Eternal Things

Q: What does the Bible say about our eternal state?

The Bible teaches that every person will spend eternity either in heaven or hell, emphasizing the importance of being reconciled to God through Christ. The Apostle Paul indicates in 2 Corinthians 5 that we are immortal beings destined for eternity. Each individual will either live forever in the bliss of God's presence or face eternal torment apart from Him. This is a foundational truth found throughout Scripture, underscoring the significance of our decisions in this life regarding faith in Christ. According to Romans 8:18 and 1 Peter 1:4-5, believers have an eternal inheritance awaiting them, one that is imperishable, unspoiled, and unfading, kept in heaven. Therefore, it is crucial for each person to recognize their eternal destiny and seek reconciliation with God through faith in Jesus Christ.

Q: Why is judgment important for Christians?

Judgment is important as it reveals God's justice, ensuring believers receive their due based on Christ's righteousness, not their own works. The concept of judgment stands as a solemn reminder that every person must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, as articulated in 2 Corinthians 5:10. This judgment is not a determination of one's salvation, for those in Christ are already justified. Instead, it will reveal the character of each person's works, whether good or bad, as an account of their lives on earth. For believers, this is a source of comfort since their righteousness is rooted in Christ's perfect obedience and sacrifice. Thus, judgment focuses not only on God's justice but also on the grace extended to those redeemed in Him, illustrating that while we will receive what we deserve, it is the grace of Christ that qualifies us for eternal life. This understanding invites us to live with purpose, knowing our lives are significant in the light of eternity.

Q: How do we know we are eternal beings?

We know we are eternal beings because God has instilled in us a knowledge of immortality through Scripture and His Spirit. In 2 Corinthians 5:1-5, the Apostle Paul assures believers that they possess an eternal dwelling from God, a house not made with hands. This knowledge is not speculative; it is affirmed by the Word of God and the teaching of the Holy Spirit. As creatures designed for eternity, we understand the dissolution of our earthly lives as merely that—temporary, akin to folding a tent. Immediately upon death, believers are consoled with the promise of being with the Lord, reflecting the certainty of our immortality. Indeed, as stated in Ecclesiastes 3:11, God has set eternity in our hearts, which instills in us an intrinsic understanding that we will live beyond our mortal existence, thus affirming our nature as eternal beings who will ultimately dwell with God or be separated from Him based on our faith in Christ.

Q: Why should Christians focus on eternal things?

Focusing on eternal things helps Christians live purposefully, aligning their lives with God's eternal plan and purpose. The emphasis on eternal things, as preached by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, encourages Christians to view their earthly struggles through the lens of eternity. Our afflictions, though they may seem heavy, are characterized as light in light of the eternal glory that awaits us. By focusing on eternal truths rather than transient, temporal matters, we cultivate a mindset that values Christ above all, fostering a life centered on the Gospel. This also shapes our interactions with others, imparting value to our relationships and responsibilities. When our hearts are set on things above (Colossians 3:2), we are compelled to live out our faith actively, influenced by the love of Christ, driving us to serve and honor Him by how we live in this world. In this way, focusing on eternal things draws us closer to God and enriches our earthly journey.

2nd Corinthians, chapter 5. 2nd Corinthians, the 5th chapter. And just hold your Bibles open
on your laps. We'll actually begin in the 4th
chapter where the Apostle Paul speaks of this ministry God's
given us. He has described the ministry
of the gospel as being far more glorious because it is a ministration
of life and glory in Christ Jesus far more glorious than the ministration
of the law given to Moses. And it says, seeing that we have
this treasure in earthen vessels, this treasure of the gospel,
imagine that, you men and women here in Nebworth Church. God
has given to you the treasure of His gospel that by you He
may make known in this place the gospel of His grace. We have
this treasure in earthen vessels. Why would God use such insignificant,
meaningless, worthless people as you and me? Why would He be
pleased to condescend, to use such as we are, to make known
the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus, that the excellency of
the power may be of God and not of us? And then Paul speaks of
the difficulties and troubles that he experienced. Beginning
in verse 8 of chapter 4, he says, we're troubled on every side,
yet not distressed. We're perplexed, how often we
are, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down. but not destroyed,
always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. That is, in the midst of these
things, we're not distressed and we're not in despair and
we're not forsaken, we're not destroyed, because we always
remember the dying of our Savior. And we bear in our body His dying
daily. living continually under God
by his death, living continually in this world, dying to this
world by his death, by his cross by which we are crucified to
the world and the world to us, that the life also of Jesus might
be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always
delivered unto death for Jesus' sake. that the life also of Jesus
might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh
in us. We're continually dying to self
and dying to this world, dying with our Redeemer and it works
death in us but life in you, you who hear the gospel, you
to whom we minister the word of grace. Now skip down if you
will in chapter 4 to verse 17. In the light of all these things
that Paul speaks of in chapter 4, verse 16, he says, our outward
man is perishing. The inward man is renewed day
by day. For, because our light affliction,
which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. Our light affliction? Surely Paul is just talking about
the afflictions of folks in that day. He could not be referring
to the things I've gone through in my day. Our light affliction,
whatever it is, my brother, my sister, our light affliction. The word literally is featherweight
affliction. Our very, very light affliction. Whatever the affliction is, children
of God, understand that it is the affliction that's brought
upon you by the hand of your Heavenly Father. And I urge you
to look upon these things in the light of eternity. Look upon
the affliction itself in the light of eternity. It's brought
upon you in time for your benefit eternally. Our light affliction. Light. If you think about what
your brothers suffer in this world, whenever I think about
my difficulties and my trials and my troubles at any time,
isn't it amazing how much less difficult they appear when somebody
else you know gets something worse, has a greater trouble? How sad that we cannot view things
as we ought without viewing them comparatively with someone else.
But our troubles, yours and mine, are so light compared with what
our brothers suffer even now. Light compared with what our
Redeemer suffered. Light compared with what we deserve
to suffer. And our afflictions are never
inflicted upon us by our God because of His anger with us,
but always because of His tender mercy and His love for us. Our
light affliction, now watch this, which are but for a moment, they're
just momentary, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory. Brother Don, that can't possibly
mean what it appears to. Is Paul here telling us, is the
Spirit of God here telling us that The glory of heaven will
be made sweeter and more glorious by these things we now experience
in this world. That's exactly what he's saying.
That's exactly it. We will spend, I'm confident,
eternity looking back over the mountains of time, admiring the
wonder of God's providence, how that he has sweetly Wisely and
graciously ordered and arranged and ruled all the affairs of
time and providence To do us good and bring us at last to
glory. Oh And we will give him praise
we don't While we look not at the things which are seen Look around you when you go home
tonight and you put the children to bed and you kiss your wife
goodnight, look around you and look at all those things that
seem to be so very important, including the wife and the husband
and the children. All these relationships are just
temporal, just temporal. My wife, oh, my dear lady, but
it's just temporal. She won't be my wife much longer.
We have a better, dearer, more permanent, abiding relationship.
She's my sister in Christ. And that union we have with our
Redeemer is eternal. This one, dear as it is, just
temporal. Don't set your heart on these
things. And if that's not to have our
hearts, then certainly not your house, or your bank account,
or your job, or your situation in this world. Set your heart
on things above. Set your affection on Christ. Where your life is hid with Christ
in God, there set your heart. We look not at the things which
are seen, but the things which are not seen. Because everything
you can see here, all these things including Our light afflictions
are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. Eternal. Eternal. Let me speak to you now about
five eternal things given in this fifth chapter. The first
is your immortality. Man is not a creature for time,
he's a creature of eternity. You do not possess a living soul,
you are a living soul and you will spend eternity somewhere,
either in the bliss of God's presence in heaven or in the
torment of the damned in hell, you will spend eternity somewhere.
Listen to how the Spirit of God speaks by the Apostle about the
believer and immortality. For we know, we know, we know. We just, we have this
knowledge by His Word. We have this knowledge by the
teaching of His Spirit. We have this knowledge because
we are indeed taught of God. We know. This is not a matter
of supposition. It's not a matter of speculation.
It's not even something that We have investigated thoroughly
and proven to be so. We have just been taught this
of God. We know that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved, this body going to the grave,
this body must return to the dust. Doesn't matter what you
do to preserve it, it must be dissolved. And that's a good
description of the death of the believer. It is the dissolving
of this tabernacle. It's just folding up a tent,
a temporary place of residence. If this earthly house of this
tabernacle were dissolved, now watch the language. We have,
not we shall have. We have immediately, right now,
as soon as we close our eyes in death, we have a building
of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. Some folks have the idea that
when believers die, awaiting the resurrection of the body,
they just kind of float around in nothingness and we're waiting
for the resurrection and there's practically no real existence
in heaven immediately upon death. But that's not what the text
speaks of. We have a building of God, a house not made with
hands. That is between the death of
this body and its resurrection. We still have a house, a building
of God eternal in the heavens to which this body shall be joined
in the resurrection. And look at verse 2, for in this
we grow. It goes back to what we read
in verse 17 of chapter 4, our light affliction. We grow. Life in this world is full of
pain. And it's not going to get any
better. It's full of heartache. It's full of sorrow. And in this
tabernacle, we groan by reason of sin. We groan by reason of
the corruption within us and the corruption around us. We
groan by reason of that which we know in anticipation of resurrection,
glory, and our life with Christ Jesus the Lord. In this tabernacle,
in this body of flesh, we groan. You are aware that just a few
weeks ago in central Kentucky, as a matter of fact, all over
the state of Kentucky, we had a very serious ice storm. Shelby
and I live out in the rural area, live about two miles out of town.
plot of ground, there's nothing around us, nothing behind us
for at least, oh, at least a half mile, a mile, maybe more, except
fields and trees. And you just open the door and
listen in the daytime and in the night and you'd hear the
trees popping and cracking and the limbs breaking, sound like
a shotgun going off. And the creation, Paul tells
us in Romans 8, the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in anticipation
of the glorious liberty of the sons of God. And as the trees
would pop and crack and bend under the pressure of the ice,
I could hear the creation of God groaning and my heart crying,
Amen. In this we groan. We groan by
reason of sin and principally of sin dwelling in us. We groan
earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is
from heaven. If so be that being clothed,
we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle
do groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed.
We often go through some little silly something And we start
to feeling sorry for ourselves and we kind of whine and say,
well, I wish I could just die. And we act like spoiled children
that we are. That's not what it is. No, we've
grown not desiring just to get out of this world, not desiring
just to be free from pain, not desiring just to escape from
trial and heartache and trouble, but we've grown desiring to be
clothed upon. There's something still lacking
in there. There's something still lacking,
nothing lacking of our standing before God, nothing lacking of
our acceptance with God, nothing lacking of our redemption and
righteousness in Christ Jesus. But there's something lacking
here in the depth of our soul, something lacking. And it's called
exact conformity to Christ, our Redeemer. And we long to be clothed
upon with this immortality of life in Christ Jesus. clothed
upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life." Oh, God
hastened the day when mortality, dying, all of us, our existence
here, we're dying. That's what we read in the fourth
chapter, isn't it? We're constantly dying and we long that mortality
might be swallowed up of life. Now, He that hath wrought us
forth, isn't that strange language? I know better, but every time
I read this chapter, I want to read it like this, and I'm inclined
to read it. He that hath wrought for us,
but that's not what it says. He that hath wrought us for this
self, same thing. God made us, my brother, my sister,
for eternity. God created us for eternity. He created us and created us
new for eternity, made us new creatures in Christ. He has wrought
us for this immortality and life. Now, He that hath wrought us
for the self, same thing as God, who also hath given us the earnest
of the Spirit. You folks know what earnest money
is. You go to buy a house and you
put down some earnest money. You go make, I don't know how
things are here. I use illustration in the States. You, uh, go to
buy a car and used car, what I've always bought. And, uh,
when I was a young man, I used to go put down a little money.
It might be just $25, but it was earnest money. And I'd go
to the bank and see if they'd give me the money to take care
of it. And I'd come back and purchase the car and drive home
with it. But if something happened and I couldn't get the money
to purchase the car, I lost the down payment. It was forfeited
by law. The Spirit of God is the earnest
money, the pledge of our inheritance. We have this earnest of the Spirit
which tells us that the glory is ours. this earnest of the
Spirit, Christ dwelling in us by His Spirit, telling us that
this immortality and life is ours in Christ Jesus. Therefore,
we are always confident. I can almost hear you saying,
if you're listening carefully, Brother Don, I wish I was always
confident. You read it right. We're always
confident, confident. You see, our faith, while mingled with unbelief,
like our love while mingled with self-love, is always confident, even in
the midst of doubts and fears and difficulties, always confident. Always confident, knowing that
whilst we're at home in the body, while we're living here in this
earthly house of this tabernacle, we're absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by
sight. We're confident because our salvation
doesn't depend on our feelings. It depends on Christ's finished
work. Our acceptance with God doesn't depend on the measure
of our faith, but the measure of His faithfulness. It doesn't
depend on our righteousness, but His righteousness. It doesn't
depend on our obedience or our sacrifices, but His obedience
and His sacrifice. And we live by this faith, so
we are always confident, confident that when this earthly house
is dissolved, we're immediately with the Lord. That's what it
says in verse 8. We're confident, I say, and willing, rather, to
be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Now, I know you will run across
people who poke fun at you and poke fun at your faith in Christ,
and they'll say, well, everybody wants to go to heaven, just not
right now. Not so. Not so. Not so. If you're so anxious
to go to heaven, why did you go to the hospital, go through
the surgery and the treatments and the care you've gone through
the past year? Why are you taking the medicine you have to take
every day now? Why? Because we have some responsibility
to preserve life, both our own and others, before God. And I'm
not talking to you now about supposition. I'm not telling
you what I've read in theology books. I'm telling you what I've
experienced. I know what it is. to be faced with the immediate
prospect of death. I know what it is to be convinced
that shortly I would draw my last breath. When I found out
30 years ago that I had cancer, more than 30 years ago, the doctors
thought I would die very soon. And I had a real struggle. I had a real struggle. The struggle
was not whether or not I was accepted of God in Christ. The
struggle was not whether or not I would be with my Redeemer in
glory. The struggle really was not even
over leaving this dear lady here. The struggle was I had a little
girl who didn't know her right hand from her left, who needed
a daddy, desperately needed a daddy to care for her and provide her
and train her and teach her. And the Lord God convinced me
Really as I'm convinced. I'm standing in front of you
right now She's not yours. She's mine and I'm a heapsight
better father than you can ever be and I was perfectly willing
to leave this world right now we're confident while absent
from the body or while in the body were absent from the Lord
and We're willing rather to be absent from the body and present
with the Lord now look at verse 9 Wherefore we labor Well, I
thought we rested in Christ. We do. And resting in Him, we
labor, labor to enter into His rest, labor that whether present
or absent, we may be accepted of Him, accepted in Christ, accepted
of the Lord, approved of by God. I want more than anything in
this world. to be approved of by God. More than anything in
this world, to be approved of by God. And I am. God Almighty approves of me in
His Son. And I continually labor to rest
in this blessed assurance that I am approved of by God. Push aside every other confidence,
saying no to every other confidence, resting only in the Redeemer. All right, there's the first
thing. Set your heart on things above because you are immortal. Immortal. Immortal in the sense
that you must live forever, either in heaven or in hell. Number
two. you're going to meet God in judgment. For we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ. Now watch what the scripture
says, and don't twist it to say it what it doesn't say, that
everyone may receive the things done in his body according to
that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. What does that
say? That says that Rick Hess is going
to receive from God at judgment exactly what he deserves according
to his works. Exactly what you deserve according
to your works. Brother Don, we believe in salvation
by grace. You do if you understand what
I just told you. He shall receive of God in the day of judgment
exactly what we deserve according to what we have done on this
earth in the flesh, in this body of flesh. Well, how can that
possibly be? In that day, Revelation chapter
20, the book shall be opened and men shall be judged out of
the books. But judgment day is not going to be a day in which
it is decided who enters to heaven and who doesn't. It is not going
to be a day in which it is decided whether you're righteous or wicked.
It rather will be a day of revelation. And all men shall be judged out
of the books. But another book was written,
which is called the Lamb's Book of Life. And those whose names
are written in that book are judged rightly by God Almighty
to be without sin and altogether righteous. Why? Because we have
our existence in God's darling Son, the Lord Jesus, who perfectly
obeyed God in our stead. Who perfectly and completely
satisfied all the wrath and justice of God on our behalf. Not quite
that way. Not quite that way. Let me see
if I can state it more plainly. When the Son of God came into
this world, And said, Lo, I come to do thy will. Oh, my God. Don Fortner came into this world
and said, Lo, I come to do thy will. Oh, my God. And when he
walked on this earth in perfect obedience to his father, doing
always those things that please his father, Don Fortner walked
on this earth in perfect obedience to his father, doing always those
things that please the father. And then when he died as my substitute,
we'll see it in just a moment, Don Fortner died in him. And
when he rose, I rose in him. We shall stand before God in
judgment. Now, I said to you, Mark, won't
you know him? If God will give you faith in
him, if you can trust him, that obedience and that righteousness
and that forgiveness, And the proof of it is believe
in Him. Watch this next word. Knowing therefore the terror
of the Lord. If God's justice finds you outside
Christ, hell will be your portion forever. Knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord, we persuade man. urge men, we pressure men
to believe on the Son of God. We persuade men that, but we
are made manifest unto God. And I trust also are made manifest
in your consciences. That is, I'm not here to tell
you how sincere I am. I'm here to persuade you to believe
the Son of God. But we commend not ourselves
again to you. but give you occasion to glory
on our behalf, that you may have somewhat to answer them which
glory in appearance and not in heart. Those fellows who come
along and would misrepresent God's servants, you can answer
them. We don't have to. For whether
we be beside ourselves, it's to God, or whether we be sober,
it's for your cause. In other words, we live unto
God and we live for you. And if this man sitting right
here is God's servant, if this man standing right here is God's
servant, we live unto God and we live for you. And if that's
not true, I'm not God's servant and he's not God's servant. It's
just that simple. Verse 14, here's the third thing. For the love of Christ constraineth
us. The love of Christ constraineth
us. I know folks will tell you about
Don Fortner. He doesn't preach law, doesn't
preach good works enough, and he doesn't tell folks how to
live enough and it doesn't talk enough about practical Christianity. Let me tell you something. Let
me tell you something. The whole religious world of
what we call Christianity, reformed and unreformed, the whole religious
world is devoted to worthless morality preaching. The object
is merely to get you to live so as to feel good about yourself.
And that's utterly worthless. That's not our purpose. I want
you to live unto God. I want to live unto God. By what
constraint? The love of Christ constrains
us. Well, don't you think we ought to preach the commandments? No, no. I've been pastoring in
Danville for 29 years. My wife will verify it just in
case you should need it verified. I never oblige people to come
to church. I never put them under pressure
to come to church. In fact, I tell them, if you
don't want to come, don't come. I never urge folks to make sacrifices
and tithe. I tell them, please don't tithe.
Please don't tithe. Give if you want to, and I'll
be happy for you to give. But if you prefer not to, keep
it. Keep it. God doesn't want Bondage service
and he will not receive bondage servants. God's people are not
mercenaries We don't serve God because we're afraid of him and
we don't serve God Fearing what we might what might happen to
us if we fail or hoping to get something from us as a reward
from him as a reward The love of Christ compels us the love
of Christ is the force that drives us.
The love of Christ is that which inspires us. I've mentioned Shelby
so many times. That dear lady devotes her life
to my happiness. She works at it all day long,
every day. She devotes herself to my happiness. Just whatever I want, that's
what she wants. She devotes herself to it. And
she cooks for me every day, every day. And you can tell she cooks
pretty good. She cooks for me every day and
she cooks things I like and if I don't like it, she doesn't
fix it if we have company She'll say I'll fix this for Alec because
he likes it. That's all otherwise. She looks at what I like She
doesn't fix anything that she likes that. I don't like why
is that? well before we got married I
had some commandments and I wrote about and I Posted those on the
wall in the house before we came home from our honeymoon and I
said now Shelby This is what you must do every day. And she
goes to the wall every day and opens the cabinet door up and
she starts checking them off. One, two, three. Oops, I messed
up there. Three and a half. If that's how we lived, it wouldn't
be much, would it? Wouldn't be much. Couldn't call
that a marriage. And you couldn't call it a life.
You call it something far less. I wouldn't want the service.
I wouldn't have the service that was obliged to me. Wouldn't have
it. Wouldn't have it. No. Why'd she
do that? For whatever reason, she loves
me. And that's the reason God's people
serve Him. I call you, my brothers, my sisters,
set your hearts on eternity. Live utterly unto God. because
the love of Christ constrains you because we thus judge that
if one died for all then we're all dead quite literally if Christ
died for all God's elect then all God's elect died in him and
judgments over for us and that he died for all for this purpose
that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves
but unto him which died for them and rose again See yonder the
man sitting on the throne? He died for you and rose again
for you that you should live utterly to Him. He died for me
and rose again for me that I should live utterly unto Him. Now watch
verse 16. Wherefore henceforth know we
no man after the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet henceforth know we Him no more. Now let me help you with that. I knew Christ after the flesh
about all my life, about all my life. I knew who He was, knew
where He came from, knew what He came down here to do, knew
what He accomplished. I knew He went back to glory
when He rose from the dead. I knew that Christ Sitting on
the throne of heaven as the high priest over God's Israel in human
flesh I knew that he's a high priest touched with the feeling
of iron from it is an advocate for sinners the only mediator
Between God and man, but I didn't have a clue who he was. I didn't
know him. I didn't know him until God revealed
him in me by the special work of his grace and that's the only
way you will ever know him We We don't try to get folks to
profess faith in Christ. Don't do it. Don't lead them
down the sinner's road, the Roman road to salvation, to say the
sinner's prayer, to repeat this word or that. You just as well
take them to a Roman Catholic confessional and have them talk
to a priest, just walk down an aisle and talk to a preacher.
That's all mumbo-jumbo, hocus-pocus religion. It does no one any
good. Well, Brother Don, that's how
I got saved. If that's how you got saved,
you didn't get saved. It's just that simple. We know Christ not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. It's God's work. If God
gives you faith in Christ, you will find yourself constrained
irresistibly to believe Him. Constrained irresistibly to believe
Him. I believe, Martin. what you told
me experienced, didn't it? Taught well all your life, understood
things theoretically all your life, and then suddenly, constrained,
irresistibly, you find yourself believing God. We know Christ
now after the Spirit. And if all you know is after
the flesh, somebody can talk you out of it. If you know Him
after the Spirit, nobody can. And not only is that true of
Christ, that's how we know all men. That's how we know all men,
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Paul said in Philippians
2, he said, Let each esteem other better than himself. How can
that be? How can that be? each esteem
other better than himself. I look at you and I can see things
that you do and recognize the evil of it. But if you're in Christ, I have
reason to esteem you more highly than myself because I can't see
what's inside you. But I do see you in Christ. And in Christ, you're perfectly
righteous. Without spot, without sin. And that's how we are taught
to look on one another. That'll keep you from yacking
so much. That'll keep you from gossiping. That'll keep you from
being too severe with your brethren. and you see what really is in
you. All you are by nature is corruption
and sin. We know no man after the flesh
but we know you in Christ after the Spirit and know Christ after
the Spirit. All right, here's the fourth
thing. I urge you to set your heart on eternity fourthly because
of what Christ has accomplished for His own. Therefore if any
man be in Christ If any man be in Christ, he's a new creature
The new birth is not repairing the old man. It's creating a
new man Old things are passed away behold. All things have
become new. I Think I've said this enough
that you probably all heard it, but it'll bear repetition Don't
you wish that? You had a rewind button to your
life. You just push rewind and start all over again. Believe
on the Son of God and go home tonight starting all over again. Only this time you start anew
with no possibility of marring the record. He's a new creature
and old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become
new. And this is God's work. And all things are of God, who
hath reconciled us to himself. When Christ Jesus died in our
stead, God reconciled himself to us as a matter of justice
by Christ Jesus, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. He sent us out not to proclaim
the possibility of reconciliation, but to proclaim reconciliation
finished. You remember our Lord told his
disciples to go and preach repentance and the forgiveness of sins?
To preach the turning and the forgiveness of sins. To go out
and proclaim the gospel of repentance and remission of sins. That is
not go out and merely tell sinners that they must turn, that they
must repent, but rather it is to go out and tell sinners that
he has turned sinners to himself and they are forgiven by his
blood. We have the ministry, the word
of reconciliation to proclaim to man and all who hear it turn
to God by faith in Christ Jesus. Read on. Look what it says, verse
19. To wit, that is to say this is
that ministry of reconciliation. God was in Christ reconciling
the world, the world of his elect obviously unto himself. not imputing
their trespasses unto them, and hath committed to us the word
of reconciliation, the gospel of reconciliation. There are
some folks in this world to whom God will not impute sin. Your
pastor read it just a little bit ago in Psalm 32. God was
in Christ reconciling his elect through all the world unto himself
by the sacrifice of his son, refusing to charge them with
sin. Verse 20, now then, now then, here's the fifth thing.
I beseech you to set your heart on things eternal because of
the message of God's grace. We are ambassadors for Christ,
messengers for King Jesus, as though God himself were standing
right here talking to you. as though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you, we urge you, we plead with you, we beg of
you in Christ's name, be ye reconciled to God. Four, here's the basis
of it all. He hath made him sin for us. I don't have any idea how that
can be. But it didn't make him look like
sin. He didn't just declare that he was sin. He made him sin. When the Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us, the theologians like to tell us we must not suggest
that God became a man. Well, that's what happened. The
Word was made flesh. Never ceasing to be God, the
Word was made flesh. How could God become a man and
still be God? I don't know, but He did. I don't
have any idea how God who cannot die could die in our stead, but
we are bought with the blood of Him who is God in human flesh. And I don't know how He who knew
no sin could be made sin, but He was. As really as He turned
the water into wine at the marriage feast in Cana of Galilee, God
made him sin for us who knew no sin. He who had never experienced
sin. He who had no nature of sin. He who had never done a sinful
thing or thought a sinful thought. The holy, harmless, undefiled
Son of God. was made sin. He is, He was the only man who
ever walked on this earth who knew what sin is. You don't and
I don't. We don't have a clue. We don't
have a clue what sin is before God. He knew what sin was. And God Almighty gathered together
as one massive heap all the iniquity, transgression, and sin of all
His people and made it His sons. And when He did, the Lord Jesus
Christ cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And
God cried, Awake, O sword, against the man that is my fellow, smite
and slay the shepherd. Justice buried itself in the
Son of God our substitute all that That we Might be made the righteousness
of God in him Because there was no other way for God to be just
and justify the ungodly No other way whereby a man could be just
with God except that God take on Himself, our nature, become
one of us and be made sin for us. Now, now, now through His
obedience and His death, every believing sinner, every sinner
who trusts the Son of God, if right where you sit right now,
God has given you grace and you have, for the first time in your
life, begun to believe on the Son of God, made the righteousness
of God in Him, perfectly righteous, completely righteous, altogether
righteous before God in Christ Jesus the Lord. We then, as workers
together with Him, beseech you, that you receive not the grace
of God in vain. Don't let this word slip from
you. This is the day of salvation.
Receive not the grace of God in vain. Amen. Thank you.

Eternal Things

What does the Bible say about our eternal state?

Why is judgment important for Christians?

How do we know we are eternal beings?

Why should Christians focus on eternal things?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

Eternal Things

What does the Bible say about our eternal state?

Why is judgment important for Christians?

How do we know we are eternal beings?

Why should Christians focus on eternal things?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

More from Don Fortner

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Don Fortner

Books by Don Fortner

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book