Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. I'd like to begin the message
tonight by reading just two verses in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verses 17 and 18. I'm sure that
what the apostle says here, we don't realize like we shall realize
one day. when we stand with our Redeemer
in glory and look back on the way He brought us, then we'll
realize in a way that we can't now what the Apostle writes here. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, just for a little while, it can't last
much longer, worketh for us a far more exceeding, worketh for us,
not against us, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."
Now, this is a man writing this that knew something about suffering
and persecution. And yet he says, in the light
of that eternal weight of glory, it's light and it's very fleeting. Verse 18, while we look not at
the things which are seen, but it's the things which are not
seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things
which are not seen are eternal." A great contrast there, isn't
there? In verse 18, the seen, the unseen,
the temporal, and the eternal. This world and everything in
it falls into the category of the temporal. The seen. The seen. If it's seen, if you
can see it with this natural eye, if you can see it, then
it's temporal. If you can see it, then it's
not going to last. It's going to pass away. Everything
in this world will pass away. We're leaving this world and
going to another, an eternal one. One without end. will be without end. Everlasting. Likewise, hell will be without
end. Both. Everlasting. Where we spend eternity, it just occurred to me that's
A misnomer. Eternity won't be spent. It'll
go on forever. But I don't know how else to
put it. Where we spend eternity depends on where we are now. That is what I mean by that. Whether we're saved now or not. If we're saved now, we'll be
saved forever, Lonnie. We read it a moment ago. Twice
our Lord said, the Lord God in Isaiah 51, my salvation is Forever. Forever. We're saved with an
everlasting salvation. But for those, without exception,
that refuse to come to Christ, that will not come to Him, will
not come to Him in heaven. If they don't come to Him in
time, they'll not come to Him in heaven. I know we live in
a religious day. Just about everybody professes
to know God. It's hard to find, and I'm not
just saying this off the top of my head, it's difficult to
find a lost man. Everybody you talk to is going
to heaven. Hardly can find anyone that doesn't
profess to be on their way to glory. But the only people that
will enter glory enter into that everlasting salvation of God
are those and those alone who have experienced His grace now,
who have tasted that the Lord is gracious. They shall hear
They shall hear, not what multitudes shall hear. This is the Lord's
teaching. Many shall say to man that day,
to whom he shall reply, depart from me into everlasting darkness. I never knew you. And yet a multitude
shall hear the very opposite. not depart from me, but come
to me. Enter into the joy prepared for
you from the foundation of the world." And the only difference,
the only difference in those who are cast into outer darkness
and those who enter into eternal bliss, the only difference between
the two is the difference that God's grace has made. But his grace does make those
who experience it to differ. Is it any wonder when we think
of these things that the apostle wrote about? the temple, the
world, all passing away, all to be destroyed, and looking
at the eternal, the everlasting, to be with God forever. Is it
any wonder that Paul said, in the light of those things, knowing
that the only difference between the saved and the lost, between
heaven and hell, is the difference of knowing Christ or not? Is
it any wonder? that he said in Philippians 3,
in that day I want to be found in Him. I want to be found in
Him. As old John Newton wrote, so
very true, so very true. He said, how precious did that
grace appear the hour I first believed. Every saved sinner
has that testimony. Every saved sinner can identify
with what that old slave trader, saved by God's grace, wrote about. Oh, how precious did that grace
appear after he had stripped me, after God had gotten me lost,
after, as he also wrote, God's grace had taught my heart to
fear. And then when that same amazing
grace relieved my fears, and spoke peace to my heart, was
there ever anything in your life that appeared so precious to
you than God's grace? But, how even more, Precious
will it appear in that day that God has appointed, in which He
will judge this world in strict, absolute righteousness, how much
more precious will He appear in that day to be found in Him. Oh, to be found in Him. When
we realize When we comprehend, apprehend, see things in a way
that we can't now, oh, how precious will it be, what a glory it will
be to know that I'm there before the throne of God accepted only
because I'm accepted in Him, in the Beloved. I read a comment
by Spurgeon the other day. and I jotted it down. He said,
if I accept a man, I cannot quarrel with his little finger. If I
accept a man, I accept his whole person. And so since the Father,
since God the Father accepts Christ, He accepts every member
of His body. His body, the church, His bride,
as accepted as the bridegroom because they're accepted in Him. God is so boundlessly pleased
with Jesus that in Him, in Him, He is well pleased with us. Isn't that comforting? Isn't
that comforting? Paul says, while we look at the
things not seen, While we look by faith, that's the only way
we can see those things that are not seen, by faith. Looking unto Jesus, trusting
Him, waiting for Him, who is our life, to appear. It's all
about Him, isn't it? I want us to consider some blessings
that we have in Him right now. They are present possessions. Turn, if you will, for a moment
to Hebrews chapter 11. We'll read the last couple of
verses in chapter 10. Hebrews 10 verse 38. Now the just shall live by faith. But if any man draw back, my
soul shall have no pleasure in him." But, oh, here's that blessed
difference that grace makes. But we're not of them who draw
back unto perdition, but of them that believe to the saving of
the soul. Verse 1 of the next chapter He
defines that faith he spoke about, that faith by which the just
live. by faith, but rather now faith
is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not
seen, as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4. Everything that follows that
definition of faith in verse 1, everything that follows is
an example of faith looking at the unseen, every example. Look
at verse 7, Noah. By faith Noah being moved of
God of things not seen as yet, the flood, moved with fear, prepared
an ark to the saving of his house by which he condemned the world
and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. In the very
next verse you have Abraham as another example. By faith Abraham,
when he was called to go out into a place which he should
afterward receive, which he should after receive for inheritance,
obeyed, and he went out not knowing whither he went. Look down in
verse 24 concerning Moses. By faith Moses, faith that believed
God, believed God. By faith, Moses, when he was
come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,
choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach
of Christ's greater riches, greater riches. What's more, richer than his grace. What's more valuable to a sinner
in this world than to experience the grace of God in Christ Jesus? What do you suppose that rich
man that lifted up his eyes in hell would have given if he could
have been with Christ in glory. Moses esteemed the reproach of
Christ's greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he
had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith he forsook
Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as
seeing him who is invisible. We can only do so by faith. Faith is the substance of things
hoped for. The just shall live by faith. The just. Isn't that a blessed
description? While in this world, we live
by faith. Now look by faith at some of
those present blessings that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Turn, if you will, to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Chapter 15. We must begin at the very foundation. We've got to go to the fountainhead
from whom all blessings flow. And that can only be one place,
and that's the Lord Jesus Christ himself. We'll begin by reading
one verse here in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians, and that's
verse 20. But now, but now, is Christ Jesus
risen from the dead and become the first fruits of them that
slept. Jesus Christ himself is our foundation,
is the fountainhead of all God's grace and mercy. Without him,
without him, nothing. Without the Lord Jesus Christ,
the only mediator between God and man, There can be no reception,
no experience, no giving by God to any sinner anything but wrath. Without Christ, no such thing
as grace, no such thing as mercy, no hope whatsoever of salvation,
no heaven, no heaven without him. Everything stands or falls
with the Lord Jesus Christ. But now is Christ risen from
the dead. The importance of that blessed
reality can't be exaggerated. The whole building rests upon
this foundation. Look at verse 14 here in the
same chapter of 1 Corinthians. Here's the implications, no,
not implications, here's the fact if Christ be not risen.
Verse 14, if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain. I'm
wasting my time. I'm wasting my time, and I'm
wasting your time. This is futile, what we're doing
tonight, if Christ be not risen from the dead. Then is our preaching
vain, and your faith is also vain. Also, it's empty, it's
meaningless. But the resurrection of Jesus
Christ, as Paul says in verse 20, but now, now is Christ risen
from the dead. Now the Lord Jesus Christ sets
up on the throne of grace. If now Christ is risen from the
dead, that means right now I have a mediator between myself and
God. If right now Christ is risen
from the dead, that means I have an advocate with the Father.
If Christ right now is risen from the dead, then I have a
high priest that can be touched with everything that I'll ever
go through as I make my journey through this world. The resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead proves everything that he claimed. More than that, it proved that
he himself is God in the flesh. His resurrection proved that.
Turn, if you will, to Romans chapter 1. Paul tells us that
very thing here in Romans chapter 1. The resurrection of Jesus
Christ proved his divinity. Proved that he was exactly what
he claimed he was. He didn't make no bones about
it. He said, I and my father are one. If you've seen me, you've
seen the Father. They took up stones to kill him
on more than one occasion to attempt to do so because he said,
I and my Father are one. If you've seen me, you've seen
the Father. And his resurrection proved that
what he said was so. Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ,
called to be an apostle. separated unto the Gospel of
God which he had promised to for by his prophets in the Holy
Scriptures. And what is the message of the
Gospel of God concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord which
was made of the seed of David according to the flesh and declared,
set forth, declared to be the Son of God with power according
to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. When you read the book of Acts, when in obedience to their Lord's
command, the apostles went forth preaching, Beginning in chapter
2 on the day of Pentecost, all the way through to the closing
two verses of the book in chapter 28, we find that they preached
one thing, Jesus Christ, the ascended Lord of glory. They
didn't go around discussing, debating a doctrine of the resurrection. They preached a risen Savior. Look here, if you will, in chapter
2 of Acts, as we said on the day of Pentecost. Peter takes
that opportunity to preach to them, and look who he preaches
at verse 21. In his message he says, and it
shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Ye men of Israel, hear these
words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved
of God, among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which
God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know,
him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, ye have taken him by wicked hands, have crucified and slain,
whom God had raised up. God has raised up. Well, how
high did he raise him? Higher than every name that is
named. Higher than man, higher than
angels, so high that at the name of Jesus Christ everyone and
everybody shall bow and confess that he's Lord. That's how high
he's raised. None can be higher. Whom God
has raised up, having loosed the pains of death because it
was not possible that he should be holding of it. Look, if you will, in chapter
3. John and Peter, by the grace of the Lord, had healed the man
who sat at the gate, beautiful, at the temple. The people all
gathered around him, wondering, and look what Peter says here
in Acts 3, verse 12. And when Peter saw it, he answered
the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? And I
find these words very revealing. Now, why look ye so earnestly
on us, as though by our own power or holiness we made this man
to walk? Now, you know that the church
in Rome claims Peter as their first pope. This certainly doesn't
sound very pope-like. Peter says, why are you looking
at me? Don't think for a minute that I've done this. Oh no, no,
no. Look what he says in verse 13. The God of Abraham and of
Isaac and of Jacob, the God of the living, the God of our fathers
have glorified his son Jesus. whom ye delivered up and denied
him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let
him go, but ye denied the Holy One, and the just, and desired
the murderer to be granted to you. And killed the Prince of
Peace, Prince of Life, I'm sorry, whom God had raised from the
dead, wherein we are witnesses. God had raised him up. And his
name, none other name. None other name. Through faith
in his name had made this man strong, whom ye see and know,
yea, the faith which is by him had given him this perfect soundness. That's what he does when he saves
a sinner, doesn't he? Gives him perfect soundness,
perfect acceptance in the presence of you all, but more than that,
in the presence of God. And then if you look in the very
last chapter of Acts, the Apostle Paul is under house arrest, but
he's preaching a risen Savior. As we close the book of Acts,
and if there's any place that teaches what the church ought
to be in this world, it would be the book of Acts. And they
preached a risen Lord. They didn't go out building schools
and hospitals and all that. get on a political soapbox, they
preach the Lord of Glory. And Paul dwelt two whole years
in his own hard house and received all that came in unto him, preaching
the kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the
Lord Jesus Christ. What else is going to help a
needy sinner? Those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ
with all confidence, no man forbidding him." A dead Christ cannot save
anyone. Oh, but the apostles, each and
every one, preached a living Christ because He can save and
He does save. He saves to the very uttermost. Therefore, Paul said, now is
Christ risen from the dead. Our justification depends upon
His resurrection. We are justified and His resurrection
proves it. Turn, if you will, to Romans
chapter 4. This is exactly what Paul says here. Romans chapter 4, we've read
this and pointed this out before, but in Romans 4 verse 25, because we were justified, Christ
was risen from the dead by God the Father, who was delivered
for our offenses and was raised again for, because, because,
because of our justification. Therefore, therefore, That being
so, therefore being justified, by faith we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom also we have access,
by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. I love to think about that public
that our Lord spoke of in his parable in Luke 18. I love the
closing words of his parable. When he said, I say unto you,
does anything else matter? Does it make any difference Who
else may say so if he doesn't? Oh, but he says, he that was
delivered for our offenses, was raised again because of our justification,
he said concerning that poor publican. I say unto you, this
man is going down to his house justified. Justified right now. And the same Lord of Glory says,
who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect, in Romans
8, because it is God himself that justifies. And those he
justifies can never be unjustified. In Romans 1, we read, there is
therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. That's another blessed present
blessing. Right now, right now, this chapter
in Romans 8 begins with no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus
and it ends with no separation for the same reason to those
who are in Christ Jesus. The promise is fulfilled. Redemption's
work is done. Justice with mercies reconciled
for God had raised his son. Let's look at another blessed
now. Turn if you will to Ephesians chapter 2. Look what the apostle
says here. Ephesians 2 verse 11. Here's where we were prior to
the experience of God's grace. Wherefore remember, my soul,
is it possible for us to forget? It appears so. Wherefore remember
that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision,
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope, and without God in the world. What can change that? I entered this world without
Christ, without God, without hope. What can change that? What can bring me near to God?
What can reconcile me to God? What will allow God Almighty
to accept me? Something I do. Something I do. What has man not tried to be
just with God? What has man not tried to earn
acceptance, favor before the Lord God? And all of his works,
all of his efforts ended in this. This is what all of them put
together amounted to. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. That Pharisee that our
Lord spoke of, along with the publican in his parable in Luke
18. He had a whole lot to brag about,
didn't he? I fast. I pay tithes of all I
possess. I'm not like the common riffraff. I'm not like that publican. He boasted of all that he did. But it wasn't concerning that
man that our Lord said, he's going home justified. He spoke
those words to that beggar. Not that bragger, but that beggar
who had nothing, claimed nothing, could do nothing. All he said
was, be merciful to me. Be propitious to me through a
sacrifice." And our Lord said, there's the man that's going
home justified. What can bring me near to God? Look at verse 13. But now. But now. And nothing can change
that. Nothing can change that. There's
no power on earth in hell that can change what I'm about to
read. And this is another one of those present blessings. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who
sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. The blood of Christ takes a filthy
sinner like me far from God and washes him in
the blood of Christ, and he comes out white as snow. And through
the blood of Christ I'm brought so near to God, so near, so very
near to God, has the blood of Christ reconciled this sinner,
that nearer I cannot be." That's what we're reading here, isn't
it, in verse 13? For in the person of God's Son, I am as near as
he." Do you want to know how near a sinner redeemed by the
blood of Jesus Christ is? How accepted that sinner is? How certain by God's grace of
heaven that sinner is? Ask those same questions concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. How near is he? How accepted
is he by God? How certain of glory is he? And that's true of all those
that he's made now. What's true of him is true of
them. He's the foundation of our peace. Look at verse 14. There in Ephesians
2, for he is our peace. He is our peace who has made
both one and have broken down the middle wall of partition
between us. He's our peace. He's made peace
and he's the reason of our peace with God. When I was up in Fairmont
a few weeks ago preaching in the conference there with Cody
Groover, he one night before I preached, had a brief devotional,
the same thing I did the night before, before he preached, but
he asked this question, when can a man say he has enough? When can a sinner say he has
enough? When he has Christ. When he has
Christ, he has enough. He can't have any more than that.
One last one. Turn, if you will, to John chapter
3. Or next to last, I should say. First John, I'm sorry. First
John chapter 3. Another blessed now for the child
of God. And it's no accident, of course
not, that it's introduced to us with the word, behold. Behold. God says, listen up. I want your attention. This demands
your attention. Behold. Behold this wonder. Behold
this amazing, amazing thing. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the
sons of God. Whoa! Whoa! Really? Sons of God? Imagine that. We're called the sons of God. You know why we're called the
sons of God? Because we are the sons of God. Look what he says
in verse 2. Beloved, now are we the sons
of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, there's
no if there is. When he shall appear, we shall
be like him. There's no if there either. For
we shall see him, not an if there either, for we shall see him
as he is. Sons of God. Oh, that's better
than the sons of any earthly king, isn't it? The child of
the King of kings and Lord of lords. Heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ. Behold what love. God's love had no beginning.
It can have no end. God's love for his own is without
measure. It's without change and we have
that now. Behold indeed the miracle of
God's love for us. John says, the world knoweth
us not because it knew him not. We were rebels Now we're sons. Children of wrath. Now children
of God. Now accepted into beloved. My, what a good hope that is. What a good hope that is. Can
you measure the wealth, the certainty, the blessedness of such a hope
as that? Well, if you could measure the
worth, the value, the preciousness of Jesus Christ, then you could
measure the worth of such a hope because it's all in Him. It's all because of Him. It all
rests in Him. And it's all sure because of
him. One more and we'll be done. Jude chapter, I'm sorry, Jude
verse 24. One more blessing now as we close. Look what he says here. This is true of you, this is
true of you, child of God. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from falling and to present you faultless. Nobody in glory will ever cry
out again, O wretched man that I am. When Christ, by His grace, purges us from every trace of
sin, and we stand before the throne dressed in righteousness
not our own, as Jude tells us here, faultless, I'll never have a thought contrary
to the thoughts of Jesus Christ. One with Him. one with Him. Present you faultless before
the presence of His glory with exceeding joy unto Him that is
able. Yes, He is. Yes, He is. He's able. Verse 25, in light of His blessed ability to do
those things, to keep us from falling and to present us faultless
in the presence of His glory. To the only wise God our Savior,
that must be our response. To the only wise God our Savior
be glory and majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. The psalmist asked the question,
in light of God's mercy and grace, what shall I render unto the
Lord for all his benefits toward me? What shall I render? And
he answered the question, I will offer to thee the sacrifice of
thanksgiving. I'll be thankful. God help me
to be thankful for that mercy and grace. I will offer to thee
the sacrifice of thanksgiving and I will call upon the name
of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord
now in the presence of all of his people. In the courts of
the Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem, praise
ye the Lord. Amen. Amen.