Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to turn tonight to 2nd Corinthians and the 5th chapter, 2 Corinthians chapter 5. And just to make the connection, I'd like to read the last two verses of the 4th chapter, Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 17, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 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.
Pulling 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 will be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life.
Now he would have brought us for the self same thing as 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.
In his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
Knowing this, or 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 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 below, 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. Therefore henceforth nor 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 have given to us the ministry of reconciliation?
The worth of God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. And now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ that 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?
God, in him telling these last two verses of the 4th chapter, we see the apostle draws a contrast between those things that are seen and those things that are not seen. No, it's very easy to live for the things that are seen, but those things that pass away. But in this day and age when God is allowing us to feel the shaking of all those things that are seen.
How much more thankful we should be that we have that really abide.
We have a portion that doesn't pass away because we don't look at those things that are seen, but at those things which are not seen, those things that are eternal. There's a lovely verse in the 22nd sign that says your heart shall live forever. A very striking expression, isn't it? It doesn't mean that these physical hearts of ours are going to go on and beat forever.
But you know, if we set our heart on things here.
By all those things we set our hearts upon are going to pass away. But isn't it a wonderful thing that if we set our heart on those things that are above, we set our heart upon a portion that is going to be forever? And so whether you're young or whether you're old, if your heart is upon Christ, it's on something that's not going to pass away.
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If you have found friends among the Lord's people and those friends that you have found.
I'm not just friends for a little time here in this world, but they're going to be your companions for all eternity. Isn't it a wonderful thing to be a child of God and to have set your heart on things that don't pass away, things that really abide? And then you can say, yes, my heart lives forever because my heart's not set on things here.
Now it doesn't mean that we can't enjoy the things that God gives us here, it says in first.
Timothy chapter 6 that God gives us all things richly to enjoy.
But we don't enjoy them as something that we set our hearts upon, something that we work for, just accept them as a gracious provision that God gives us. We just receive it like an ambassador. He's an ambassador in another country. the United States sends an ambassador to Canada. There's no use in setting his heart upon the house. He's going to live on in Canada.
Because he's just going to live there for a little while. He's thankful for the provoversion that his.
Country makes in providing a fine house for him and a nice car, but there's not much use in setting his heart upon it because he's just there for a term. Now when that term is ended, he comes back to live in his own country. And dear friends, if you belong to the Lord, why don't set your heart on things here? Because it's just for a time. The things that are seen are template.
But the things that are not seen are eternal.
How did you think of an ambassador being sent to another country? And he says, well, I'm willing to go to a country where I can be quite sure that none of my possessions will be disturbed, my car will be never, never will be all returned. The windows will never be broken in the embassy. I will be an ambassador in a place like that. But if there are any hardships connected with it, I don't want to have that kind of a position.
You'd say that would be a very strange attitude for a man who was.
Desirous to represent his country. And so the apostle Paul was going through great hardships. He was suffering for Christ's sake, but he says our light affliction, which is but for a moment.
For us, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. He says everything that we have to pass through in this world for Christ's sake. He is not going to be lost time. It's not going to be lost possession.
Because our treasures are not really here. The Lord Jesus said not to lay up treasures on earth, because mouth and rust corrupts and thieves breakthrough and steal. And that it tells us to lay up our treasures in heaven, when neither N nor W is corrupt and thieves don't breakthrough and steal. And so each one of us who belong to the Lord.
Have that inheritance incorruptible and undefiled.
And the plate is not away, reserved in heaven for us. But I say again, and I speak to my own heart too. Are we living for it? Are we living for those things that pass away? The apostle here says we look not at the things that are seen, Uh.
They look not at the things which are seen.
What are the things which are not sane? But the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal? And then in the 5th chapter he opens with these words. For we know. For we know that is the reason he could do this was because he had absolutely no doubt in his mind as to the glorious future that was ahead of him.
And you and I will never be able to give up the present if we have any uncertainty.
As to this future that awaits us, that's why Satan does his best to put a doubt in the minds of believers. He does his best to try and get us doubting God. The very first recorded words of Satan in the Old Testament are these.
Yeah, God said. Notice he raised the question about the truth of God's Word. And has he ever done that with you? Oh, you say. Of course he has. He always.
Seeks to get us to question the truth of God's Word and the first recorded words of Satan in the New Testament. What are they?
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He said to the Lord Jesus, if thou be the Son of God.
His first recorded words in the Old Testament question the spoken word of God, and his first recorded words in the New Testament questioned the living Word of God. He'll always put a question in your mind. He doesn't want you to have these blessed things as an assurance in your sorrow, but God wants you to know He doesn't want you to go on in uncertainty.
For we know, oh, I trust that if there's anyone here who has been entertaining dots, that God will enable you tonight to lift the shield of faith. Because the reason we know it is on the very best authority possible.
God has spoken. God has spoken.
For you know, our eyes may deceive us, our ears may deceive us, our friends may deceive us, that when we take God at his word, it tells us it's impossible for God to lie. And it says you have given us a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us. So for adults rising in your mind, remember where they come from, and remember that the only way to meet them.
Is to lift the shield of faith.
We shall be able to crunch all the fiery darts of the wicked. When the Lord Jesus was here, he gave us the perfect example of how to meet the enemy. For when Satan came to the Lord Jesus, he answered every temptation by saying, It is written, it is written. He answered those temptations by the precious word of God.
Now in this 5th chapter I believe we could say.
Perhaps, to put it very simply, that there are three things brought before us as reasons why we shouldn't live for the things that pass away.
And the first reason that we have in this chapter is that our bodies are a constant reminder that we are not in this world to stay. Every one of us feel aches and pains, and as we get older, we have a few more of them. And these are just reminders that we're really not here to stay.
Of course we have the hope of the Lord's coming, which is the grand and glorious hope of the Christian. But what is brought before us here is these tabernacles in which we groan, that remind us of our first scene is not really our home. And then the second thing that's brought before us in this chapter is that our lives are going to pass and review.
Why should we live for things that don't matter, that don't abide?
If our lives are someday going to a passenger review and only what is according to the will of God is going to abide, it says the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abias forever. So the judgment seat of Christ is going to be a view of our lives. And oh what a serious thing this is.
About Aurora Life here is so short now.
That every act in our lives has an eternal consequence. That's something for us to consider, isn't it? Every act in our lives has an eternal consequence, but an important thing for us, we might think. Only that doesn't matter. Well, it's either gain or loss. It goes on either one side or the other of the Ledger. And what a serious thing to live, a life that will be lost.
Now it's quite possible to have a saved soul and a lost life. The Lord Jesus said he that loveth his life shall lose it. He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. That saves your soul is the blessed finished work of Christ as the precious blood of Christ that cleanses from all sin. There's nothing else that will put away sin before God and when you receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
And your sins were put away in his precious blood. You have a saved soul. But I say again, it's quite possible to have a last life. And Lord is an example of that, a man who had a saved soul, but a last life, all that he lived for went up in the flames of Sodom. He had lived for the things that pass away, and he lived to see all those things that he labored for perish. And so.
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The second reason then is the judgment seat of Christ. You will speak more of this shortly, but at the judgment seat of Christ, the life of the believer passes into review, and how important that we should live our lives for him. And then the third thing that is brought before us is the greatest of all, perhaps we could say the love of Christ.
Constraineth us now, that is, we're not living to please the Lord out of a sense of Jesus.
Beauty. We're not living because, well, we just have to do it, but we're living to please Him because His love is so great that he has captivated our hearts. It's not hard to do things that please a person who loves you and does everything for your good. Isn't it hard to try to please a person?
Who really makes sacrifices for you constantly and when we think of what the Lord.
Jesus did for us, and what He's doing for us now is our great High Priest and advocate. Surely the thought of His love, how much He loves us, and that He's going to love us right to the end. Isn't this a grand reason why we should not live to ourselves, but unto Him? And so these three things are brought before us. And then in the concluding remarks in the chapter, we see what our real position is in the world.
We remark about it before the position of being.
Representatives of Christ here in this world now, just like his ambassadors here in this world.
So, and we realize what will hear you, you hear many people, especially young people say, well, what have we here for? What's it all about?
Well, one great man said he spent all his life trying to get an answer to two questions, where he came from and where he was going to.
All their friends. God gives the answer. He tells us where we came from. God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. He tells us where we're going to the two destinies ahead. And so in this chapter He tells us why we're here and if we're saved, why did He leave us here? Why didn't He take us to heaven the day he saved us?
We will never be any more fit than we were today. He saved us the day he saved us.
Our sins were gone. We were in Christ. We were accepted in the Beloved. Could we be more? No, we were just as fit then as we'll ever be. Where has He left us here? Oh, He has left us here. At the end of this chapter shows that we might be representatives for Him during his absence. What a privilege this is to be officials of Christ.
Known. And what of all men say in the beginning of this chapter? Then we see that.
Paul speaks of the body in which he lived as the earthly House of this Tabernacle, but as he just called the body that he lived in a Tabernacle or a tent, it was only a temporary abode. And we find the Apostle Peter Speaking of this in his epistle. He said, Knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me.
Now, as he said, my spirit is closed.
The tent, Oh well, now that the tent is on the temporary aboard. And so he spoke of his body in that way, and he said, if our earthly House of this Tabernacle be dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. Now that is, we have a glorified body.
Waiting for us up there and when the Lord Jesus.
Comes and gives the shout and then it says we shall be changed, we shall be changed. And that is when the astronauts went up to the moon. Well, they had to take food, they had to take the atmosphere, they had to take the atmosphere, oxygen and so on. They couldn't live as they went through space. But when the Lord Jesus comes and gives the shout.
Thousands are going to rise to meet him. How about they won't have to take the atmosphere, they won't have to take the food from this Earth because.
There are bodies celestial and there are bodies terrestrial. At present we have a terrestrial body, a body suited to earth. But when the Lord Jesus comes, we will have a body suited to heaven. And so when he gives that choke, that miracle will take place.
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Won't have to have a spaceship, you won't have to have a special kind of a jacket or something like this. No, we shall be changed and will go up to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Here's what a glorious thing and it says this mortal will put on immortality, this corruptible will put on incorruption.
And then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written. Death is swallowed up in victory. What a glorious thing to have this before us. Yes, we're going to go to our real country, just like the ambassador. The time comes when his period is over in a firm land and he returns to his own country. Well, Helen is our Fatherland. Heaven is our home, so he says.
You have this before us, and notice it's eternal in the heavens. This makes it clear that we're not going to.
Wayne, on the earth, we're going to reign over the earth because our portion is eternal in the heavens. Isn't this lovely of all those? We're going to be forever with the Lord. Now when he comes and sets up his Kingdom, we'll come with him, but will not come here to stay. It's not our home. When He comes, as the Scripture says, the Lord my God shall come, and all the Saints with thee. But it was just to be identified with him.
In a setting up in the establishing of the Kingdom.
But our royal home is in heaven, and so it says. In this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven.
And that is, God hasn't made our bodies without feeling in this Tabernacle we groan, we feel pain. God has made us so that we feel all these kind of things. The Lord Jesus himself followed everything. Let me feel was 1 exception. Sin apart they never had. And well in nature He could not sin.
But he felt pain. He felt.
Reproach he felt, wariness, all these things as a perfect man he felt. And so he said, Reproach hath broken my heart. He was thirsty, and he said to the woman, and give me a drink.
He felt it when the disciples forsook him. And it says of Judas, if it had been an enemy, I could have borne it but my own familiar friend, in whom my soul trusted.
Lifted up his heel against me. What is the Lord felt everything perfectly. And now he's a merciful and faithful high priest for us. And so he knows all that we pass through because he's trodden the path before. And our desire is to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven. And this third verse, I believe is a little warning. If so be that being clothed, we shall not be found naked. For you know there's not only a resurrection of believers.
There was a resurrection of unbelievers. There's not only a resurrection of the just, but there's a resurrection of the unjust. That is not a general resurrection. It's over 1000 years apart. It says the rest of the dead lived not again till 1000 years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Believers will have part in the first resurrection and those who have died in their sins will be raised 1000 years later.
The stone before the great white throne, but there is a resurrection even of unbelievers, and I believe this verse is a learning that there will be some who will be clothed upon with a body that is, they'll come forth in resurrection about they'll stand before God naked, no rule of righteousness. They'll stand there in their sins.
But a terrible thing, as it tells us in the 20th chapter of Revelation, The Seed.
The dead which were in it.
And they were judged every man according to their works. Doesn't matter where they died or whether were buried. God will find the dust and there will be resurrected. Oh I hope there won't be anyone here who will be raised and have to stand there in your sins. What a terrible thing to come forth.
The spirit reunited to the body and be there naked before God.
Well, thank God, this is not true of any believer, but it is true for those who are raised in their sins. And there might be some who have a profession and not possession, because you might deceive your parents, you might deceive your friends, you might deceive your brethren, but you'll never deceive God. The Lord knoweth.
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Them that are His, He makes no mistakes, and He can give you assurance in your heart too, if you'll just accept Him as your Savior. Because it says these things that are written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. A believer can know it, but this verse, I believe, is a little warning to a professor.
Now the fourth verse. Now for we that are in this Tabernacle do groan being buried.
Not for that we would be unclothed, but closed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. I want you to notice this here. Not for that we will be unclothed, but clothed upon. And he goes on to explain this further. But death is spoken of as the unclosed state. Now that is now.
That my spirit is in a body, and this is the earthly House of my Tabernacle.
In resurrection, God is going to clothe the body with a new house which is from heaven, a celestial glorified body like Christ. But it says you're not, that we would be unclothed. And that's what death is. That is, when a person dies, the body is laid in the grave. But as we have in the sixth verse.
The person is absent from the body.
And poisoned with the Lord. Now the reason he says this here is that this is not the proper hope of the Christian. The proper hope of the Christian is not death. The proper hope of the Christian is the Lord's coming. That's why he says not that we would be unclothed. No Christian is taught to look for death, but rather to look for the Lord's coming.
And that's why in the Scripture, the hope of the Lord's coming is always.
Held up to the believer as a present hope, it's to be expected in our lifetime if God and His patience waits over this world. There might even be some in this room that will be taken away by the article of death. But it isn't our proper hope. Our proper hope is the Lord's coming. And now, by events that we see taking place in the world, we can see that day approaching. The scripture speaks.
Seeing the day approaching and we can certainly see things taking place that indicate to us very clearly that the Lord's coming is drawing near and that God intends it to be the hope of the believer at all times. So I can go to a person in the hospital and instead of having to talk about death, I can talk about the Lord's coming.
And many are Christian whom I have visited in the hospital. It has been my joy to say, well.
Isn't it lovely The Lord might come today?
For Christians, shall I say, the Christian slogan is perhaps today, perhaps today we expect him, we look for him, we wait for God's Son from heaven. And so how blessed.
There's this wonderful hope for us so we don't look for death, but the time when mortality will be swallowed up of life. But that's at the Lord's coming. Mortality will be swallowed up of life, and that is those who have died in Christ will be raised, and together with those who are living, will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air.
Share the fifth verse says Now he that hath LED us for the same thing is.
God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit, when it says, he that hath wrought us, or worked in us for the self same thing as God. It means this, that God didn't save us to leave us and these bodies with their aches and pains. He saved us to have a full and complete salvation.
And that's why it says in Romans now is our salvation nearer than when we.
And that is when God saved us, we received the salvation of our souls, but He's going to complete that salvation and give us the salvation of our bodies. Romans 8 says, looking for the adoption to work the redemption of our bodies. That's what we're waiting for. And so when it says here.
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He brought us for the self. Same thing that is.
To be clothed upon that our house which is from heaven. And when your salvation and mine is complete, we will not only have the salvation of our souls which we have now, but we will have the salvation of our bodies. We'll have glorified bodies without any sinful nature in them. We won't have to watch against a bad thought. We won't have to watch against the temptation.
And we won't have an ache or a pain, because God himself shall ripen away all.
Tears from half of our faces and that will be our complete salvation. And to pledge that he's going to complete this is given to us the earnest of the spirit. And when you're going to buy a piece of property, at least in Canada, we place a certain amount of money down. And this this money is called the earnest money. And it's the pledge that you intend to complete the deal.
And so.
You're going to buy a piece of property that's worth $10,000. Why? The real estate man might ask you to put down $1000 as a pledge that you're going to complete that deal.
For when God save my soul, he, he gave in earnest, supposing that you are going to buy a piece of property that was worth $10,000. And you said to the real estate man, well I'll give you some earnest money on this. And you sit down, you write out a check for $50,000. And he looks at the check and he said.
I said the property was $10,000. Why did you give me such a large?
For the earnest money.
Or you say, I want to be sure I get it and I'm willing to put that down on it to be absolutely sure that I get that property.
Well, isn't it wonderful to think that God wanted to be so sure that he had me in glory, that he gave something that was so far above my full worth. He gave the Holy Spirit of God as the earnest. And so just as that $50,000 certainly assures that real estate man that you intend to complete the deal. And if somebody the next day said that I'd like to buy that property.
He'd say, well, it's.
The soul. And so this person says, well, do you think he's going to go through with the deal? He says, I have no doubt. You know, he gave me a check for $50,000 and the property. How could I ever doubt that he intended to complete the deal? And dear friends, isn't it marvelous? Let's try the next verse says.
Therefore we are always confident. Therefore we are always confident for God has not only given his son to die for us, but he's given the Holy Spirit of God to endure us as the pledge and the promise that he is going to complete what he has begun. He would have begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. So I will here were absent from the Lord.
But there's no uncertainty because for us.
It's at death were absent from the body and present with the law. Well, this is brought before us so clearly that in the first part of this chapter to show us.
The ground for our confidence and to show us too, as I say, an appeal for why should we live for these things that pass away when we're so sure of the future? And think of how glorious and how wonderful it is, how we're constantly reminded. Perhaps some are sitting in this room tonight with a headache or other kinds of aches and pains.
And we're constantly reminded that this world is only a place where.
Passing through, Oh my God, brightening our souls, the glorious hope ahead of us, and while we look at those eternal things that belong to us. Now, this brings us to the next one. And I want to call your attention to the first 3 words of the eighth verse and then the first 3 words of the ninth. Notice the first 3 words of the 8th. We are confident.
And the ninth verse, wherefore we labor.
More than many people at labor to get confidence. And I think if they work hard enough then they can be pretty sure that God will accept them. But you know, God puts it the other way. He says we are confident.
Therefore, we labor.
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And all true Christian life and testimony flows from the assurance.
That God has done all that was necessary for our salvation and secured to us this foolish, glorious, this completed salvation. How could we be lost along the way if he has given us this assurance that he's going to complete what he has begun? And because of this confidence, I'd like the person who says, well, if I don't live the.
I might get lost. No, that isn't what God says. He says we are confident wherefore we labor. Let's always bear this in mind. And when it says wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him. Now that is.
Over we go on in this world, trying by His grace to live a life that is acceptable to Him.
There's a lot in this world today about being accepted. Everybody likes to feel accepted. Young people like to feel accepted. Parents like to feel their children are accepted. But isn't it a good thing to have this before us, to endeavor that we would be accepted of him?
Sometimes our friends might even reject us because we try to live for Christ, but the important thing is to be accepted of him. That was Paul's endeavor, he said. I know a lot of people are living their lives to be accepted in their office, to be accepted in their community, to be accepted by their friends and their countrymen. But he said I'm living my life to be accepted of him. And he said.
I am seeking to live it while I'm here and I'm looking forward to the day when it's all going to be manifested at the judgment seat of Christ. Now, the judgment seat of Christ for believers is not something that.
Is intended to bring terror to our hearts. The judgment seat of Christ is the manifestation of our lives.
And you know, we use the word judge in two different senses and.
English, and the Scripture uses them in these two different senses too. That is, there's a courtroom and there's a judge there, and if a man is found guilty, the judge pronounces a sentence. The man perhaps is heavily fined or sent to jail, and the judge is the one who passes the sentence. However, there might be, say, a dog show, and there are some judges there.
But they're not there to punish the dogs, they're not there to pass us sentence on the dogs.
Further, to examine those dogs and give rewards. And now the judgment of the last is to be.
Judged for their sins and to be sent into that place of eternal tournament, the Lake of fire. Noah had a sound thing. In other words, for unbelievers it's the great white Throne and they will be judged themselves. For As for believers, it's the judgment of our work.
It's our works, just like the dog is looked over, that which is worthy of reward is noticed, and then perhaps some reward is given. One of dear friends, this is a searching thought for us now that our lives are someday going to be brought into review and this ought to search our hearts and given us the.
Desire the Lord to please the One.
Who has done so much for us? Who has pledged Himself that He's going to bring us safely home to glory? And I wanted you to notice a few things here. First of all, I want to say that when we appear there, we will be just like Christ. And that is we'll be there clothed in the best robe of heaven. Though we will have been accepted there through the finished work of the Lord Jesus, and but our lives will pass into review.
And it says in this verse, the deeds done in the body. Now, some have said that does this mean before you're saved or after you're saved? All the Scripture says the deeds done in the body. And there was just as much in the body before I was saved as after. And you know, I expect someday, another day to meet Mary Magdalene in heaven. And I'm going to know when I meet her what kind of a woman she was before she was saved because the Bible tells me.
All that before she was saved, she had seven devils. I'm going to meet the man and that the Lord Jesus saved and he cast her to that man. A legion of devils I'm going to meet. I'm going to meet the woman in the 4th chapter of John who was living a morally corrupt life and all these things happened in her unsaved days. But I'm going to know about them because God has already told me about them in His Word. Why did He?
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Me because he would present to me that those people as trophies of his grace and you know to your friends, we don't realize that in God's sight there were all trophies of his grace. We have a worry, shall I say we have a very poor estimate of what sin really is. But at the judgment seat of Christ, when our lives pass into review, we're going to realize.
I'm going to death. Was the Lord Jesus pain? We've never realized that enough. Yet we'd praise Him more if we knew that a great deal of sin he paid for at Calvary.
But God is going to manifest that and we're going to praise Him in full measure when we see that there was a lot of bad in our lives. But this verse says the things done, whether it be good or bad, He is going to show us that. If I could put it this way, he's going to show how much was on the David side, but he's going to show that it was all blotted out by the precious blood of Christ. And then.
It says that its water, its.
Good or bad? Now there was number good in our lives before we were saved because the Bible says they that are in the flesh cannot please God. If I can put it this way, there were no credit entries till we got saved. There was nothing that was proof for God until God saved us and then he gave us a new life that could produce fruit for Him. And so everything that we do to please him he has recorded.
And others ought to give us a desire, as the apostle said.
That we might live, that whether present or absent, we might be agreeable to Him. And you say, well, how will we feel when our lives pass into review? For in order to, shall I say, explain it to my own mind and my own heart, I sometimes thought of it like this. How did the Lord feel about the way I lived yesterday?
He looked down, he saw everything that I did yesterday. He heard everything that I said.
He knew every thought that passed through my mind. And how did he feel about it at the judgment seat of Christ? I believe I'm going to find out. And more than that, I believe I'm going to feel about it like he feels. But that helps me to understand that the judgment seat of Christ is because it says, then shall we know? Even as us, we are known.
And I believe what Paul meant when he said that, whether present or absent.
Now that is as I live tomorrow, I want to live in such a way that I think of what the Lord thinks about the way I'm living today. And I don't want to just wait till the judgment seat of Christ to find out, but I want to try and live it now. That's what Paul meant when he said, and that's why it's important and that's why it's intended to speak to our consciences now that we might have more desire that we might live our.
As agreeable to him as I say, what is not of him is going to be burned up. And it says if any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer less. You'll never be able to regain. One day someone wrote a little a little ditty something like this about it. It said lost 1 golden hour somewhere between sunrise and sunset.
Set with 60 diamond minutes nearly word is offered for his diamond for he's down for a.
Engineer who wasted an hour or two hours all day yesterday, we can never recall, We can never regain it. If any man's work be burned, he shall suffer less. But if any man's work abide, he shall receive reward. There will be the Lord's approval in that day. And I say again, the judgment seat of Christ is intended to magnify the wonderful grace of God that saved us.
And to exercise us that we might live our lives in this.
Present time, so that when they do pass into review, we'll know that we will have his approval. And I might say this in passing too. This is the importance of reading God's Word, because it says in another place, if a man strives for the masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully now that is, is it possible?
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On this side of life, that is before we get home to glory tonight.
Whether we're pleasing him or not, well, that's why He's given us His word.
You might say, well, I tried to live yesterday to please him.
Be sure to read His word because in His words you'll find out how you can please Him. Many Christians are doing things and they will tell you they're doing them for the Lord, but when you search the scriptures you find that some of the things they're doing and that according to His Word.
His word shows us how we can please Him. You see, when God saved you and I, He gave us a life that wanted to please Him.
And then he gave us his word to show us how we could please him. He just like if I wanted to give a gift to someone and I had never met the person, I wouldn't know what to give them. But if that person wrote me a letter and said, I heard you wanted to give me a gift here or a few things that would please me. Now I can say, but I know these things will please that person because.
The letter told me so and their friends God has written us about.
He says he hasn't called his servants, but friends.
And He's written us a book. And if you want to please him, acquaint yourself with his Word. Acquaint yourself with His word. And any things that we think are all right, but when we compare them with God's Word, we find out that we haven't the proper priorities. We haven't really discovered what is the most important in His sight. For Pearl had a different idea. And he said after he had met the Lord.
About things were getting.
To me, that as I counted last for Christ. So the judgment seat of Christ then is intended to speak to our consciences, that we might live for him. And just a little word about the alone verse. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord we persuade men is just a simple little reference to this.
That when Paul thought of his life passing into review, he thought how terrible it would be for a Sinner to have his life pass into review and to be charged with every sin, and that I think that my life is going to pass into review someday. I know the blood of Christ has cleansed me and removed our sins from the presence of a holy God, but I think of sinners.
And their lives are going to pass into review too. And not one sin.
Has been put under the blood, Oh, Hassan. Because as one is often said, God must judge sin, and he either judged it upon the head of his spotless son or will have to judge it on your head. When May God grant, if there's anyone here that's not saved, he'll turn to him now and receive them as your Savior.
And now this brings us down to the third one, 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.
Well, I've often commented that it doesn't say the love of Christ should constrain us.
It makes it a positive statement. Here the love of Christ constraineth us, and I might illustrate it like this.
If I had a pile of nails here on the table, then I had a magnet in my hand. I wouldn't say to you this magnet should attract those nails. I would say this magnet attracts those nails. Please say why aren't they moving? Oh, I just haven't got it close enough. But when I bring the magnet close to the nails, something happens. The nails begin to move.
They begin to come toward the magnet. Why?
Well, as an attracting power in that magnet that draws those nails, if there happened to be some brass tacks there, I could bring that magnet as close as I liked. And that nothing happens to them. They're unmoved by the magnet. And so the love of Christ does not constrain the hearts of sinners.
Very often they hear about His love and they go out and they reject it. But when you and I have been brought to know the Lord Jesus as our Savior, it's a positive fact. We may be rusty nails, we may be greasy nails, but if we're the right kind of material, that is, if we're truly saved, the love of Christ constrains. Isn't this lovely?
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But what's the trouble? The reason we're often not constrained by His love is because we're just like those nails with a magnet a long way away. But as soon as the magnet comes close, the nails begin to move. And, dear friends, if you and I desire to be constrained by the love of Christ, remember what James says tonight.
And He will draw nigh to you if you and I desire to be constrained by His love.
We need to get into His presence and think about how much He loves us. The Lord Jesus said, As my Father hath loved you, hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. So if there's anyone here who's doubting his love, I just think of that cross of Calvary. Think of what He did for you, and I'm sure that you'll feel the constraint of His love.
And what is the result when this magnet comes?
Down to those nails, Friday. Just go wherever the magnet calls, the magnet pulls them along. And that's exactly what the verse says here. It says that we should not live unto ourselves, but unto Him.
Perhaps you would like to have a number of rules laid down, but when you're saved, you've got to do this and you've got to do that. Now, there's no rule laid down about where those nails are going to go, because as soon as the magnet is closed, it's all very simple. They just go where the magnet takes. And you know, if we're enjoying the love of Christ, we go where the magnet takes, and that's what it's telling us.
We don't rule unto ourselves, we live unto Him, because there are just two ways to live.
And to ourselves. And some people living to themselves may live in open sin, some may live in secret sin. Some may feel that they're better accepted in society. They're living a pretty clean life, but they still have self as the center of their being. They don't live to Christ. They live, perhaps to have the esteem of their fellow man, to be well thought of.
But there's an entirely new motive that is brought into the life of the Christian.
When he's constrained by the love of Christ.
He does what he does because the love of Christ moves him and draws him. And that's why when one is constrained by the love of Christ, there's a consistency in his life. People may find forth, but he is drawn by the love of Christ, and he desires to live not to himself, but unto him.
Oh, what a very simple thing. And oh, could you and I stop and think of his wonderful.
Love, could we consider what He's done for us and not feel something of the constraint of that love? I don't believe it would be possible for us to meditate on His love for 5 minutes and let our hearts responding and saying I want to please him, I want to please him. He did so much for me, surely there's something I can do to please him.
And so of Tarsus meant the Lord on the road to Damascus.
He said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And so He had the privilege from that time on how seeking to live, to please the one who had died for him. And so this is very simple. And notice this word. Hence for us, but there's a pastime in our lives which as we said, we can't change. But there is a henceforth. I don't know how long it might be. It might be 5 minutes, might be.
And five months, I don't know how long it might be, but we do have the privilege of living the rest of our time to the little town. May his love constrain us to do this then.
And then he says in the 16th verse 4 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.
This verse might seem a little difficult to understand, but the thought is something like this.
But we were brought to know one another is that we have been brought into the family of God.
As I look into your faces tonight, I don't suppose that I would know any of you here tonight if God hadn't saved me and he hadn't saved you. But because he saved you and because he saved me, we're brought to know one another. There's a living link between all believers and the family of God. And as members of the body of Christ, we don't in the world, people know on another because they perhaps are in the same profession. Doctors know one another because.
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Doctors, dentists know, and another because they're dentists. Nurses know and another because they're nurses and they're societies for all these different things. And then two of nations, sometimes people know one another because if they're in a strange land, they have a little club for people of that particular nation. But you know, when we're saved, we may be in different rocks of life, we may have different backgrounds, we may be of different nationalities.
But what has brought us together always been brought as new creatures in Christ Jesus. Now this is important, brethren, this is very important for us, that if we think of one another as to our different dispositions and backgrounds and personal makeups, there may be what they often call a clash, There may be a clash of personalities. But if we think of one another as blind to Christ.
By then, we don't know one another after the flesh. We know one another because we're part of this new creation. We're part of this grand and glorious scene where Christ is the center. And when it says, though, we have known Christ after the flesh.
It just means this, that when the Lord Jesus was here upon earth.
He said that I am not sent but to the last sheep of the House of Israel, and that is when he was here upon earth. He was here as the messy, as the minister.
Of the circumcision to confirm the promises made to the fathers, and that since his rejection and his crucifixion, now the circle has broadened out. And God is not working just with one particular nation. He is working in all different nations. He is working and gathering out of all nations of people for heavenly glory. And when it says we've known Christ after the flesh, perhaps I could.
Make it simple by bringing before you the case of Mary. After the Lord's resurrection, she came and would hold the Lord. And the Lord said, touch me not, for I not ascended to my father, but go and tell my brother, my ascendant of my father and your father, and to my God and your God. If I could put it very simply, He said to Mary, something like this, Mary.
I've been rejected as the Messiah of Israel, and now you'll have to come to know me in a new way.
But he said, I'm not the one who's going to set things right for the nation of Israel. Now they've rejected me. But I'm going up there on high, and you must learn to know me in a new way. And so it is. We know Christ now as the man who's up there on high, who is gathering a people for heavenly glory. He's broken down the middle wall of petition, and Jew and Gentile are made one Christ.
We always remember this. We have been brought into a new relationship and I believe, brethren, we get along much happier if we realize the lenders of this glorious fact now that we are to know one another in this relationship and enjoy these blessed intimacies that belong to the fact that we are children of God, part of new creation.
In that glorious scene where all it is of the first creation will have passed away.
And Christ will be the center of it all, and God in the eternal state will be All in all. And now then, what is our position in this world, you say then? Well, here it says.
In the 20th verse.
And now then we are ambassadors for Christ as God, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's dead be reconciled to God. Now that is, what is our place here in this world? Why has he left us here?
Well, this world doesn't know the goodness that's in the heart of God. There's the world doesn't know the grace and kindness that's in the heart of God. They don't know why he's waiting and why things are going on as they are. But God has waited almost 2000 years and he's still waiting. The long-suffering of our God is salvation, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And so during the absence.
Of Christ. We're not left here to improve this world. We're not trying to bring in a new social order. We're not trying to promote our nation to be the top nation in the world. What are we here for? We're here to represent Christ and we're here to say to this world.
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By in spite of the fact that you nailed God's Son to a cross and spell the fact that you've sinned against him, He loves you and He's provided a way to bless you.
And that if you accept him as your Savior, he'll be made the righteousness of God in him. Then what a privilege, and yet what a responsibility is ours. Because we have noticed in this chapter, God has set for us very, very wonderful reasons why we shouldn't live for the things of time. We're not here to stay. We're just passing through.
Our lives are going to pass into review and we're people that are greatly loved.
The Lord Jesus loved us and gave himself for us, and He loves us to the end. Throughout our mistakes and failures, He still loves us and will for all eternity. Aren't these powerful reasons, then, why we should live for Him? Isn't it a privilege to represent heaven here upon earth when we think of all these blessed things and these assurances that belong to us, and we're in a world that's full of uncertainty and misery?
Men's hearts failing him for fear and wondering what's going to happen, Concerned about the whole situation, Concerned about whether there's going to be another war, Concerned about so many things. Isn't it a privilege to be in this world and to be saying to sinners, God loves you, and the only reason he hasn't stepped in and interfered in this world is because he's waiting to gather out of people for heaven before he judges this world in righteousness?