Watch in chapter 3. We looked
last week in verse 1. I want to look at verse 2 this
morning with you. We're going to consider all four
of these verses. Let me read them again in verse
1. If you then be risen with Christ, seek those things which
are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set
your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For
you are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When
Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall you also appear
with Him in glory. Set your affections on things
above." Here in verse 1 we are told, as we looked at last week,
to seek those things which are above. Now here in verse 2 we're
told to set our affection on things above, that is, our love,
our thoughts. Let those things that are above
be our tender attachment. Like a mother loves her child,
she's tenderly attached to her child. Let these things, as Fred
told us the other night, be your treasures. Where your treasure
is, there will your heart be also. If a person has a treasure,
what does he do? He thinks on it, doesn't he? He protects it. And if it's his
true treasure, I'll tell you what he'll do. He'll let everything
else go for this one treasure. That's what this is, the affections. It's the treasure. Why does he
do that? Because it won his affection.
Why are we first told here in verse 1 to seek those things
which are above? Because the affections cannot
be set upon something that it has no knowledge of. When he
tells us to seek those things which are above, seek the knowledge
of those things which are above. Seek to know them, what they
are. And then when we have knowledge of them, what happens? Our affections
are one to these things. We love them. We become tenderly
attached to them. If you have some little kids
around the house, especially the little girls, eight and ten
and twelve years old, they're always falling in love with some
boy. And what happens, they see him
in the newspaper, or they see a little calendar with him on
it, and they fall in love with him. Their little affections
go out after him. Why? Because they see him, or
they hear him talking, or they watch him act. And what happens? They get to know him. And what
happens? Their affections are won to him. That's what the Apostle Paul
is telling us here. When he tells us here to seek
those things which are above, he's telling us mainly to seek
the knowledge of these things. And having the knowledge of these
things, then this causes our affections to be won to these
things. They become our treasure. It's
said often, and I've often said this, that the Christian life
cannot be forced. I cannot force you to love God. I can't force myself to love
Him. I can't force you to desire the sin-filled miracle of the
Word. I can't force you to pray. I can't force you to give. I
can't force you to worship Him or serve Him. It has to be freely,
doesn't it? It has to be from the heart.
True worship, true service must come from the heart. Paul said,
if there be first a willing mind, it is accepted. They that worship
the Father must worship Him in spirit and in truth. And here's
the way to test our knowledge to see if it's true saving knowledge. To see if the Holy Spirit has
opened our heart and really put the knowledge of these truths
in our hearts. Is our knowledge of Christ winning
our affections? Is He truly becoming the treasures
of our hearts? Are we becoming willing to give
up everything for the Lord Jesus Christ? Can we sing with that
old hymn writer, Fade, fade, each earthly joy, Jesus is mine. Is he precious? Is he precious? Is the knowledge that we have
of him making him precious to us? Do we have this tender attachment
to the Lord Jesus Christ? David, when the Lord began to
teach him of himself, finally hears what he said. Whom have
I in heaven besides thee? And there is none upon this earth
that I desire beside you, above you." When the Lord Jesus began
to teach himself to Moses, I tell you, he won Moses' affection.
He appeared to Moses there in the backside of the desert in
a burning bush, and he said, Moses, I am. I am. And Moses knew who that was,
what that meant. He taught Moses of his judgments
down there in Egypt by sending those plagues. And there in Exodus
chapter 12, he taught Moses of his redeeming blood. Put the
blood of the Lamb over the doorpost, and that will stay the wrath
of God. And you know what Moses said
when the Lord taught him of himself. He said, Don't call me Pharaoh's
son anymore. I am not Pharaoh's son. Moses
suffered great affliction, reproach, and this is what was
said of Moses. He esteemed the reproaches of
Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. Isn't that
a marvelous thing? He said, I would rather go out
in the desert and suffer with the people of Christ than to
be down in Egypt and to be free and enjoy all the pleasures of
those sins. What was it that so brought out
the affections of his heart that he was willing to count the reproach
of Christ, such esteem? The Lord had taught him. The
Lord had brought him to a knowledge of himself. The Lord Jesus Christ
was his treasure. And the scripture says that he
endeared as seeing him who is invisible. And when God called
Abraham out of the land of the Chaldeans and out of idolatry,
He gave Abraham a promise of an inheritance. Not just a temporal
inheritance, but a heavenly inheritance. He promised Abraham this heavenly
country. He promised it to Isaac. He promised it to Jacob and all
of their families. And they set their hearts upon
that promise. And I'm telling you, it won their
affections. It became their treasure. And
here's what was said of these people. These all died in the
faith, not having received the promises, but they saw them a
for-all And they were persuaded of them, and they embraced them
and confessed that we are pilgrims and strangers on this earth. And he said, they that say such
things declare plainly that they seek a country. That's it, ain't
it? Seek those things which are above.
Seek the knowledge of these things. And when the knowledge of these
things get in our hearts, When the Holy Spirit puts them there,
I tell you, we'll set our affections upon those things. They'll become
our treasure. They begin to seek that heavenly
country. And the scripture says, if they hadn't had their affections
set upon this country, they may have had opportunity to have
returned to the land of their bondage. But now they seek a
heavenly country, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their
God, for he hath prepared for them a city." See how the knowledge,
see how knowledge, if it's true knowledge, raw in our hearts
by the Holy Spirit, from the Holy Scriptures, see how it wins
the affection? Seek you first those things which
are above, and when you have this knowledge of it, set your
affections there upon those things. When the Lord Jesus told His
disciples that He would go away and come again and receive them
unto Himself, that where I am, there you may be also. Boy, they got this promise in
their hearts, and the knowledge of it, and the reality of it,
and the very last Book of this Bible, the Lord Jesus said, I
come quickly. And what was John's reply? Come,
Lord Jesus. Come, Lord Jesus. He longed for
His appearance. He loved it. It got into his
affection. And if you and I want our affection
set on things above, then let us begin truly, brothers and
sisters, to seek the knowledge of these things. through His Word and by the grace
of the Holy Spirit. And when we do, then our affections
will be set upon these things. I want you to look over here
in 1 Corinthians 2. Back over to your left in 2 Corinthians
2. Set your affection on things. Set your affection on things.
Look here in 1 Corinthians 2. This is so important for you
and I to see this and remember this. When it comes to knowing
the things which are above, you and I are in the same boat. Every
one of us in the same boat. We have no idea of these things
until the Spirit of God teaches us. Just because I'm a preacher,
there's no sign. that I got the advantage over
you in knowing anything that's spiritual. The same Spirit that
must teach you must teach me. I don't know a thing unless He
teaches me. Paul had just told these Corinthians
here in chapter 1 and verse 27 that God hath chosen the foolish
things of this world. to confound the wise, and he's
chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty, and the base things, the insignificant things
of the world, and things which are despised has God chosen,
and things which are not to bring to naught the things that are,
that no flesh should glory in his presence." We're nothing,
and we're no nothing. And then he comes over to chapter
two in verse nine, and look what he says. As it is written, I
have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man the things, the things, which God hath prepared
for them that love him. Well, how in the world then can
we know them? If God has these things that he's prepared, and
they're things above, and you and I are so ignorant and earthly,
how can we know these things? He tells us in verse 10, but
God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what
man knoweth the things of a man, except the spirit of man which
is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth
no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God. Why?
That we might know the things that are freely given to us of
God. How can we come to the knowledge
of these things? He teaches us. He teaches us. Don't be discouraged in seeking
these things which are above. We have a teacher. We have a
sovereign teacher to help us, to graciously help us. Look over in chapter 1 and verse
17 of this book. You remember when you and I,
we knew nothing about Christ and His cross. You remember that?
Our understanding was so darkened. The things of Christ, we didn't
know anything about those. We used to go to jail and preach
to those folks down there, and I'm telling you, you hear some
strange things about the power of God. You talk about the power
of God. Well, I know something about
the power of God. Me and my wife was having all
kinds of trouble. And I got her back. The last
time I was in jail, God got me out of here. I know something
about the power of God. Or I lost my job and God gave
me a job. I know something about the power
of God. You know where the power of God is? You know where it's
seen? In the cross of Christ. Look what he says here in verse
17. Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel. not
with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made
of none effect. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but to us which are saved it
is the power of God." Therefore we see the power of God in the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we went all of our lives
and did not know that, did we? We thought the power of God was
in something we were doing or in something God had enabled
us to do. But it's not there at all. It's
in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And how did we find that
out? Well, we're told there in verse
12 of chapter 2, we have received the Spirit of God. And he's taught
us the things that are freely given to us of God. The things, the things that are
freely given to us of God. What's freely given to us of
God? Look in chapter 1 again, and look in verse 4 there. Look
at this. I thank my God always on your
behalf, for the grace of God The grace of God which is given
you by Jesus Christ. Here's one of those things that
God has freely given us. And what is it? Grace. The things
of God. Grace. Saving grace. Precious grace. How precious
did that grace appear the hour I first believed." And where
is this grace? Where is this grace found? It's
in Christ. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the things of God. And where
do you find it? By Jesus Christ. All God's saving favor, all God's
things, He's put in Christ. His love is in Christ. You'll
never know the love of God apart from Christ. The mercy of God,
the life of God, everything that God has for a poor sinner, righteousness
to clothe the shame of our nakedness, blood to wash us from all our
sins, everything is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Him and
through Him, we're told here that they are freely giving us. The Lord Jesus was ready to go
away, and here's what He told His disciples. He said, I'm going
to pray the Father, and He's going to give you another spirit,
the spirit of truth. And what's He going to do when
He comes? He's going to guide you into all truth. He shall glorify me, for he shall
receive of mine, and show it to you." That's it, Eddie. He
said, I don't know anything about the things above, I'm so ignorant,
I'm so... The Spirit shows us these things. But where are these things at?
They're in Christ. He's going to show you the things
that belong to me. All the Father hath, they're
mine. Therefore I said, he shall take
of mine and show them unto you." Everything God has for a poor
sinner, everything He has for a poor sinner is in Jesus Christ. And He gives them freely. And
we know them by the Spirit through His Word. Listen to this. One fellow said this, he said,
things above, the things above, seek those things which are above.
Set your affection on things above. He said, these things
above aren't for the wise of this world, but for the simple
who humbly seek these things by the word and by the grace
of the Holy Spirit. And these things of God which
are above are not for those who have any merit. If you have any
merit, these aren't your things. These are for those who seek
these things through and in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. Those things which are above.
And they're freely given, and God's put them in Christ. James
said this, every good gift and every perfect gift cometh from
above. Have you got anything that you
earned? Have you got anything that you merited? Have we ever earned a blessing?
A spiritual blessing or a carnal blessing? See how encouraging
this is? When He tells us to seek those
things which are above and set our affections upon them, He
wants us to know that these things are not earned. They are not
married to Him. God has put them in His Son,
and He freely, freely gives them to those who seek them out. I heard a TV preacher not long
ago, and he was telling his listeners to send in their seed money.
You send him your seed money. If you'll send me a donation,
you untie God's hands, and He can bless you. Ain't that shameful? How did the Holy Spirit say the
blessings of God come? Freely. Freely. Every good gift, every perfect
gift, cometh down from above. from the Father of lights, with
whom is no verbalness, neither shadow of turning." Seek those
things, the things of God. You've got somebody to open your
heart, to give you grace to understand. Don't be discouraged from seeking.
These things of God have been put in somebody else, in His
Son, in whom He delights. And they've been put in a very
generous Savior. who loves to give everything
away. And I'm telling you, he can give and give and give and
never be diminished. He is so rich. And it's not for
those with merit. Look over in Romans chapter 8
with me. Romans chapter 8. Set your affection on things above. Seek the knowledge of these things,
God's things, that He freely gives to us in Christ, and set
your affection upon them. Paul had been speaking of that
here in verse 15. Look in Romans 8 and look in
verse 15. Here are some of the things of
God. Look in verse 15. You have not
received the spirit of bondage again to fear. But you have received
the spirit of adoption, whereby you cry, Father, Father." Adoption. That's the things of God. He's
adopted us. We're His children. And not only
has He adopted us, but He's given us the spirit of adoption. And look in verse 15, it's the
spirit of witness. God has given us the Spirit,
and look what He does. He bears witness with our spirit
that we are the children of God. These are some of the things
of God. And in verse 17, look what He's given us. Here's the
things of God. If you are children, then you're
heirs. You're heirs of God and joint
heirs with Christ. Heirs of God. and join ours with
Christ? My goodness! You and I have heard
of children inheriting their father's riches. And I tell you, they were set
up for life. They wanted nothing the rest
of their life. They lived comfortable the rest
of their life. We used to say they lived in
the lap of luxury. And they never worked to get
it a time. They inherited it from the rich
Father. You think our Father in Heaven
is going to be outdone by some earthly inheritance? We're going to inherit God. All God has, all God has made
and can make. Listen to James 2.5. Listen to
this. God hath chosen the poor of this
world, rich in faith, and heirs of a kingdom." Heirs of a kingdom? Poor us? Heirs of a kingdom? Come, you blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you. Who prepared a kingdom? The Creator, our God, our Father,
prepared a kingdom. He made a garden and put our
first parents in it, and it must have been a beautiful place because
he said everything there was pleasant to the eyes. That was
an earthly garden he put our parents in. Everything was sweet
to the taste, comfort both to the mind and to the body, and
if God made an earthly place like that, I wonder what a heavenly
kingdom would look like. that He's prepared for us. Inherit
the kingdom prepared for you. No sin, no sorrow, no suffering,
no tears, no deaths. A crown of life, one called it.
Another called it a crown of glory. Paul called it a crown
of righteousness. God, who made us, knows how to
make us holy, and He knows how to make us happy. And He's made
a kingdom. He's prepared a kingdom. And
He said, those that I have chosen and redeemed and called, I've
got them a kingdom prepared. And the climax of that kingdom
is when He says, Come. Come. Is your heart set upon
the things of God today? Are you studying these things?
Are you thinking about these things? Is your affection one
to them? Do you have a tender attachment
to these things in heaven? Look what he says here in the
last portion of this chapter, in verse 28 of Romans chapter
8. Look what he says here. Here are some things of God.
We know that all things work together for good to them that
love God, to them who are called according to His purpose, for
whom He did foreknow. Them He also did predestinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be
the firstborn among many brothers. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified."
And look at this, whom he justified, he's already glorified. What
do you think about these things? These are the things of God.
Do you understand these? Has these things got in your
heart? Have you become tenderly attached to these things which
are of us? Look what he said in verse 31.
Paul asks us, what shall we say then to these things? These are
the deep things of God. And the Spirit of God opens our
hearts to know these things. And when we begin to see them,
and he teaches us, what happens? Oh, our hearts, our hearts become
attached to these things, these heavenly things. What shall we
say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spurned not his own Son,
but delivered him up for us all, shall he not with him also freely
give us things? It's some things I don't want,
but I tell you, whatever God has, I want it. And he freely gives us these
things in Christ and for the sake of Christ. Seek those things
which are above. Seek the knowledge of them. Search
the scriptures and find out the things of God. And set your affection upon these
things. Become tenderly attached to them. And the second part
of our text says this. He first tells us where to set
our affections, upon things above. Then he says, not on things on
the earth. He gives us the positive, now
he gives us the negative, and what a contrast between these
two, things above and things below, things unseen and things
seen. Things that appeal to a man's
soul if he's regenerated, and these other things that appeal
to the flesh. What a contrast between these
two things. What a distinction is made between
these two things. Look back over here to your right
in 2 Corinthians chapter 7. Look what a distinction the Apostle
Paul makes between these things that are above and these things
that are of this earth. Look what he says in verse 17.
2 Corinthians chapter 4, and look
in verse 17. For our light afflictions, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. While we look not at the things
which are seen, But if the things which are not seen, for the things
which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not
seen are eternal." What a contrast! The things which are seen, the
things which we feel, the things that we experience, everything is temporary. One man said, There was three
idols in this world. Only three idols. And everything
else come under one of these idols. He said it was riches,
fame, and pleasure. That's everything that's in the
world. And these three idols are going to pass away. Why? Because they're temporary. They're
just temporary. Remember the rich man? He had
all three of these things. He had his riches, he had his
pleasures, and he had his fame. But suddenly, he lost it all. He left his riches, he left his
fame, he lost his pleasure. He left it all. His relationships
with his children that he took great pleasure in, to the point
of making idols out of them. His riches, his pleasures, he
left it all. And Abraham reminded him of something. He said, Son, remember in your
lifetime you had what? Anybody remember what Abraham
said to him? In your lifetime, you had your
good things. You had your things that were
below. But now, now, you've lost everything. That's the way of the things
of this world, isn't it? They're passing away. John said
this about it. He said, don't love this world,
brothers and sisters. Don't become tenderly attached
to this world. What's in this world? The lust
of the flesh? That's the pleasure. The pride
of life? The deceitfulness of riches.
These things are not of the Father, but these things are of the world,
and listen, the world passeth away. It passeth away. Peter reminds us that the heavens
are going to pass away with a great noise. He said, the elements
shall melt with ferment heat, and the earth and the works that
are therein shall be burned up. And then he said, seeing that
all these things shall pass away. All these things. Everything
that you and I have. All our relationships. They're
going to pass away. I love my wifey. My wifey loves
me. But this is a temporary relationship
that we have. Everything is going to pass away. Don't set your affections upon
the things of this world. We're going to lose them. We're
going to lose them. If we as believers set our affections
on the things of this world, the things of this world will
become a cross to us that's intolerable to bear. If you're an unbeliever
and you set your affections upon this world, that will be your
curse. And you lose it all. It's passing away. Everything we touch. The Lord
Jesus said this, Take no anxious thought for tomorrow, saying,
What shall we eat? What shall we drink? Wherewithal
shall we be clothed? These are necessary things, aren't
they? He said don't even take anxious thought for them. Don't
set your affections upon them, for it's after these things that
the Gentiles seek. They've become anxious about
these things. And your Father knows that you have need of these
things. Isn't it wonderful, brothers
and sisters, to have a Father in Heaven that knows what we
need, and He supplies that need? He frees us from this self-security. He says, don't set yourself upon
even the essential things. I know you need them. I'm freeing
you up to set your affections on things of God. All you need
is your necessary food. I'll supply it for you. All you
need is your shelter for your body. I'll supply that for you.
You seek. You seek first. and foremost
and always, the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. And all
these things shall be added to you. As long as we are in this
world, every necessary thing we need for this life, He will
add it. He will add it. And that frees
us up to set our affection on things above. I tell you what
we get to wanting sometimes, and you know we are like this.
We love security, don't we? We love security. We have been
taught by this ungodly world so long now, you better lay up
enough for retirement. You better. You're going to be
in a bad shape. You're going to come down in
retirement and you're not going to be able to retire. And this has got into
our hearts. It's got into our affections.
And if we ever hear that, we're going to lose some of our benefits.
We may lose a certain portion of our check, and what happens? We get down on it. Why? This world has been teaching
us. This world has been teaching us. You don't have a Father that
cares for you. You don't have a Father that
takes care of you. You need all of these things. No, we don't
need them. Don't set your affections upon
the brothers and sisters. They're gone. They're gone. Paul said, we brought nothing
into this world, and it's certain we can carry nothing out. A friend of mine told me about
these two fellows standing on the street, and the funeral procession
went by, carrying this rich man to bury him. And one of them
asked his friend, how much did he leave? And the other one said
he left it all. He left it all. What have we
taken out of this world with us? Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Don't set your thoughts
even upon your present sorrows. This is so important. Suffering
gets us down. Our trials get us down. And when
do they get us down? When we set our thoughts upon
them. Paul said they are just temporal.
Our sufferings of this world are light afflictions. Here is
a man that had been beaten almost to death. Stoned to death one
time. Been shipwrecked. He was hated. Fasted often. And he said, my
afflictions are light. I tell you, when you look at
your afflictions and you look at your trials and you get your
mindset there, I tell you what, they won't be light any longer.
They'll be heavy. And they won't seem short any
longer. It'll seem like you're never going to get through them.
Don't set your thoughts upon your trials and your persecutions
and your afflictions. Get your mind off of those and
settle on things. Paul says here, we look at the
things which are not seen. God is not seen, isn't He? And
He's eternal. Look to God. Look to Jesus Christ. He's not seen, and He's eternal. Look to heaven. You can't see
heaven. except through the mind's eye.
That's eternal. There's elect angels there. There's
the spirits of justified men there. Those things will never
pass away. We have an inheritance. It's
reserved in heaven for you. Set your affections upon these
things where Christ set them, on the right hand of God. These
things make us happy. These things fill us with joy. They help us to let go of this
life and the things of this life. Seek those things which are above. Set your affections upon things above. Let's pray.