The life and heaven above. Oh, to be like Thee, oh, to be
like Thee. Blessed believers, here Thou
art. Come in Thy fullness, come in
Thy fullness. That Thine own image keep on
my heart. Thank you, Wesley, for reading,
praying for us. Jeanette, John, thank you. Thank you to everyone for all
you do, have done, continue to do so faithfully. Thank you.
Philippians chapter 3, go over there now. This struck me as
I was just reading this for my own enjoyment and edification. Verse 20, Paul says, Our conversation is
in heaven from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ who shall change our body. Our conversation, that
struck me and I began to look at it and I recall many, many
scriptures speaks of our conversation. Peter speaks of it more than
anyone in his epistle. But conversation, the word means
this. It means our life. It's your
life. Everything about you. And it
also means your course of life. Your walk. Your conduct. Your actions and so forth. And
it means what you think it means. Our conversation. Our talk. Our talk. Alright? What our speech, what we speak
of, or rather, who. Our conversation. Now this is
written to the saints. Like all of the epistles. I preached
the morning, the other message in context. The Lord was speaking
to Jews, to Pharisees, to lost religious people. That's the
way I handled that. That's how it was speaking, exactly
like the Lord was speaking. Though it was words of comfort
to God's people that know Him, there was no comfort but judgment
to those that heard Him. Right? In the context. You heard
it. He was talking to religious Jews that didn't know Him, to
claim they did. All right? Now this now, this
is all written to the saints. You know that believers are called
saints more than anything in Scripture? over a hundred times. They're called believers twice. They're called Christians twice. They're called saints a hundred
times. And brethren more times than
you can count. Saints. Why is that? Why are they called
a saint? Because that That means they're
the saved ones. That means they're the sanctified
ones. That's what saint means. Sanctified. Set apart. There were eight saints
in the ark. Eight souls saved. Many were
called. The whole world. Eight. Eight. What was it about them? Nothing. They were sanctified. They were
set apart. They were called, chosen. That's
what saint means. The saints, it says, the saints
that are with Him in glory are called. Chosen and faithful. Faithful to what? His glory. His honor. Him who called them.
This is to the saints. Our conversation. The saints. Our conversation. Our life is in heaven. David said it. David said it
in the Psalm. He said, Whom have I in heaven? but thee, and there's none on
earth I desire to send to him." Can you say that? It must be so. Our conversation,
our life through the saints. Look at Ephesians 2. Ephesians
chapter 2. You know these chapters. They're some of your favorites,
aren't they? Ephesians chapter 2. And you know, Nearly every
epistle begins with, to the saints, to the saints, and the faithful,
in God, in Christ, to the saints, to the saints, to the saints,
to the saints. It begins with grace unto you, and it ends with
grace unto you, every epistle. Grace, sovereign, choosing, saving,
sanctifying, keeping, redeeming, teaching, restraining, grace,
and it ends with grace. Grace, grace, to the saints.
Ephesians 2, you know chapter 1, don't you? Oh my, I hope you
got excited when I said, turn to Ephesians 2. Do you ever get
tired of that? Paul wrote in Philippians 3,
to write the same things to you is not grievous to me, and it's
not grievous to God's people. It's their joy and rejoicing.
He said, Rejoice in the Lord. Finally, brethren, rejoice in
the Lord. Who? The Lord, that He is Lord. Salvation is up to the Lord.
Rejoice. And he went on to warn and so
forth. But look at this. Ephesians 2
speaks of conversation. Verse 1, it says, And you, The
saints, the sanctified ones, the grace
and peace, blessed God who chose us and predestinated us and made
us accepted in Christ, redeemed us by His blood and revealed
His will to us and put us in Christ. And you, hath He quickened
who were dead? You were dead and trespassed
in sin. You were dead in time past. You walked according to
the course of this world, walked just like this world, now not
of this world. He walked according to the prince
of the power of the air. You're under his bondage, in
his captivity. Oh, our Lord came and led captivity
captive. You were under his dominion,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
among whom also we all had our conversation in time past. See that? That was your life.
It really wasn't life at all. It was death. Dead to God, dead
to the things of God, no interest. Dead to Christ, dead, dead, dead,
very much alive to the things of this world, as Paul wrote
in the Philippians, that God is their belly, who mined earthly
things. And that was you, he said. Fulfilling
the desires of the flesh, that's all you thought about, and of
the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as
others. But God, who is rich in mercy, for His
great love wherewith He loved us, the saints, the sanctified
ones. How do you know? He put you in
Christ. Noah and his brethren, Noah and
his family could say, God must love us. God must love us. Why? Because we're in His ark. And we didn't of our own free
will come into this. He put us in His ark. He put
us in His ark. Oh, my. He said, but your former
conversation, you're dead to God, dead in sin, but God put
you in Christ. Speaking of conversation, what
do you think Noah thought about and talked about for 120 years? A hundred and twenty years is
how long he spent in building that ark. And Shem, Ham, and
Japheth were in on it too, and their wives were in on it too.
You know they were. Noah's wife. What was their conversation
all the time? What did they talk about? What
did they think about? What was on their mind? What,
what, what, what, what? The ark. Then they were in that
ark, and the world was perishing, and they were in that ark. They
were shut up in that ark, and for a year, over a year, what
did they talk about? What did they talk about? What
was their life? That shit. They were a bunch of fellas in
an ark by the grace of God, and that's who they talked about.
The grace and mercy of God. That's how you know. That's how
you know. That's how you know. Our conversation. Our life. Our life. You know, your life is who you
live for and who you love. Look at Ephesians 1. Look at Ephesians 1. It says,
one, to the saints and faithful in Christ Jesus. I keep saying
this. Grace to you. Verse 3, bless God whose spiritual
blessings are in heavenly places in Christ, according as he has
chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that
we should be holy and without blame. That's the
only way we're going to stand before Him someday. Before Him.
Without blame, before Him. See that? In love. In love. Verse 4, without blame
before Him, in love. Yes, it was the love of God. The love of God that chose. He chose first and then set His
love upon. But what this is saying here
is, we're going to be holy, that He chose us to be holy and without
blame, before Him someday, in love. That we should be in love. In love with Him. In love with Him. In love with Christ. In love with each other. Because
Paul wrote here in Ephesians and Colossians, he said, you
were in many. You were enemies before. Yet now hath he reconciled. You were enemies of God. Isn't
he right there? Children of wrath, even as to
others. Paul wrote haters of God. Haters
of the truth. Haters of each other. Huh? But
now, in love. What are you talking about, preacher?
Talking about being married. Talking about being married. Before you were married to Christ,
who did you live for? Self. Then you become married,
who do you live for? The one you love. Then after
you got married, what did you talk about? Before you were married,
what did you talk about? Yourself. You get married, then
what do you talk about? Your husband. Isn't that right? It's a conversation. You still talk about it, don't
you? You still think about it. Why? You're married. The two
of you are one. This is life. Paul said, Christ
is my life. For me to live is Christ's. To die, he said, is gain. What? To go and be with my husband. Paul said, my conversation, my
life is in heaven. What's that, Paul? Christ. This is how you know. This is
how you know. Like I said, Noah and his people
there, all they talked about was the ark, God's mercy in putting
them in the ark. That's all God's people talk
about. They're in love with Christ. Salvation is to be found in Christ. Look at chapter 1 of Philippians. No, chapter 3. Chapter 3 of Philippians. Salvation is to be found in Christ. Salvation is to be in love with
Christ. And Brother David Edmondson wrote
a good article in our Bulletin, didn't he? Did you read it? The
only reason you, if you love God, the only reason you do is
because He first loved you. He first loved you. We love Him
because He first loved us. God doesn't love us because we
love Him. We love Him because He loved
us. But we do love Him, like Peter. The Lord said, Simon,
you love Me more than these? Every one of us, we need to know
that. Do you love me more than he does? Yes, Lord. You know. You know. And he does. He does. Our conversation. Philippians 3, salvation is to
be found in Christ. Look at verse 8. Paul, who was
religious before, Paul who was moral before, Paul who was zealous
before, Paul who was all these things, religious but lost. He said, verse 8, I count all
things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, but it
was just done. that I may win Christ. Here's
His desire. Here's His heart's desire. Here's
on His mind and His heart. I want to win Christ and be found
in Him. I want to be found in Him. In that day, judgment day, not
having mine own righteousness. You know what this means, don't
you? Huh? You know how few people know
what this means? You know how few people care?
You know how few people How most people think, this is not important. If you don't know this, you don't
know the Lord. It's our conversation. This is the conversation of God's
people. David said in Psalm 71, how many
times, John, did he say, I'll make mention of thy righteousness
and thine only. This is the conversation of God's
people. Oh, I want to be found in Christ. I want to be in the ark. You
know what that means, don't you? You know, a few people know what
the ark of Noah is all about. They think it's just a story,
you know, of God saving the animal. You know what that ark means,
don't you? You know. You're going to be
found in Christ, not having mine own righteousness which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ. Righteousness which is of God
by faith. Oh, verse 10, he says, that I
may know Him. Not about Him, but know Him.
Be at one with Him. Union with Him. My husband. The power of His resurrection.
What that meant to me. What that means to me. Christ
said, because I live, you live. The fellowship of His suffering.
Oh, I want to enter into what Christ did on the cross. Fellowship
of the gospel. You know what that means? It's
our conversation. This is our conversation. This is on our mind, in our hearts.
This is our faith. Oh, I want to know something
of the fellowship of this suffering and be made conformable unto
his death. Listen to this. Paul wrote in
Galatians, and this is the theme of the epistles. He said, I'm
crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. But it's
not I, it's Christ that liveth in me. And the life which I now
live. The life that I now live, my
conversation, the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for
me. Do you know what that's talking about? Some of you, I see recognition
on your faces. Our conversation, what does that
mean? Paul said, I want to be crucified with Christ. I want
to be found in Him, not having my own righteousness. It's filthy
rags. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly and completely all my soul leans on the Lord
Jesus Christ, name, His person and His Word. On Christ the solid
rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand. Not feelings, it's not even my
faith, it's the faith of Christ, the faithfulness of Christ. It's
who He is, what He did, where He is now. It's our conversation.
Our life. He is my life. Because He lives, I live on.
He that hath the Son hath life. What does that mean? Oh, we need
to learn what that means, don't we? He that hath the knowledge
of the Son, he that hath a need for the Son, he that hath faith
in the Son, on the Son, believeth on the Son, he that hath love
for the Son. Christ my life. Not a part of
my life. Anybody that says Christ is a
part of my life doesn't have life. Christ our life. When Christ,
our life, Colossians 3, shall appear. You know what it's like? It's like a woman whose husband
is gone, and she's in communion with him. She's in communion
with him. Say he's gone off to war, gone
off on a trip or whatever. And our Lord said he's like a
man who's gone off on a journey. But the bride is in constant
communion with him. He writes her letters, she reads
them with relish. She reads these letters over
and over again. Why? Because she loves him. They're from him. Are you with
me? They're from Him. She reads these
letters as being letters from Him. They speak to her heart
because she's in love with Him. And she communicates with Him. She writes letters back to Him.
What's she doing? She's waiting on Him. Waiting
on Him to come back. He's her life. That's what Paul
said. I speak of marriage. Marriage
is a great mystery. I speak of Christ and His Church.
You're married to another. You're married. Christ our life. Christ our life. I live. Oh, brethren, brethren, is He
really your life? Now, I would be remiss. Go to
Numbers 21. I would be greatly remiss. I'm preaching Christ. I want some in here who don't
know at all what I'm talking about. They don't understand at all. Because dead, they're dead. But
I want you to hear. You know how life begins? Now,
the preacher of the gospel. by the Word, the Word of life.
Our Lord said in Isaiah 55, ìHear, and your soul shall live.î All right? Numbers 21, go over
there. The message of life. Our Lord
said, ìHe that believeth on me shall live.î Numbers 21 is the
story of Israel. who were religious, but they
didn't know God, most of them. It was a remnant, yeah. But Israel
were a bunch of sinners, that's all they were. They weren't any
better than the Egyptians or anybody else. And in verse 4,
remember verse 21, they were journeying from Mount Hor by
the way of the Red Sea. encompass the land of Eden. And
the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.
A man that's born of a woman is a few days and full of trouble."
Why? Because he's a sinner, that's why. Against God. And the people
spake against God. And that's us, all of us by nature. And against Moses, who represents
Christ here. They said, why have you brought
us up out of Egypt? to die in the wilderness. There's
no bread. They had bread. It wasn't what
they wanted. Neither water. They had water.
Oh yes, they had water. They had all they needed, and
God provided it. And they didn't deserve any of
it. Right? They didn't deserve it. God was
feeding them and watering them. And so He is with every human
being. You. Though you don't know Him.
If you don't know Him. And they said, our soul loatheth
this light bread. That's the manna that God freely
gave them that spoke of Christ. That's what the manna was all
about, speaking of Christ. Do men have any taste for this
gospel? Do people love the gospel? Do
people need the gospel? No. And the Lord sent fiery serpents
among the people, and they bit the people. And much people of
Israel died, and Adam all died. And we're dying because of sin. What sin? Rebellion against God.
Rebellion against God. God's not in our thoughts by
nature. The people came to Moses. Some of them came to Moses. Some of them died. Some of them
died. Many of them died. But some of
them came to Moses. What did they say? We've sinned. We've sinned against the Lord.
The Lord's been so good to us. The Lord's clothed us and fed
us and done all these things for us all our lives. And all
we've done is, we're not interested in his gospel. We're not interested
in his Son. We don't give him thanks like
we should. We don't worship him like we should. In fact, it's
like pulling teeth to get us to come worship. We've sinned against the Lord.
We've now realized it's of the Lord's mercies that we're not
consumed. It's the Lord's grace that's given us everything we
are. It's the Lord. It's the Lord. It's the Lord.
And we've sinned against Him. We haven't given Him His due.
And that's us, isn't it? That was me, dead in trespass
and sin. Wasn't it you? There was a time
you didn't give God a thought. Though God, huh, is greatly merciful
to you. You see, people that don't come
to worship God are not just poor innocent people. They're rebels
against God. They're not a reasonable servant. And people are dying left and
right without knowing God. But some people come to Christ.
Some people come to Christ like these did to Moses and said,
We've sinned. Like those people at Pentecost.
We've sinned. What are we going to do? What
are we going to do? And Christ said, all that the
Father giveth me shall come to me. And they come to Christ and
said, what are we going to do? And he said, stand still and
see the salvation of the Lord. Have you sinned against the Lord?
Come unto me. Look at it now. Here it is. This
is what Christ preached in John 3. The Lord said unto Moses,
Make thee a fiery serpent. John, God made him to be sin
for us. He didn't do no sin. That's what he said to Christ.
I'm going to make you to be sin for God's people. Will you do
it? Yes, I will. For the great love wherewith
he loved his people. You're going to be their substitute.
Set it upon a pole. Christ said, I am come to be
lifted up. I am come to be crucified. I am come to be made sin. I am
come to be their substitute. I am come that they might have
life. How? For a look. Put it on a pole, and it shall
be, it shall come to pass, it shall, not maybe, it shall, that
everyone that's bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live. Christ said, look unto me, he
said. Come unto me. Come unto me. Look, everyone that's bitten,
everyone that said, I've sinned against the Lord, I'm guilty.
Look, there's life for look. Now hear this and your soul will
live. Christ will be your life. He
is your life. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. So Moses made a serpent of brass, put it upon a pole,
and it came to pass, just like God said, if the serpent had
bitten any man, anybody, whosoever, when he beheld the serpent of
brass, lived. I've got a message from the Lord.
Hallelujah. A message unto you I give. It's reported in His Word. Did
I hear you say it? Hallelujah. It's only that you look and live. Christ our life. Look and live. I would have been greatly remiss
if I did not preach Christ crucifying. That those who are bitten might
look. Oh my, He's our life, you see.
He's our life. Because He lives, we live. Because
He lived as our substitute, we live. Because He died, we live. Because He shed His blood, we
live. Because He paid the price, we
won't, we live. Because God spared not His own
Son, He spares us, you see. He's our life, our salvation. In Christ, all live. Like that ark of Noah. Go back to 1 Peter 4. Oh, may the Lord give life to someone
by causing him to look to Christ. He is our conversation, our life. And if He is, boy, He's in your
heart, in your affection, in your desire, in your mind, and
your walk. Remember, Paul wrote there in
Ephesians 2, he said, we walked according to the course of this
Word. Remember that? Had our conversation. Remember
that? Well, it speaks so much in Scripture. about the believer's
conversation or walk. Every epistle deals with it,
our walk. 1 Peter chapter 4. I haven't
even gotten there yet. There it is. Okay. 1 Peter chapter
4. It says here in verse Read verse 1, For as much then
as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves
likewise with the same mind. But he that hath suffered in
the flesh hath ceased from sin. That's being crucified with Christ. Oh my, that he no longer should
live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lust of men. Paul wrote in Philippians 3,
they mind carnal things, that's all they think about, that's
their conversation. But to the will of God, verse 3, the time
past of our life sufficed us to have wrought the will of the
Gentiles. We walked in lasciviousness, lust, excessive wine, revelings
and banquets and abominable idolatries. But now, these people that we
once had our conversation, our life with, they think it's strange.
We're not running with them anymore to the same excess of riot. Look back to chapter 1, 1 Peter
1. We just looked at it. 1 Peter 1, verses 14 and 15.
The believers walk, he says in verse 14 and 15, as obedient
children. Don't fashion yourselves according
to the former lust and your ignorance. But as he which hath called you
is holy. separate, sanctified, be ye holy in all manner of conversation,
life, walk, attitude, and so forth. Chapter 2, look at chapter
2, verse 12. And we're going to look at this
Wednesday night. Verse 11, Dearly beloved, I beseech
you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts. Our
Lord said, all that's in the world is not of the Father. Lust
of the flesh, lust of the eyes, pride of life, that's what the
world's all about. Their God is their belly. Well,
not us, our life. Paul said, for me to live is to know Christ and serve Him
and be like Him. Verse 12, having your conversation
Honest among Gentiles. Speak against you as evildoers
because of what you believe. The whole book of Peter is going
to talk about that. Persecution. Oh, behold your
good works. Glorify God. The course of the
believer, the course of the believer, his walk in this world is with
God. It says Enoch walked with God. Noah walked with God for 120
years, a preacher of righteousness. His conversation was of God,
the ark, salvation. He was in the world, but he knew
it was perishing, so he wasn't taken up with it. You hear me? He wasn't taken up with it. He
knew real soon it was going to be flooded away and it was nothing. And everybody he talked to was about that ark, his children. What did he want
his children to know? What did Noah want his children
to do, to be? He wanted them to be in that
What an arc. It's just conversation. For him
to live was to prepare that arc to the saving of his household.
Being warned of God, moved with fear, and prepared an arc for
120 years. You reckon his children thought,
that's all he talks about. That's all he talks about, and
he just insists that we be in and around about this ark. He's right. Do you hear me? No, and I didn't say it. He that
hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. And our Lord said, if you save
your life, If you make a life for yourself
and don't have Christ, you lose. But he that forsaketh his life,
wins. Christ's life. Dad? Noah? Dad? Surely there's
something else. No, son. This is life. Peter said, our conversation.
Look at 2 Peter, I'll close with this. 2 Peter, I close with these
words. He talks about our conversation.
And our conversation is our life, Christ. You're in Christ, you're
not. He is your life, or He's not.
You love Him, but you don't. You don't. And if you are, you
live with Him. You're united to Him. You speak
to Him. You speak of Him. He's your conversation. He's your speech. He's your talk.
He's who you converse with, and He's who you converse about.
Right? I gave the illustration of marriage.
And all of God's people, they're all taught of God. And they say
with the Apostle Paul, what he said here in Philippians 3, he
said, Oh, I want to win Christ. I want to be found in Christ.
I don't want my own righteousness. This is just scriptural language.
You've been hearing this for years. All of God's people do.
They all know at least that. Because they know Christ. They
know the truth. But their conversation is of the one that they love. They think on Him, they talk
with Him and talk about Him, walk with Him, they love Him,
they talk about Him and talk to others about Him. 2 Peter
3, and he says this, this is the oldest epistle and this is
the last thing he has to say to us. Verse 10, the day of the
Lord will come as a thief in the night. Oh, there are many
mockers, he said, and scoffers say, where is his coming? Well,
we know, we know, we understand that he's not slack concerning
his promise. He's coming. He will come as
a thief in the night, as in the days of Noah, in the which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up. I immediately thought of
these verses when I heard of what happened in Tennessee. And
my heart goes out to those people. It should, shouldn't it? You know what I thought of? The
whole world is going to be burned down. Men don't believe that. They
don't believe that. Are we not faithful to to preach
the warning. Seeing then, brethren, you hear
it all the time, verse 11, seeing then that all these things shall
be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all
holy conversation, speech, walk, and godliness that
is like Christ. Verse 12, looking for and hasting,
looking forward to and hasting, longing for the coming of the
day of God. Heavens will be on fire and be
dissolved. Elements, everything, everything
in this place will be burnt with the fervent heat. Nevertheless,
We, who? The saints of God. According to his promise. We
believe God, don't we? Look for a new heaven, new heavens
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. What's that? It's who? The Lord our righteous. Oh, beloved, seeing that you
do look for such a thing, be diligent. Didn't we look at that? Give diligence. Be diligent that
you may be found of him." Paul said, I will be found in him,
in peace, without spot and blameless. And the last thing he says in
verse 18 is, grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and
forever. Our conversation is in heaven,
our life. He said, set your affection on
things above, not on things of the earth, but where Christ sits. Ask Him to remove your affection
from these things, because our conversation is in heaven, where
Christ is. From whence we look for the Savior. We're looking for Him to come
any day now, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change these vile bodies. that we may be fashioned like
unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is
able even to subdue all things unto himself." Christ, our conversation. All right. That's saying number
393. 393, in closing. Brother John. Or did you change it? You didn't
change it, did you?