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Oh Lord, tis joy, to look above and see thee on the throne, to search the heights and depths of love which thou to us has shown, 106.
Do you think it's starting perhaps the 1St 14?
Yeah, I would like to go back if it's not too much to just get the contacts from verse 10, if that'd be all right.
In Corinthians 5, starting at verse 10.
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that He has done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest unto God, and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences. For we commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf, that you may have somewhat to answer them, which glory in appearances and not in heart. For whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God, or whether we be sober, it is for your cause.
For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead, 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. Wherefore henceforth know we know man after the flesh? Yeah, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new.
And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us unto himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and have committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ, then be reconciled to God.
Free hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
00:05:00
I just, uh, suggested we read from verse 10 because it's such an important part of teaching in Scripture, the judgment seat of Christ. And I know sometimes it's presented in a way that results kind of a negative feeling, but I really believe, brethren, when we get home to glory, we're going to be thankful to have his evaluation about everything.
I think we're going to be thankful to see everything put in its true light. You know how often down here in this world, there's differences amongst brethren. Brother feels this way and another brother feels that way, and it's never exactly resolved.
There at the judgment seat, everything is going to be put in clear light of his presence and his evaluation of it, and it will settle all those differences that there were.
So I really look at the judgment seat of Christ as something positive. I hope we haven't left the idea that it's purely negative. There will be loss, of course, in to 1St Corinthians 3 because of things we have done that will be burned up. But I do believe that it is something that is positive. Am I right in that?
Amen.
At the judgment seat of Christ, our appreciation of the Lord Jesus will go up immensely.
When we see his evaluation of our life, we.
Think we're candidates for mercy? We'll learn. We'll see the mercy of God as we never saw it in this life, and we will. It will feed our souls to praise and him. We'll see the things that have to be burned up and we'll say, thank God they're burned up and thank God for his mercy to me and bearing with me.
And what he saw in my life and so it will be a very positive. There's the aspect of responsibility and again as was mentioned another day it's we won't perhaps be thinking about it, but our capacity for eternity is being developed now and yet at the judgment seat of Christ when the evaluation is given and we see.
The grace of God and the mercy of God and the control of God for our blessing over our life through the activity of life. It will tune our hearts to worship and praise Him far beyond what we are presently able to do.
I remember your father-in-law saying it will give us abundant reason to praise Him for many, much, many eons.
The judgment seat of Christ, we'll see the grace of God and there's so many things in our lives down here, trials that the Lord has permitted that we've never really gotten the full picture on there. He's going to say, I'm going to show you now what I was doing. And when he gets done, we will say, Lord, thank you for allowing those heavy trials in my life. I can see now.
Which you had in mind and it's going to be wonderful, Brandon.
It says in Romans Chapter 11, right at the end of Romans Chapter 11, the apostle Paul has just gone through the epistle of Romans. He's written, and he looks back and sees the wisdom of God and he gives a note of appreciation, you might say, to doxology verse 33.
So Romans Chapter 11, verse 33, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom.
And knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out for who hath known the mind of the Lord, who or who have been his counselor, or who have first given to him? And it shall be recompensed unto him again. For on him and through him and to him are all things to whom be glory forever and ever forever. Amen. Amen. And so there's the wisdom of God. And we don't often think of that, do we? We ought to, but the Lord is allowing what He allows in our lives and circumstances because.
Of his perfect wisdom and we ought to be thankful for the wisdom that he has in his dealings with us. And he says in Romans chapter 5 verse 20 as well, He's going to deal with us according to his grace, not only love, not only mercy, but in his grace he's going to reward us. He's going to review us. And it says in chapter 5 verse 20, but where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
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And so he's going to review and in Greece he's going to reward us.
We don't do, we don't look for the reward, for the selfish motives, we might say, but it's a given as an encouragement and it's presented to us as an encouragement. And so this passage of Scripture, as you say, Brother Bob, is written perhaps in a positive sense for the believer because it gives them fresh courage and just the sense that the Lord is going to review our lives in his perfect wisdom, his perfect love.
And it's not going to be with a critical spirit, you might say.
But His desire is to look upon us in grace and thank us for identifying with Him in His rejection, to thank us for bearing something of the reproach of Christ in this world. For He's going to thank us. Just think, He's going to thank us for what we did, for His name's sake in the scene. We don't deserve it. But He's going in, in perfect wisdom, perfect love. Just review our lives.
And what was not for His glory will be set aside and never mentioned for all eternity.
So are we saying that not only our works are going to be in review at the judgment seat of Christ, but we're also going to see his working, how he works to make all things work together for good? And would you say that at that time we're going to see the upper side of the tapestry? We're now perhaps we only see the underside and we see all these snarls and tangles of.
The thread and so on. It's not a pretty sight, the underside of the tapestry, but by faith Romans 828 and here's another KNOW we know we know that all things work together for good. And so we would it be right to say that we can also look forward to the judgment seat that we might see the upper side of the tapestry.
And to see how all things do work together for good.
If that be the case, I'm looking forward to that time.
Presence and not see it all.
Even in Israel.
In a future day, Isaiah 26, verse 12.
Says, Lord, Thou wilt ordained peace for us.
Where thou also has brought all our works in US.
So that's it. The Lord met for us in his death and sufferings.
There's an illustration given.
It's probably a thread well known to to some of us here, but I can remember under the ministry of our late brother.
HE hayhole.
Whom I knew well in my teenage period. He used to often give the illustration now.
To put it in perspective here.
I'm in a liability, I'm I'm in deep debt and furthermore, I'm bankrupt. I, I can't do anything about it. They're going to take away my house and I may be charged and.
And maybe incarcerated. So Bob, Tony comes along and he says, John, I, I've known you for years and I see your predicament here. Give me give me the whole situation and let me see what what is really the problem. So after a few days, he hands me an envelope and he says, John, it's it's all settled. You don't have to worry about it anymore.
Well, I said thank you, Bob. This really gives me relief.
00:15:02
So I open up the envelope that night and I thought it was around $10,000 that I owed, but I looked at the the the bill and here it is $100,000. I said mine. I had no idea that my debt was so large and Bob had to sell his house and his car and everything to pay for it.
I'm filled with Thanksgiving, I think, to apply that to the judgment seat of Christ.
That we will.
Know in deeper and fuller measure what it costs the Lord to put away our sins, how great the debt was, and He gave all that He had to meet our deepest need. It's going to fill our hearts with praise, brethren, for all eternity, and not one word will pass His blessed lips that He remembers our sins and our failures.
Well, it should humble us now. In fact, we're not told to forget our sins, we're told to be humbled by them.
But not to be occupied with them, but to be humbled by them, to walk softly. But the Lord is going to unfold all the measures of His grace as Robert has brought before us in that coming day. It will take eternity, will be too short to utter all his praise.
I like that verse in Revelation 4. The two verses in Revelation 4.
After the judgment seat of Christ.
I think these verses show the climax of the grace and the mercy and the love and the righteousness of of God that's been extended to us. And as we see that which we've done, that was not for his glory. It's burned up, it's taken away. There's no more record of it. But then what's remaining is for his honor and his glory. And it's not for a reward. It's not for our glory. It's not for our our prestige. No, it's for the Lord.
And in verse 10 of chapter 4, the four and 20 elders fall down before him and sat upon the throne before him that sat on the throne and worship him, that liveth forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying so there's rewards that we may get those crowns from the judgment seat of Christ. They're not for us, they're for Him, and we cast them at His feet. Verse 11.
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure.
They are and were created. And so the thought here is that there's eternal worship and praise for the Lord, giving Him glory for what He's done for us in our lives, and for His glory in His honor.
I have a question.
Uses the word terror. We've been talking about the judgment seat of Christ being something that's positive.
And I understand the Great White Throne to be something that's very negative and would be terrifying. Why here is the word terror used when it seems most of the rest of this is Speaking of the judgment seat of Christ, which although the bad things will be brought out, it will be a net positive. And I I do understand the judgment seat of Christ to be at a completely different time and in a different character than the great white throne. But why is this word used here? I take it that the great White Throne is one of the sessions.
Of the judgment seat of Christ that he has different times when he judges. It's like a judge in a used to go from county to county to judge different cases. And so this is the Lord Jesus. He's the same judge. And then when it is concerning believers, it's about our works. But then as we mentioned at the judgment of the nations in Matthew 25 is a different session.
There you have those that will enter into the millennial day, into the reign of Christ, the sheep and the goats that will go into everlasting punishment. That's another session. And then the Great White Throne is another session, and that will be terrifying. And given that, we persuade men.
00:20:02
Does that make sense? Thank you.
Amplify a little bit and connect it with the verses that follow.
The meditation on these chapters began with a summary remarks about chapter 3 being the ministry, and then we have the minister and so on that does the ministry. The apostle Paul here in these verses particularly, they almost seem disconnected, but they're not. How does he suddenly start talking about letters of commendation in the next verse? Do we need a letter from you?
Is connected with the sense of the responsibility that Paul had in his own soul with review to the fact that he had been entrusted to a service for the Lord and he was going to have to give an account for it. And so he recognized in that service that he would give an account for the souls of men that he had the responsibility to present the gospel to.
And knowing the consequence for them, the terror of the Lord that they were going to face at the great white throne judgment, he felt in his own soul the real responsibility that he had, that there was coming that judgment seat of Christ for him in which he was going to have to give an account for his service in that regard. And so he then goes on in the next verse For, for we commend ourselves, not ourselves again to you.
Well, what, how does he suddenly start talking about that? Go back to the previous chapter that begins this whole series on ministry and ministers and so on, and look at that. And it's what's connected with what this verse is. So go back to chapter 3 and verse one.
Do we begin again to commend ourselves, or need we as some others, epistles of commendation to you, Corinthians, or letters of commendation from you?
Now he gives his answer to that question.
Ye are our epistles written, and our hearts known and read of all men.
For as much as ye are manifestly prepared to be the epistles of Christ ministered by us.
Written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God, not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. For such trust we have through God, Christ to God Word. Not that we're sufficient in ourselves to think anything of ourselves are sufficient as of God, who hath made us able ministers, that is, the Saints to whom He's writing these words.
Were Saints to whom God had entrusted him the responsibility of bringing his service for God to them. And he saw already some result of it. That ministry that had been entrusted to him was now written on their hearts. There had been a response in them, and he was. He recognized that, and he was thankful for it.
And now in this chapter, some of the question came up because some of them.
Were interested in Corinth in outward appearance.
And not the work in the heart. And yet the true service to God is a work that always doesn't generate necessarily some impressive outward appearance. But if it's a service of God on a good foundation with good material, it will result in as a work in the hearts of souls. And when we give account that the judgment seat of Christ, the good and the bad is going to be seen in the context of.
If it was a God, it produced a result that lasted in the heart. If it was of myself alone, it might have produced a lot of good outward appearance, but nothing that went into a eternity. It was that which was only to be burned up. And so in the next verse, verse 13, he says, whether we recite ourselves is to God. There is an aspect in service in which.
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We have to be between ourselves and God.
And that's just between US and God. It's not with respect to others. And so Paul could recognize in serving others and in the view of the judgment seat of Christ, he had first to have his own fellowship with God that wasn't necessarily even seen by others or seen that you might say even as a work itself, but as a fellowship, a communion that then he says.
Whether we be sober, it's for your cause. That is when we think about it and we act and we serve.
We serve for the benefit and blessing of others and so any who have served this weekend, one another at the dinner table at our brethren that have been preparing for us to be here this weekend, those who have spoken up verbally in the meetings and so on. Is it been for the blessing of one another? Well, the judgment seat of Christ will reveal that and the desire of.
The soul of the minister, It should be the sense that it will have that which lasts permanently for eternity.
It's important to relax that in Second Corinthians, the epistle, the 2nd Corinthians, Paul was defending his apostleship, wasn't he? And so they were attacking him. Those were a mixed company. There were those that were real believers, they were in the assembly, and then there were those that had come in among them and sought to have a position of.
Prominence among them. And so they accused him of being crazy. He was, really.
He is devoting his life and his energies entirely to the things of God. And so they said, So he says, We commend not ourselves again unto you, but give you occasion to glory on our behalf. So he was working before the Lord, doing his work, serving the Saints of God, ministering the truth, and delivering to the Saints what God had given him to deliver by revelation, that you may have somewhat to endure them, which glory and appearance.
And not in heart. So there was a lot of fluff, there was theatrics and all kinds of things to try to deflect the attention from the truth of what Paul was ministering. And so they he lived so much for Christ and was so devoted to the cause of Christ. They accused him of being crazy. Whether we be beside ourselves, it is to God or whether we be sober is for your cause. But he says.
I'm doing what I'm doing for the cause of Christ. And so if you and I have the motive of really the appreciation of Christ and his work and we seek to labor in view of the judgment seat of Christ. We see that in the we can give him the praise and the Thanksgiving of our hearts that the judgment seat, but we can reflect our appreciation for the Lord by serving him in this scene.
By doing it with devotion, why the world will look upon us and perhaps even other believers say you're crazy. I mean get a life. There's there's other things to do and Christianity isn't all there is to life. But really I think it's Paul that quotes that says it in Colossians chapter three. He says Christ is everything. Christ is everything. And so This is why.
They were really berating him, but he left it with the Lord. He says the judgment seat of Christ. I'm not going to commend myself. I'm not going to defend myself in this way, but you can see that it's of the Lord.
And that aspect of that, too, that's important is Paul does give what might be called a defense.
But the defense is not a motivation to maintain his own reputation. It is because if they don't recognize the service that God had given to him as an apostle, they would lose. And it was his heart's desire for their blessing that he recognized that if they didn't accept him, they were not going to accept the ministry that God had given him.
For their blessing. And so he was reminding them that you ought to be thankful for what you are because the ministry that God has given me has that which is produced in your hearts. The response that's going to be for your eternal blessing. I say it lest we think that we have a need to defend ourselves to maintain that we are right. That's not a that's not the Lord.
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The Lord did not defend himself in His own life with the intent of maintaining a reputation.
He did it when he had to speak for the glory of God, but not for himself and for the glory of God, that souls might be blessed through it if they responded properly to it.
Could it be said that way?
To really defend the work of the Holy Spirit which happened to have been done in Him.
Respect to the Corinthians. So he's really defending the Lord.
And then we have verse 14, and I think this is so beautiful, for the love of Christ constraineth us, brethren, when we think of the Lord Jesus, the eternal Son of God coming down into this world.
In the form of a man.
And going all the way to the death of the cross, the Lord Jesus went through this world.
They said to him, are you only a stranger here? And he was really a stranger here. He came from the father's house and I've often thought that's why he wasn't really interested in having his own house, said The birds of the air have their nests, the foxes have their their caves, but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. Why didn't he have a house?
Because he came from the Father's house and there was nothing to compare with that. Just think of how the glorious Son of God, the creator of the whole universe.
Went to the.
Trial at the Sanhedrin and how those chief priests came up and spit in his face.
Are just Marvel breathing thinking? Has that spittle ran down his face? Was there any reaction to that?
They just watched him and there was no reaction. He did not defend himself and he went to the most awful death, the death of the cross, Pilot says three times. I find no fault in this man, and yet condemns them to the most awful death possible. There he hangs on that cross.
There he suffers those three hours of darkness, the wrath of God and all its fury falling upon him. Did that ever quench that stream of love? Never could.
Oh brethren, we think of His love. It does something on the inside of us.
That is inescapable. It's not a constraint. Nobody is standing over me saying you got to live straight in your life for Christ. No, it's something inside of me. The love of Christ constrains us. It's a inward constraint. And so this is one of the motivations.
We thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead.
I think he hung there, his mangled body dead on a cross.
So it goes on in verse 15, and that he died for all that they which live.
We still have our lives, brethren.
Should no longer live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again.
You know, I think of the American dream is live it up.
Nobody else is going to defend you. Defend yourself.
Brethren, how contrary to Christianity that is.
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May the Lord help us to recognize it. We live in this culture and I have to say I've been affected by it.
This principle of self pleasing.
Even Christ pleased not himself. Are we followers of this man?
The love of Christ constraineth us.
That word constrain is not a common word in the English language today. It might help to look at another verse, Luke chapter 12.
Verse.
50.
Excuse me?
Find the nerves here.
Yes, Luke chapter 12, verse 50.
Where the Lord Jesus says, but I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am I straightened till it be accomplished? That's the same Greek word as constrained in in 2nd Corinthians 5. The Lord Jesus was straightened, He was held.
He was gripped.
And as he was held.
To the.
Duty of the Cross.
So off the lot, the love of Christ.
RIP us for His glory.
I have a question in connection this and I want to make a comment.
We have an Acts chapter 20 Paul making this statement verse 26 Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.
Now, if I understand this right, as we've been talking here.
Bob made a mention that there is a judgment that people will be terrified of, but in my understanding that's incidental in here that Paul is saying he says we and includes himself being before the judgment seat of Christ in Acts 20. He says that he has acted in a way that.
His hands are not guilty of the blood of any He's warned, He continues to warn that. And then here we have this thought that knowing, and we all know this, that lost men and women are headed for a lost eternity and they're going to face the terror of the Lord. So if we love Christ.
And Christ, we know, loves us. And as Bob was saying, and you think upon that and somebody mentioned that.
I think yesterday about.
That that you focus on his love and our love grows for Him and then we have it. What how scripture tells us that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts and we sometimes talk about all we need to do is get out of the way and let it flow through.
The capacity to love the unlovable has been shed abroad in our hearts.
So we have, as we have expressed, Robert was talking about motivations. So if I understand this right and this is my question, then Paul is basically saying, I know what's going to happen to people. They're going to face terror, I'm going to warn them.
The love of Christ draws me after to serve him to do the warning.
And then the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, so we can love the unlovable, because many times.
It's difficult to speak to people, to warn them, but because he does that, we do that. And if Paul can say that in Acts 20 that his hands are clean, then between these two things, the motivation lost men are going to a lost eternity.
We're like a car headed towards a bridge out ahead. If we're standing along the road and we have any care at all, we would jump out and warn them. If you go down the road, you're going to go off the bridge. It's it's out. Then we knowing the terror of the Lord, knowing that I had it, is this terror.
We warned them and that the love of Christ motivates, that motivates us because we know they're headed for lost eternity and we've been saved from it. And then the love of Christ that draws us after this is like two sides of this thing. So then because we're going to stand and give account one day, then warning men because of the terror down the road, we're not worried about the terror for ourselves. There isn't any, but because lost men and women are going to face it.
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Then that's us, because we're going to stand and give an account, Paul says.
I'm confident I can give a good account. We should be able to be able to say that is that.
Am I getting this right?
The Lord has committed to us and.
In an actual fact.
God doesn't need to be reconciled to us. We need to be reconciled to God in the the thought that the Lord Jesus has to plead with the Father for the salvation of the lost is really a misconception. The heart of God is growing out in fullness of love and we should be a reflection of that. So the reconciliation is on our part, the thought that God gave.
Needs to be reconciled to us in some sort of a compromise is not is not what Scripture teaches is that is that right, brother?
In verse 15 that he's Speaking of propitiation. So he died for all that is that Christ in his death made all men savable. He made it possible for all to be saved. And so propitiation really has two parts and the first part is God's part. God has been satisfied with the death of Christ and.
Christ has dealt with sin.
According to the wisdom of God, and according to the purpose of God at the cross of Calvary, sin has been judged on a righteous basis. But then it says they that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves. And so the second part of propitiation has to do with substitution. Christ took our place upon the cross of Calvary. We don't preach substitution to the Sinner who is lost because.
It's really propitiation that we preach in the gospel of the grace of God. God has made all men saveable because of the work of Christ. But because He died for me, because He died for you, if you've accepted Him as your Savior, it compels us. His love compels us to live for His glory, so that it says that we that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again.
And so we have such appreciation for the fact that Christ took our place upon the cross. He bore the judgment for our sins in his own body on the tree. He paid the price and the motive was love. Our hearts just go forth to him and say he's worthy of our whole lives, not just a part of our lives, but he's worthy of it all. And so that's how Paul lived and has really what the motivation is that he presents before the Saints in this epistle.
Is to give it all to him. Well, that comes naturally from a saved soul. Recently I had the marvelous privilege of leading a lady in her 80s to the Lord. And as I sat with her, it's a Bible study in the little town called Washington. And as we sat together afterwards, she came to me with tears in her eyes and said, I know that the Lord Jesus is not in my heart. I know that I'm not saved.
I want to be saved and would you talk with me? So I shared the gospel with her Again. We went over scripture by Scripture. She bowed her head and called on the name of the Lord to save her. You know what her first motive was? She asked me to take the Bible that she had in Bible study and underline every verse I had shared with her and put a piece of paper in each page starting with the first verse because she had a niece.
That was like a daughter to her and she said this weekend I'm going to visit her. I want to lead her to Christ.
Is that the love of Christ constraining us? That was her first thought, was to go and lead someone she loved.
To the Lord Jesus Christ I think it is.
00:45:03
Club that transcends our highest thought demands our light, our soul, our wall, and we measure the love of somebody by the sacrifice they're willing to make on our behalf. So we think of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus.
Made for you and for me, and made for all who are willing to accept.
That mighty work that he accomplished at the cross of Calvary. So I think the love of Christ is that which warms up our hearts to Him.
But it also warms up our hearts.
To the world around us.
Because we find out that God was in Christ.
Reconciling the world to Himself, God would have all men to be saved and to come to acknowledge.
Of the truth.
But the source is love of Christ. But there's something else, the love of Christ.
The appreciation of it warms up our hearts to one another.
To our brother, our sister, We see them in Christ. We think of what the Lord Jesus said.
Over in John 13.
And verse 34.
John 13 verse 34 A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another.
How much?
As I have loved you that he also loved.
Loved one another.
Now that's a high standard. We think of the intensity of the love that the Lord Jesus manifested, the cross that we might become his eternal companions, the value that he places upon us.
And we are to love one another in this same way. I remember a brother used to often pray. He said, help us Lord, to see one another through the eye of Christ.
Our hearts will warm up toward one another.
It's nice in verse 17 and goes on to speak of the new creation. We're a part of a new creation race of men and so it's part of Pauls doctrine that he's not the spirit of God doesn't fix up, patch up and renovate the old man, so to speak. The old nature that we have man is thoroughly corrupt and he was found his nature and he's entirely corrupt.
And so there's a new creation. Therefore, if a man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And so by new birth we're brought into that new life. And so it's a work of God. We have here in verse 16 the fact that we don't know the children of Israel knew the Lord Jesus as a man, as the Messiah, the one who came and presented himself as their rightful King.
But that's not how we present himself to you and I in the day that we live in. Yeah, we have known, though we have known Christ after the flesh. Now, those that were at that time in the land of Israel knew him as a man, yet now henceforth know we him no more. So we know the Lord Jesus as that risen man. He's the head of a new creation race of men. And when you accept that the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you became a part of that new race of men.
So there are two races of men living upon the earth. There are those that are a part of the fallen race of man, and then there are those that have new life that are part of that new race of men.
The largest are connected with the beginning of the chapter more intimately than we might at first recognize. We started in the morning, this morning or yesterday too, on the beginning about the body and the condition of the body and so on. And the Lord paying the price for the body.
But what is the body a house for?
What's the body a house for?
For the soul and the spirit. And you don't pay a lot of money for something unless it has value.
00:50:01
What value did the whole soul and spirit have in the condition of verse 16 or verse 14? Dead.
Do you spend a lot of effort and money and pay a big price to buy something that's condemned?
To put a house in of something that's condemned you and I were worth in ourselves nothing in our state of death and sin. And so the love of Christ, put aside the constraint side of it for a few moments. What is the love of Christ? The love of Christ is that which died.
For all.
So that.
We who live verse 16 How do we live?
We live because Christ died, but there's an important, at least important for the enjoyment of the soul sense of it. We had this morning the Holy Spirit of God.
As a earnest.
In.
Us. Does the Spirit of God indwell something that's useless or valueless? No, it doesn't.
So when did the Spirit of God indwell us?
In Christ, as he was known as a man on earth, no.
Not that man.
The man that's in view here is the man that died himself.
He died for all. He went into the place of death, and when he rose from the dead, he rose in what I'm going to use the words, a totally different condition of life.
He here was a man who, like us, was mortal.
And in the body which he had, sinless as it was, he died, and that body was taken to a cemetery to be buried.
We know it was not.
On the third day, he rises from the dead.
And he is alive as the first fruits of the new creation resurrection.
And so he says to them, I am come that you might have life.
And that she might have it more abundantly.
That life has eternal value.
Not the life you're born with. Not the life I'm born with. It didn't have eternal value. It was a sinful life.
It wasn't in itself worth dying for.
Accepting that in resurrection Christ, the first born from the dead arises on the third day.
Immortal.
Not subject to death. Oh, that's a life that has value.
He rises into glory.
And then?
That life is imported to us, and that life is worth.
The change of having a body suited to that life that is to be enjoyed in eternity with the Lord.
And so it's the beginning and the first fruit of a new creation that life is. When is the Holy Spirit seal?
Not until that life is in heaven.
Not until that person who imparts that life to us, that we share in that life, he says no, not until I'm glorified will the Spirit come and seal. And so the Holy Spirit waits to seal until the condition that it is sealing is that which is associated with what's not temporal, what what's eternal. It's called eternal life.
And it's eternal in its character, and that character of life is sealable.
By the Holy Spirit as that which is permanent for all eternity. And what we await for is the last piece, if you will. And he says yes, and he's going to finish the work. He's going to redeem the body as well, so that the body is suited to the life.
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That we have that eternal life, and then we raise in glory. And when we look at the love that did the work that's just been described, that love enjoyed in the soul constrains us.
And it connects us with eternity. And so we labor in time in view of that which remains and is eternal. And our work, our service, ought to be in a constraining love in view of.
That which lasts for eternity.
Verse 16 has helped me to understand why the Lord Jesus in resurrection.
In John 20 says to Mary the first person he appeared to. He says in verse 17, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brethren and send to them. I ascend unto my father and your father, and to my God and your God.
Mary wanted to have the Lord Jesus back as she had known Him in the flesh before.
And the Lord Jesus in effect said, no, Mary, don't touch me. You're going to know me now in a way that is far superior. You're going to know me now in new creation. And so the Lord Jesus in resurrection is the head of new creation. Wonderful to think about it.
And verse 17 then comes on it says if any man be in Christ he is as an italics.
There is a new creation.
Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new, and all things are of God in new creation. All things are of God. Wonderful brethren, to realize that we are part of new creation even now.
But I believe that's why the Lord Jesus said to Mary touched me not we know that they touched him later on.
And it wasn't improper, but Mary wanted to have him back as she had known him down here. And he basically says, no, Mary, you're going to know me in a far superior way now.
So then he brings in the doctrine of reconciliation as our brother John has mentioned that God did not need to be reconciled to man, but man needed to be reconciled to God. And when it speaks of reconciliation, the thought is always in connection with our alienation from God and that we were enemies of God. The brother chapter Brown used to say that we were born into this world with our backs towards God.
We were enemies and our minds and by wicked works, and we needed to be reconciled. And so God has reconciled us. It means that He has by himself through the work of the Lord Jesus.
Made us so that we're no longer enemies and we delight to be in the presence of God. We delight to be enjoy the communion of our God and of our our Father. But it was an act of God. And so we've been reading about these some of these doctrines that are brought out in this chapter. And it's important for us to realize that perhaps in the book of Romans, the the epistle to the Romans, the Spirit of God goes through all of those things that God has done for the blessing of man.
He's forgiven us. He's he has reconciled us. He has done all of those things, but also there are things that God has done for his own pleasure and largely in the epistle to the Ephesians and the Colossians, he outlines those things that he has done for his own pleasure. I would suggest that what he has done here is in connection with bringing us into a new creation race, a new race of men, those that are.
No longer tainted. We're not characterized by sin. He sees us in the place of Christ acceptance. So to be in Christ. Therefore, if any man be in Christ or in Christ place of acceptance before God, that's where he sees us. He does not see us in a place of as those that are saved sinners who might say, but as those that are accepted. As he is in this world, so are we. As he is, so are we.
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In this world we're accepted of God, and so He's done these things for his own pleasure.
He's done them in love, He's done them in grace. We're the recipients of this great blessing, but he's done them for his own purposes, because of his great love, but for his own pleasure.
To amplify a little bit.
1St and then go back.
And it helps us to understand as we go through about what our brother's just saying God.
Can have pleasure in man.
In his creation because.
Be reconciled to God is thoroughly changed if you look up reconciliation in the dictionary.
You will find it thoroughly changed and it's the man that's returned to godliness. And so when we go back through there. Where did he start at here and with these passages that we're reading and if I said to you.
My salvation was not a reward. Would that stand here is up in the back of your neck?
Well, my salvation was not a reward. My salvation was a gift.
Yeah, it was a gift. I couldn't do anything to receive that salvation.
It's what comes in Ephesians 2 and 10 about the good works after the salvation, after we have had faith. Turn with me to Hebrews 11 and verse 6 together.
Hebrews 11 and verse 6.
But without faith.
It is impossible to please him.
If I was to preach the gospel here to somebody that's unsaved, I could take this verse and I could sell them. You've never pleased God one time until you've had faith and trusted in His gift above all other gifts, the gift of His Son and the Son's finished work at Calvary. If you can't have the faith to simply believe and trust in that, you've never pleased him, OK? And I can see that in this beautiful gospel, in this, but it's not in the gospel.
It's in an epistle to you and to me.
But without faith was where I first pleased him. Now let's finish reading it. For he that cometh to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Those things that we were talking about rewards before I just said our salvation wasn't a reward, it was a gift. It's the works after salvation and we have to look at who is the rewarder.
The one that's going to give the rewards and we've heard about the three things that are are are precious that are good and three that are bad that would hay and stumbles going to get burned up because it can't go up into heaven.
They were worthless things, weren't they? If we're going to build upon, we build upon the pure foundation that He laid, and then we build upon it. We need building material. We need the good building material. When you build something, you don't want a piece of wasted stuff that has no value. But look at here. If I diligently seek Him after my salvation.
The rewards will start to come turned in a second John, our times about up, second John and verse 4.
This Schofield labels this the pathway of truth and love that our brother asked a question about some people been answering on it. Second John verse 4I greatly. I rejoice greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment for the Father.
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This here is referred to sometimes as the law of Christ.
Verse 5 Now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee.
But that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another, and this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is a commandment that, as ye have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. Moses laid down a law, and Moses demanded love. That was external, wasn't it?
The law of Christ is not external. We've been hearing that it's in the renewed heart and it flows from the Holy Spirit spontaneously.
You can walk over to the brother and you can put your armor on them. You can say I finally saw some beautiful grace in you.
Maybe you rubbed me a wrong way a long time ago. Now the grace is flowing out of me spontaneously. The love, it's constraining me to love him.
Love covers a multitude of the other person's sins. Love covers a multitude of sins. It means the other person's my sin can cover.
Their sins. And so we see here that I'm constrained by this flowing forth of the Holy Spirit with the love that is within me now, because I got a renewed heart, took away that old Stony heart.
And we see this, this pathway of truth and love that we can walk in.
And it it's a beautiful thing to love one another, isn't it?
I don't want to take any more time. I'll let somebody else finish up.
Ambassador for closing note here and uh.
It's our responsibility, brethren, is it not to?
To represent our Lord Jesus here in this world.
We're not part of this scene and the whole world system that is under condemnation and awaiting judgment, but we are here for a purpose.
Not to please ourselves, which will last, we too often do, but to please the Lord and His interests, which are eternal, of eternal value, and to represent Christ.
In Ottawa, where I live, capital of the country, we have the ambassador to Brazil. Three years ago I met him and his wife.
But he's a stranger in in Canada. I know where he lives and so on.
But he has nothing to do with the politics of Canada. If he meddled at all in the political affairs of the country, President Lula would recall him. He is there for one purpose, to represent Brazil in Canada. And are we not here for that purpose, to represent our Lord, to hold forth the word of life?
To use the opportunities that we have to point souls to the Savior, the way of escape from eternal judgment.
The last verse of the chapter.
To reconcile us to God, Christ died for all.
Because we all have sinned, and it was necessary for our reconciliation that the sins be removed from the sight of God.
But there's something.
Very important beyond that.
What about what we are?
What we have done is one thing. What what we are.
We're sinners with a ruined nature.
And the Lord Jesus Christ in his death fulfilled the second part of what's necessary to properly reconcile us to God, so that there could be a ministry of reconciliation, so that there could be ambassadors for Christ. And that's the 21St verse. He hath made him to be sin for us. That is the Lord Jesus.
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Came before God at the cross, not only to pay for my sins, but to stand before God in all that I am in Adam and all the responsibility. And what am I in Adam but sin?
My whole nature is corrupted in Adam, and he stands before me.
Who he who knew no sin himself takes my place, and yours too, of course. Why, That we might be made righteous in him before God. And so he deals with that nature and dies to it.
And what's necessary for us? Well, we need a new creation.
And so we have his resurrection life.
Which has a perfect nature, we share in it. And in that when we have our new body, then the whole matter of sin is eternally taken care of. And in that we now are fully, perfectly reconciled to God, because not only what we've done has been taken care of, but what we are has been addressed and perfectly taken care of as well, so that we share the life of Christ.
And have perfect communion and fellowship with God and all the animosity that was in US. As was said, we were born with our back to God. That's before we ever did a sin. That inborn animosity is totally removed when that nature is totally taken care of. And put it before God in death, so that we have a new life and a new nature. And now we're reconciled to God and the consequences.
In verse 20.
We are made, or verse 21, we're made the righteousness of God in him, and so we stand before God perfectly righteous forever, and that's permanent.
That's eternal.
Sometimes people say I don't know what my ministry is.
Everyone here.
In verse 18.
Has been given the Ministry of Reconciliation.
Everyone.
The appendix #70 in the appendix.
Anything of the Realms of the Blast.
I dream of.
Oh boy.
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The.
Also saying #67 #67.
First John, chapter 4.
Verse 17.
Here in.
Is love.
Herein is love.
Made perfect.
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That we may have boldness in the day of Judgment because.
As he is.
So are we.
In this world.