union with
His people through the preaching of the gospel. He puts the gospel
in them and the two become one. They become one. In Him. And He in them. See what I mean? Alright. There's this union,
and the seed is sown, and that's secondly His Word in His people. This is how it begins. This is
how this life begins. Christ in you. Look at John chapter
1 with me. John chapter 1. Look at it. Like this union of a man and
his wife, the seed is sown, and the seed in the woman and brings
forth life. This is what happens when Christ
is formed in someone. His Word is in them. His seed is in them. Christ is
called the Word. He is in them. His Word is in
them. He can't separate them. They're
one and the same. Look at John 1 verse 10. It says,
He was in the world, the world was made by Him, the world knew
Him not. And furthermore, in another place,
our Lord said to many in the last day, I never knew you. Didn't He? That is, they never
were in union with Him. He never did love them. He never
did. He didn't choose them. And so
the gospel will never come to them in saving power. They hear it, and they're accountable
for it. All right, look at verse 11.
It says, "...he came unto his own," the world, everyone in
it, "...his own received him not, but as many as received him." Who
receives the seed? His bride, his loved one. And men as received Him, to them
gave He power, the right, the privilege to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on His name." That's faith. Where
does that come from? It's not of yourself. It's a
gift of God. It's the power of God. He puts
it in you. He's the one who puts everything
in you through His Word. Rich were born. Verse 13, not
of blood. That is, you're not born into
this kingdom because you're Jew or whatever. You're born again. Not of the will nor the will
of the flesh. You don't decide. He did. Nor the will of man. Nobody can put you in this game.
It's of God. His Word. Look at chapter 6. No, look at verse 14. We've got to see it. And the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory. Christ in you, the hope of what?
Glory. Alright, look at chapter 6 with
me. This is the word in His people. Chapter 6, very quickly. I've
got too many scriptures, I'm going to have to leave some out. Many things to say unto you. Chapter 6, look at verse 60. for his word in you." It's faith,
that's what it is. Verse 64, there were some that
didn't believe. He said, there's some of you
that believe not. Jesus knew from the beginning who they were
that believed not, who should betray him. Verse 66, so many
went back, walked no more with him. He said to the 12, will
you also go away? And Simon Peter answered, Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast words of eternal Life! His Word was a savor of life
to them. They said, these are hard things,
we don't like this. And they left. But these disciples said, no,
this is life. We're not leaving. We're cleaving. The only way we'll leave is if
you cast us out. We believe. Verse 69, we're sure,
thou art the Christ, Son of the living God. And he answered,
I know he smiled, had not I chosen you to be. You see, knowing brethren,
your election of God because our gospel came unto you, not
in word only, with power and Holy Ghost, much assurance. Assurance
of what? Him. Here's what you're assured
of. that you're a terrible sinner
and He's a great Savior. That's assurance. Isn't that
wonderful? It gets better. Look at chapter
8, John 8. No, it doesn't get better. It
doesn't get any better than that. Chapter 8, just more of it, more
of the same. 30, chapter 8, as he spake these
words, many believed on him. And Christ, the Lord said unto
those Jews that believed on him, if you continue in my word, then
you are my disciples indeed. And you'll know the truth. The
truth shall make you free. Brothers and sisters, here I
am. Here you are, after all these years. Now, we don't get our
assurance from that, but still, we give him glory, don't we?
And I'm so thankful. That I'm still here. I know it's
by His grace. I know it's by His power. I know
it. It's left up to me. I've been
gone a long time. That I'm still here. I still believe. Same thing of
believing. What? That I'm a great sinner
and Christ is a great Savior. So, now look at it, verse, where
am I? Chapter 8, verse 37, look at
this. He said, I know to some, he said,
I know you're Abraham's seed, I know you're a Jew, but you
seek to kill me because my word hath no place in you. No place
in you. Does his word have place in you? Oh my! Look at verse 43. He said to them, why do you not
understand my speech? Because you cannot hear my Word. Have you ever talked to somebody
about the Gospel or read something to them from God's Word? Just
plain as it can be. And you read it to them and they
say, I don't see it like that. Why? They're blind. I just don't
believe that. Why? Because it's not in Christ.
Christ is not in them. Just as soon as He is, they'll
believe it. They don't even believe that a lot. That's my next point. What the Word is in them. Look
at verse 47. He that is of God, heareth God's
Word. I'm looking around, I look around,
we read these Romans 8, we read Ephesians 1, I see smiles, I
see recognition, I see light in faces. I say, that's good,
because the light, the knowledge, the glory of God, Christ is in
you. If His Word is in you, if it
has place in you, if you love to hear it, love to read it, He that heareth God's word, he
that is of God, heareth God's word. Do you hear that? What
word? All of it. Is there anything
in God's word you don't believe, Robin? Anything. Is there anything
in there you say, I don't like that? Anything? There's people that claim to
be Christian, would like to take whole chapters out of the Bible.
Like Romans 9, like Ephesians 1. My dad, When he was an Army Indian
free will young Southern Baptist preacher, he was studying through
Romans. Honestly, listen to this. You
won't believe it. Henry Mahan did this. Because he was just
as lost as everybody. And he got to Romans 9, he said,
we'll just skip over this. We'll just skip over this and
go to Romans chapter 10. He said, I don't understand it.
We'll just skip over it. It's hard. Hard sayings. Then God sent a preacher named
Barnard. Made him quote Romans 8.28, purpose. And then that preacher told him,
John, he said, son, you and your pretty little wife, that's what
he said to my mother, you and your pretty little wife, you
go home and you open the book of Romans and you ask God to
reveal Himself to you. And he did. He didn't skip chapter
9. And then from that time forward, he couldn't wait to get to chapter
9. It's our title. To glory. Election! What's that? My title to heaven.
I have no rights. I have no right to heaven. I'm
going to get there on the rights of another. The elect. The chosen one of God. Whom God
chose and put me in Him. That's my right to heaven. That's
my hope of heaven. Is that yours? Does His word
have place in you? What do you think about the word
like election? What do you think about election? If you love God's sovereign elections,
you must be elect. His Word's in you. Christ is
in you. That's what they said. We love
everything you say. It's life. It not only gave us
life, but we hang on it. These are words of life. Tell
us again, Lord. Tell us again. Alright, my next
point is His Love is in you. The Word is faith, hope in Christ,
faith, hope. These three things, faith, hope,
and love, but the greatest of these is love. I fear that there
are some, I preach to, that believe these things in their head, but
don't necessarily love it, don't necessarily love the truth. Look
at Romans chapter 5 with me. Salvation, the greatest of these
is love. And God puts in the heart of
His people love for God. Love for His Word. Love for His
truth. Love for His glory. Love for His salvation. Let such
as love thy salvation. Say, the Lord be magnified. They
love. Why do they love these doctrines?
Because they glorify God. Romans 5, look at this. Where
do you begin and end here? Verse 1, Therefore be justified
by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
What does that mean to you? By whom also we have access by
faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in the hope
of the glory of God. Behold His glory. Not only so,
we glory in tribulation. We know that tribulation worketh
patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope
maketh not ashamed. Because, remember John Chapman's
message, I'm not ashamed of the gospel. Ashamed? We glory in
the gospel. Believe it, we love it. If you love Him, you love His
glory, don't you? You love His Word. If His Word's
in you, you love it! All of it! Because, verse 5 says,
"...the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto it." The love of God is put in His people. Christ in you is the love of
God in His people. What's that mean? You love God
as God. So Wednesday night we started
talking again, didn't we Steve? God is God. And you all just
light up when I say that. I do too. Why don't I shout? Because I love it. I love that
He's God. Especially times like now. Where
does anybody have any peace anyway? We have peace. Why? Because God's
God. Aren't you glad? I love that
it's so. It's my hope, it's my peace,
it's my salvation, my rest. I can go to bed at night. Why?
Because He's keeping me. I lay me down because it's the
Lord. Saved. He's my Lord. Don't you
love that God is God? Don't you love His Word? Don't you love that all things
are ordered and sure? Don't you love that He's predestined
all things? Don't you love that our salvation
is fixed on Jesus Christ? Don't you love that? Love that God is God. His love
is shed abroad in our heart. Don't you love God's Son? God
loves His Son supremely. God made the whole universe for
His Son. And the kingdom of God is all
about His Son. And everybody's going to be in
that kingdom, in the kingdom of His glory, the kingdom of
God's dear Son, is in love with Jesus Christ. They love everything
about Him. How do you know? Well, here I
am talking about it. Let's see how you respond to
this. If he's your husband, you know how wives like to talk about
their husbands, if they love them? I'm going to talk about your
husband if you're in him, he and you, okay? He's altogether
lovely. He is Lord. He's not some pitiful
little... I wouldn't be married to a man
that couldn't take care of me. I wouldn't be married to a man
who's a weak effeminate fellow that I have to order him around,
let him in the house. Would you? Our husband built
the house. Our husband takes care of his
bride. Our loved husband protects her. There's nothing that can harm
her. He does everything for us. He
doesn't depend on us for nothing. We totally depend on Him. And
His character. Oh, He's lovable. Everything
about Him. He's merciful. He's kind. He's gracious. He's
easy to be entreated. He's never imposed upon. The husband. Altogether lovely. All-powerful. All glorious, He laid down His
life for His brethren. He laid down His life. Isn't
He wonderful? They love His Son. They love
God's Son. God loves His Son supremely,
and God's people do too. They do too. He said to those
Pharisees in John 8, He said, If God were your Father, you'd
love me." Remember that? If God were your Father, here's
how you'd know He'd love me. Why? Because I am God. 1 Peter 1 says, whom having not
seen, you love. So Christ in you is the love
of God in you. Love for his word, love for his
truth, love for his glory, love for his worship. You love to
come and worship your Lord. You love to come be with him.
You love more than anything else. Like David says, I love in kindness
your worship, your tabernacle, your people. It's better than
life. You love His people, you want
to be with them, that's how you know. If Christ is in you, you
love those that Christ is in. Right? They're brethren. They're
brethren. If Christ is in us, His Spirit
is in us. And we'll not go back to Romans
8, but let me just tell you a few things. When He said, We talked
about the spirit of life in Christ made us free from the law of
sin and death. That doesn't mean anything. Oh my, my, my. Those that think
they're under the law and want to be under the law, they don't
hear it. But bless God, he sent his gospel and we hear the law
and it convicts us, breaks us, and the Holy Spirit The schoolmaster
sends us to Christ. And we see Christ's hand writing
the ordinances against us, the law, nailed to his cross. And the Spirit of God takes up,
He dwells in God's people. Let me just read this to you.
It says, To be carnally minded is death. To be spiritually minded
is life and pain. Those that mind after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh. Those that are after the spirit
do the things of the spirit. Now, I know it gave every believer
in here a little trouble. Because we're in the flesh. But
he said you're not in the flesh. Didn't he? You're in the spirit.
If so, be the spirit of God. There's two men. There's two men. There's an old man whose flesh,
that which is flesh, is flesh. He minds the things of the flesh.
That old man, he can't do anything but lust of the eyes and lust
of the flesh. Okay? And that's not going to
change. And that old fella's going to
be with us to the day we die. We're going to fight him. Here's
a good sign that there's another fella in you. Another person
in you. Is there a fight? Huh? Because these are totally different.
One's sinful, one's holy. One hates God, the other loves
God. One loves sin, the other hates sin. A new man created in Christ Jesus. A mystery, but it's true. It's your hope of glory. This
new creature created in Christ, in His image, Faith of Christ,
predestinated to be conformed to Christ, the holiness of Christ,
the righteousness of Christ, this brand new person. Brand new person. That person,
that new man, got his mind, his heart, his affection set on things
above. Like those birds in that tree.
Okay? That old man is like that worm.
He can't do anything but grovel. That new man's mind is set on
things that are higher, things that are nobler, things that
have allured my sight, things that are pure, things that are
lovely, things that are of good rapport, whatsoever is just,
holy, pure. Christ, where Christ is. That's
that new man. Is that you? You ever think on
him? Want to be with him? What does this all mean to you?
Does this appeal to you? Is this in your affection? Is
this in your heart? There's that old man. He's just
sinful. He's just flesh. But there's some people who don't
have that new man. He's just not there. Just not
there. All they have is flesh. And that's
all they ever think about. To be carnally minded means you're
dead. You're dead in trespass and sin.
But to be spiritually minded... There was a time when I... I didn't think about these things.
I didn't know. I didn't. I believed in my head
that you can have that. Now, it's the other way around. Now I say, you can have this.
You can have that man, this world. Give me Christ. That means there's
a new man in you. That means the Spirit of God
dwells in you. Spirit of Christ. The Spirit of Christ takes the
things of Christ and shows them unto you. And if the love of
God is in you who loves Christ, you'll love Him. If you love
the Gospel of Christ, And there's nothing more you want to hear.
If you come here for one reason, that is to hear the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ, rejoice! Jesus Christ is in you. The Spirit
of God is in you. Rejoice! That's a fact. If it
weren't so, it's not so. People that don't rejoice in
the gospel of Christ soon get tired of hearing it and they
leave. But those who are in Christ and
He in them, they never tire of Him. Ever. Ever. In fact, it gets more glorious.
He does. And lastly, His glory is in us. His Spirit is in us. His glory
is in us. If Christ is in us, His glory
is in us. Look at Revelation 7, and I quit.
Revelation 7, go over there. If Christ is in us, His glory
is in us. Now John wrote this, we beheld
His glory. We did. John said, we were with
Him on the mountain. We heard the voice, this is my
beloved Son. John said, I heard a voice and
I turned and I saw Him. I saw His glory. The glory is
of the only begotten Son of God. I beheld. You see, the glory
of the gospel. Do you see the glory of Jesus
Christ? Is it glorious to you? We beheld his glory. For whom
he did foreknow, in union with, he predestinated.
Whom he predestinated, he called by the gospel, and they believe. And so they're justified from
all things, simply by trusting Christ. He says, Past tense. Already. Let me quote this again
to you. Simon Peter said, God, You cause
the light to shine out of darkness. When life began, the first thing
God said was, Let there be light. And that's when life begins in
us. He says, Let there be light. What is that light? The light
He hath shined in our hearts. To give the light of the glory
of God. in the face of Jesus Christ. That's where it is. And once again, the world glories
in this and that and the other, and religion, you know, is all
about entertainment and music and extravaganzas and, you know,
it's going to be all this pagan stuff going on today. That's
abomination to me. It's abomination. You know what's
glorious to me? Jesus Christ, the Gospel Christ. His glory is in you. You've already
been glorified if you see the glory of God in Jesus Christ.
And you're going to be in glory. This is your hope of glory. If
you love the glory of God in Christ right now, the glorious
gospel of Christ, you're going to be with Him in glory, to behold
His glory. And you try to sing now, you're
going to sing then. You try to rejoice now and you
do somewhat, you're going to rejoice then with joy unspeakable
and full of glory. Look at Revelation 7. It says
in verse 9, "...I beheld a great multitude, which no man could
number, of all nations, kindreds, and people, and tongues stood
before the throne, before the Lamb clothed with white robes." Every child of God knows what
that robe is, don't they? Who? Palms in their hand, they're
crying with a loud voice saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth
upon the throne, that's the sovereign God, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round
about the throne, the elders and the four beasts, and fell
before the throne on their face and worshipped God. What are
they saying? Amen. Blessing and glory and wisdom.
Blessing and glory. All glory and wisdom. He made unto us all these things,
and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be unto
our God forever and ever. And they all said, Amen. And one of the elders said, answered,
what are these that are arrayed in this white robe? Where did
they come from? I said, sir, thou knowest. He said, lo, he
said to me, these are they which came out of great tribulation.
They've washed their robes, made them white in the blood of the
Lamb. Therefore, they're before the throne of God and serve Him
day and night in the temple. And he that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more, neither shall the sunlight on them nor any
heat for the Lamb. which is in the midst of the
throne, shall feed them, and lead them unto living fountains
of water, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."
Christ in you? Are you in Christ? Is Christ
in you? Is there a union? Is truth in you? Is word in you?
Is faith in you? Is love? Is worship? His kingdom, His Spirit, you
see His glory. You love His glory, then Christ
is in you. Your hope of glory.
Paul Mahan
About Paul Mahan
Paul Mahan has been pastor of Central Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, Virginia since 1989; preaching the Gospel of God's Sovereign Grace.
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