The Bible within the Colossians,
the third chapter. Brother Terry read it tonight,
and I need to announce that we're all going to have a supper here
next Saturday afternoon and evening. And Brother Paul is coming home. I wish I could be here. And if some of you ladies would
like to help set up, come between 430 and 5. Is that right? Between 4.30 and 5 to help set
up. If some of you can and will. Next Saturday. Old Paul Edward
will be awful glad next Thursday morning he gets up and goes out
there to that airport and gets on that plane. Yep, he'll be glad. He'll be
glad to be back. He loves you all very, very much.
Him and I talk very often. Here in Colossians chapter three,
I want to bring a message on Christ, who is our life. Christ, who is our life. And there are people in this
world, like I said this morning, that the gospel's been made known
to them. They really know it, love it,
believe it, cherish it, embrace it, live by it, and are going
to die by it. They sure are. And here, the
apostle starts out here in verse one saying, if you then be risen
with Christ. He starts talking about the resurrection,
our identification with the Lord Jesus Christ. And let me say
that the resurrection, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the cornerstone
of Christian doctrine. It's the very cornerstone of
Now, everybody knows what a cornerstone is. It's the first block laid
in the corners, you know. You've got to have the corners,
got to be straight before the building will be right. You set
up all your corners, but there's a cornerstone. And the resurrection
of our Lord is the chief cornerstone or the cornerstone of Christian
doctrine. You disprove, you disprove the resurrection, or don't believe
the resurrection, you have no gospel. You have no gospel whatsoever. The gospel's useless and powerless
without the resurrection, and I'll show you that. Look with
me in 1 Corinthians 15. I keep Colossians 3 handy. We're going to deal with several
verses there. The resurrection, if you disprove it, he starts
out talking about if you then be risen with Christ. Now, you disprove, you take away
the resurrection, it's useless, it's powerless. There's no gospel period without
it. And Paul said here in 1 Corinthians 15, 12, now, if Christ be preached
that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there
is no resurrection of the dead? There were people in our Lord's
day that didn't believe in the resurrection of the dead. Hymenaeus
and Pilate didn't. The Sadducees didn't. There's
people today that does not believe in the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Jehovah's Witnesses don't. There ain't going to be
but 144,000 that's going to have anything to do with the resurrection.
The rest of us are going to just come here like we are and live
on this earth and go on doing like we do. They don't believe
in it, and the Mormons don't believe in it like it's supposed
to be. Lots of people don't believe, but if there is no resurrection,
why is Christ priest that he rose from the dead if there is
none? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not
risen? Now watch it. If Christ be not
risen, Our preaching is vain. What I'm saying tonight is vain.
It's empty. It's nothing. And not only that,
but your faith is vain. Your faith is vain. Yea, and
we're found false witnesses of God because we have, we're found
to be lying on God, is what we're saying, what he says. We're lying
on God because we have testified of God that he raised up the
Lord Jesus Christ from the dead, whom he really didn't raise up
if the dead don't rise. We're out lying on God. We're
saying God raised him from the dead, set him at his own right
hand. And if it really didn't happen, then we're lying on God.
God didn't raise him up. For if the dead rise not, then
is not Christ raised. And if Christ be not raised,
your faith is vain. And here's the terrible thing.
You're still yet in your sins. You see what I'm saying? That
the resurrection is the cornerstone. You take that away and there's
no gospel. We're still in our sins. Then they also which are
fallen asleep in Christ, those that we thought had a hope in
Christ, that died with a hope in Christ, they're perished.
They're gone. No hope for them. And if in this
life only we have hope in Christ, we're of all men most miserable.
If the hope we have is just for this world, has nothing to do
with our acceptance with God, nothing to do with our sins being
gone, nothing to do with eternity with God and the glory that we'll
have with Christ, Now, it doesn't mean here that we'll be miserable,
feel miserable, act miserable. It means that we will be in a
miserable state, that we are in a miserable state because
we're deceived. We're just in a miserable, miserable
state. But watch this. Big door swing
on little hinges. But now, but now is Christ risen
from the dead and become the first fruits of them that slept. firstfruits what they get in
first, have a feast over them, and bring everything else in
later. Well, of everybody that's going
to be raised in the Lord Jesus Christ, he's the firstfruits
which guarantees the rest of us is going to come, too. That's
part of me. And so you see, beloved, back over in our text now, that
you disprove the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
the gospel is useless and powerless. And our Lord, by many, many infallible
proofs, as said in Acts chapter 1, gave many infallible proofs
of his resurrection. Sixteen times, sixteen times,
his appearances after his resurrection are recorded in the Word of God.
You find many instances of his resurrection and his appearance
after his resurrection. He showed himself openly. He
ate and drank with his disciples. Mary came running up to the tomb
to look for him, and she was talking to him and didn't even
know him. until he called her by name. In just a moment, he
called her name. She said, That's my master's
voice. That's my master's voice. And he appeared to Simon Peter,
and at one time, they was all sitting in the inner chamber,
scared, and our Lord just appeared there to them. He said, I'm not
a ghost. Touch me. Give me something to
eat. I'll prove to you. Give me something to eat. A ghost
don't eat. A spirit don't eat. I'm flesh
and bone. Touch me. Handle And, oh, beloved,
he appeared in 1 Corinthians 15, said he appeared to above
five hundred brethren at one time. So he gave many infallible
proofs of his resurrection. But in the order of doctrine,
in dealing with truth and doctrine, the federal headship of our Lord
Jesus Christ is important next to the resurrection. Now, when
I mean the federal headship, you know what I'm talking about.
God is only considered the human race in two people, in two men,
the first Adam and the last Adam. And the first Adam was the one
that God made out of the dust of the earth, created a man,
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and that man
Adam became a living soul. And the whole human race was
represented in that one man. He represented us all. He was
our federal head, and all of us were in his loins. All of
us are direct descendants of him, and what he'd done We did,
and if he'd obeyed God, we'd have obeyed God anyway. When
he fell, we fell in, because we were actually represented
by him. Well, our Lord Jesus Christ, he was our representative
also of another race, a perfect race, a chosen race, an elect
race, and he was God's first elect. He was chosen to be a
man, to be identified with us. He was chosen to be our Savior,
our Redeemer, our Mediator, our Substitute, and our Sacrifice.
And everything that our Master did since he represented us,
we did in him. So when he died, we died. When
he arose, we arose. When he ascended, we ascended.
That's what the Scriptures teach. You see how important it is?
That's why the resurrection just proved that we wasn't in him
when he rose. We wasn't in him when he died.
You understand what I'm saying? So all who are in him rose from
the dead when he arose from the dead. And actually, in Ephesians
chapter 2, you've got together, together, together, so many different
terms. And our union with our Lord is
so complete and so vital that everything that He did, we did. That's so. When our Lord had
our sins upon Him on the cross, that wasn't a symbolic thing. They were actually on Him. If
they weren't on Him, He wouldn't have died. Death could not have
took him because he had no sin of his own. So our sins were
actually on him. And if my sins were on him, they
couldn't be on me. They can't be two places at the
same time. And if God punished him and he suffered death, then
God ain't going to punish me because I've been punished in
my representative. The wrath of God's been spent on my representative. God's not out to get me. I'll
never forget when I understood clearly, and I got it in my mind
and my heart, that God wasn't mad at me anymore. And so I quit
running around trying to do something in the flesh to please and satisfy
God. I went to rest. My soul reposed
in the Lord Jesus Christ, once and for all. Because what He
did, I did. And when they took Him from the
tree and put Him in the tomb, they put me in the tomb. And
when our Lord rose again the third day, I arose in Him. And
when He went to glory, I was risen with Him and seated together
with Him in the heavenly places. How can that be? Well, over in
Ephesians 5.30 it says that we are members of His body. He's the head of the church,
the body, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead. Ain't
that what it says? So if one remembers of his body
what the head done, every member of that body does it too. Ain't
that right? When I move, my head goes under,
my arms, feet, legs, everything else goes with me. So everything
my head done, the body will have to do it with it. And we're born
of his bone and flesh of his flesh. So you see, beloved, In
this union that we have with Him, it's an intimate union,
it's a continuous union, and it's an indissoluble union. And
so we're risen in Him, but Paul said here, if you then be risen
with Christ, we're risen with our Master in two ways. Risen
with Him two ways. First of all, we're risen with
Him representatively. The Scripture said in Romans
4.25 that He was delivered for our offenses. Delivered. Well, that means like the law
comes, and if I commit a crime against the law and they get
a warrant out for me, they come and they apprehend me, they deliver
me to jail, they deliver me to the judge, they deliver me up
to the law. Our master was delivered for our offenses. We were lawbreakers. He was delivered up for all of
our sins, for all of our offenses, and he was punished in our room
instead. But the Scriptures put him in
the prison of death. On the third day, he was raised
again for our justification. Now, let me show you something
in Romans chapter 6. In Romans chapter 6, you see, to be raised from the
dead, as we were risen in him, he was declared justified. He
was declared justified. free from the law, free from
his penalty, free from his judgments. If you take a man and he breaks
the law and he's guilty, and you try him and he's found guilty
of first-degree murder, and you punish him and you kill him in
the electric chair and you bury him, if by some miracle he rises
again the third day, can they try him again? Does the law have
a hold on him? Can anything condemn him? Well,
that's what our Master did, and that's what we did in Him. He
was delivered for our offenses, but He was raised again to justify
us for our justification. And when He was raised again,
what God was saying is, He's clear of all guilt. He's free
from all sin, He's free from the penalty of it, He's free
from the judgment of it, He's free from the punishment of it,
and there's no condemnation there. Now, who does that mean? Him
and us. Him and us. That's what it says
here in Romans 6, and I believe it is verse 8. Now, if we be
dead with Christ, how can we be dead with Him? We believe
that representatively, and we believe that we shall also live
with Him. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead is
not going to die anymore. Death hath no more dimension
over And why don't it? Because in that he died, he died
under sin one time. The only thing that can destroy
you is sin. And he died under sin once, but
in that he lives, he lives under God. Now watch this, "...so likewise
reckon ye yourselves also to be dead in sin, indeed under
sin, but alive under God through Jesus Christ our Lord." That's
why, beloved, when people come along with the law, I don't care
what it is. Whatever it is that accuses me
and condemns me, I look right there at my justification. What's
the justification that you stand and say you have no sin? I point
to Him. What's your justification to say that you will fulfill
and obey the law? There's my justification at the
right hand of God. You understand what I'm saying?
How can you say you're not under any condemnation, you have eternal
life, and you're in glory right now? See, we're saved in Christ
by God's purpose before the foundation of the world. We were saved when
our Master died on the cross. My sins wasn't put away when
I believed. My sins were put away when my Savior died on that
cross. And when I put my, and I don't, and his, his, his faith
is not like blood. His blood and his death is not
like put in this pan here. And what I do is I come down
here and I put my faith in there, I put my repentance in there,
I put my tears in there, I put my sincerity in there, I put
the best I can do in there, and I mix all that up, and then his
blood becomes essential to me, and my sins have been put away.
That's not how it's done. No, no, he bore sin one time. For anybody from Adam, whom he
represented to the end of time. One time there on that cross.
So I saved him purposely before the foundation of the world,
saved when he died on that cross, saved when I heard the gospel,
and I'll be plumb saved when I get to glory. So everything he did, we did.
So you see how important it is? And then not only were we resonating
representatively, that's why we're justified in it. He's raised
for our justification. And we were resonating spiritually
at our conversion. And that's what Paul said here
in Colossians 2, in verse 13. He said, And you, being dead
in your sins, and the filthiness of your flesh, hath he quickened,
quickened together with him. having forgiven y'all trespasses.
Ye who were dead in trespasses, yet hath he quickened together
with him," raised you up with him. And that's the way it is.
And so back over here then is starting Colossians 3, 3 and
verse 1. Paul says, see how important
the resurrection is and our identity with Christ? If you then be risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ
saith on the right hand of God. And what the Apostle's saying,
if it's true, if it's that you're crucified. And this if here is
an identifying mark. It's not an if of uncertainty
like if. I hope I am, I think I am, maybe I am. It's an identifying
mark. Those that are risen with Christ,
if you be, if you're one of those that have been, if you then be
risen with Christ, if it's true, that you're crucified with the
Lord Jesus Christ. If it's true that you were buried
with him in baptism, and that's what baptism represents. Baptism,
water doesn't put sin away, it's just an identifying mark, an
answer of a good conscience. My Lord was crucified and buried
and rose again, so I'm going to confess it, and I'm going
to be buried, and I'm going to rise from that watery grave to
walk in newness of life, to honor my master. Because my sins is
already put away. So if you've been buried with
Him in baptism, if you've been raised up with Him to see Him
in heaven, then the Apostle says, seek those things which are above.
Seek them. Set your heart on them. Set your
affection on them. Seek what? Seek that heavenly country. That's
what's above. Seek that heavenly country. I
mean, like I told you this morning, this world here without sin is
a fine place. It's a beautiful... I love the
country. I like the mountains, and I love... But brethren, I'm
telling you, I'm seeking another world. I'm seeking a city whose
builder and maker is God. David said, I'll only be satisfied
when I awaken your likeness. And folks, folks, you know, they'll
say, boy, the Lord, they get up and testify, used to in meetings.
I don't know if y'all ever experienced any of this or not. They'll get
up and say, well, the Lord spared us another day. Spared us from
what? Going to glory? Going to glory? Spared us from going to be with
Him? Seek that heavenly country. I mean, beloved, we have a place
to look forward to, a place to go. This is not our home. We
don't have a continuing city here. This is just a place of
strangers and pilgrims here. This is a valley of tears and
trials and troubles and heartaches and sorrows. This is a place
where tears come by. But this is the valley of the
shadow of death. And oh, to leave this and go
down. To hold on to this and not want
to go there just doesn't make sense to me. If you're risen
with Him, you want to go where He's at, be with Him. And then
not only that, but seek those things that are above. Seek the
Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness. Seek that. That's a heavenly
thing. That's a glorious thing. Seek
Him above all things. Look what Paul said here in Philippians
chapter 3. Seek the Lord Jesus and His righteousness. And this is something that the
world doesn't understand when we talk about it. We talk about
that we have Him, we know Him, we rejoice in Him, we have His
righteousness, and yet at the same time we seek Him with all
of our being to have Him. Say we have Him, and yet we seek
Him to have Him. And the Apostle Paul here, he says in verse eight,
"'Yea, doubtless I count all things but lost for the excellency
of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, for whom I have suffered
the loss of all things.' all things, and do count them but
dung, garbage, that I might win Christ." Like a prize in a race,
like a prize in a race, like a crown in a fight, a reward
for our labor. That's what it means to win Him.
He's the prize at the end of this race. He's the starting
mark. He's the author and finisher of our faith. We look unto Him,
and He's the finishing mark. He is the prize that we're going
to have when we get to glory. It's not going to be the river
of life that we sat down beside and sang down home with the golden
fishing pole and fish. That's not what it is. It's not
setting up our strumming harps and singing songs. No, our reward
is Him, winning Him, seeing Him, rejoicing in Him, having Him
throughout eternity. That's the thing. And then He
said, and be found in Him. Oh, I want to be found where? In Him. I won't just be found
in Adam, I'm only to be found in the last Adam. Not having
my own righteousness, not my best. My righteousness is as
a filthy rag, and this, my righteousness, is of the law. But I want that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness of
God, which is by faith, and that I may, knowing him, not some
things about him, actually know him. And I may know the power
of his resurrection, the fellowship of his sufferings, and be made
conformable unto his death. For I say, Lord, not my will,
but thine, be done, even if it kills me." Even if it kills.
And seek all spiritual blessings. Seek those things that are above.
I almost brought a message tonight on the blessings that count.
We don't know how to measure blessings. We really, truly don't.
And I'll show you, I'll prove that to you by the language we
use. We'll look at somebody and say, well, the Lord's blessed
them with wealth. That means that he hasn't blessed
somebody who's poor. We'll look at somebody and say,
well, the Lord sure has blessed them with beauty. Does that mean
that somebody who doesn't have beauty has not been blessed? You see,
we look at outward things and count them as blessings, and
the Scriptures talk about spiritual blessings. Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings. Those are the blessings that
count. All spiritual blessings in heavenly places in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that, what's a spiritual
blessing? Forgiveness of sin, the righteousness of Christ,
faith. My soul, I want faith, don't
you? I want faith that no matter what
would come, I wouldn't move. I want, I, Oh, the love of God
that passes understanding where I'd never think ill, I'd never
act ill toward anybody I would forbear. That's a spiritual blessing. I'd rather have the love of Christ
in my heart is to have the richest man in this county's money. All
of it. That's a blessing that's worth having. And joy. My soul had joy. Oh, you see,
folks ain't got any joy, don't have any peace, but to have peace
and joy. That's why, beloved, every good...
Seek these things from above. Every good and perfect gift cometh
down from the Father of lights, in whom there is no variableness
or shadow of turning. And why are we to seek Him from
above? It says right there in that verse. Because that's where
they're at. That's where Christ sits on the
right hand of God. He sits at the right hand of God. That's
why we seek Him there. That's where He sits. He has
all power, He has all authority, He has all honor. And that's
the only place we can get anything. It's from Him. From Him. So,
Beloved, He said, if you then be risen with Christ, seek those
things that are above. He said in verse two, set your
affection on things above and not on things of the earth. Set
your heart. And it doesn't say affections.
Affections. It just says affection. One,
singular. Set your affection. That's why our Lord said you
can't love God and you can't love man at the same time. It's
impossibility. You can't love the world, you
can't love the Lord. That's why folks preach that for years,
where you, if you're going to hold on to the world, hold on
to the Lord, one of them's got to go. One of them already went. Huh? If you hold on to the world,
you ain't got Christ, and if you hold on to Christ, you don't
have the world. It's just that simple. This idea that he's a
Christian, but he's a worldly one, there's no such animal.
There's no such animal. God ain't naked, don't have any
of what they call worldly Christians. And worldliness, worldliness
is a spirit. Worldliness is an attitude. Worldliness
is a mindset. It's not a particular dress code.
It's not a particular habit you have. It's a mindset. It's a
spirit of the age that's against God, that's against Christ, that's
against holy things, that's against the scriptures. And you think,
don't it amaze you that you love to read the Bible? The world
won't. They'd rather read a magazine.
Don't it amaze you that you love to pray and call on God? The
world won't. Don't it amaze you that you're
here tonight in this service wanting to hear a man stand up
and preach and talk to you from God's Word? The world won't hear
that. It all sets your affection on things above and not on things
of the earth. And if our hearts, if our hearts
are set on the Lord Jesus Christ, We will seek the things above,
and we'll try our best to seek them properly, because all things
are through him and by him and because of him. Now, preachers
today, and men and women today, they want the Lord, but they
don't want his blessings. They want his blessings, but
they don't want him, is what I'm trying to say. They want
his benefits, but they don't want him. But you can't have
it. If you have him, you have all that is his. People, that's
why preachers say, you don't want to go to hell, do you? You
want to go to heaven? Everybody wants to go to heaven if they've
got good sins. You want the Lord's blessings, don't you, don't you?
Well, give me ten dollars and the Lord will give you a hundred
back." Man, I tell you what, I'd put all the money I could
get together, rake, scrape, beg, borrow, and steal if I guaranteed
I'd get a hundred percent return on my money. Wouldn't you? But that's what they tell folks.
And they want the blessings. They want the benefits, but they
don't want Him. But there's where he's at, is at the right hand
of God, and if we have anything, that's where we're going to get.
And if our hearts set on Him, we'll seek the things above.
We'll seek them properly, and the only way to seek them is
through Him alone who has the authority to give them. And that's
why the Scripture says in Proverbs 4.23, keep your heart with all
diligence, for out of the heart are the issues of life. This
heart, to set your heart. And that's why it says you know
they that are after the flesh. They mind the things of the flesh.
They direct the spirit, mind the things of the spirit. Now,
beloved, I know it, and you know it, that the things of this world
have to be sought and provided for. They have to be. You men
have to work for a living. You've got to pay for your houses.
You've got to have automobiles. You've got to eat. You've got
to have clothes. You've got to educate your children. But you do these
things, but these things don't have your affections. That's
not where your heart's at. You have to do them, and you're
grateful for having a job to be able to do them with. But
that's not where your heart's at, is it? And the reason you
do them is because your children have your affection. Your wife
has your affection. The church has your affection. Christ has
your affection. And you want to honor Him. And the difference
between a child of God and those of us is that the folks that
have their hearts set on this world, I mean, it's obvious. Their heart is just their affections
on... It's like I heard an old blackfeller
say one time. He said, get all you can. get all you get, and then sit
on the couch. That's the way folks are. That's
the way folks are. But, I mean, we have to. I have
children. I have to. I got a son in college. Got a daughter. Got a grandson.
And I want to provide for my grandson right now while I can. I want to see that if I live
and he gets old enough, I want to see that he gets an education.
Unless something really happens, my daughter's son-in-law won't
be able to afford to give him one. So we got to help him. They got to have things, and
they had to be sought and provided for. But that's not my whole
life. That's not my affection. And
because I understand the importance of it, I will try to meet that.
But, beloved, I don't do these things, and you don't provide
for these things with anxiety, biting your fingernails off to
the quick, wondering, How am I going to make it? How am I
going to make ends meet? How am I going to do this? How am
I going to do that? Because you know that you're not our chief
end, and they're not the source of our chief happiness. I mean,
they're not. They're not our chief end, and
they're not the reason that we're happy. Our happiness and peace
and joy in this world is outside of this world, it's the Lord
Jesus Christ, which makes this world enjoyable and peaceable,
and we can enjoy the things of this world because of the relationship
we have with Him. Huh? And who already says, set
your affection on things above, set it on faith, set it on love,
set it on joy, set it on peace, set it on the fruit of the Spirit.
Do like David said, Oh, I've planted, lest I bleed to see
the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Old John
Bunyan, his Pilgrim's Progress, I guess most of you read that.
In Pilgrim's Progress, when he takes a Christian and takes him
into the interpreter's house, he takes him into all these different
rooms. Well, he takes him into one room, and when he gets in
the room, there's a young boy sitting in one chair over here,
and over here is another young boy. And every little bit, this
person comes in and hands this boy sitting in this chair, hands
him a package or two, and that little old boy sitting in this
chair, he just rips into them packages, just throws paper and
opens it up, looks at it and plays with the bottle that's
in it and all that, and a little while he throws it aside. They
just keep bringing things. He's just in and out for more,
more, bring me some more. He just rips and tears and throws
it out and looks at it and plays with it a while and throws it
aside. The other just sits over here quietly. Not paying attention to what's
going on, just minding his own business. Christian asked the
interpreter, said, what does this mean? He said, this is the
difference between a child of God and a child of the world.
This one here, that they bring everything, is passion. He wants everything, and he wants
it now. And when he gets it, in just a little while, he's
not satisfied with it, and he has to have more. And all he's
ever going to get, he's going to get in this world. And this
one over here is patience. He's willing to wait to get his
from the next world. Huh? That's what I'm saying. Set your affection on things
above. And then he says that in verse three, For you are dead, you are dead,
and your life is hid with Christ in God. Dead. with its riches, with its honor,
with its temporary glory, with its fame, with its pleasure,
with its relationships, you're dead. We're dead. We're dead. When our Master—one man said,
Lord, wherever you go, I'm going to follow you, but let me go
bury my father first. Our Lord said, Let the dead bury
the dead. And the primary interpretation of that is that you let the world
take care of the world. You let the spiritually dead
take care of the spiritually dead. You follow me? You follow me? And beloved, as
far as this world is concerned, we're dead. This world is vanity. And that's why old William Shakespeare,
even as infidel as he was, he said, life's but a walking shadow,
full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Signifying nothing. And we're dead to the relationships
we have. They come and they go. And every
one of us has had things happen to us. relationships we had,
it just absolutely knocked the wind out of us. Just like somebody
walked up and goes back and just kicks you in the stomach and
staggers you. And you wonder, how could anybody
do that? How could they quit? How could
they say that? How could they do that? Why would they do that?
A good friend of mine, married twenty-eight years, a preacher,
him and his wife divorced. Just quit like that. How in the world does anything
like that happen to a grace preacher now? How does things like that happen?
Stagger you. Well, how am I supposed to? Am I supposed to just fall
to pieces and not live by faith and say, well, if he does it,
then there ain't nothing to nobody, nothing either? No, no, no, I'm
dead. I've got to be dead to that.
I've got to be dead to it. I can't let it just destroy me
and keep me in turmoil. I hated for him, I hated for
his wife, I hated for his kids. I prayed for him and asked God
to have mercy on him, but, beloved, I'm going to go home, and I'm
going to keep my eyes on the Savior. That's what I'm going
to do, and I know y'all have heard this story time and time
again, but it's worth repeating, because I have to tell myself
to at all times. This is a true story. One back in the second
or third century, one of the...right after the apostles were gone,
there was an...I can't even remember the man's name. But this young
preacher, he came up to talk to this old man, and he was,
some people had been saying some things about him and accusing
him of some things, and it was bothering him. He was really,
really bothered. And he said, What am I supposed
to do? How am I supposed to act? And he said, Well, I'll tell
you what you do. You remember old Brother so-and-so, let's
call him Brother John. You remember old Brother John?
Yeah, I remember him. You know where he's buried at over there,
don't you? Yeah, I know. So I tell you what I want you to do. You
go over there to his grave, and you stand there at his grave,
and you tell him every good thing that you can think of about him.
Boy, the way he went. He was going to do what his old
friend told him. He got up that grave right there.
He stood there in front of that grave and said, Brother John
said, boy, your faithfulness, your commitment, your generosity,
you're so generous, you'd give a shirt off your back to a person
if they needed it. And you're so loving, you had
the Spirit of Christ in you, you could forgive so easily and
so quickly, you wouldn't hold grudges, and just went on and
on about it. And you understand those scriptures
astounding. I had so many blessings talking
with you and hearing you preach. He just told him all these wonderful
things about it, and he left. He went back, said, I went and
told him. He said, I'll tell you what else to do now. Now
go back and tell him everything that you didn't like about him,
all of his faults. And every one of us can do that.
He said, that's what we say, we say, you know, I love him
and all that, but, and that's what we always do. Yeah, so he
went back and he started butting. He said, John, he said, I'll
tell you one thing, though. You know, I remember that time
you got off a curtain with me. You was pretty impatient with
me. I didn't like that. And I didn't, I didn't like,
I didn't like exactly the way that you, that you sometimes
you'd preach and you'd, and you'd, you sounded like you'd get kind
of a, kind of mad. And he just started talking about
all the bad things about him, you know, and you didn't show
enough affection to your wife and kids the way you should have.
He just went on and on, you know, and went back. So he come back
and he told the old man, he said, well, I went and told him all the good things I told him.
Why in the world is this all about? Why do you want me to
go talk to him? He said, now, listen. He said,
when you told him all the good things, how did it affect him?
How did it affect him? Did he get puffed up? Did he
get proud? Huh? You say, well, of course
he didn't. He's dead. He never heard a word I said.
Well, when you told him all the mean things about him, did he
get puffed up? Did he get angry? Did he get resentful? Well, no,
he never heard a word I said. He said, you go and do the same
thing. Be dead. Be dead. And that's what we have
to do. We have to be dead. And we're
dead, and our life is here with Christ in God. Huh? And that's what he says here.
Our life, our real life and interest is with Christ in God, this new
life that we have. We're dead to the world, its
relationships, its affections. And this real life that we have,
it's hid with Christ. It's hid with Christ. And it's
hid with Him in God. Now our Lord is hid from this
world. This world don't know Him, does not recognize Him. The Scripture says the world
don't know us because they didn't know Him. Now what does that
mean? That means that they didn't know Him. They said if they had
knew the Lord of glory, they wouldn't have crucified Him.
And when you and I go out and get in our car tonight and leave
here, people are going to pass us. They ain't going to know
we're believers. They ain't going to know the relationship we have
with Christ. We don't have any halos over our head. We don't
have any black hats or long beards. Nothing like that distinguish
us. We take a shower the same way other people do, wear the
same clothes, drive the same car, work at the same job. What
distinguishes us? The relationship. It's a hard
thing that we have with our master. This is our real life. Huh? And
it's hid. He's hid from the world, and
we're hid from the world. Where? In him. That's where legalists
really mess up, is they want to go out, and I was as bad as
anybody. They want to go out and you've
got to change the way you dress, you've got to quit all these
habits and all that, and they think that's Christianity, that's
how you get recognized in the world. That's not how you become
recognized. They didn't recognize, they said,
let them see Jesus in you. They didn't even see Jesus in
Jesus! Huh? I was talking about that today.
A fellow asked me the other day what I'd done for a living, and
it took me forever to own up to being a preacher. You know? And I wasn't in there using any
kind of language, and I was just in there minding my own business. And it's a character thing. I
can't get into that. But I mean this, hid with Christ,
it means the secrecy of it. We're hid with Him. world don't
know it, natural man don't know it. And it means the safety of
it. We're hid with Him, in God. And I mean we can't perish. We
shall never perish. Then it says in verse four, and
I'll wind her down, when Christ, when Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, then shall you also appear with Him. Where at?
I talked about it this morning in glory. When Christ, who is
our life, People say, make Jesus the most—make Him the most important
thing in your life. He is our life. We don't have
any life apart from Him. Now, there's no sense arguing
about how long a man's saved, whether he be saved or lost again.
It's not talking about the length of life when it talks about eternal
life in the Scripture. Them souls, they have eternal
life. They're going to live just as
long as we do. It's the quality of life you have. Their life
is separated from God. Our life is in Christ, with God.
It's the quality of it. You understand what I'm saying?
That's why the life that we have is real life, genuine life, true
life. It's the life of God in our soul.
And Christ himself is our life. And our real glory, our real
glory is yet to come. And when he comes, that's when
it'll be revealed what we'll have. We don't know what he'll
be, but we do know that when we see him, when he appears,
we'll see him just like he is. And we're all going to be just
like him. just like Him. What a blessed hope we've got.
You see, our Lord Jesus Christ is our life. And I've tried to
say it this morning, the essence, the essence, the very essence
of Christianity is not a creed. It is not a creed. It's not a
system of doctrine. It's not a particular mode of
worship that we go through. But it's a life taken up with,
and in a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. His life and ours are
long as He lives, I'll live." He said, because I live, you
shall live. I'm crucified with Him, nevertheless I live, but
how do I live? By the faith of the Son of God, who loved me,
loved me, gave Himself for me. Gave Himself for me. And, beloved,
He Himself is our hope, He is our happiness, He is our portion. The Levites Well, they divided
the land up when they got into Canaan, and they start dividing
up the land. Joseph over here, and Ephraim over there, and Benjamin
over there, and Jude over here, Dan over there, and Asher over
here. And Levi's, they said, well, where's our portion? Where's
our portion at? Where's our lot going to be in? And the Lord
said, I'll be your portion. I'm your portion. And the Levites
was the priesthood, and we're kings and priests under God.
What portion do we have? We don't have no portion here,
that's for sure. Huh? He is our portion. That's why
Jeremiah said, The Lord is my portion, therefore shall my hope
be in Him. He's my portion. Let this world,
it's like down home we'll put up a calf, you know. You take, put up a calf or a
hog and you put him in the pen and you go have him feed mixed
up farm and you You carry water to him, you put the feed in front
of him, and you just bathe him around, and all the rest of them
out in the field just picking grass, eating a little hay. And
folks say, boy, that cat thinks man, and everybody else says,
boy, you treat that thing awful good. Why don't you treat the
rest of them that way? I'm fattening this for the slaughter.
And that's what God does with people in this world. He feeds
them and waters them, and they seem to have a whole lot in this
world. And what God's doing, He's just getting them fat for
the slaughter. Our portion's not here. Our portion's the next
world to come. That's why Paul says, you know,
that the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that
we are the children of God. And if we're children, then we're
heirs of God and joined heirs with Jesus Christ. And I reckon,
I reckon that the sufferings of this present world are not
worthy to be compared with the glory, the glory that shall be
revealed in us. It's not just religious rhetoric. We hear things so often we just
think of it as just a religious cliché. Religion is real. It's true. It's so. He's our
Lord. You go to bed tonight, some of
you, go to bed tonight thinking about Him, giving thanks for
the day. And when you wake up in the morning,
your eyes won't be open just a few seconds, and He'll be the
first thing on your mind. first thing on your mind. You
know why that is? He's your life. He's your life. And if he's not
your life, for anybody here that he's not your life, not your
life, it's not his fault, it's your fault. He stands so ready
and so willing to receive all that come unto him. Ain't that
right? All you got to do is find out
if you'll receive anybody, just look at me and look at these
folks right here. Do you want Him? Do you want
Him? Do you need Him? Do you desire
Him? If you do, if you do, seek Him. He sits at the right hand
of God. Seek Him with your whole heart and being. And when you
seek Him, you'll find Him. And then you'll know what we're
talking about when we say, Christ is our life. He is our life. Our glorious and great and blessed
God, how we praise you, thank you, bless your holy name for
this privilege of meeting here with the saints of God, being
with your children, being with these who love to hear you spoke
about, talked about, who rejoice in the Word, rejoice in the relationship
that you've given them with your blessed Son. Oh, Lord Jesus,
we praise you and thank you for loving our souls, for giving
comfort to our souls and assurance to our souls, giving light to
us, giving light to us for our darkness, strength for our weakness,
hope for our hopelessness. Lord, we bless you. And I pray
that you would meet the needs of this congregation and this
pastor. Lord, that you would bless them so. It's so obvious,
Lord, how they've grown and how they love your word and how they
love you and how they desire you and desire to honor you. And I'm so thankful as I behold
Christ in this people. I'm so thankful and I bless you
for it. And I pray that you would continue
to build them up and strengthen them and establish them and edify
them in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. And for those who
come who have not yet believed, not yet rested, repose their
souls committed their souls to the Lord Jesus, I pray that You
would give them grace to do it, that You would enable them by
the Spirit of God to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask
it in His blessed name. Amen. and holy, and glorious,
and righteous name. Amen. Amen. Next slide. Where's that hymn book at up
here? I'll leave it in the store and close it down. All right?
That be okay? Number 256. Sister Jeanette,
would you come? Yeah? Number 256. We're just saying, uh... First, the third, and the last
verse of this. Let's stand together.