to prepare our hearts to worship.
And the Lord ordained it as a way to praise Him, singing, music. Colossians 3, verses 1 and 2,
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above,
where Christ sitteth, on the right hand of God. Set your affection
on things above, not on things on the earth. If ye then be risen
with Christ. Risen with Christ. What does
that mean? It's better experienced than
explained. It's still a mystery. Look at
chapter 2, verses 12 and 13. We read, it says, we're buried
with him in baptism, risen with him through the faith of the
operation of God who hath raised him from the dead. You being
dead in your sin and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him? That is, giving you life. That's
spoken of over and over throughout the Scripture. Risen with Christ. Listen to Ephesians. You know
these verses. Ephesians 2 says, We were dead in sins, and He
hath quickened us together with Christ by grace are you saved,
and hath raised us up together, made us sit together in heavenly
places in Christ Jesus. risen with Christ. Now here's
what I know about that. It has something to do with the
union that we have with Christ. Because when Christ came, When
he lives, we live. And I've tried to give this illustration
before, like a child in his mother's womb, that wherever she goes,
he goes, whatever she does, he does, whoever loves her loves him,
and so on and so forth. If she's accepted, he's accepted.
When Christ came, this union with him, We were known by Him
before the world began. I foreknew you. Whom He foreknew,
He did predestinate. Whatever Christ did when He came,
He did it for us and we were in Him. There's a union there,
a union with Christ. And I know also that this means,
this is talking about the new birth, the new birth, regeneration. Here it is. Here's my story.
Here's what I know about this being raised with Christ from
the dead. As I said, better experience
than explain. I know I once was blind, and
now I see. I once was deaf. I heard message after message
after message after message and didn't hear a thing. And then
one day I did. I was once without hunger and
thirst, no desire for these things that we're doing tonight. None
whatsoever. And one day I had it. That's
like being raised from the dead. It is. It is. That's a new life. So he says here, if you then
be risen with Christ, if you've been raised from the dead and
you're in Christ by faith, seek those things which are above.
I hope you'll stay with me tonight. This is very, very needful, very
profitable. Things above, heavenly things,
spiritual things, things we often sing that song, I am resolved,
which is a good resolve. By the grace of God, it ought
to begin. I am resolved no longer to linger
charmed by this world's delights, things that are higher. Things
that are nobler. These have allured my sight. Things above. Spiritual things.
Heavenly things. Not on base things. It says there in verse 2, things
on the earth. Seek. What does it mean to seek?
Well, it means to look for until you find it. That's what seek
means. Seeking me, he said. Seeking
me, he said. You shall find me when you search
for me with all your heart." Christ is called wisdom. And in Proverbs, throughout the
Proverbs, it says things like this. He says, if you incline
your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding,
if you cry after knowledge and lift up your voice for understanding. Cry? Lift up your voice? To who?
to the God. If thou seekest her as silver
and search for her, speaking of pride, as hid treasures, then
you will understand the fear of the Lord. You'll find the
knowledge of God. And you'll have every good path. When it
enters your heart, knowledge will be pleasant to your soul,
discretion shall keep you, understanding shall keep you, preserve you,
deliver you from the evil man. Seek. Seek. Seek. Look for. Look into. Seek those things
which are above, he says, where Christ sits. I know this about
these things. We're going to look into these
things above. I know this. They all have something
to do with Christ. They all have something to do
with Christ. Like this old book. In whom are hid all the treasures.
Seek. Search. Look into. Cry out for. A knowledge and an understanding
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The last thing Peter wrote grow
in grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said
this, O that I might know Him, have fellowship with Him. Verse
2 says, set your affection on things above, not on things on
the earth. Not on earthly, fleshly, base
things. Set your affection on things
above. Oh, how I need this. Does anybody
else need this? Because flesh and this world
has such a pull on me. Such a strong pull on me. We just sang that hymn. I hope
we sang it from the heart. See how we grovel here below. fond of these earthly toys, and
our souls, how heavily they go to reach eternal joy? Anybody
got that problem? I need this desperately. Seek
those things. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth, because everything on this earth
is temporary. We recently looked at a verse
that says, Satisfy not, that we need to write on everything
and even every relationship except those in fright. Satisfy not. Satisfy not. Temporary. Temporary. The things that are
seen are temporary. Temporal, the scripture said.
But the things that are unseen are eternal. It's foolish, isn't
it, to devote yourself and give yourself and always be thinking
about Soap bubbles, because that's what they are. That's what they
are. Earthly toys. Trifles. And this old flesh, and we need
them. I need them. This old flesh, this old man
loves material things. That's all he loves. That's all
he loves. But there's a new man that wants
to grow in what? material riches, but rich in
faith toward God. Grow in grace and the knowledge
of Christ. I want the new man to grow and
be like Christ who was above this beast. Nothing had any allure whatsoever
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing. We've said this before. Our Lord
came to this earth and He was the poorest of the poor. Had
nowhere to lay his head, the scripture said. He had no earthly
possessions. He had no family per se. That
is, a wife and children and all that. Yeah, he was the most content,
happy, completely. Wanting nothing, needing nothing.
Happy. The blessed man saw more. Happy. Always happy. except as He bore our griefs
and carried our sorrow." I want that. My heart, my mind is set
on things above, don't you? I do. So this is why we are exhorted
that. Set your affection, your heart,
your inner desire, affection. When you think of affection, you think of something very tender,
don't you? Something very very needful. Think of tender affection,
attachment to something you don't want to be without. Someone you
don't want to be without. You have a real affection for. So set your affection, your tender
attachment, your inner desire, your love upon things above. Now, here's the fact of the matter. You can't make yourself love
anything or anyone. This love is either there or
it's not. And what I'm about to say will be of great comfort
to many of you, I hope. And to others, I hope it will
make you desire these things. But this love for things above,
the things of God, the things of Christ, the love for Christ,
that is, His Word, His truth, His salvation, His worship, His
people, it's either there or it's not. You can't force it. You cannot force it. You can't
make yourself love it. You can't make someone else love
it. It's a gift. It's a miracle. It's the grace
of God. It's the new birth. This is when
God Almighty sheds abroad His love in you. Love for Him. Over in chapter 1 of Colossians,
it says, look at verse 3 through 5, We give thanks to God and
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul says, we thank God
since we heard, verse 4, of your faith in Christ, the love you
have for the saints, and the hope that's laid up for you in
heaven. Faith, hope, and love. The gifts of God. The greatest
things that God Almighty could give a human being. Every good
and perfect gift comes from above. And these are the greatest. These
three things. Faith, hope, and love. And the
greatest of these. is love. Love for God. Love for Christ. Love for the
truth. Love for the things of God. They
see that there it's not. And if it's not, people leave the gospel after a while because they don't
love these things. After a while, they get tired
of playing the game or putting on a facade. That's why people leave. You
know, people make professions and go through the motions and
do things for years and sing the hymns and listen and so forth.
And then they leave. Why? Love never fails. The love of God is shed abroad
in our heart. Love, which is? Who does God
love? Christ. That's the love of God. So it's either there or it's
not. And so if you have it, you'd be thankful. Oh, how blessed.
Oh, how blessed if you love these things. I have to believe that
most of you do because here you are on Wednesday night, cold,
windy Wednesday night when there's so much you have to do and could
be doing, but here you are. Some of you drove alone in the
dark. Pretty fair piece. Pretty fair
piece. I have to believe that you love
what you're doing. Oh, thank God. Thank God. So it's either there or it's
not. And if it's there, this love, this affection set on things
above, if it's there, this is what happens. The Lord takes
a person who was once only carnally minded, that is, thinking on
fleshly things, and starts making them think on things above. If you could turn a pig into
an eagle. That's kind of what it's like
in a worm into a butterfly. I'm a carnally minded person. That's death. Doesn't say that
in Romans 8. Carnally minded is death. Always
thinking about things on this earth. That means you're dead.
Everything on this earth is dead and dying. But to be spiritually
minded is life and what? What? Anybody quote the rest
of it? To be spiritually minded is life
and peace. Peace. Peace. If you're always thinking about
these things, no peace, because it's just full of sadness and
sorrow and trouble and worry and so forth. If your treasure's
in heaven, Oh boy, nothing can touch that.
Take this work of God. This is the work of God. This
is the power of God. This is the Spirit of God that
puts this affection in a person's heart. Take someone who minds
earthly things and makes them start thinking about heavenly
things. Here's the illustration. Moses was 40 years old, next
in line to be Pharaoh. to be the richest man, there's
never been a richer person than Pharaoh. Not even in our day.
Not even in our day. Not Steve Jobs, not any of these
people. Pharaoh. All the world at his
disposal. Moses was next in line to be
Pharaoh. All of Egypt at his disposal.
He was next in line to be Pharaoh, to be, as it were, king. The
most powerful man on earth. Riches. Fame. Fame. Pleasure. He could have anything
he wanted to fulfill his pleasure. All of a sudden, He says he began to esteem the reproach
of Christ, greater riches than all the treasures of Egypt. One
day, as seeing those things in business, and one day somebody
said, you're next, you're going to be Pharaoh's son. He said,
don't call me that anymore. I don't want to be Pharaoh's son. I want
to be the son of God. What happened? That's the work
of God. That's the power of God. See,
that is not something you do. That's something that's done
to you. Something that's done to you. That's God-given affection
set on things above. Things above. David said this. Listen to this. He said, One
thing have I desired, and that will I seek after. Seek those
things above. That's what I'll seek after.
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my
life. To do what, David? To behold
the beauty of the Lord. To inquire into His temple. There
was a time when I saw no beauty in Him that I should desire Him.
Do you? No beauty whatsoever. Now I desire. to behold the beauty of the Lord.
There was a time when I had no affection for these things. How
about you? How about you? David said this too. He said,
Whom have I in heaven but thee? Nearly every person, if you ask
them where they want to go, heaven or hell, well, heaven. Right? Why? Ask them that. And most people,
it's just to continue what they're doing here. Some kind of carnal
utopia. Some kind of paradise. Everybody
wants that, don't they? Listen to David. Whom have I
in heaven but thee? And there's none on earth that
I desire besides thee. That's what I want. And see, there is not. And Paul
said that. Oh, that I might win Christ and
be found in Him. That I might know Him. Know Him. Oh, my. My. All right. What are these things? These
things above? We'll turn to Psalm 103 again.
Psalm 103, things above. What are these things above?
Paul wrote to the Corinthian saints and said that the Spirit
of God has shown us things freely given to us of God. He's shown
us the things that are freely given to us of God. He said in
1 Corinthians 2, the natural man receiveth not the things
of God. They're foolishness to him. He
can't see them. He can't reason them. He doesn't desire them. He doesn't
desire what he can't see. The natural man. So if you do,
that means there must be a new man. Huh? Things freely given
to us of God. He wrote to the Ephesians, Paul
did. Also, he said, blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ according as He hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things or places
that are in Christ Jesus. Bless God for these spiritual
blessings, these things we have in Jesus Christ. Things and crap. What things? What things? All right, look at Psalm 103.
Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless
His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and
forget not all His benefits. That's these things we're talking
about. All these blessings that come down from our great benefactor,
our Father which is in heaven. Here's the things He's blessed
us with. All these blessings that we have
in and through and because of Jesus Christ. All right, here
they are saying, here they are, who forgiveth all thine iniquities. That's not a material thing at
all, is it? He starts with the greatest blessing
of all. Is this interesting? Huh? Oh, that's what we talked about
Sunday, wasn't it? He sent a Savior to save us from our sin. And
here's what he blesses us with, the things of God. This is what
I'm interested in. Are you interested in? I know
you are. Things above, who forgiveth all thine iniquities. Let me
quote this again, okay? The iniquity of Israel shall
be solved, God said, and it not be found. Who healeth all thy diseases. You know that's got to be talking
about spiritual afflictions and diseases, doesn't it? Although
our God, if we're healed of anything, He's the one to heal us of that,
doesn't it? If we're healed of a cold, He's the one that did
it. Yes, He is. But you know this is talking
about leprosy. This is talking about blindness,
isn't it? It's talking about deafness, isn't it? It's talking
about demon possession, isn't it? Huh? You know that's what
this is talking about. Who healeth all. See, he's not
even mentioning any material thing at all. Read on. In a minute he will, but he says,
Who redeemeth thy life from destruction. Who turns a worthless son of
Adam into a son of God that's worth something. Worth something to God. Worth
something to others. That's what God does. Redeems
a life that's fitted for destruction. "...who
crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercy." A multitude
of His tender mercy. And, yes, "...who satisfies thy
mouth with good things." Gives you bread to eat and water. That's
the only thing you need. Raymond gives you that. Oh my,
listen, read on. Verse 6, the Lord executeth righteousness
and judgment for all that are oppressed. Verse 7, He made known
His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel,
and us. He's made known His ways. Everybody doesn't know His way.
Everybody doesn't know God's way. They don't care. Has He
made known His ways to you? Oh, bless the Lord. Has He given
you a desire for these things? Oh my, my, my. Read on. The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger, plenteous in mercy. So he's not talking about material
things at all. He didn't mention one earthly
thing other than food to eat. Things above. You see, animals
live to eat and drink. Animals. animals. And if that's all we live for,
we're going to die like a dog. But, now, the life of God, there's
an affection set on things above. Things above. What things? What
things? Well, the things that are freely
given to us in Christ because of Christ crucified. Things freely
given to us. Here's some things, okay? In
Christ, if the Son shall set you free, you're free indeed. Freedom. Freedom. Free from the
law. Let me find somebody who knows
what this means. Free from the law. Oh, happy
condition. There are some people out there
who are under the law, and you look at them, they're miserable.
They're miserable. My pastor used to say, most people
have just enough religion to make them and everybody around
them miserable. Oh, but the Son has set you free.
Free from the law. Free from the precepts. Free
from the ordinances that are against them. Free. Free. Freedom that we have in Christ.
A brother who started coming here some time ago was under
legal bondage, wrote to me and said he was rejoicing in the
freedom that he now has in Christ. Freedom. Oh, my. Freedom. Freedom from fear. Things
freely given to us of God because of Christ is freedom from fear.
Our Lord said this over and over and over and over. Fear not.
Our Father, and our Lord said this in His Sermon on the Mount
to us and all His people, He said, the sparrow. He said, consider
the sparrow. Huh? He doesn't sow. He doesn't reap. But your Heavenly
Father feeded them. There's not one sparrow that
Paul has to grant to the ground without your Heavenly Father,
without it being His purpose and His will. And He took care
of them until the day it was over. A sparrow? How many sparrows
are there? Starlings in one tree at any
given time. He said, speaking to His children,
to God's people, are you not worth much more than many sparrows? Huh? Your heavenly Father, he
says, no, you have need of these things. So set not your, don't
worry about these things. You're going to have these things.
He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Don't worry about those things.
How am I going to do that? How am I going to do that? We've
been worrying about, some of us have been worrying about that
for 50 years, 60 years, 70 years. How am I going to make this much
payment? Well, how did you make it when you were 21? We have never provided for ourselves
and never will. God gave us the ability to work,
gave us the jobs we work, the health, the strength, everything.
Everything we have, we receive from above. And He said, I'll
keep giving you all things you need. Don't worry about it. Freedom
from fear. And He says in Psalm 90, 91, Psalm 91, he says, don't be afraid
for the terror by night or the error that flies by day. A thousand
will fall here, a ten thousand will die right here. It will
not come nigh you unless I intend it to. It can't happen. Go to
sleep. Freedom from fear. Freedom from
worry. And the only fear we have is
that which we conjure up. Freedom. But I don't know if
I'm His child. Hold on now. Do you trust Christ? Do you believe Christ? Do you
love His Son? Do you love Jesus Christ? Then you're God's child. Go to sleep. Freedom. Freedom from fear. Freedom from
worry. He's our Father which art in
heaven. No child will ever be without
or left behind. That didn't originate with Modern
education? God said that not one hoof will
be left behind. Hoof of what? Sheep. Sheep. No child has ever begged bread. David said, I'm old, I've been
young, I've never seen the righteous forsaken. Family? The Lord's given us these
things in Christ. Family? Family. Some of you never had
children of your own. You've got a bunch of them now,
don't you? In here, do you not, Sherry, do you not think of them
as your own? Love them like you would your
own? A bunch of children. Our Lord never had earthly children.
Look how many He had. Unmarried, oh my, a woman, got
a husband, widows, got a family. This is a blessing. Family. I was a part of a large family,
four kids. It's large today. Three is pretty
large, Gary. Three is pretty large. Four is
large. It used to be a lot larger, didn't
it? My grandfather was nine, nine of them. Anyway, it was
a great blessing to be a part of a large family. I have nothing
but great, wonderful memories of that family. So many different personalities and things. Oh
my, the Lord has put us in His kingdom. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
Joseph, Peter, James, John, Paul, Kelly, Stan, John, Joseph, Paul. How different it all is. One
and in Christ. What a blessing. Someday we're
all going to get together and never part. What a blessing. What a blessing. A things given
to us of God, a family that will never end. One big happy family
He's given us. Our Lord once said this about
things. He said, A man's life consisteth
not in the abundance of things which he possesseth, He said
the life is more than meat, eating and drinking. The body is much
more than raiment. You know, let me ask some of
you older people. John took issue with me Sunday. First time John Sheasley has
taken issue with me ever, I think. He took issue with me. The cutoff
date, 68 years old. 12 to 68, I said. He said, no, it's much higher
than that. 70, whatever. At any rate, let
me talk to some of you older people. Over what, John? You set the date. 73 and on. 73 and on. Do you not, the older you get,
If you grow wiser, do not these things lose their appeal? I'm not very old, but I know
it's so with me. Things that Gabe, you and I were
talking about this the other night, that things, even when
we were much younger, that appealed to us no longer had any appeal
to us. And the older you get, if the
Lord has put your affection on things, then these things just
grow less and less appealing to you, don't you? Nancy, you
and I have talked about this before. As beautiful as creation
is, yet it's losing its luster in it. Losing its luster. And you begin to realize, the
older you get, that life is not in things at all. It's just not
things at all. Deep things, deeper things. Love,
joy, peace, rest. And let me ask you this now.
I'm talking about setting your affection. I want to talk a little
bit about setting. I can't see the clock. I don't
have my watch on. I'm talking about setting your
things. These are for reading, not listening.
Setting your affection on things above. When are you able to not think
about these things more than right now? Isn't this the time when you're
truly able to forget about all these other things, stuff? This
is just one of those rare times when you're able to actually
have your affection set on things above. So how do you set your
affection? Well, you start there. The Spirit of God, what He does,
and like this, this is a foretaste of glory divine. We sing that
song. Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine. Air of salvation. Heaven's going to be a gathering
of people like this, who are all with Christ and with Him
above. And we won't be thinking about
this. It says the former things will not be remembered nor come
to mind. will be way above those times. Now, there's no evil in
things. And there's nothing wrong with
having things. There's no evil in things. Houses and lands and
being married and this and that and the other. There's no evil
in things. Oh, no. The book of Ecclesiastes talks
about that a great deal. And the material world, this
is what Hinduism and stuff talks, thinks, that evil is in material. No, no, no, no. When the Lord
created things, what did he say about it? And he's going to create a new
heaven and a new earth. But these things become evil and they become
idolatry when our affection is set on, when we live for it. pain, fortune, pleasure, these
things. Alright? When the Spirit of God
takes the things of God and Christ and shows them unto us with the
people of God, we're quickened together. That's what that is,
quickened together. Together. It keeps saying that,
together. Not alone, but together with
Christ. We come in here and the Lord
quickens us together, raises us up together to sit in heavenly
places. We all feel like normal people,
don't we? Sometimes. If the Spirit of God blesses
us. You know, alright, how? How do we set our affection on
things like that? Like I said, if it's not fair, you can't put
it there. But, our Lord is the One that
wrote this. And so he's talking to his children,
Robin. He's our Heavenly Father and
he's talking to his children that are alive under him. He
says, now, like you tell your children, do this, do that. Here's
what you do. Set your affection on things
about them. How? How? Number one, prayer. Because without Him, you can't
do anything. You can't set your affection
on anything. You can't get your mind off anything
down here unless He takes your mind off of it. Am I right? Oh
my. This message won't mean a thing
to you. This is a good message. This
is a vital message. This is a profitable message.
This will build you up on this most holy thing. This will strengthen
you. This will comfort you. This will
give you peace. This will cause you to grow.
But it won't do a thing for us if God the Holy Spirit doesn't
give us ear to hear. How does He do that? Help. Ask and you receive. He said,
ask the Heavenly Father or give the Holy Spirit to them that
ask Him. Prayer, prayer, prayer, ask,
seek. Think on these things. That old
man in us, that old man is a strong foe. He's a strong foe and it takes
someone stronger to lay hold of him. That adversary. You tell
me. Husbands and wives. Why is it
that on Wednesday night or Sunday morning, or maybe Saturday night
or Sunday morning, you have a little spat? Why does it have to wait
until Wednesday? Anybody? None of you act like
you do. Well, I'll admit it. What I'm trying to say is we're
not wrestling with flesh and blood, but principalities and
power. We've got a stronger foe, an adversary. who knows the power
of God, he's seen how the Lord took you out of his captivity.
He sees that, so he's against you hearing this gospel. Not
mine, but the Lord's word. The Lord's Word. Adversary. He's
our constant adversary. He said this to Job. It's the
same with all. Satan had desired you, to Peter. He said to Job, well, Satan desired
to have Job, didn't he? He did. It's the same with all
of God's people. So prayer. We start there. Set
your affection on things above. Cry unto the Lord. Set my affection
on things above. Please, I can't do it. I can't
do it. I can't get my mind off anything
down here if you don't put it on things above. Right? So without Him, we can do nothing. So it starts there. Then it's
just meditation, thinking, pondering, consider. Scripture says things
like this. Consider the apostle and high
priest of our profession. Consider. I mean, stop. Ponder. Think. Most of the time, the
Word of God just runs right through us, doesn't it? We live in a
generation and a day of too much commotion, too much doing, too
much going on. Nobody has any time to stop and
think. I mean, it starts as soon as
we leave this room, doesn't it? David said this, he said, when
you go to bed, he said, commune with thine own heart upon thy
bed and be still. Commune about what? What you
just heard. Commune with thine heart. Oh,
how the Lord has blessed me today. Oh, how good the Lord has been
to me. What lessons have I learned today from all my sin? Communing with God. Meditation.
Thinking. Pondering. Considering. Oh my. See when it starts with prayer?
Worship. What we're doing right here.
Worship. Oh, these are things above. This
is what we're going to be doing forever. Right here. No, you're
not going to be listening to me, thankfully. But we're going
to be hearing from Him. The same things, only the whole
will be told, not just half. We're going to be worshipping.
We're going to be singing. We're going to be singing hymns
up there. We're going to be praising Him.
We're going to be worshipping Him together, perfectly. That's what we're trying to do
here. This right here is how you have your affection set on
things above. You know, the more you do this,
the more you need to do it. It's like reading the Scriptures. The more you read it, the more
you need to read it, and the more you love it. And as I said, it's not an acquired
taste. You see, there is not. But the
fact is, he says, set your affection on it. The more you do it, the
more you have to do it. The more you want to do it, the
more you love to do it. Scripture says, as his habit
was, Paul was... It's a good habit. As his habit
was, he was always in the synagogue. Always. It's his life. See, Christ,
he said, Christ is our life. Christ is not a part of our life. I question if anybody really
knows the Lord when they say that. Christ is a big part of
my life. Verse 4 says Christ is our life. For me to live is Christ. Fellowship. Fellowship. I was going to have
us turn to Acts, but I'm running out of time. Where it says that
they all continued steadfast apostles' doctrine and prayer
there after Pentecost, you know. Continued daily with one accord,
breaking bread from house to house, eat the eight meat with
gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, having favor with
all the people. Good times. When do you enjoy a time any
more than this right here? On this earth, it doesn't get
any better than this. It will get better, but not here. Right here. Fellowship. And here
in our Texas is Mortify Your Member, of which we'll deal with
Sunday. Well, things above. Things so
far above this world below. And our Lord, is actually going to prepare,
is preparing, has prepared, has prepared things, actual material
things for them that love him. Oh yeah. As we said, there's
nothing wrong with things, because the Lord has prepared a new heaven
and a new earth And it's going to be something
like the old one, only so far above it that the old one won't
even come to mind. Try to imagine that. You can't,
because I hadn't seen, you hadn't heard, hadn't entered into the
heart of man. The things that God had prepared
for them that love him. Wherein dwelleth righteousness,
and goodness, and peace, and holiness, and joy, and love,
and sweetness, and kindness, and fellowship, and worship,
and praise, and unbridled happiness, and joy unspeakable, and full
of glory, and on and on it goes. And then grapes as big as watermelons. That's those grapes of Esco,
I think that's what the psalm is about. It took two men to
carry one buck. This is not in a sanctified imagination,
this is a fact. New heaven and new earth. And
golden streets that we won't give a thought about. Because
things that are higher. Hymn. It's like marriage. It
is marriage. I show you a mystery, Paul said.
Marriage. Picture of Christ. Great mystery.
Christ and His church. When you fall in love with the
Lord Jesus Christ, you're content with whatever. When you're first
married, you're content with little, aren't you? Little. Well,
that's just love, that's affection. And so set your affections. Seek
those things. Look for, look into the knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ and set your affection on things
about prayer and fellowship and worship and meditation and reading
and so on and so forth. Christ shall appear and will
appear with Him in glory. Okay. Stand with me. Our Lord, we thank You for this
blessed book. Again, it is your voice, the
voice of the Lord, the shepherd's voice to his sheep. Lord, it's
how You lead us and guide us. It's how You feed us. It's how
You console us and comfort us. We thank You for it. Lord, forgive
us for being dull and lifeless, dead. and cold, but we thank
You. The Spirit is willing, flesh
is weak. Lord, set our affection, we pray,
on things above where Thou art. Cause us to seek these things,
look into these things, think among these things, Lord. Put
Thy Word, write it on the tables of our heart. Let no iniquity
have dominion over us is our prayer. We give thanks in Christ's
name. Amen.