Conference: 1981

Table of Contents

1. Events on Earth Around Rapture Part 1
2. Lessons from Gideon
3. 2 Corinthians 5:1
4. Living for Things Unseen and Eternal
5. Christ Our Object

Events on Earth Around Rapture Part 1

Lessons from Gideon

2 Corinthians 5:1

Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to turn tonight to 2nd Corinthians of the 5th chapter.
2nd Corinthians, chapter 5.
For we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.
If thou be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked, for we that are in this Tabernacle do groan, being burdened not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now He that hath wrought us for the self, same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
Therefore, we are always confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are.
Absent from the Lord.
Walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labor that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. 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 hath 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 of glory on our behalf, that ye may have somewhat to answer them, which glory in appearance 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. Behold, all things are become new, and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath 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 said, be reconciled to God.
For he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Just to give the context I would like to read the I'd like to read the last verse of the 4th chapter.
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Here we see that we can be occupied with things that pass away, or we can be living for those things that are unseen and eternal. You know, the things about us are all going to pass away. It tells us that the heavens and the earth now are reserved under fire and perdition of ungodly men, and those who are living for this present time are living for things that are going to pass away.
But God has given us reason why we should live for things that are not going to pass away.
And oh, how wonderful it is, dear friends, that as those of us who know the Lord is our Savior, we have something far beyond this life, something that is unseen, something that is eternal. We have One who can fill and satisfy the heart. And in occupation with Him we can pass through this world as ambassadors. You know those men who were over in Korea, in Iran.
Why? They were ambassadors from the United States where they interested in trying.
To improve that country. Oh, you say they were just longing to get back to their own country. Their hopes, all their ambitions, their desires and everything were centered in another place. How happy they were when they're released. How happy they'll be when they get back to their own land. Well, dear friends, isn't that just like ourselves as Christians? We're here in this world, but our citizenship is in heaven. From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus, and we're just longing for the time.
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And we're going to be called home too, when we're going to be called to be with the one whom we love, and we're going to spend eternity in his glorious presence. But while they were there, they had a responsibility. They had a job to do. And so while we're here in this world, we have a responsibility too, a privilege. And that's why I'd like to speak to this chapter because I think it brings before us 3 reasons that are mentioned in this chapter as to why we should live for.
For what is unseen and eternal? The first one is because every day we're reminded by these bodies with their aches and pains and trials, that we're not here to stay in this Tabernacle. We groan. And the next reason is because our lives are going to someday pass into review, and therefore the way we have conducted ourselves here is going to be reviewed another day. And that makes it.
Very serious for us and that we should remember to redeem the time because the days are evil. And then the best reason of all is given last and that is the love of Christ constraineth us. And so, you know, as we think of these three things here tonight, perhaps it will deepen in our hearts the desire to live for the Lord Jesus, for those unseen and eternal things for that time when we're going to see our precious Savior face.
Faith. And so, as I say, as we look at these things, they can speak to our hearts.
There's one thing that seems to stand out very specially in the first part of this chapter, and that is the words we know. And in the sixth verse we are always confident. And in the eighth verse we are confident. That is, Christianity is characterized by certainty. The world is characterized by uncertainty. People say, well, you never know what's going to happen tomorrow.
Everything is so uncertain in this world, and it is, dear friends, it's getting more uncertain.
And it seems to me because as the end draws near, men feel more and more their helplessness to handle in new situations that continually arise. But isn't it a blessed thing to be a Christian? And I say again, what characterizes Christianity is we know. We are confident, and we don't know because we rely upon the opinions of men, because the opinions of men are constantly changing, but we know because we rely.
Upon the infallible, unchanging word of God, it says heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. All the arguments of man will never give you peace about your soul's need or about your eternal destiny, but simple trust in what God has said will give you peace. As one very, very learned lady said when she came to the end of her life, she.
Said takes the whole Bible to live with, but it just takes one verse to die with. And she said the verse that speaks peace to my soul is this. The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanseth us from all sin. I say the philosophies of man, the creeds of a church, the fact that you've been baptized or gone through certain ordinances.
Will never give you peace when the time comes to leave this world, but if you can say.
From your heart I'm resting upon the precious blood of Christ. Then, friend, you have a sure foundation. Then you have something worthwhile to rest upon. And the word of God that says.
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life. Well here we find the apostle speaks about death in such a very, very simple way. Doesn't he notice what he says the our earthly House of this Tabernacle and just as a man living in a tent and he said, well, I'm going to leave this tent and live in a house while everyone will understand that.
But Paul spoke of living in his body as being in a tent.
He said, I'm living now in the earthly House of this Tabernacle, but it's going to be dissolved. It's going to be dissolved. It's not going to remain. These bodies in which we live are called in the Bible tabernacles of clay. And we know very well as we grow older now that we have to face the fact that we're not here to stay. But Paul could look forward with certainty, just like a man who's living in a tent and there's a beautiful mansion being built.
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Across the street he doesn't mind if the tent does spring a few leaks. He probably says to himself, well, it's not going to be long till we'll be over in that nice house across there, and it's going to be finished shortly. That's where we're going to live. And dear friends, isn't it a wonderful thing to be able to say? We know that we have a building of God and house not made with hands.
Eternal in the heavens There are some houses in this world that have stood for.
For even centuries, but isn't this grand? A building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. Oh, I hope that's the portion of everyone here tonight. A little hymn says we have a home above from all defilement free, a mansion which eternal love prepared our recipe. Oh, what a grand thing it is to have that assurance. And all through what Christ has done.
Well then, he said, in this we grow.
Earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. Oh, is that true? Our Christians promise that now that they're saved, they're not going to have any more aches and pains, never going to have anything to groan about. Oh, our precious Savior, who was holy, harmless, and undefiled, He felt the sorrows of this world. It says he groaned in spirit and was troubled as he stood by.
Grave of Lazarus and saw the sorrow that had come into that home through death. And dear friends, we do feel the sorrows of life. God allows us to feel them. He intends us to feel them. It tells us it's better to go into the House of mourning than into the House of feasting. For that is the end of all man, and the living will lay it to heart. Sometimes when you go to a funeral, you'd think that the service was for the person that was dead. They're talking all about what the person.
His dad did, But God intends that the House of mourning would be a place where the living would lay it to heart, where those who were still living would realize the solemnity of leaving this world. And of the only two ways that a person can die, either in his sins or in the Lord, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. Well, in this Tabernacle we groan.
Someone has said God permits us to groan but not to grumble. It's not right for Christians to grumble. We're told that all things work together for good to them, that love God. We should learn to be able to take our circumstances from him. Not that we don't feel them, but when the Lord Jesus groaned, he looked up to his Father and said, I thank thee, that thou hearest me always. That precious Saviour ever walked in communion.
God His Father, and so you and I have the privilege as believers to walk here on earth in fellowship with our precious Savior. But we do feel these groans, and it says we desire to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven.
Now there's another little warning in this third verse. If so, be.
That being clothed, we shall not be found naked. That is, there's not only a resurrection of the just, there's a resurrection of the unjust.
There's a resurrection of sinners and they're going to be called upon. They're not going to be called upon where they glorified body like believers. They're going to come forth though, and at that great white throne, they're going to stand before God and they're going to meet the just penalty of their sins and be sent away from the presence of God. And I beg you, if there's anyone here tonight that's not saved, that you'll stop and think of what it will be.
To stand before the Lord of glory in your sins.
Without our role of righteousness. So he gives a little warning here. And I say this because sometimes at a funeral, people like to take the verses of comfort. And if they're not saved, it doesn't apply to them at all. Comfort is given to the one who knows Christ, but warnings to the ones who don't. And so here's a warning if there's anyone here that doesn't have the role of righteousness.
May God grant that you will come like the prodigal and the father. Come back and repent.
Come back acknowledging your guilt, and he'll put on the best role, the Father said. Bring forth the best rod and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. All the welcome that awaits the Sinner who returns confessing his sins and looking only to Christ.
At any sales, For we that are in this Tabernacle do groan, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
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Now this is a lovely verse for believers, because when it says here not that we would be unclothed but clothed upon, it simply means that the proper hope of the Christian is not death, but the Lord's coming. That is, when the Lord comes, we will be clothed upon if the Lord descended from heaven with a shout right now.
There is a good many in this room that wouldn't pass through death at all, but they would be clothed upon.
They would never know what the unclothed state is, that is, and they would never have to pass through death, because it says in second at First Thessalonians 4. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so isn't it lovely? We're just.
To talking to some older people, and as old age comes on, you often wonder what the future holds. Isn't it lovely to be able to say, not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon values? They don't need to look for death, but look for the Lord's coming, the blessed hope of the believer. And so this is the proper hope that is set before us, when mortality will be swallowed up of life. That will be when the Lord descends from heaven.
With a shout for his own.
And he's given us an assurance about this. Now he that hath wrought us for the self, same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident. Has God-given some pledge to us that He intends to complete what he has begun? Yes, he has. He has given the Holy Spirit of God.
To indwell our bodies, and it tells us that he is the earnest of our inheritance.
Until the redemption of the purchased possession of sometimes used it this way, because I think we all know what earnest money is, money that you put down when you intend to buy a piece of property. Let's suppose a man is going to buy a piece of property and it's valued, we'll say at $50,000. And he says to the agent, well, I'll put down $100,000 as earnest money.
Well, the agents say that's not necessary. It's only worth $50,000.
Well, he says. I want to be absolutely sure to get it.
So the next day somebody comes along and says, do you think that man will back out of the deal? Well, he said never. He paid twice the price, just as earnest money. He's not going to back out of that deal for sure. Well, isn't it a wonderful thing that when God say the Sinner like me, what assurance did he give me that he's going to complete what he has begun?
He sent the Holy Spirit of God to indwell a poor, worthless thing like me, to give me the assurance that He intends to complete what he has begun. And when I say that, I mean that now I have the salvation of my soul, but when the Lord comes, I'm going to have my full salvation, the salvation of my body. And so here He's telling us what the believer has, and he says therefore.
We're always confident and even though we're.
Here in our bodies, at home, in the body, we're confident about death because we know what it is, it says in the seventh verse. We walk by faith, not by sight.
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. And we're confident and we're willing because we know that the Lord is going to complete what He has begun. And So what is death for the believer? How isn't this blessed? Well, it's just, it's just the fact that when the body is laid away in the ground, the person is not asleep in the ground. His soul is not.
Sleep, he's absent from the body and present with the Lord. The Lord said to the thief on the cross, this day shalt thou be with me in paradise. And so we find in the in the Epistle to the Philippians, Paul said to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better. So what a portion is the believer.
But I I say again as we go on with this subject.
I believe, brethren, that every time we have an ache and a pain, God is saying to us, I am just reminding us, I'm just reminding you that you're not here to stay. You don't really belong to this world. Because in heaven it says God himself shall wipe away all tears from off of all faces, and there shall be no more sickness or sorrow or crying or pain. For the former things are passed away. And so.
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Wouldn't it be nice, brethren, if every time we had an ache and a pain, we said the Lord's telling me something? The Lord's telling me that I'm only here for a little while and he wants me to use the rest of my time for him. And he's speaking gently every time we have these little things in our lives. He's saying to us, You don't belong here. How are we spending our time? Are we spending our time in view of eternity? How are we looking at the unseen and eternal things? That's the.
Only thing that's going to abide in our lives. The things that are seen are temporal. The things that are not seen are eternal. Well, what an assurance we have then. But what a word to us that we should realize that we don't belong here.
And now we come to the second thing, and that is the thought of the judgment seat of Christ.
It says in this ninth verse wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. I want you to just to notice this order. The eighth verse says we are confident, and the first 3 words of the ninth verse wherefore we labor.
Some people are laboring to get confidence.
That is, they're working, hoping that somehow they're going to do enough and to gain some measure of confidence that will be all right because they've done enough.
God puts it completely the other way. He says we're confident because we walk by faith. We rest upon what God has said. We rest upon the finished work of Christ. We know we're saved and therefore we labor. And what do we labor for? Well, we want our lives to be acceptable to the Lord. We want him to be pleased with the way we live our lives. The Christian doesn't live a certain way in order to get saved or even to keep.
Saved he is to live to please the Lord because he loves him and because he wants his life to be acceptable to him. You know when you're going to get a gift for someone that you love usually think when you're buying it. I wonder if my friend is going to like this gift and you look around and you're using quite a bit of consideration as to whether the person would really like this thing that you're getting are are we living our.
Times that way, from the time we get up in the morning till we go to bed at night, Are we saying I want to Live Today in such a way that it'll be acceptable to my savior because someday he's going to look at my life? And just like that friend opens that package and says, oh, that's just what I wanted. It's just lovely. Oh, how pleased you are. You say it was worth all the trouble to get something my friend really liked.
And are we living our lives that way? Because they are going to be reviewed.
In a coming day now, just like that parcel that's open and and the gift is examined, so Paul said our lives are going to be examined in that day too by the one who loved us and gave himself for us.
And so here we find that Paul desired, whether present or absent, that is, while he was here in this world, he wanted to please his Lord. When he got saved, he said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And then afterwards he thinks, well, I want to think every day, and that pleasing to him, for he says, we must all appear.
Before the judgment seat of Christ.
Now you know the judgment seat of Christ is brought before us in different two different ways in the Scripture and what it has to do with an unbeliever. It's an intensely serious thing. It takes the character of the great white throne.
God will have to deal with those who have rejected Christ and their lives will pass into review, and every sin will appear in all its enormity because not one has been blotted out. Not one has been blotted out. I say from God's record, and that's why he says in this 11TH verse, Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade man he thought of what it would be to have life pass into review and not.
Have a Savior, not have the robe of righteousness, but for himself. He wasn't afraid of the judgment seat of Christ, but he did desire that his life would be pleasing to the Lord.
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Perhaps in order to make it simple, I might say that we use the word judge in English in two different senses. We use it in the way of a judge in a courtroom. And so here's a courtroom and a judge is brought up. He's there, and the criminal is brought up, and the criminal is found guilty and the judge pronounces a sentence.
But only you might go to, we'll say, a dog show or something, and the judge is not there to punish the dogs at all. The judge is there to look over these animals and he's there to give rewards, not for punishment at all. And now, you know, if you're a Sinner, you're going to meet God as a judge in the courtroom. But if you're a Christian, you're going to meet him as one who judges your life. Not that there's going to be anything charged to you, because the blood of Jesus Christ has.
From all sin. And when you as a Christian appear at the judgment seat of Christ, you're going to be there in the robe of righteousness. Let me illustrate it again. Here's the judge in the courtroom and he has to pronounce several sentences during the day. And then he comes home and his children have done some, some little work at home. And his wife says, well, look at the work the children have done and tell me which you think is the best.
Well, he's judging now about those.
Children's work. But he's not there to punish his children. He's there to look over their work and to give reward. And I want to ask you, my friend, tonight, are you going to meet the Lord as a judge who will have to punish you and send you away from His presence forever? Or are you going to meet him as one who reviews your life and would seek to pick out of your life of that which will be pleasing to him?
Well, as Paul thought of that, he said I want to live.
My life in a way that's pleasing to my Lord and Savior. Of course, we might say that in regard to the judgment seat of Christ, it speaks here of the things done in the body. And I believe that at the judgment seat of Christ there's going to be a review of the whole life. Not that anything will be charged, because those of us who are Christians know that.
We have failed even since we have been saved and every sin whether it was before or sin of the believer has been put away in the precious blood of Christ. But we will never really know how great the debt was that the Lord Jesus paid until its all comes out then. And just like if someone paid some debts for you and then you take the adding machine and add them up and you find that they.
Far more than you realize at the first. Aren't you going to thank them more heartily when you know how great the debts were? Well, I don't believe that in this world we have a proper appreciation of the grace of God. I believe that if we, who are Christians, knew how much the Lord had done for us and how great the death was that He paid for us, we'd be praising Him far more than we are.
One hymn writer put This is my story. This is my.
Son praising my Savior all day long. And I don't believe that we'll fully realize how great the dead is until it was, I should say, until we stand there and the Lord shows us how great it was. You know, if you have some bills in the not mark paid, will they bother you? But you can have a stack that high and as long as Walmart paid, they don't bother you at all, do they? And you know, that's what the Lord has done. He's paid the debt.
Paid it in full.
There's another Perhaps we could look at a couple of scriptures about this. First Corinthians chapter 3, First Corinthians chapter 3, and verse 8.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are laborers together with God. Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation. Another buildeth thereon, but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon for other.
Can no man lay it? And that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest. For the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide, he shall which he hath built, thereupon he shall receive a reward.
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Any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire.
You'll notice in this passage that it has to do with our work for the Lord.
And how important it is that the work that we do is according to God's will, because that alone will abide. Now a person might do a great deal of work and it's compared here to wood, hay and stubble. I've known, I knew some workmen and he, they did a great deal of work, but they didn't do it according to the City of Ottawa Code. And it all had to be taken out because it was not acceptable. I don't say they weren't good workmen, but I.
They would have been much wiser to have found out what the code was before they had to pull out all their work and start over again. And dear friends, it's important for us if we're going to work for the Lord, that we do it according to His Word. And then it says, if any man's work abide, he shall receive a reward. It says, where laborers together with God. Why, if you get a man to do a job in your house?
You're concerned that he's a good Workman, but you're also concerned he does the job the way you want him to.
To do it, and God is concerned about that too, and He is going to reward what has been done for himself in obedience to His Word. And so it tells us here.
If any man's work be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved. You can see it's no question of whether the man is saved. He's saved all right, but his work is destroyed. It's burned up because it was not acceptable. And then in the next chapter it says.
In the fifth verse, therefore, judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God.
Here we find that it's not only what we do about, it's the motive of our of our service. You know, we can do a great deal for the eye of others. There's a lot of pride in our hearts and we can do things so that other people will give us credit. And God is going to make manifest the counsels of the heart. And So what is done to please him, what is done out of love for him will be rewarded in that day. And I think this is so beautiful.
Itself. And then shall every man have praise of God, Because you know, you might undertake to do something for the Lord. And then you might say, well, I'm afraid I made a mess of it. I'm afraid I didn't do it very well. Well, you know, sometimes our children, they undertake to do something for us. They don't do it very well, but we know they do it out of love. And we give them praise, we give them credit, we say.
Oh, we're we're really appreciate their little efforts. Perhaps we could have done it better ourselves.
But we appreciate the effort, don't we? Have a gracious Savior. Why, when He reviews your life and mine, He is going to pick out everything that's done for him, and He's even going to take notice of the motives of the heart. And even if perhaps we sort of messed things up sometimes, if we did it out of love for him, he's going to, it says, then shall every man have praise of God? There'll be something in every believer's life that he can pick out.
Reward. There's one other passage. I won't just turn to it for time's sake, but it's in Romans 14 and it says there it says, Why dost thou judge thy brother, and why dost thou setteth not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. That means we should be very careful about our attitude to our brethren in Christ.
It doesn't mean that the assembly doesn't have to judge what is evil, but it's talking about forming judgments about other people's lives. We should leave that. And we may be surprised that there's far more in someone else's life than we ever realized. Because the Lord is the one who looks at the heart. And so we're told not to judge or set it. Not another. Leave him with the Lord. Leave her with the Lord. Our part is, every one of us shall give.
Of himself to God. Remember this, brethren, at the judgment seat of Christ. We're not going to have to give account for what somebody else did, but for ourselves. May we live our lives then in view of the judgment seat of Christ.
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And now he goes on to the next one, here in the 14th verse.
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.
You notice he says in the end of the 12TH verse.
We may have somewhat to answer them which glory and appearance and not in heart.
And it tells us in Proverbs, My son, give me thine heart.
And so this brings us to the third thing. Since our lives are going to pass into review, we certainly want to have the Lord's approval in that day and now. What is the motive that is really to control our lives?
Are we to do things merely out of a sense of duty? I never wanted our children to do what they did just because it was a kind of a duty and that this was something that they had to do. And they kind of did it because they had to, but certainly not because they wanted to. But you know, the things that pleased me most about my children were the little things that they did out of love.
Just did them because they wanted to show us as parents that they loved us.
For some of those little things, some parents will keep and keep for years. It's some little thing. It may only be a little piece of paper with a few words on it, but it was something that was given in love, and now that's what the Lord values. It says that we shouldn't glory in appearance, but in heart. And hasn't God-given us every reason that our hearts should be moved? Is there any love like His?
He's loved us through everything that we've done. He loved us as another said when?
He couldn't like us, nothing in us to like at all, but he loved us and the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And even since we've been saved, how often we've grieved and dishonored him. And yet it says having loved his own, which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. It's an unchanging love, a love that's just the same. No matter what we do, His love ever remains the same. Doesn't that make us want to please?
Wonderful Savior. And so I've often said the verse does not say the love of Christ should constrain us, but the love of Christ constraineth us. It's stated as an absolute fact. And perhaps someone might say, well, I don't know why it is the love of Christ doesn't seem to constrain me.
Well, let's illustrate it like this. Supposing I had a magnet in my hand here, and I have some nails on the table and I hold the magnet up here.
The nails don't move at all. And yet I say this magnet will move nails. But you say, well, why isn't it moving those nails? Well, you know why? The magnet has to be close to the nails. There's no question that there's a sufficient pull in that magnet to move those nails. But the magnet needs to be close to the nails. And you know, sometimes we're like Peter. Peter followed the Lord.
Afar off and the result was that he denied.
Lord and we as Christians, if we allow ourselves to get away from the Lord and we don't stay close to him, we won't feel the constraint of his love, not because it isn't there, not because he doesn't love us through it all, but James says draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you and that's exactly what happens when you bring down that magnet. Two things as the magnet gets close, the nails come up. They come up to meet the magnet and the.
Established, that magnet moves nails, and the love of Christ constraineth us. And it says 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. I was once a dead Sinner. There was no response in my heart to him, but the Lord did something in.
My heart, he put something there. He put a new life there. Supposing I had a pile of brass nails there, I could bring that magnet down and nothing would happen because the magnet doesn't move brass nails. But if I could replace those nails with those brass nails with steel nails, why, Immediately they start to move. And you know, that's what God does.
Some people say, well, I don't think I could enjoy reading the Bible and I don't think I can enjoy.
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Praying and coming to meetings, that's that's not just down my line. Well, it's just like the the brass, the brass nails. Nothing happens when you bring that magnet down. But what does God do? He makes a change. He imparts a new life. We pass from death unto life. We're no longer dead sinners. God has given us eternal life and that life responds to the claims of Christ and when a person is saved.
We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. Something has happened inside. Who did it? God did it. He brought a new life, put that new life inside, and now it says we were once dead, but now we live and we're just like those nails. We don't live now to ourselves. Where do those nails go? Well, there's only one answer. They go wherever the magnet takes them. That's where they go. They don't choose a course of.
On as long as that magnet is close, while those nails will move anywhere around the table where the magnet takes them. And that's what happened when Saul of Tarsus met the Lord on the road to Damascus. The first thing he said was, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? He just said, as if I I'm a nail now and you're the magnet Lord. And he just asked the Lord to take over. And that's what happened in his life. He was told to go into Damascus and he would show him what to do.
And he went into Damascus, He yielded his life. He presented his body, a living sacrifice to the Lord and a new creature in Christ Jesus. He had new desires. It says people marveled. They said he preached the face which once he destroyed. And they glorified God in me. Oh, in this beautiful dear friends, the love of Christ constraineth us. And you say, well what's wrong in this? Well, this verse answers it so simply. Are we doing it for self?
Are we doing it for the Lord? That's the whole point. Are we doing it for self? Are we doing it for the Lord? That we should not live unto ourselves, but unto Him which died for them and rose again? How much did my Savior pay for me? What was the price? Oh, a price that I could never pay, but He paid it in full. He took my place. He bore my sins. He's given to me eternal life. Oh, what a love is His, and so the love of Christ.
Us now and so I say again, aren't these three wonderful reminders for us all First of all, that every time we have a groan, God is saying, well, you're not in this world to stay. You might as well live your life in view of eternity. And then we think of our lives passing into review and everything coming out at the judgment seat of Christ and we want to have the Lord's approval in that day and then what is the.
Reigning power. In other words, what is it that makes us want to do it? What makes me want to please my Savior? Is it because you belong to a certain group who lays down certain rules? No, there's a new thing in the life altogether, and that is you want to please the Savior, You want to live to please the One who loved us and gave Himself for us. And so he says in the 16th verse, Wherefore henceforth know we know man after the flesh.
Yeah, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we have no more. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. All things are passed away, Behold, all things are become new.
That end of the 16th verse might be a little hard to understand. Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. But perhaps I could explain it like this, that when the Lord Jesus was here, he said.
But I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. He came particularly to that one favored nation, because he says of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came. He came as a man born into this world, and He came to His own, to that favored nation, But they rejected Him. Now He accomplished a work on Calvary's cross, and He's gone up on high. Is the blessing limited to Israel? Do I have to ask a man if he's a Jew? Oh no.
Disciples were told to go into the not into the way of the Gentiles, into any cities of the Samaritans. Enter ye not, but go to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. We have to do that now. Now we know Christ in resurrection, and in resurrection the message goes out to whosoever will. He said, He shall be witnesses unto me, both in Judea and in Jerusalem and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth, and so from every.
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Nation, there are those who are being brought into the family of God, made new creatures in Christ Jesus. And so Paul said, isn't the question of knowing people after the flesh? I don't suppose I'd know anybody in this room if the Lord hadn't saved you and saved me. And because he did, we were brought to know each other because we all have different callings in life, but the Lord has brought us together.
Because he has brought us into his family.
He's made us new creatures in Christ Jesus and So what a place we have been brought into.
All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. That's why the Christian is not understood, because you can't understand the life of the Christian until you possess it. Once you possess it, then you immediately begin to understand. You see that the one who is born to the family of God partakes of the life and nature of the family, enjoys different things.
So if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Well then in the end of the chapter he tells us.
What our position is really in this world? And it seems to me he makes a comparison in a simple way that I think we can all understand.
Perhaps we can understand it a little more just in this very time because of those hostages who were held over in Iran. They were over there in connection with the American, in connection with the American ambassador to Japan. They were over there to represent their country. It wasn't very easy for them and they certainly have had a very, very.
Difficult time just because they were there to represent their country. Well, you and I are in this world. And what is our purpose here? Well, brethren, this is a tremendous privilege and responsibility. I think those men feel that they had a great privilege to represent their country even amid hardships. And you and I have the privilege of representing heaven on this earth. God has saved us. We belong to heaven and we have a building of God. And how it's not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
Do we realize what a privilege and what a responsibility we have here in this world? Oh, just think of what it is, he says in the chapter before that the life of Jesus might be seen in our bodies. Our others, as they look at us, say those people are different, but they seem like the Lord Jesus. I believe. It's quite interesting to me that in the early church it doesn't tell us that the disciples called themselves Christians.
It says they were called.
Christians, they were called Christians. And I think it just simply means that as the population in Antioch looked at these young believers, they said, well, these people are like Christ. And so they started to call them Christians. They started to call them Christians. And so as the world looks at us, they ought to see in us that we are heavens representatives and the Lord Jesus has gone away.
He's gone back to glory. And he said, when he went away, he said to his own, as my Father hath sent me, Even so send by you. What a place, what a responsibility. And so we go to this world, and it says, We pray you in Christ said, be ye reconciled to God. Men have wrong thoughts about God.
They think God is against them, but the wonderful message of the gospel is God is not against.
Wants to bless the Sinner. God wants to pardon the Sinner. God wants to impart to him the best role. It says He hath made Christ to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. What astounding the believer is brought into the righteousness of God in Christ. Well, brethren, may we each remember them, our place and privilege here. Certainly our time is short. We must.
Feel that the Lord's coming is drawing near. Soon faith is going to be changed to sight. But as we think of this and we think of our privilege here to be representatives for heaven, representatives for such a wonderful Savior here in this world. Or may these three thoughts lay hold of our hearts and make us realize that although the time is short, we do have the rest of our time. It may not be very long, but may the Lord grant that.
All the things that come along in life, whether it's the trials or as we think of our lives passing into review, or as we meditate upon His love, all these things will, as it were, put a new desire into our hearts that will say, I just want to live for the Savior who did so much for me. Well, may the Lord grant that His love will constrain us not to live unto ourselves, but unto Him from henceforth.
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Living for Things Unseen and Eternal

Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Like to turn tonight to 2nd Corinthians and the 5th chapter.
2nd Corinthians chapter 5 For we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven, if so be, that being clothed, we shall not be found naked.
For we that are in this Tabernacle do groan, being burdened not for.
That we would be unclothed, but clothed upon. That mortality might be swallowed up of life.
Now he that hath wrought us for the self, same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
Wherefore we labor that, whether present or absent, we may.
Be accepted of Him, 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 hath 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 He may have somewhat to answer them, which glory in appearance 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, Behold, all things are become new, and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ.
And hath given to us the ministry of Reconciliation.
To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath 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's dead be ye reconciled to God, for He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin that we might be.
Made the righteousness of God in him.
Well, I was just thinking of this chapter and dear friends, tonight as bringing before us the three reasons why we should live for the unseen and eternal things. You notice the way the last chapter ends, the 18th verse of the 4th chapter, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
And then this chapter begins, for we know. So you can see very clearly there's a connection between the last verse of the 4th chapter and this 5th chapter. And I believe it brings before us in this chapter 3 distinct reasons why we shouldn't be living for the things that pass away, but rather for the unseen and eternal things. And the first one is because.
The groans of creation constantly remind us that we're not here to stay.
Everything that we suffer in this world, a headache, a toothache, sickness, all these things speak to us and constantly are reminding us how that we're not in this world to stay and so why should we live for this world when we're only going to have such a short time here? So the first one brought before us is this fact of the bodies being part of the groaning creation.
And then the second reason that is brought before us, I believe.
Is that our lives are going to pass and to review at the judgment seat of Christ. And this is a very serious thought too, that it says every one of us shall give account of himself to God. And this is a serious thing for us to think about so that each day is counting either for to be burned up at the judgment seat of Christ or to abide for his glory. And so this is another thing that.
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To make us think about how we're spending our time, a little poem put it like this.
Lost.
One hour set with 60 diamond minutes. No reward is offered for what is gone forever, and every hour with its 60 diamond minutes that is lost can never be regained. We have the rest of our time we have henceforth, but we don't have the past to reclaim.
We can't change the past, but how wonderful we do have the rest of our time. And Peter says that we should not live the rest of our time to the flesh, but to the glory of God. Well, still our lives are going to pass into review. And then the third reason that is brought before us is that there is something that motivates us and it isn't just a sense of duty that makes us desire to please the Lord or it should not be. What is it?
The love of Christ constraineth us. That is, we're not living our lives in view of eternity because it's a sort of a duty that we feel we ought to perform. But we think of how much the Lord has loved us, how much He has done for us, think of His wondrous love and grace in going to Calvary for us. And I don't believe it to be possible to think about that even for a short time.
Without feeling, as it says in First Corinthians chapter 6.
It says he are not your own. He are bought with a price. I am his and he is mine forever and forever. And then in the end of the chapter, we really have what our position really is in this world. The apostles spoke particularly of his position. An ambassador for Christ. But every one of us brethren are responsible in this world to be representatives for Christ.
Over in Iran, I suppose there was one man.
That could be called the US Ambassador, but there were a great many others that were there, and they all were associated in seeking to represent the United States in that land. It wasn't an easy job, and many of them, as we know, have had to suffer for it. Well, you and I are in this world to represent Christ. And so when we think of these reasons why and what our position really is in this world, it ought to indeed stir our hearts.
That was what I had before me in taking up this chapter here tonight, because I believe it's brought before us in a very practical way, and I trust in a way that will stir your heart and mine as to this privilege and responsibility too.
Well, as we see from the first verse, it's all founded uncertainties. You know, people often spend their time and they put a lot of energy into things hoping that perhaps as a result of all their energy, they're going to get something in this world. And it's amazing how much energy they'll put into their business. Or perhaps a boy who's a sport in putting his energy into that, hoping that he's going to succeed in that particular field.
And how often after all his efforts, he is disappointed or she is disappointed. Put a lot of energy into it, but it didn't work out. But you and I are assured here that when we live for those unseen and eternal things, there is no uncertainty about it, as Paul said. So fight I not uncertainly, not as one that beateth the air. We're not beating the air. We have a certainty.
About our Christian life, we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. Isn't it wonderful that Christianity stands upon divine certainties? It stands upon the precious Word of God, and it's founded upon a work that we know God has accepted, the work of His beloved Son, that finished work that He is.
Accomplished. And so every believer in this room can say, with all the assurance that we have here, we know, we know. And he talks about the body in which he lived as the earthly House of this Tabernacle. In other words, a Tabernacle means tent. And he just considered himself while living here as living in a tent. We all know that a tent is not a a permanent place to live.
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He might go on vacation.
And live in a tent and you put up with the inconveniences, but you always have the feeling that you're going to come home shortly to your home where things are going to be more stable and more shelter, more protection. But you go and live for a while in the tent. Well, Paul considered that as he lived in his body, he was like living in a tent, but he didn't have uncertainty about the end of the journey. He.
Knew that he had a home in the Father's house, a building of God, and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. Oh, it's very blessed for us to know this. The world is so full of uncertainty. People rise up and make all kinds of promises and are unable to fulfill their promises. Nations and individuals have all kinds of hopes that are often crashed. But oh, how different it is what you and I.
Have in Christ is sure, and it's certain because it's founded upon God's unchanging Word and upon what Christ has done.
But it does tell us here in the second verse in this, we groan. We do groan and that is there isn't a single person that doesn't feel suffering and pain. Now God could have made us so he didn't. He could have made us so he didn't feel suffering and pain. But had you ever stopped to think that if it was impossible for you to suffer, you would never know what it meant when it said Christ also?
Suffered for sin. You wouldn't know what Calvary meant if you never had any kind of suffering. It's in these things here that we have the tiniest glimpse of what our Savior passed through when He went to Calvary and suffered for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. And so in this Tabernacle we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon.
With our house, which is from heaven, that is, it's natural for us when we go through these things to cry out. As the psalmist said, My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. He said, the Sparrow hath found an house and the swallow a nest for herself, even thine altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. He said even the Sparrow and even the swallow have some resting place, And he said my.
My flesh cries out for the living God. It's a normal thing. But brethren, let's not miss this point. The aches and pains and groans that we have not only should make us think, Well, I wonder if the doctor can help me out in this. Now there's nothing wrong in getting help, but what I'm trying to say is that when these things come, we ought to stop and think. The Lord is saying to me.
You don't belong here, you belong to heaven.
And those aches and pains, those groans are reminders that this is not our rest. It says this is not your rest, it is polluted. The Lord Jesus was a stranger in a Pilgrim area, nowhere to lay his head. And we are no more part of this world than he was. He said they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. And so instead of thinking of our aches and pains.
Means as just something that we groan and feel. And I say again, it's not wrong to feel them. The Lord Jesus groaned in spirit at the grave of Lazarus. The Lord Jesus felt hunger and thirst and weariness.
And so it's not wrong to feel the groans of creation. But what do they speak to us about? Well, they ought to remind us every time they come that God is saying to us, you're not here to stay. You're not here to stay and are not to cause us. And sometimes, happily, sickness and trial does have this effect. It makes us look above. That's what the psalmist meant when he said he maketh my feet like Hind's.
That is, the little hind has the spring in its hind legs so that it can jump over that obstacle. That's in the way. And the Lord intends us as he says, he makes my feet like hind's feet. He maketh me to walk upon mine high places. That is to lift us up above the difficulty in the trial. And that's that's what happens when we realize that we don't belong here, but our home is really.
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The above that was a little warning. I believe in this third verse, and you know there are ifs in Scripture and I believe these ifs are important when it says in this third verse, if so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. And in the fourth verse, not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
And the word clothed here has to do.
With resurrection now that is, death is the unclothed state, and that is absent from the body present with the Lord. Death is the unclothed state. The ones who have gone before, our dear brother Myers and many others, they are unclothed. They are now with the Lord, but not there in bodies. They are there in spirit with the Lord Jesus in the glory above.
And that is going to take.
Not only for believers, believers are absent from the body and present with the Lord, but unbelievers have to pass through death too. And unbelievers are going to be raised. Yes, that tells us there is a resurrection of the just and a resurrection of the unjust. And so when he says here, if so be that being clothed, this is a very solemn thought when the wicked dead come forth from their graves.
And stand before God, Why it says, it says the sea gave up the dead which were in it. Now that is, their bodies are raised now reunited with their spirits, and they stand before God about their naked they don't have a robe of righteousness. They stand in the presence of God like Adam did, with no covering. And the warning here is that there might be.
Those who had made a profession, who were not real, and they would come forth, they would be raised, but they would be found naked. Now that will not be true of any believer. When you get your resurrection body, you will also be there with Christ, with that robe of righteousness. You will be fitted for His presence. And so when the Lord Jesus descends from heaven with a shout and calls his own to be.
With him, we're going to go into his presence perfectly fitted for his presence perfectly fitted because we'll have, like the prodigal, the best rub of heaven upon us. But there's a little warning here. And if there's anyone here that's not saved, what a solemn thought to be raised, not to come into blessing, but to be raised from the dead, to meet God as a judge, to stand before him with no covering for your sin, that's what.
Kings in the 11TH verse. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade man, when he thought about the life passing into review, he thought what a terrible thing for a person to stand before God naked. His life passes into review and not one sin has been blotted out. So this little warning in this third verse.
But then in the fourth verse, for we that are in this Tabernacle do groaned, being burdened, not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. This is simply telling us in the fourth verse that the Christian's proper hope is not death, but the Lord's coming. That is, we're not looking for the unclothed state the ones who have gone before.
Trusting in Christ, they are unclothed, that is, they're absent from the body and present with the Lord. But he said, that's not what we looked for. And that's a very comforting thought. You know, you can visit a person on a sick bed, and even if it seems that his case is hopeless and you hardly look for recovery, yet you can bring before him the blessed hope of the Lord's return. You don't need to set death before him.
Because it says not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. And that's what will happen, as you read in First Corinthians 15. This mortal shall put on immortality, this corruptible shall put on incorruptibility. And so at the coming of the Lord, mortality will be swallowed up of light. Now every one of us in this room are in mortal bodies.
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And if the Lord doesn't come, every one of us are going to die. We have mortal bodies, but in resurrection we will not have mortal bodies. We will have immortal, incorruptible bodies like Christ. So he's speaking here of the portion of the believer and mortality will be swallowed up of life.
And so he says, he that hath wrought us for the self. Same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. God didn't save us to leave us in these bodies of humiliation. He didn't save us to leave us in this scene with its sufferings and groans and trials. No, what did He save us for now? Is our salvation nearer than when we believed? What does that refer to?
Well, it refers to the fact that we now have half our salvation, if I can put it that way. We have the salvation of our souls, but it's nearer than when we believed, when we'll have our full salvation. And that is when the Lord comes. And so here he says, he that hath wrought us for the self. Same thing that is, God worked in you.
Not to save you and leave you in this world.
But to save you for heaven, to give you a complete salvation.
It says we wait for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our bodies, and at the Lord's coming we will have, I say, our full salvation. And he says God's given a pledge that he's going to complete what he has begun. We all know what earnest money is. When you buy a piece of property and you put down a certain amount of money, it's called earnest money. Not earnest money, not earnest money is the.
Pledge to the real estate agent that you intend to complete the deal you have begun. And if you put down a good sum, it's a great assurance to him that you're not going to back out because you know very well that you could lose all your earnest money if you decided not to go through with a deal. And if you put down half the amount or the whole amount or even more, why, he'd certainly say, well, that fellow is going to go through with a deal. He put down so much money on this property.
How much did the Lord put down upon you and I to assure us that He's going to complete what He has begun? He has given the Holy Spirit as the earnest of our inheritance till the redemption of the purchased possession to the praise of His glory. And so here He is showing us why we are confident. That real estate agent is confident that man is going to complete the deal because He's put down.
Such a large amount on it, and oh, and we think of the earnest little hymn says, If such the earnest thou hast given, what must thy presence be so here?
Therefore, we are always confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the body were absent from the Lord.
Some people perhaps in this room have been saved for 50 years or more, and it says here they're still at home in the body. That is, that they were saved and the Lord saved them for heaven. He saved them to have a glorified body. But we've continued in this world for many, many years, and we still have these bodies of humiliation. And so he says.
We're at home in the body.
And were absent from the Lord, That is, we haven't reached home yet. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We're waiting the time when the Lord will come, and then faith will be changed to sight. Now we walk by faith, we take God at His word, we believe. And that's why the world doesn't understand us, it says in first John chapter 3.
Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew him not.
And that is where now the children of God tell your friends that you're a child of God and that heaven is your home and that you're a joint heir of all that belongs to Christ. And they will probably laugh at you. The world doesn't know. The world doesn't understand. We walk by faith, we believe it, but we haven't yet possessed our full salvation. But it tells us that we're going to. We have a building of God and.
Made with hands eternal in the heavens. And then when death does come, as it has for many dear children of God, they're confident and they're willing. They weren't looking for death. They were looking for the Lord's coming. But when death came, they were confident and they were willing. Yes, confident because they knew that God was going to fulfill his promise and willing because.
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Death is ours, brethren, Death is the belief.
Believer's servant, It's ours. It's not. Not only has the sting been taken out of it, but First Corinthians chapter 3 says all things are yours, whether life or death. What does it mean? It's ours? Well, it's just the servant of the believer to take him out of this world, to be in the presence of his Savior. And so in the Old Testament it was, it says that.
They they lived their whole life, it says, through fear of death.
They were subject to *******. They didn't have the assurance that you and I are entitled to have. And so, like Hezekiah, they feared death. But now we look upon death as our servant to bring us into the presence of the Lord. So it's beautifully brought before us here that our proper hope is the Lord's return. If death comes. We're confident and we're willing.
Because we know what death is, and we know.
That we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. Well, how blessed then to have all these assurances. But I say again, so we don't miss the real point. As life goes on and as we have these trials and these aches and pains, do they make us desire to live for the eternal things, or do we cling to this earth?
Only going to pass away. Oh, brethren, how important it is that all these things should have the effect that they're intended to have, to make us look up, to make us realize that our home is not here. It's above in the Father's house. And gradually, little by little, that we would relax our grasp and the things here that pass away and have a sense before us of what awaits us in the Father's house.
Now the next thing that is brought before us is the judgment seat of Christ. The ninth verse says, Wherefore we labor, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him, or another translation is agreeable to him. 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.
It tells us here that we labor that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted or agreeable to him.
And that is, we think now of when our lives are going to pass into review, as they will at the judgment seat of Christ. And so Paul had the desire. He labored or he endeavored. The margin says this was his desire as he lived day by day that his life would be.
Acceptable to the Lord.
He didn't say, well, I'm just going to forget about it all and I'll see how everything turns out. He said I want to live here in the sense of the Lord's approval as I await the time when my life will pass into review. We labor that, whether present or absent, we may be agreeable to Him. Let me illustrate it like this. You're going to buy a gift for a person.
You love that person very much and you go into the store.
Do you say I don't care whether I get something that he likes or not? That doesn't matter to me. I'll find out when I show it to him. Well, of course not. You do a lot of thinking about whether this gift that you're going to buy is going to be acceptable and pleasing to the person you love. And you perhaps look at different things and perhaps you've heard him make different comments. Well, I don't like that sort of thing and I don't like that and.
Based on all those things that you know about your friend, you're trying to pick out something that's pleasing to him. Well, brethren, we have the word of God to tell us what is pleasing to the Lord. Are we in our lives day by day trying to live in such a way that will meet His approval? Oh, that's a very precious thing that we can.
As it says in Ephesians, that we be not unwise, but understanding what?
The will of the Lord is. And so as we think of all the things that the Lord has told us in His Word that are pleasing to Him now, then we don't have to wait until the time that comes to know whether some things are pleasing to Him, because His Word tells us. And let us live as the Word of God enlightens us, live to please Him.
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Thy word is a lamp unto my feet.
And a light to my path. If a man also strive for the masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully? So Paul said, I want to be well appointed with this book so that when I live day by day I'll have the sense in my soul at what I am doing is pleasing to the Lord. And then when my life passes into review, I'll see his blessed face.
And he'll be able to tell me that he approved, he was pleased, as it tells us in the Gospels. He said, well done, thou good and faithful servant. And So what a privilege it is for us now to be able to live our lives to please the Lord.
And so that's what the judgment seat of Christ is really for. First here that we might be acquainted with his word because he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. And then when our lives pass into review, now, you know, when it speaks of the judgment seat of Christ for believers, it's not a question of the individual being judged, but it's rather our work that is going to be judged, our deeds that are going to be judged because.
As far as personal judgment is concerned, the Lord Jesus bore all the judgment for us. I often say we use the word judge in two different ways. We speak of a judge in a courtroom who is there to find people or perhaps to send them to jail. You could call that man a penal judge. He's there to deal with people who are guilty. But then you might go to some kind of a show for.
Craftsmanship or something like this?
This And there's a judge there, but he's not there to punish anybody. He is there to look at the work and examine it and to give rewards. And some get rewards, some suffer loss. And so the judgment seat of Christ is in the second sense, that is, he is the one who judges of every man's work, as it tells us in First Peter chapter 1.
And so at the judgment seat of Christ.
Christ, it tells us here the deeds done in the body according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad.
I think a lot of people have uncertain thoughts about the judgment seat of Christ, but I believe the Scripture really makes it very clear. First of all, it says the deeds done in the body. And so this shows us that the whole life is going to pass into review. It isn't a question of whether it happened before or after we were saved. There were no.
Good works before we were saved, of course, but it isn't a question of that because through the work of Christ, whether the sins were before we were saved or after we were saved, they're all put away in the blood of Christ. And so the question is how great the debt was that the Lord Jesus paid. You know, he paid a great debt for your sins and mine, and we're never going to realize fully how great the debt was.
Until our life.
Passes into review and we'll find out that if we only thought here that we were 50 pence debtors, we'll find out that we were 100.
100 talons or 500 talons, we're going to find that our debt was far greater than we ever realized. And you know, the judgment seat of Christ will certainly make us worshippers in one sense as we realize that the Lord Jesus loved us enough.
To pick us up from perhaps a life of sin, save us and bear with us even in our failures since we have been saved. We're going to learn, as I say, how great the debt was that the Lord Jesus paid. And this passage here has to do with what I might call a general view of the judgment seat of Christ.
I want to make it clear that there were no good deeds before we were saved. They that are in the flesh cannot please God.
But since we have been saved, then there are those things that have been done that are pleasing to the Lord, and that is going to abide. If you turn to 1 Corinthians 3, you'll see this.
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First Corinthians, chapter 3.
Verse nine. Well, I'll begin at the eighth verse.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one, and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are laborers together with God. Ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. According to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.
For other foundations can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest. For the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is, if any man's work abide which he hath.
Thereupon he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet so is by fire. Now I think you can see very clearly from this passage that it's no question of salvation, because if a man's work was burned, still he himself was saved. That is, it's a question of his work here that is brought out.
And you'll notice that there are two kinds of.
Workmen. There is a Workman whose work abides and he receives a reward. And as a Workman who though a true believer, his work is burned up and he suffers loss. And now this is a very searching thing for us because as I've often said, it's possible to have a saved soul and a lost life. That's what you see about Lot. Lot is a true believer. We're going to meet him in.
Authority, but he had a lost life and everything he lived for burned up with Sodom, but he is going to be in heaven because the Bible says he was a righteous man. But there he was in Sodom and he was just, shall I say, wasting his time, wasting his time. And so it brings before us here. If any man's work abide, and you know the Lord is going to pick out of your life and mine everything that has been done for him.
Him and He's going to reward it. Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor. Now isn't this a good reason why we should want to live to please the Lord Jesus? I say it isn't a real motivation. The motivation is love. But when we love Him, I'm sure that we do want to please Him. When you love somebody.
You're very careful about the gift you choose because you're really.
Really want them to like it. You're really pleased when they look at it and say just what I wanted. Oh, I'm really pleased. And so, you know, the apostle lived in that way and the Lord is going to give rewards. You know, they're not something, shall I say, it's not an intrinsic reward. Paul speaks of it. He says he compares it to the crowns that were given for the races in those days. And there was no particular.
Value in the reward itself, but it was the honor of the fact that the the governor placed it upon the the emperor, I should say, placed it upon the head of the man, and he was so honored that the emperor would put his hands up and put a crown on his head. And so they ran to get a crown of Garland leaves. It was the person who gave it, and as a little hymn says, not at the.
He gives, but on his pierced hands. For the Lamb is all the glory of Immanuel's land. Doesn't it thrill your heart, friend, to think that the Lord Jesus on Pierce's hand should be lifted to put a crown on your head or mine, because He saw something in our lives that pleased Him? Why? Surely it makes it all worthwhile when we think of that. And so there are different crowns that are mentioned in the scripture.
Here I'll just say, will we have any feelings then? Well, it says here if any man's work be burned, he shall suffer loss. Another verse says about being ashamed before him at his coming. I believe we will have feelings. It's hard for us to understand them now because we still have the flesh in US. And sometimes when we have feelings, they're associated with wounded pride.
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I like to think of it, and perhaps this will convey the thought to your mind.
And how did the Lord Jesus think about the way I lived yesterday? How did he think about the way I lived yesterday? I believe at the judgment seat of Christ, I am going to find out.
And I'm going to feel exactly the same as he felt And I to my mind that brings before me what the judgment seat of Christ really is. It's really the manifestation. It's finding out what the Lord thought of our lives. And that's why the hymn writer said how will recompense his smile, the sufferings of this little while.
Then when you come to 1St Corinthians 4, you find another interesting little point about it.
Verse 5. Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come.
Who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts, and then shall every man have praise of God.
This verse tells us that God is not only going to manifest the actions, but He will manifest the counsels of the hearts. And that very that is very lovely because it says, it says then shall every man have praise of God. You know, a little child might try to help you, and in trying to help you the little child might break a dish or something.
And yet you're really pleased.
The child tried to help you, and while I was trying to help, you dropped a dish. You couldn't say, well, I'm pleased you dropped the dish, but you could say thank you for trying to help me. I appreciate that. And you know sometimes we do things and we mess them up. But isn't it lovely? Then shall every man have praise of God? He is going to pick out of our poor failing lives every right motive, every desire to please him. This also.
Comes out at the judgment seat of Christ, and then in Romans 14 it says in the 10th verse.
But why dost thou judge thy brother, Or why dost thou said it not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.
Now, you know, there are things that we have to judge as we learn from First Corinthians 5, the assembly is called upon to judge. But the subject in one Corinthian in Romans 14 is things where we perhaps don't always see eye to eye in little things. And it's a good thing for us to learn to bear and for bear with one another.
Because perhaps my brother sees things in me.
And I see things in Him, and so I need to be careful because at the judgment seat of Christ, the Lord is going to show what He thought about all those things. Now, as I say, this doesn't have anything to do with the assembly having to judge. The assembly often does have to deal with evil in its midst. But this is talking about so many little things as we read in that chapter.
The one who might observe a day and another dozen does not.
That one eats certain things and another doesn't. And so we're told to be very careful about those little things where we ought to just desire to see Christ in one another, and bear and remember that every one of us shall give account of himself to God. So perhaps we could say we have the judgment seat of Christ in its general view in Two Corinthians 5 as to our labor in.
1St Corinthians 3 As to our moves in First Corinthians 4 and as to our attitudes to one another in Romans 14. So you can see that it's a very general going over of our lives. Well, brethren, as we think of this, doesn't it make us desire to live our lives so that they'll have his approval, that they'll be accepted of him?
But now we come to the next one, and that is.
The 14th verse. 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.
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He speaks in the end of the 12TH verse about some who glory in appearance and not in heart because you know, brethren, it's our hearts that He wants. There may be a nice outward appearance, but God is looking at our hearts and it says the love of Christ constraineth us. Now that should be the motivation of all that we do. It's not. I say again, as I said at the beginning, it's not in a sense of duty.
It's not just because.
We want to get the approval of one another, but it's that we might seek to please the Lord because of His love toward us. I have often said that this verse does not say the love of Christ should constrain us, but it states that as an actual fact, the love of Christ constraineth us. And it might be that some of us would say, well, I don't feel the love of Christ constraining me as much.
He sure as it should. And we might say, well, why does the verse put it that way? Well, perhaps a little illustration will help to make the point clear. Those. And I had a magnet in my hand here and I had some nails sitting on the table and I held up this magnet to you and I said this magnet will move those nails. Well, it's not moving them. It's quite apparent the nails are sitting there and they're quite unmoved.
And I'm making a confidence statement differently this means.
Will move those nails. I want you to say, well, why isn't it moving them now? Well, we all know the answer. The magnet is not close enough to the nails for the nails to feel the pull. But just bring that magnet down and there's no question whatever what's going to happen. As soon as the magnet gets near to those nails, the nails are going to start to move.
And I could make a confidence statement about what that magnet does.
Because it moves nails, it moves iron, it moves steel. And so that's what the love of Christ does. Why is it that the love of Christ does not constrain us more than it does? Well, I think we all know the answer. We're not walking close enough to the Lord. We're not walking close enough if we were walking close enough to Him.
Why his love would constrain us. It would be impossible.
For us, if he stood right now visibly in our presence, and we saw those nail prints in his hands and he told us with his own lips that he had died for us, I think every believer in this room would feel something happen in his or her heart. But we're like Peter. Sometimes we follow afar off and we need the exhortation that James gives. Draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you.
We need to get close to Him and as we do, then something happens in our lives. And perhaps sometimes you come to a meeting and you felt really cold in your soul. You felt really down under with all troubles and burdens and so on. And as you sat in the meeting, something was brought out about the love of Christ that touched your heart and something happened. There was a new desire in your heart. It was because the love of Christ was.
Constraining you and making you desire to live. What does it say here? Not to ourselves, Not to ourselves. I've often said there's just two ways to live. Live for ourselves or unto Him.
Not to ourselves, but unto Him. It doesn't list here a code of rules. The law gave 10 commandments. But God doesn't list here a code of rules. Because if we want to please somebody, it usually doesn't take very long to find out what pleases them. And if you really love the Lord, it won't take you long to find out in this book what pleases Him. And then too, in little things where we perhaps don't have a definite.
Scripture, we can go to him. How often many of us do look up and say, Lord, show me the right thing to do. And so the love of Christ constrains us not to live to ourselves, but unto Him. And it says that we which live should not henceforth live.
That is, I could have some nice shining brass nails here on the table, and I could bring down the most powerful magnet I could hold in my hand, and I wouldn't do anything to those brass nails. Not a thing. They're not the right kind of material. But I could have rusty nails there. Rusty nails, dirty nails, anything, as long as they're the right kind of material. Why the coming down of the magnet would move them. We get pretty rusty sometimes.
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Sometimes we get dirt on US1 Time I was down to the harbor with our brother Piropato in New York and the New York harbor, and they were loading scrap steel onto the onto the ship to take it away somewhere to be reclaimed. And I was amazed as I saw the magnet come down, a huge magnet come down and pick up perhaps a few tons of steel. And there were all kinds of pieces.
Pieces, rusty pieces, but there were also among this some pieces of brass and Chrome and so on. As I watched it lift, I'd see those pieces of Chrome, which looked a lot nicer than those greasy pieces dropping down into the water, and the others were being carried across and placed into the ship to be used. Well, so it is, you know, if you're a real child of God, you may have gotten involved in the world, and it's not a good thing, certainly, to get involved.
The world. But that's what draws us back. He restoreth my soul. Because there's something in the heart that responds to the claims of Christ, even when we get away. When the Lord looked on Peter, even though he had grieved him so badly, it says he went out and wept bitterly. He was the right kind of material, shall I say.
But there was a lot on the surface that was displeasing to His Lord.
Well, this is the third reason, and it's the true motivating force for our lives. And so it tells us here, the 16th verse. 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. That is when He was here upon earth, He came for the blessing of that particular nation, the nation of Israel.
But now he's gone up on high and as he said, I if I be lifted up.
From the earth will draw all men unto me. That is not just the nation of Israel.
But all those who believe Jew or Gentile, and so we don't know Him after the flesh, as the one who came and said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel. But we know Him in resurrection, the one who said that repentance and remission of sins should be preached among all nations.
The message goes out now to all, not a question of what nation you belong to, but whether you have been drawn to Christ to be part of the redeemed family and now a member of the body of Christ. And then last of all, in our chapter, as I said, we have a real position in this world. Why did he leave us here? We talked in the beginning about how we're here and these bodies with the Rakes and pains.
Well, certainly the day.
We were saved. We were just as fit for having the day we were saved as if we lived 60 years after we were saved. 60 years after we were saved didn't make us any more fit for heaven than the day we were saved. Why did he leave us here? Well, he tells us here why we have been left here. He could have taken us away the very day that he saved us.
But it tells us that we have something to do for him here.
We have a message to proclaim to this world. Paul said. We pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God. The Lord Jesus has gone back to glory, but he left his disciples to be his representatives, and he said that repentance and remission of sin should be preached in his name. He was going away. He put his hands on them and said, as my father has sent me.
Even so.
Will send I you so they had a a work to do and did we realize this brethren? Do we realize that as we are left here we're left here for a purpose and I've often said God doesn't put all his lights in one place. I'm very glad that in the city of Vancouver all the lights aren't down in the main square in the center of the city.
I'm very glad there's lights in the back streets. I'm glad.
In dark alleys because we need lights all through the city. And you know, the Lord is the one who shows us where he wants us to be.
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The representatives for the United States government in Iran had a very hard time. I think the ones that represent United States here in Canada have it comparatively easy. And you know, God doesn't place us all in easy places. Sometimes He places us in different difficulties.
Thoughts he may place us in a situation where it just seems well why did he put me here it's the hardest thing I can think of but maybe he wanted us in that place to be a testimony for him and so instead of thinking oh I'd like to change places with somebody else just say well the Lord can give me the grace to be a light for him here here in Vancouver here in Seattle, wherever we.
Place the Lord wants us to be like his representatives, his messenger, and just like the Levites of old when they were taken as the redeemed of Israel, for they represented the redeemed, the first born from Egypt, it tells us the Levites really represented them. And so they were all brought to Aaron and each one was appointed his service and his burden. And you know the Lord gives.
To every believer, a service to do and a burden to bear. And it's just as important that we bear the burden well as we do the service well. A cheerful spirit, as we bear a burden, is just as much glorifying to the Lord as a gospel message. And so there is to each one of us a service given and a burden to bear. And so he tells us here in the end of this chapter, after bringing before.
The reasons why we should live for eternity. He outlines to us what our real position is in this world. Let's not forget it, brethren. I'm afraid we do forget it sometimes. Sometimes at school or in business or with our neighbors or something irritates us and we forget that we're representatives of heaven. But the way we act wherever we are is going to reflect on the name that we bear.
It says that worthy name.
By which ye are called. May we not forget how that we do bear that name, and that we have the privilege of being in this world, as as his representatives and the apostle says in the chapter before, that the life of Jesus might be seen in our bodies. May the Lord grant that it will be so, and surely we can all say there is every reason why it should be so.
His love couldn't have done more. It wouldn't have done less that we might.
Realized that He loves us and that we belong to Him. Well, may all these things as we think of them cause us. As the apostles said, we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
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Christ Our Object

Address—G.H. Hayhoe
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
I'd like to turn tonight to Philippians Chapter 3. Philippians chapter 3.
Beginning at the first verse.
Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord to write the same things to you. To me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he.
Of he might trust in the flesh I more.
Circumcised, the 8th day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, and Hebrew of the Hebrews, as touching the law, a Pharisee concerning zeal, persecuting the Church, touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless. But what things were gained to me? Those I counted lost for Christ.
Yeah, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ.
Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and to count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the face of Christ. The righteousness which is of God, by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.
If by any means I am?
Entertain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained either were already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.
I press toward the mark for the prize.
Of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore as many as be perfect, be thus minded. And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walked so as ye have us foreign in sample.
For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you, even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.
For our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working, whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.
Well, the Epistle to the Philippians, brethren, is not really a great unfolding of doctrine, but it is bringing a person before our hearts. And doctrine is surely very important. Scripture tells us that it's a good thing to be established in the truth, but nevertheless it's very important that we have a person before us, the person who said I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
So we have the truth brought before us in this precious book and tells us in John, ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. But I say again, it's very important that we should have the person who is the truth before our hearts. For as someone else has said, we could be just as clear as an icicle and just as cold. We could know a great deal of truth and not be affected by it. And so it's important that we not only lay hold of.
The truth of God, but also that we have the person, the Lord Jesus as the object before our hearts. And so this epistle to the Philippians, it's interesting in the ways of God that it comes between Ephesians and Colossians because Ephesians and Colossians are like 2 mountain peaks. He set before us a most precious truth, blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ in Ephesians.
And then occupying us with the one who is head of the body of the Church, the head of all creation in Colossians. And in between we have a practical epistle that which would, I say, bring him before us. And each chapter brings him before us in a different way, as our life, as our example here in this third chapter as our object, and then in the last chapter as our strength. And so I just like to speak of this chapter tonight.
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And a very practical way, as it affects each one of us, and that we might be more occupied with this one, who is the object of Paul's heart.
The time Paul wrote this epistle that he was a prisoner, he wasn't in an easy pathway. He was in a very difficult pathway.
In the book of Ecclesiastes we find a man who was given everything that this world could give. He says, I withheld not my heart from any joy. He was king in Jerusalem. He had plenty of money. He had nothing to restrain him in doing the things that he thought would bring him happiness. And after trying them all, his his remark is all is vanity and vexation of spirit.
But when we come to the New Testament, we find a man deprived of all the things that might seem important in life. There he was in a Roman prison, wasn't getting justice, didn't have enough food, forgotten by his brethren. Well, it was everything to cast him down. But this chapter, more than any other, or this epistle, I should say, more than any other, brings before us that little word, Rejoice. How could he be happy? Well, he had a portion.
Outside of this world, the characteristic message in Ecclesiastes is under the sun, while what is characteristic of Philippians is someone who is occupied with an object above the sun. And friends, we all know only too well that things under the sun can't bring real happiness, but that which is above the sun, the Lord Jesus our Savior, and all that we have in him that can.
That does bring real happiness to our souls. And so he could say here finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. You know, I perhaps could say, rejoice in the Lord when everything is going well in my life, when I have health and when I have friends. It's easy to say it then, but I've often said God chooses even the very people whom he uses to write certain parts of his Word. He allows.
Him to be in this position where everything seemed to be wrong, and he uses him to show us that no matter what the circumstances of life may be, we can rejoice in the Lord. And so he goes on to say to write the same things to you. To me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is sake, it is safe. And that is he never wearied of speaking about the Lord Jesus. Are we going to weary?
In heaven of speaking about him and singing about him and to him. Oh, of course not. That one will fill our hearts for all eternity. And you know when when you have a true friend, I've often said the test of a true friend is that you don't get tired of their company. But when you get tired of a person's company, there's something lacking in the friendship. But here we find that the apostle.
Get tired of speaking about Christ. He said it's not grievous to me to write and speak of these things again. And he said, moreover, it's safe. That is, it's safe for us because how easily the eye and the heart is turned away from him, how easily we can let other things creep in that turn our eyes away from Him. And so he gives a few warnings here.
Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. And I believe these three things are a present warning for us. In the scripture, dogs are used as a figure of shameless evil, shameless evil, and there's a great deal of it in this world today.
There are people seem to be doing things that are evil and wicked and they don't seem to have any shame they did them other time.
But they were ashamed. They hid. But now sin is coming right out into the open. And that's the warning here. We need to be careful, brethren, that we don't become accustomed to the sin with which we're constantly surrounded. We're never to lower the standard and say, well, I used to think that was a bad thing, an evil thing. But you know, since everybody's doing it, I've changed my opinion.
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People talk that way sometimes. God never lowers his standard. Never. And so we were Christians have to be careful we don't lower ours. Sin is sin in God's sight, and it's just as much sin in 1980 as it was in 1930. There's no difference. God hates sin, and God must punish sin. And so there's a warning here, and I say it for myself as well As for all of us here. Let's.
Be careful not to be accustomed to the evil. I believe there's a little of that thought in the verse that says be angry and sin not as that is, we ought to have the same feelings toward it. When the Lord Jesus looked around and saw the wickedness in this world, it says that he hates evil, can't look upon sin, and so this is a little warning to us and then beware of.
Workers, well, there's a great deal of false teaching going around today. People come to our doors. People are handing out literature that attacks the person and the work of Christ. And I believe we need to be warned that we don't get caught in the current of what's going on. It's sort of amazing to find that people who were once sound in the face, people who once were.
Very careful.
To maintain the glory of the person of Christ are being turned aside and we find those who even go as far as to teach that our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ could sin. Others are attacking the authority of the Word of God and we find this not only in the modernist places of the day, but these things are creeping in among those who profess to be.
In the faith, we need to beware then of evil workers. Satan has his messengers at work, and if he can't openly attack the word of God, he corrupts it. And so this is a little warning for us. And then beware of the concision. That's a little different word. The concision means cutting off. And you know, I believe it shows us that there's a danger of us becoming spiritually proud.
And it is. We can think, Oh, I wouldn't.
Do this. I wouldn't do that. I wouldn't do the other thing. And thank God if we have been kept from some of these things, but let's not say I wouldn't do it. My heart is capable of doing anything if the Lord doesn't keep me. And so, you know, there can be quite a bit of pride in the fact that we have cut off this and we've cut off that and this can come into our hearts and rob us of communion with the Lord.
And so these warnings are for us even today.
Say shameless evil, the corruption of the truth and religious pride. It's liable to come into any of our hearts, any one of these, for we are the circumcision which worship God in or by the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. So it's not trusting the flesh, but we're told here have no confidence.
In the flesh, it's not saying, well, I can be in bad company, but it doesn't bother me. I can listen to all the evil teaching and it doesn't bother me. There's no danger of me getting puffed up with pride that all those things are present dangers for us because we have the flesh in us. And the circumcision was the thought of the lifting up of the knife upon self when the children of Israel entered the land of.
They were told to make sharp knives what for to use on the inhabitants of the land, not first. The sharp knives were to be lifted up on themselves before they started any conquest in connection with possessing the Lamb. And that's what we mean by self judgment. Self judgment we need to constantly be before the Lord and recognize the necessity of these words. Having no.
Confidence in the flesh tells us that God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.
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When God condemned sin in the flesh, it was because there was number good.
In the flesh it says they that are in the flesh cannot please God. You don't condemn a thing that you expect to use part of it. You say, well, I think I can salvage part of it. But when you have a pile of rotten lumber and you condemn it utterly, you say it's nothing. It's no use except for the fire. It's no good. And that's what God has done. Someone said to Mr. Darby one time, Brother Darby, tell me how to study the Scripture.
I'd like to have a knowledge of the Word of God like you have. And his reply was study well 4 words. The flesh profiteth nothing. And you know we need to remember that always to keep the flesh in the place where God has put it. He condemns sin in the flesh. Our old man was crucified with him and so it tells us here.
We worship God in or by the Spirit that is.
Any praise that is acceptable to God is that which is produced in us by the Spirit. In other words, to put it very simply, it isn't how well we can sing. It isn't how well we can play an instrument. It isn't how well we can talk. God looks on the heart. Now, it's a privilege to be able to serve the Lord, but it's good for us to remember this, that worship, true Christian worship, is what is produced.
Us by the Spirit of God. And I'm not condemning nice singing, but I am saying that true worship isn't how well a person can sing, it's whether it comes from the heart and a child who can't perhaps keep the tune. Nevertheless, if its heart is rising up in praise and Thanksgiving to the Lord, that's true worship. We worship God by the Spirit. Little hymn expresses it.
O Lord, we know it matters not how sweet the song may be no heart, but of the Spirit taught makes melody to thee. So it says, and rejoice in Christ Jesus. That is, we don't rejoice in a nice building, we don't rejoice in a in a big crowd and stained glass windows in Israel. They had all those outward things. What is Christianity?
It is all that has been produced by the spiritual of God we'd never come to.
Christ, unless we were drawn by the Spirit, we would never please Him unless the Spirit works in, and the only praise that is acceptable is by the Spirit. So we're told here, having no confidence in the flesh. It's a hard lesson for us, brethren, because naturally we like to give the flesh a place, and it's important that it comes in in the commencement of this chapter.
Because if we're going to have Christ as our object.
Shall I say he must hold that place without a rival, Little Hymn says, and reign without arrival there. He deserves that place and without any rivals.
Well, Paul had many things that he could have boasted in as a natural man. He was a very religious person. He was brought up in a very religious way and tells us about these things that he could have boasted in as a religious.
Man, he was of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, tribe of Israel, were the favored nation, the tribe of Benjamin, where it was the only tribe out of the whole 11 That remained faithful. When God set that light in Jerusalem and His king in Jerusalem, the other tribes all went away.
Judah was the one from whom the king came, and the only other tribe that remained.
Faithful was Benjamin, so he had something to boast about, and then too he was he followed the words circumcised the 8th day. And then it says too concerning as touching the law, a Pharisee. So the Pharisees, if we might put it this way, they were the orthodox group, and the Sadducees were like the.
Well, let's call them the modernists. They didn't believe in the resurrection.
They really attacked the foundation of the faith, but the Pharisees were orthodox. And what He is showing is that we might have all these things, might boast about them, and yet not have Christ and not have Christ. I say So Paul had everything religiously, but he was still without Christ, without Christ until it tells us in the seventh verse.
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But what things were gained to me?
Those I counted loss for Christ. Something wonderful happened on the road to Damascus. He was going down there in his mad zeal to persecute the church. Imagine a religious man and yet opposed to Christ and opposed to his claims. Doesn't it show us that people often talk about following their conscience?
Conscience, Paul said. I verily thought with myself, I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. Now that is, a person could do a wrong thing with a good conscience. It says in John 16. The time cometh that they that kill you will think that they do God's service.
And we sometimes illustrated the conscience as like your eye.
You know, you might have very good eyes, you might have perfect vision, but it still stumble over the chairs if the light wasn't on.
There's nothing wrong with your eyes, but what you need is light. And it isn't until the light turns on that you see those things that you might stumble over and you might start walking and think you are perfectly clear and then you stumble over something. Nothing wrong with your eyes, but what you needed was the light. And so when people talk about doing things and following their conscience.
They're practically saying that they don't need the light of God's Word.
Is like a man saying, well, I've got good eyes. I don't need light in the room. Well, you know that's not true. If you have good eyes, you also need light. And thank God for a tender conscience. But remember, we need the word of God as light. It says the entrance of thy word giveth light. It giveth understanding to the simple. So here was Saul of Tarsus. He was persecuting the church and yet he was.
Very religious.
And thought that he was doing the right thing, until the light above, the brightness of the sun shone down, and he became awakened to his true condition. And immediately he heard that voice from heaven saying, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Everything changed and the light had come. He was once walking on in darkness.
But now the light had shone on his pathway, and he says, Who art thou, Lord? The Lord Jesus answers, I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. And now he turns around and noticed the change. What things were gained to me? Those I counted lost for Christ. Those things that he once counted gain, now he counted loss.
All those things that he boasted in as a religious Jew.
And all his zeal.
At all. He found it all to be worthless in God's sight. And isn't it true that there are a lot of things that the natural man can boast in that have no value in the sight of God? It's only in the light of His presence that we get a right sense of values. It says in Proverbs, a false weight and a false balance are an abomination to the Lord.
And we all know this in business, if a man sells you something.
For a pound, and you weigh it when you get home and it's only 3/4 of a pound. You say he's a dishonest man. But sometimes we don't know how to have a right sense of value spiritually. We condemn the man who gives 3/4 of a pound and calls it a pound. And yet very often we have a false sense of spiritual values, and we need to get the right sense of values in the Lord's presence in.
The Lord's presence Now Paul got into the Lord's presence. Saul of Tarsus he was. Then he gets into the Lord's presence and he says, I've changed my sense of values altogether. The things that I thought were gained, now I count loss. And the thing that he counted gained was once what he considered loss. He had Christ now for his gain.
And then he says in the eighth verse, Yeah, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and to count them but dumb, that I may win Christ.
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In the seventh verse, I believe he refers to the day of his conversion, because notice it's in the past tense. What things were gained to me? Those I counted as the past tense counted lost for Christ. But now he had been saved for a good many years, and he speaks in the present tense. Yeah, doubtless. And I count all things but loss.
That is, as he looked back, he only confirmed what he had decided.
That day and the road to Damascus, and even though he had suffered much for his life had not been an easy 1. He had been in and out of prison, he had been persecuted, he had been stoned, he had been beaten. But he still said it's worth it all I have Christ. So he hadn't changed his sense of values as time went on. In fact, he speaks an even stronger.
Language in this eighth verse, because in the seventh verse he says I counted loss, but in the end of the eighth verse he says and do count them but dung. It was one thing to count them lost, but as he goes on now he counts them positively repulsive to think that he once valued those things that kept him from Christ. He said, I'm ashamed of it. He said I count them not only.
Last, but he said, I count them objectionable, I count them something I don't want of anything to do with. So he says he had suffered the loss of all things, but he had now the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. It was everything to him that he knew Christ and he owned him as Lord.
In our society, when we don't have people, perhaps.
That we look up to and say, he's my Lord over in the in the societies of the Far East, why there were many slaves and the man who controlled him and who counted them as his, they were the slaves looked up to this man and called him my Lord because he had authority over him. A man was a slave and his Lord could tell him what to do and where to go.
He had complete authority.
Over him. And that's why Paul, after he was saved, he said I am a slave. Now. The word in our Bible, translated servant in the epistles is almost always slave. And he said I have made myself a willing slave and I have a person who's over me who gives me directions what to do. And he owned him as his Lord. I say we've kind of lost sight of that today.
In this day when?
People say nobody's going to boss me, nobody's going to tell me what to do. We've kind of lost the meaning of it, but it's still true. In Bible terms, friends, there is a person who has a right to tell us what to do. There is a person who has a right to exert authority over us, and we are to acknowledge his authority, his right over us. As it says, ye are not your own.
Ye are bought with a price.
So he says, Christ Jesus my Lord. And then he goes on in the ninth verse to say and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. That is in the past. He was doing all these things to establish a righteousness for himself before.
God, he thought that if he did all those things that he was doing, and tried to do them to the best of his ability, that he was establishing his own righteousness. He says in the 10th chapter of Romans about his Jewish brethren, He said, they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
If sinners only knew what God required, they would throw up their hands and say, I can never provide a righteousness that is acceptable to God myself. Anybody that's trying to establish his own righteousness before God must be ignorant of what God requires, because He requires more than our best. He tells us in Isaiah 63 all our righteousnesses are as filthy.
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The best that we could produce in our natural state is only filthy rags before God. And so he says I was trying to establish my righteousness, but he said now I have the righteousness of God in Christ. He saw himself as one who had been cleansed from his sins and not only forgiven, but brought into an entirely.
New position before God, and I hope every believer in this room has laid hold of that. It's a wonderful thing. It's much more dear friends, than just being forgiven.
I've often said I might do something wrong to you and you might forgive me, but that wouldn't set me at ease in your presence. Every time I met you, I would perhaps have the feeling, very likely would have the feeling that I wonder what he thinks of me. He's forgiven me, all right, but maybe he looks on me as a forgiven thief or something like this. I couldn't be at ease in your presence if that's all you did for me. Just forget.
Me and many Christians don't realize that God has done more than just to forgive us, and that's why they're not really at liberty in His presence. They don't feel liberty to come before Him because they don't see that when the Lord saved us, He not only forgave us, dear friends, but He put us in His presence.
In all the acceptance of his own beloved son, that's what it means.
In Romans when it says justification of life, God places you when he says you're before Him in a life that never sinned and cannot sin, because he sees you in Christ, the righteousness of God in him. It's not just his righteousness put to our account, but as Christ himself is our righteousness.
Before God, it couldn't be any more perfect than it is.
And that is our standing. And then more too. It says holy and without blame before him. That would be wonderful if it just stopped there. But it's more than that. Holy and without blame before him in love. What a standing den we have been brought into. Well, let's rejoice Paul's heart. This made him a happy, rejoicing Christian to know.
That he didn't know any longer. Have his own righteousness. He was the righteousness of God.
God in Christ, and the result was his heart now fully at ease in the Lord's presence. He wanted to know Him better.
Why, if someone acted like that towards you when you had seriously wronged them and they not only forgave you, but they brought you right into their favor and said, well, I'm going to make you a joint heir of my estate. That's how much I think of you and where heirs of God and joint heirs of Christ, wouldn't you say, well, I just want to know that person better?
That's a wonderful person. The better I know them, the better I like them. Well, that's what.
Paul meant here that I may know him. He really wanted to grow in the knowledge of his Lord and Savior. And I say this if you and I only realize what a wonderful Savior we have, and we would want to know Him better too. We just delight to learn more of Him. Grow in grace in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And so he goes on, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death. That is, He not only wanted to become better acquainted with this blessed Savior about, He speaks here of the power of His resurrection.
I believe the thought here is that he desired to display in his life that resurrection life for believers possess life in a risen Christ and he wanted to know that there's a little hymn expressed as it kind of nicely. Oh teach a soul the power to know I've risen life with thee not we may live while here below, but Christ our life may be.
I've.
Sometimes thought that when it tells us that when the Lord Jesus rose, that there were bodies of the Saints which slept.
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And they arose and they came into the holy city after the Lord's resurrection and appeared unto many. I see a little picture in that of what we should be in this world. If you had been in Jerusalem and you had met one of these people and said, Oh, how? How come you're alive again? Oh, he would say, I live because Christ.
Rose and so as these people appeared in the city of Jerusalem.
In the power of the life of a risen Christ. And that's the way you and I ought to be in this world. Sometimes people see old self in us. They shouldn't though. Paul said that the life of Jesus might be seen in our bodies. And so Paul desired this. He wanted to manifest in his life, risen life. And it's the power of his resurrection.
I believe it's the same thought as when the Lord breathed on them in resurrection.
And there he gave them resurrection life. And that's what you possess. That's why the Lord said also I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. You and I have resurrection life. Paul desired that this might be manifestly true in his life. Well, it's not going to be an easy pass if that is so, because he immediately falls with the fellowship of his.
The Lord Jesus walked through this world to please His Father. Was everyone glad to see the life that he lived before them? Oh no.
They persecuted him, they laughed him to scorn, and they despised him and finally crucified him. And what Paul is saying here, I know only too well that if I display the life of Jesus, I'll have a life of suffering too. The Lord Jesus said if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you.
And if you and I want to be like Christ.
We all find that we can't have an easy life through this world. The world will not want us any more than they wanted our Savior. And so Paul Speaking of Christ as his object here, and he says that I may know him, the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection.
Of or it's the out resurrection.
From the dead, he's speaking here of the path of following Christ. And he knew that this path might lead ultimately to his being put to death. And that's actually what happened. As we know, he was martyred, he was put to death, but he said, I want to be like the one who is the object of my heart and he.
He was here in this world, and his path was one of suffering.
He was put to death. And he said, if I am put to death, even if they put me to death, he said, I'll experience the power of his resurrection and bring me out from among the dead. So perhaps the enemy might have whispered in Paul's ear and Paul and said, Paul, if you try to please the Lord too much, you'll be martyred. You'll be put to death by Nero. And he said, that's all right, My Lord was put to death.
Of course, there's no thought of Paul suffering an atoning death. The Lord was alone in that. But it says.
That be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. And so Paul here desired to be like the one who was the object of his heart. And if it meant suffering, if it meant death, it was just that much more like his Lord and Savior.
Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect. I will not be perfect until we get home to glory. But he said, I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
The thought here, that I may apprehend the thought, is lay hold of. Paul desired in his soul to lay hold of.
The purpose that the Lord had in laying hold of him. When the Lord laid hold of me as a Sinner on the road to hell, and he put his hand on me and saved me, what did he save me for? To make me a successful businessman, to make me a great man in the in the politics of the country. No, what did he save me for? Well, He saved me to be like his.
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To God save me.
To be like Christ, that was his purpose and he is going to produce that.
Ultimately, when we get home to glory, we're going to be like Christ fully morally and physically. The end of the chapter speaks of being physically like Him. What he's talking about here is being morally like Him. And he said like this, I want to lay hold in my soul of the purpose that the Lord had in laying hold of me. And so he said I'm not already perfect, but he said that is what I desire.
Do we desire that? Do we desire that we would be like Christ, that we would really lay hold of the purpose that he had in picking us up? And too often we get thinking about our own interests, but would to God that we realized that he saved us as we sang in our opening hymn to be fully conformed to Christ, as it says in Romans chapter 8.
Whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called them he also justified, and whom he justified them he also glorified. And then it says that we might be conformed to the image of His Son. That's what God had in mind, shall I say, in saving us, while Paul desired that this would be so.
But he said in the third verse, I count not myself to have apprehended. Have any of us fully laid hold of this? Well, I'm sure if we had, we'd be more Christ like, we'd be living more for Him. But he said this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before.
He says.
Said I don't say that I have apprehended fully, but he said I I want to do one thing.
You find those two little words quite often in the Scripture. One thing Paul said here, One thing I do, the Lord Jesus said to the rich young ruler, One thing thou likenest, the psalmist said. One thing have I desired of the Lord, the Lord said to Martha.
One thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen that good part.
Which shall not be taken away from her. And so the Christian's life ought to be characterized by one thing.
That is to have Christ before him. So here Paul says one thing I do. He had a a race before him. And it was like those ancient runners when they ran in a race, the prize was at the end of the race. And they ran with the race, with the prize before them. And their whole desire was to be the one to get to the end of that race, to get the prize. Well, that was the way Paul thought of.
Himself as going through this world, it wasn't a prize to what the world would say climbed to the top and the business world or in the political world or in the entertainment world or the world of money. No, that wasn't his desire at all. His desire was to come to the end of the race and be fully conformed to Christ. And he was pressing on in life.
With that before him. And so he says.
Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, he doesn't turn around to see if he was doing better than somebody else. No, his whole object was that he was pressing on for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus. That is, he just wanted to be in the presence of and like the one who was.
Object of his heart. It isn't so much here the thought of forgetting past failures because we know he didn't it tells us it tells us very often he speaks of how he persecuted the Church of God and wasted it. He said he was the chief of sinners. He said to the Ephesians wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh and so it's.
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Good thing for us to remember the rock from whence we were hewn and the pit from whence we were dig. Good for us to remember our failures because they helped to keep us humble. I don't mean to be occupied with them, but I do mean that we should always, as we look back, we should not be patting ourselves on the back, but just praising the Lord for His goodness and grace that's been so patient with us.
But there is a danger of us looking back and boasting.
I remember I was in a meeting one time and I heard a brother give a little bolst and he said I haven't missed a prayer meeting for 50 years except for health. And he said I don't tend to miss it one either. Well, within about two years he was away from the Lord's table. Well, you know, brethren, we can't make boasts like that. We need to If there's been anything in your past or mine for the.
Of God, let's forget it. I often say, if you've done something for the Lord, forget it because God won't. He says he's not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, but if he have failed in the past, he says remember that because I've forgotten it. Your sins and iniquities will I remember no more. I really believe that if we were more humble about what?
How the Lord has had to be so gracious.
To us, why we'd want to keep nearer to him, our only place of safety. But there is always a danger. You remember, dear Gideon, mightily used of God in a great victory over the Midianites. But what was his downfall in the end? Why, he said, give me all the all the necklaces and so on of your prey. And he took all this jewelry and everything, and he made an effort and put it in his house.
As though he wanted to tell everybody, here's the remembrance of my big victory. And that became a snare to him. Oh, let's, let's remember God has the record, but our place is to remember his patient grace with us, how he's born with us along the journey. So when he says forgetting those things which are behind, it's that he didn't want to look back and boast.
But rather look on and have his eyes upon Christ in glory.
And press on toward the mark. You know very well if you're going to break a path through a field of snow or if you're going to make a a straight furrow with the plow, you've got to have your eye on an object on the other side of the field. And you've got to keep your eye on that object if you intend to make a straight path. And so it is. We need to keep our eyes on Christ in glory.
So he says. I press toward the mark.
For the prize of the high calling of God, or the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus, So he says, Let us therefore as many as be perfect. Be thus minded. The thought in the word perfect in this 15th verse is the thought of full growth. What characterizes full growth in the things of God is having Christ as the object.
I say is not that we can say, well here I've got two or three.
I've got two or three diplomas, and I think that's a pretty good sign that I know something. Oh no, it's not that at all, dear friends. It's having Christ as the object before us, and His Word as the guide for our pathway. So he says. And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
We learn the truth of God lying upon line, precept upon.
Precept here a little and there a little.
And if we differ, it's not because God teaches us differently, it's because we don't sufficiently have Christ as our object and His Word is our guide. Do you think we're going to have different thoughts about the things of God when we get to heaven? Why, It's inconceivable, dear friends, because the Spirit leads us into all truths. Where is the hindrance then, if the Spirit?
Leads us into all truths. How is it that some may see the truth and some not? Well, certainly not that the Spirit isn't willing. The hindrance must be. It always is on our part, dear friends. So he says, let us be thus minded, that is, have Christ before us, have his word as our guide. And then if there's something that we didn't see at first.
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God shall reveal even this unto you.
And often when we have just taken the humble place before him, he shows us things we hadn't seen before. Have often said the Bible is not a textbook. The Bible is written for willing hearts, willing hearts. If he be willing and obedient, he shall eat the good of the land. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine. And so it's written for willing hearts.
God shall reveal even this unto you. This is a good promise, brethren. And so I believe very often, when there are things where we don't see eye to eye, if we would just take that humble place and seek to be before him, why the Lord can work things out. God shall reveal even this unto you. Nevertheless, He said, whereto we have already attained, Let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing.
In other words, in the Christian race, everyone is not in exactly the same point of progress. John addresses the babes and the young men and the fathers. And so, you know, in the family of God, that's the way it is. There are babes, there are young men, and there are fathers. And the Lord leaves a son step by step, and he says.
Let us.
Walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing. Suppose now meet someone. He doesn't see something just the same as I have seen from the scripture. What am I to do? Well, I tell them, well I'll show you why I believe this way. And I show them from the scripture, and then I say, well, you just look to the Lord. And I'm sure that if we both look to the Lord.
He'll show us his mind and his will now. It's very blessed in these things, brethren.
Now that God delights to have us to go on together of one mind in the Lord.
Now in the end of the chapter he compares the two paths and it's very sad what he has to bring in here. At the end of this beautiful chapter he shows that there are two paths and it tells us here about the path pressing on with Christ as the object glory before us. And then he speaks of the path that is trodden by the people of the world.
And where are they going?
The end is destruction because God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame.
Now it's perfectly possible that a Christian can get on the wrong path, but God will never let him go to the end of it. You know, sometimes in my travels I've got on the wrong Rd. but usually when I get on the wrong Rd. somehow by checking the map or someone telling me, I find out and I turn around and go back and you know, God is faithful.
He's never going to let one of his.
Go to the end of the past that this world is treading the end for this world is destruction. But a Christian who is going along with the world, it says in James, it says whosoever therefore will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God. And it's a sad thing when a Christian.
Gets so taken up with worldly things that he becomes identified with the.
Shroud that's going down in the wrong direction. I say God won't let one of his own go to the end. It says whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. He didn't let lot go to the end. Lot chose to live in a city that was destined to be destroyed and even when the Lord mercifully.
Allowed him to be carried away, and Abraham came down and helped him. He still went back and built a house in Sodom. Previous to that he lived in tents, and now he goes down.
And he's got a house inside him now. So the Lord sends the the 2 angels down to Sodom. And they said to Lot we can't do anything Lot till you get out of this place. Now a Lot didn't perish in Sodom, but certainly he lived in Sodom too long and he saw the whole place go up in flames.
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He says it was just like the smoke of a furnace going on. Poor lot.
He had a saved soul but a lost life. And so he's comparing the two paths. And Lot was a real believer. Scripture says he was a righteous man, but he chose to live in a place that was doomed for destruction. He chose to, shall I say, find his fortune in that place. And he saw it all come to an end. But how different with Abraham. He was up on the top of the mount, communing with God, interceding for Lot, well, the two paths.
Set before us here, Paul says there's a path that leads through this world with Christ in glory at the end, and there's a path that leads to destruction. And he said it made him weep to see Christians just like Abraham as he was up there on the top of the mount. He was interceding, Lord, he didn't want Lot to perish in that city. He was interceding for him. And that's what I believe.
Paul is doing here. He's he's in tears.
As he sees those who are going on that way, but then he turns around and he speaks of the happy ending for the believer. He says, for our conversation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body.
According to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all.
Sings unto himself, He's been speaking about being like Christ in a moral way that is living to please Him now. He shows what is the happy end for that past, not only to be in the presence of the one we love, but to be like Him physically. And these bodies of humiliation that we possess here, it says they'll be changed, and it says fashioned like unto his glory.
And so it tells us in Second Thessalonians chapter 1, Paul is speaking about the Lord Jesus coming again. And I love the way it's put there. It says when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony among you was believed in that day, that is.
I like to think of it this way, brethren, that when the Lord, he's going to come and take us up, he's going to take.
One of his own up and then he's going to come back with his own and he's going to display us to the world. And he said these are the ones that I picked up and he's not going to display us with all our faults and failures. We were talking about how they're going to have to be reviewed and rewards will be given at the judgment seat of Christ. But when he displays us to the world, he'll be glorified in his Saints and admired in all them that believe he'll see.
The world will see us with Christ.
Supremely blessed with Him. Well, as we think of this, doesn't it touch our hearts? Doesn't it make us realize that there are two paths through this world?
Which one do we desire to trod? The one where we mind earthly things, where we live for our own interests? Or is it our desire instead to live for the interests of Christ, to desire to be like him morally as we wait the day when he gives the shout and then we like him physically? Well, I say again, what a privilege to go on in this world with a right object, with a right sense of values before our souls.
US and that object for our souls is Christ, and all proper evaluation of things is how does it compare with Christ? Well, may the Lord grant it will be so in our lives for his glory.
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