It is my earnest desire that God Almighty will grant
you grace to trust His dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I want
for you to know Him whom to know is life eternal. Not to know
about Him, to know Him. I was speaking to my friends
of Sid Buggin and Jim Goff as we were driving down today. Sadly,
the great majority of preaching is done by men. Even more sadly,
even by men who know the gospel. The vast majority of that which
is preached is worthless morality preaching. Preachers simply try
to get people to act good and live good and behave well and
by those things convince them that they know God. I want you
to know Jesus Christ, God's darling son, whom to know and whom to
know alone is life eternal. To that end, I ask God to cause
you this night to set your minds and your hearts upon things eternal. You who are God's, You cannot
be called often enough. You cannot be called fervently
enough. You cannot be called with urgency
enough. Set your hearts, your minds on
things eternal. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth, but on Christ Jesus the Lord,
our God, our Savior, our Redeemer. So turn with me, if you will,
to 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Second Corinthians, the fourth
chapter. In this passage, the apostle Paul has been describing
the ministry that God had given to him as his servant and the
ministry God gives to all his servants, this glorious ministration
of the gospel. In chapter three, he tells us
that the ministration of Moses, of the law, was a ministration
of glory, though it was a ministration of condemnation. How much more
glorious then? is this ministration of the gospel
of God's free grace, this ministration of life eternal in Jesus Christ
the Lord. He says in chapter 4, verse 7,
we have this treasure, this treasure of the gospel in earthen vessels. God has planted this treasure
in this earthen vessel, this dirty, broken clay pot, and uses
this earthen vessel to carry the gospel into all the world. He gives us this message, this
treasure in earthen vessels and uses such things as you and I
are for the furtherance of the gospel so that the excellency
and the praise and the glory may be of God and not of us.
And then he speaks of the distresses and troubles and afflictions
and heartaches. Yet he says we persevere, we
continue. through this world of trial and
tribulation and trouble. We continue through this world
of pain and heartache and sorrow. We continue with steadfastness,
with confidence, because we set our hearts on things eternal. Begin, if you will, in verse
17. For our light affliction which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory." Our light affliction? Our light
affliction? Surely, Brother Don, you can't
speak to me about the things I am experiencing now as light
affliction. Surely, surely you don't mean
to suggest the thing that's crushing my heart right now is a light
affliction. Compared with what you deserve,
just light affliction. Compared with what we have earned
for ourselves, our light affliction, the word is featherweight, our
almost Insignificant affliction compared with what many of our
brethren have suffered in the past. Light affliction. I know nothing about trouble
compared to many of whom I've read. And compared with what
many of our brethren endure every day are light affliction. It's sad, but we seem only capable
of judging things and measuring things properly when we measure
them compared with what somebody else endures. Our light affliction
compared with what our Redeemer suffered in our stead. Oh my God, let me never murmur. Let me never complain. Let me
never question your hand, our light affliction. And it ought
to be looked upon as light, because it is but for a moment. It will
pass quickly, I promise you. It is but for a moment. A light,
momentary affliction. But this light, momentary affliction,
whatever it is that God your Father brings upon you, my brother,
my sister, I like momentary affliction somehow has eternal consequences. Somehow. I can't begin to tell
you how. I can't begin to explain how,
but I know what this next line says. It worked for us a far
more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. What a word. heaven will be more glorious
than it could otherwise have been because of what God gives
us in this time world by our light affliction. Our glorious prospect is that
we shall spend eternity looking over the ranges of time at the
wondrous mystery of God's providence to see how that God in all our
woes and difficulties and trials and heartaches and falls and
rising again in all our light affliction was working for us
a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Read on. While we look not at things which
you see, As long as you've got your eyes
on things that are seen, those afflictions will never be viewed
as light or momentary. We look not at things which are
seen. We don't set our hearts on things
that are seen. Oh, God, teach us and give us
grace not to do so. Things that are seen. What is
that? That's anything you can see. Reach over and touch the
one sitting beside you. Things that are seen. You think
about your house. You wonder if it's going to be
able to hang on to it. Things that are seen. Or the
one that you've got well secured. Things that are seen. All things
that are seen. Look at what it says. We look
not at things which are seen, but of the things which are not
seen. And here's the reason. All these
things that we see, the things which are seen, are temporal. Just temporal. Just a temporary,
transient thing is what this earth is and this time experience
is. I had the blessed privilege of
having a delightful family. Married to a woman who loves
me dearly. We have a delightful relationship
with our daughter and son-in-law, grandchildren. Oh, what a privilege. But this is just a temporary
relationship. It's just temporary. It's just
temporary. Those grandbabies, that relationship's
just temporary. It's just temporary. Dear as
it is, as important and responsible as it is, just temporary. If we have a relationship that's
eternal, it's not afresh in blood, but rather it is the relationship
you and I have. I have a better relationship
to this dear lady than having her for my wife. She's my sister. We're one in Christ. The things,
though, that are seen, Earthly things are just temporary things.
Don't set your heart on them. The things that are not seen, our God, our Savior, His grace,
the kingdom He's prepared for us, the glory that awaits us,
the things that are not seen, these are eternal. Well, Paul,
give us some things to consider about these things eternal. How
can we be persuaded to set our hearts, to set our minds upon
things eternal? What eternal things should we
continually have meditating on them, thinking on them, pondering
them in our hearts? First, he says, Give some thought
to immortality. Look at verses 1 through 9, 2
Corinthians 5. For we know, we know. Don't you love the way the Spirit
of God inspired these men who wrote the scriptures to speak
of things with absolute dogmatism? Just absolute dogmatism. It's
not, we think, we suppose, maybe. Perhaps this is, we know, we
know. If you've been taught of God,
you know, you know. If God, the Holy Spirit is your
teacher, you know. Well, I don't know that well.
I'm sorry for you, but I know. We know that if our earthly house
of this tabernacle were dissolved, this body, this tabernacle is
going to be dissolved. It's going to go to the dust,
and it should. Because this body is involved
in this thing called sin and the fall. Not only is our flesh
spoken of in scripture with regard to our carnal evil nature, that
which we are by nature in the Adam nature that we have, but
this body itself is made corruptible by reason of sin and it must
be dissolved. We are going to die sooner or
later, and it's best that we think about it real regular.
You soon shall die. I soon shall die. But we know
that if this earth of the house of this tabernacle were dissolved,
what's this next word? We have. Present tense. Immediately. Not we are going
to have in the resurrection. We have. 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. Now, I'm already in waters way
over my head, and I have to just tell you what I think this refers
to. I'm certain that it speaks to
the fact that believers, when they leave this body of flesh,
are not somehow floating around as spirits in the clouds, or
just in some kind of a non-existent state, waiting for the resurrection.
But rather, the Spirit of God tells us, as soon as we leave
this body of flesh, we have a house. We have another body, something
between death and the resurrection, in which we dwell with our God.
Look at this. For in this, in this body of
flesh, we grow. We grow. Romans 8, Paul says,
the whole creation groaneth and travaileth together, waiting
for the redemption, the adoption to it, the redemption of the
body, the whole creation. Just a few weeks ago, all across
the state of Kentucky, we had a horrible ice storm. Some of
you are well aware of it. And all power was out, ice all
over the trees. And we live in an area where
we live is a lot of wooded area behind us. We live a couple of
miles out of town, no close neighbors by. Everything behind us is just
barren, just nothing, no one behind us for at least a half
a mile or better. And you'd open the door and listen
to those huge trees, the limbs breaking. of one after another
just breaking. You'd hear them cracking as they
swayed. The wildlife would be scared
from one section to another as those trees just bending with
the weight of the ice. And I couldn't help but to think
groaning. Just groaning. And thinking that's what goes
on inside me. Groaning. Groaning by reason
of sin. groaning by reason of the curse,
groaning by reason of all these afflictions that attend the flesh,
groaning by reason of all the pain that attends life in this
world, even at its best. Groaning. In this body, we groan. Groan earnestly desiring, anxiously
expecting to be clothed upon. You see what I said before? To
be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. What's
going to happen to the believer when he leaves the body? He's
going to enter into a body prepared for him immediately in the heavens,
a body in which he shall live perfectly in the presence of
the Redeemer until the resurrection. If so be that being clothed,
clothed with immortality, we shall not be found naked. For
we that are in this tabernacle do groan, he says again. Grown
being burdened. Burdened not for that we would
be unclosed. No. I sometimes, I guess, I experience
what everybody else does, and you get to feeling sorry for
yourself. Go to your closet and you start
to cry and pity. Oh, just take me. Wish I did. And that's horrible. That's horrible. That's not what it's all about.
We grow not to be unclothed. Not to be unclothed, but clothed
upon. Grown that we might truly live
unto God. That we might truly know God,
that we might truly walk in light, that we might truly walk in His
fellowship. Not that we would be unclothed,
but clothed upon. That mortality might be swallowed
up of life. We always bear about in our bodies
the dying of the Lord Jesus, and the outward man perisheth,
but the inward man is renewed day by day. He says, we grow
old for life. We grow for life. Now, he that
hath wrought us for. That reads awkward, doesn't it?
Every time I read it, I tend to want to read it. He that hath
wrought for us. But it reads accurately. He that
hath wrought us for the self same thing. What? Did God work us for immortality? Did God prepare us from eternity
for eternity? Has God in his grace and providence
wrought for us and wrought in us and wrought us for eternity? That's what he says. He that
hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who hath given
unto us the earnest of the Spirit, the down payment. The Spirit
of God is the earnest money, the pledge. He gives us the promise
of the covenant through the redemption of Christ Jesus the Lord, the
spirit of life and immortality, and this spirit of life giving
us faith in Christ Jesus, causing us to trust the Son of God is
that spirit of life that causes us to grow for life eternal. Verse six, therefore we are always
confident. I read that again so many times
this week, trying to work on this message. I don't know how
many times I've read it, and I keep underlining it, and I
keep putting a star by it. Always confident. And I was hesitant
to tell you this is true of the believer. But that's exactly
what the text says, isn't it? We are always confident. Amidst
all our doubts, our unbelief, our hesitations, we're always
confident. We really do know. Always confident. Knowing that whilst we are at
home in the body, we're absent from the Lord, for we walk by
faith, not by sight. The just live by faith, not by
sight. We're confident, I say, and willing,
rather, to be absent from the body and to be present with the
Lord. Now, I know that infidels and
religious mockers, they'll say, well, everybody wants to go to
heaven, not just right now. I beg your pardon. I beg your pardon. We face death with perplexity. everyone does who even comes
to a brush with death. We have family and friends that
we want to see other things for. We have heartaches at the prospect
of what lies before those who are dear to us. But all the while,
we're like David on his deathbed, although my house be not so with
God. And it never is. It never is. Although my house be not with
God as I would like it to be, as I had planned it to be, as
I had hoped it would be, although my house be not so with God,
yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordering all things
in sure. And this is all my salvation
and all my desire. Though he make it not to grow,
we're willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present
with the Lord. Well, Brother Donald, if that's
the case, why would you endure the things you endured this past
year with the surgeries and the hospitalization and the treatments
rather than just dying? Because we also have a responsibility
before God. Now, I'm either telling you the
truth or I'm lying to you. There's no in-between grant.
We have a responsibility before God to preserve life, our own
and others. as much as lies within the realm
of our abilities and our responsibility before God, but willing to be
absent from the body, oh yes, present with the Lord. Wherefore
we labor. I thought faith was resting.
It is. But the moment you start to look to Christ, the moment
you fall into his arms of mercy, and find rest in him, you enter
into a constant struggle in your soul. We labor that whether present
or absent, we may be accepted of him, well-pleasing, beautiful, highly adorned, pleasurable in
his sight. I thought this was altogether
a matter of grace. It is altogether a matter of
grace. I thought this was altogether a matter of faith in Christ.
It is altogether a matter of faith in Christ. Now let me ask
you, which of you, you my brothers and sisters, who know yourselves
accepted in the beloved from eternity, which of you do not
find in your soul, in the depths of your heart, a constant longing,
a constant craving, a constant panting to be conformed utterly
to Jesus Christ our Redeemer. We lay, that whether present
or absent, we may be accepted of Him. Now, verse 10. Immortality, just that consideration
alone ought to set your mind on eternity. But there's something
coming with this immortality. Man does not have a living soul. He is a living soul. And we must
all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Judgment is sure. What's going
to happen when we appear before the judgment seat? We will stand
before the great white throne judgment and the books opened.
And every man judged out of the things written in the books.
According to that he hath done, whether it be good or evil. God's
going to judge you and me and all the sons and daughters of
Adam according to their works. Exactly. And he demands perfect
righteousness. But brother Don, that shuts us
all out. It would except another book shall be opened. And it's
called the Book of Life. And they whose names are written
in that book, they stand accepted of God in Christ the Redeemer,
perfectly righteous, having never sinned, because Christ has put
away their sins, having perfectly obeyed God's law, perfectly obeyed
His justice, perfectly obeyed His will, to the full satisfaction
of the infinite God. We must be judged. Everyone may
receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath
done, whether it be good or bad." In eternity, you're going to get exactly what
you deserve. Exactly what you have earned. No more and no less. Exactly
what you made. Well, brother Don, how can that
be? I have. We use the term justified just
as if I had ever said that's not right. That is not right.
It is as though I were perfectly righteous. That is not right.
It is as though I have perfectly obeyed God. That is not right.
I have perfectly obeyed God. I believe that. You see,
I am one with God's Son. Really and truly one with God's
Son. When He came into this world
in human flesh and cried, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O my God,
I came into this world to do God's will. When He walked on
this earth for thirty-three years, the full age of a man, in perfect
obedience to God, I perfectly obeyed my God in all the details
of His will, in perfect humanity, without fault, one with my Redeemer. When He died there, bearing my
sin in His body on the tree, I died in Him. When He rose,
I rose with Him. And look yonder, seated together
with Him right now, on the right hand of the Magistrate on high.
And on the basis of what I had done in my substitute, I shall
receive exactly what I have asked, exactly what's due me. And you
who meet God out of Christ, shall receive exactly what's due you,
knowing therefore the terror of the Lord." The terror of the Lord. The terror
of the Lord. We persuade men. But we are made
manifest unto God, and I trust are made manifest in your consciences.
He said, I hope you know, as God does, I speak to you with
sincerity. For we commend not ourselves
again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf,
to boast on our behalf that you may have somewhat to answer them
which glory in appearance and not in heart. So that when you
hear those fellows accusing us of being fakes and accuse us
of being men who are self-serving, you can answer. We won't have
to. Verse 13. For whether we be beside ourselves,
it's to God. Or whether we be sober, it's
for your cause. In other words, Paul's saying,
I'm devoted utterly as God's servant to your soul's good as
your servant. And then verse 14, here's something
else, numbered among these eternal things. For the love of Christ
constraineth us. The love of Christ, sweet constraint. The love of Christ, blessed bondage. The love of Christ, oh, heavenly
target my heart. The love of Christ constraineth
us because we thus judge. This is how we discern things. That if one died for all, If
Christ died for all his people, then we're all dead. When he
died, we died in him. And he that died for all, and
that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth
live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose
again. You're bought with a price. So
glorify God in your body and in your spirits which are God's.
Christ died for you, he bought you, that you should live unto
him who loved you and gave himself for you. And somehow I'm just convinced
if ever you experience in your soul the love of Christ, having
loved you having redeemed you with the sacrifice of himself,
you won't need me to convince you you ought to be utterly devoted
to him. You won't need some preacher
to beat you over the head with the law to convince you you ought
to be utterly committed to him. You won't need someone to constantly
be checking up on you and keeping tabs on you to convince you you
ought to live for him. If you are constrained by his
love, you're constrained to live unto him who loved you and gave
himself for you. Verse 60, wherefore henceforth
know we no man after the flesh. Yea, though we have known Christ
after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. What on
earth is Paul talking about now? Before God saved me, I knew Christ,
didn't you? I knew who he was. I knew when
he came into this world. I knew he was the Son of God.
I knew he assumed human flesh and made himself one with humanity.
I knew that he lived in righteousness and died as the sinner's substitute
upon the cursed tree satisfying the righteousness of God. I knew
that he had risen from the dead and that he was seated at the
right hand of God Almighty and that he had power over all things.
I knew him some of the day, and I didn't know him from Adam.
I didn't know him. We knew him after the flesh,
but that's not how we know him now. Preachers come and try to
convince folks, do you believe this, do you believe this, do
you believe this? Oh yeah, well you're saved David. You say,
I believe in Jesus, Lord Jesus saved me. You've got eternal
life? No. No. Well, if we argue and reason
and present things logically and forcefully enough that we
can get folks to believe, no you can't. You can just get them
religious. But if God Almighty reveals Christ in you, you will
not know Him after the flesh, but after the Spirit. You know
him by his word, by his spirit, as he's revealed in you. Therefore,
verse 17, here's reason to think on eternal things. If any man
be in Christ, he's a new creature. He's a new creature. There's
a debate been going on for many, many years, longer than I know
about it. Is this talking about reconciliation? Or is this talking
about atonement? Or is this talking about the
new birth? Yes, that's what it's talking about. It's talking about
our being reconciled to God. And it's talking about the new
birth. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. God created
him new. He puts a new nature in you,
a new spirit in you, a new heart in you. And that new nature is
called being partakers of the divine nature. It is Christ in
you, the hope of glory. And we are new creatures in this
sense. Old things are passed away. And behold, all things are become
new. What would you give if you could
push the rewind button on your life? Start all over. Walk out of here
tonight with a clean record, a clean started life, and start
walking with God right now. That's what it is to believe
on the Son of God. He's put all old things away. And behold, all things are become
new. Verse 18. And this is all God's
work. All things are of God who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and have given to us the
ministry of reconciliation. That is, he's given us this treasure,
this treasure of the gospel, this glorious gospel of life.
It is a ministry, a service of reconciliation. God was in Christ,
reconciling the world as a light unto himself, and now he sent
us to proclaim to you reconciliation, and we urge you, be reconciled
to God. What does that mean? You be reconciled
to God. Take your fist out of God's face. Quit fighting God. Quit despising
the fact that God is God. Put down your little pop gun
by which you've declared war on God and bow to Him. Be reconciled
to God. Read on. To wit that God was
in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their
trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of
reconciliation. And here it is. Now then, we
are ambassadors for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us. What a strange, strong word. As though God did beseech you. As though God did urge you. As though God did pray you. We pray you. We beseech you. We urge you. In Christ's name,
be you reconciled to God. On what basis? Father Don, on what basis do
you call on me to give up my life entirely to the Son of God? On what basis do you call on
me to surrender the totality of my life to the will of God
my Savior? Upon what basis dare you call
on me to lay everything at His feet? Everything. Everything. On what basis? Everything? More than 30 years ago, my doctors thought I was dying.
I had cancer. I was about gone before they
found out I had it. I had no struggles with the prospect of
death. I really didn't. My wife is sitting
here. She went with it, went through
it with me. She went through more than I did. A lot more than
I did. But I had no struggles with the
prospect of dying. That wasn't a problem. I'll tell you what
I had a problem with. I had one darling little blonde-haired
girl who didn't know her right hand
from her left hand. And she needed a daddy. And I struggled with
that. I struggled with that. And one
day, as though God spoke from heaven. By His Spirit, He spoke
to my heart. And He said, she's not yours,
she's mine. And I'm a heapsight better daddy
than you can ever think about me. And I said, okay. That's good enough. That's good
enough. Everything. On what basis dare
you call on me to surrender the totality of my life to Jesus
Christ? Let's read it together. For he hath made him sin for us. I'm not looking for something
to say. I want you to hear what he said. He hath made him sin for us who
knew no sin. God Almighty gathered up the sins of His people and made them the sins of His
Son. His Son, the only man who ever
walked on this earth who knew what sin is. But He knew no sin. He had none. He committed none. He was born with none. He lived
with none. But He made sin for us. And He did it for just one reason. Because that's the only way.
we could be made the righteousness of God in Him. O God, our Father, O God, our Father, seal your
word to our immortal souls and set
our hearts upon eternity for Christ's sake. Give me grace, my God, with every
breath to give myself in utter devotion and consecration in
the totality of my being to your darling Son. And that grace I
ask for myself. I ask for these chosen, redeemed
sinners. For the glory of Christ. Amen.