The Bible's message, though, is that living life on earth--in all its details--with eternity in mind, is not a means of escaping reality. Rather, it's living smartly with an elevated understanding of what's already true about us.
As Preacher Richard Jordan said in his Sunday sermon, "Salvation for you and me is more than just dying and going to heaven. Our hope is more than just yearning and waiting for that. Our ultimate joy is not simply escaping the problems of this world.
"Sometime we think, 'Oh, if I could just get out of this trouble.' The church the Body of Christ has been equipped--in fact, it's been CREATED specifically FOR the capacity to endure through the difficulties.
"Paul says in Romans 8:18, [18] For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
"Our hope really is the world's redemption along with ours. Our hope is that while we're here on earth, there are things we can do to REDEEM the time and bring people into the hope that we have. The glory that will be revealed in us gives us the capacity to function NOW in a way that's effective.
"Paul writes in Romans 8:14-15: [14] For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
[15] For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
"The spirit of bondage comes from the law; it comes from relying upon your resources to produce something that God accepts. That never works and it always keeps you afraid because you have that consciousness that you don't measure up. That isn't how God deals with us.
"That Spirit of adoption is God the Holy Spirit. You've received right now the Spirit that's going to resurrect you out there in the future. Adoption is to be placed in the position of an adult in God's family. I right now have the Holy Spirit who's going to produce that.
"That word 'Abba' is an Aramaic word kind of like saying 'Papa.' It's like looking at your dad and being able to say, 'Papa, I trust you.' The only other person in the Bible who ever said that is in Mark 14. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's in the garden of Gethsemane facing Calvary.
"He falls on the ground and prays, 'Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.' When He does that He says, 'Abba, Father. I trust you above all other. I know you have my interest only on your heart.'
"You and I have that ability because we know the security of our future to trust Him now as though we were already there. Romans 8:16-17: [16] The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
[17] And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
"To be an 'heir' is an inheritance. You have an inheritance out there in the future. 'Heirs of God.' That's who gives you the inheritance. You're an heir of the Creator of all things. A JOINT-heir with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the extent of your inheritance.
"Now, notice the suffering and the glory in verse 18. There's a correlation between what we go through now and the glory. When you put in your mind the things that are coming, it gives you the capacity to look at what's happening now and say, 'Hey, that's what's future and that's what's lasting.' It gives you the capacity to be sustained. It gives you patience not to be thrown off and just to keep at it.
"Hebrews 12:2 is the classic illustration of Romans 8. The verse says, [2] Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
"Notice, for the joy that was set before Him He endured the Cross and said, 'It's no big deal.' It was a big deal when He was going through it. But He said, 'When you compare it with that glory, that joy, with what's going to be accomplished, it's no big deal.' The Lord Jesus Christ kept in His mind a realm of understanding about what was being accomplished at the Cross; what God was going to do through the Crosswork.
"When you and I keep that same viewpoint in our own thinking, it gives us the capacity to be sustained; the capacity to put on RIGHT NOW . . . when he says 'put on the helmet of salvation,' right now we're to think and view ourselves in light of what God's going to do with us in the ages to come.
"We're not just going to say, 'Well, out yonder when I get there . . .' We're going to put it on right now and it's going to produce in us a thinking process.
"Ephesians 1 says, [15] Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints,
[16] Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
[17] That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
[18] The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
[19] And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power.
"Notice He's the Father of glory. We're talking about the glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ. God the Father has a plan; He calls it glory. To exalt His Son. He explains what the plan is in the rest of this chapter. We're a part of it.
Paul writes of 'the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him.' He wants you to KNOW something. When you know it, chapter 3, Paul prays that it then would empower you. It can't empower you until you KNOW it, because it's the WORD that you know and becomes the energizing force when you believe it.
"What he's talking about in the verse is there's an attitude; a spirit. There's an outlook that you get when you have the wisdom that comes from the revelation of God's Word.
"When you get an understanding of God's Word, 'the eyes of your understanding being enlightened', it gives you a spirit; an attitude, a confidence, a good hope. That hope, the 'helmet of salvation,' that's the issue. And that is what we're to live in right now.
*****
"In I Corinthians, Paul is writing to the most carnal, fleshy, worldly-minded, completely self-oriented church. They evidently wrote Paul a series of questions and he's answering them. Before he does that, though, he spends six chapters rebuking them. You can divide I Corinthians into two sections. Chapters 7-16 is his reply.
"I Corinthians 6: [1] Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints? It's as if you see somebody do something and you say, 'How dare you?!' In other words, Paul's saying, 'This makes no sense considering who you are!'
"What's happening is two guys are in a fight and they can't come to an agreement, so one of them sues the other; goes to the law to settle the argument.
"Here's why they shouldn't do that: [2] Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?
[3] Know ye not that we shall judge angels? how much more things that pertain to this life?
[4] If then ye have judgments of things pertaining to this life, set them to judge who are least esteemed in the church.
[5] I speak to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you? no, not one that shall be able to judge between his brethren?
"You get the idea. He's saying, 'Your destiny is to judge and rule and reign in the heavens over the angelic creation. If there's where you're headed and that's what God's going to use you for in the ages to come for eternity, don't you have sense enough to handle this little fight you got going on now?!'
"In other words, 'If you're equipped out here with this future it ought to affect the way you operate and think right now.' Just keep reading: [6] But brother goeth to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers.
[7] Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?
[8] Nay, ye do wrong, and defraud, and that your brethren.
[9] Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
[10] Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
[11] And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.
"He's saying, 'You think lost people can answer things?! What?! Don't you realize who you are?!' Paul doesn't let them off. He doesn't excuse them. He says, 'This is a shameful thing among you because of the way you think.'
" 'Why do you not rather take wrong?' Uh-oh. What kind of an attitude would that be? Would it be called grace? Would it be called, '[5] Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:'
"Or is it, 'Well, I'm not going to let them do that! You know what they did to me?! They're wrong, I'm right!'
"Paul says, 'Wait a minute, what'd grace teach you? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?' In other words, you ever heard the adage, 'There's his side, her side and then the truth'? That's always the way it is. Paul says, 'You're going to go out there and try and let unsaved people solve these things when God's given you the wisdom in His Word to do it yourself.'
"That's the context in which he says verse 9. Most of the time we pull verse 9 out without the context. Here's the doctrine: Lost people aren't going to be out there in that kingdom, you are! Be not deceived.
"In verse 11, he's saying to think about all those things in verse 9 and 10. Those are lost people. Paul says, 'You used to be lost.'
"You've heard me say over and over, don't get mad at lost people for acting like lost people. That's what lost people do. That's who they are. And if anybody understands that, it ought to be you because you used to be one of them! But you aren't anymore. Here's who you are now.
"You're washed. Revelation 1 says we're washed in His blood. We're cleansed from the defilement and the dirt. You're sanctified. That means you've been set apart. You're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. You've had a complete, radical change in your identity; in who you are. Not what you do but who you are, because who you are is where what you do comes from.
"Philippians 1:9: [9] And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
"Notice he's praying for their love, but that kind of love is not spelled l-u-v; it's not a warm, wonderful feeling for everybody. It's not an emotional, circumstantial-based love because it's going to increase in knowledge.
"This is a thinking, knowledge-based love. The idea of loving something is valuing and esteeming it. Paul says, 'I'm praying that your ability to value and esteem a thing would grow in knowledge and in judgment.' Judgment there is the idea of discernment.
"Verse 10: [10] That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ. You remember that passage in Hebrews 5 where he says, [14] But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
"Verse 10 is saying, 'That you may always choose the thing that's of greatest value in life.' I can do this or that as far as God's concerned, but they're not all the thing of greater value. Can I do it? Yes, but is it the thing that has the best long-term interest for myself and others? What's the long-term benefit, the benefit in 'the ages to come,' as opposed to just me right now having my way and then getting a 'blank' out there.
"I need to have the capacity to look at life, look at my choices and discern the thing that's of greater value; approve things that are excellent. 'Here's something that's good, but here's something that's better. Here's something that's the best.'
"Why would you want to be doing that? 'That ye may be sincere and without offense.' You see, what you do now impacts what happens to you out yonder. He says, 'I want you to value and esteem what's going to happen to you out in the future enough that it controls and guides your thinking about what you're doing now.'
"There's that verse in I Corinthians 10: [31] Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Sometime the glory of God comes out yonder because of what you did now and you have to keep that in mind. Making decisions right now in light of who you are in Christ bears on what happens to you in the inheritance and the reward of the inheritance in the ages to come."
" 'Why do you not rather take wrong?' Uh-oh. What kind of an attitude would that be? Would it be called grace? Would it be called, '[5] Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:'
"Or is it, 'Well, I'm not going to let them do that! You know what they did to me?! They're wrong, I'm right!'
"Paul says, 'Wait a minute, what'd grace teach you? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?' In other words, you ever heard the adage, 'There's his side, her side and then the truth'? That's always the way it is. Paul says, 'You're going to go out there and try and let unsaved people solve these things when God's given you the wisdom in His Word to do it yourself.'
"That's the context in which he says verse 9. Most of the time we pull verse 9 out without the context. Here's the doctrine: Lost people aren't going to be out there in that kingdom, you are! Be not deceived.
"In verse 11, he's saying to think about all those things in verse 9 and 10. Those are lost people. Paul says, 'You used to be lost.'
"You've heard me say over and over, don't get mad at lost people for acting like lost people. That's what lost people do. That's who they are. And if anybody understands that, it ought to be you because you used to be one of them! But you aren't anymore. Here's who you are now.
"You're washed. Revelation 1 says we're washed in His blood. We're cleansed from the defilement and the dirt. You're sanctified. That means you've been set apart. You're justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. You've had a complete, radical change in your identity; in who you are. Not what you do but who you are, because who you are is where what you do comes from.
"Philippians 1:9: [9] And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment;
"Notice he's praying for their love, but that kind of love is not spelled l-u-v; it's not a warm, wonderful feeling for everybody. It's not an emotional, circumstantial-based love because it's going to increase in knowledge.
"This is a thinking, knowledge-based love. The idea of loving something is valuing and esteeming it. Paul says, 'I'm praying that your ability to value and esteem a thing would grow in knowledge and in judgment.' Judgment there is the idea of discernment.
"Verse 10: [10] That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ. You remember that passage in Hebrews 5 where he says, [14] But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.
"Verse 10 is saying, 'That you may always choose the thing that's of greatest value in life.' I can do this or that as far as God's concerned, but they're not all the thing of greater value. Can I do it? Yes, but is it the thing that has the best long-term interest for myself and others? What's the long-term benefit, the benefit in 'the ages to come,' as opposed to just me right now having my way and then getting a 'blank' out there.
"I need to have the capacity to look at life, look at my choices and discern the thing that's of greater value; approve things that are excellent. 'Here's something that's good, but here's something that's better. Here's something that's the best.'
"Why would you want to be doing that? 'That ye may be sincere and without offense.' You see, what you do now impacts what happens to you out yonder. He says, 'I want you to value and esteem what's going to happen to you out in the future enough that it controls and guides your thinking about what you're doing now.'
"There's that verse in I Corinthians 10: [31] Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. Sometime the glory of God comes out yonder because of what you did now and you have to keep that in mind. Making decisions right now in light of who you are in Christ bears on what happens to you in the inheritance and the reward of the inheritance in the ages to come."
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