God Yearns and Hopes for Us

God Yearns and Hopes for Us

Colossians 1:5b

It's probably a foretaste of some light God has given me. Matthew 25:31-45, "When the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep at his right hand, but the goats at the left. Then the King will say to those at his right hand, 'Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see thee hungry and feed thee, or thirsty and give thee drink? And when did we see thee a stranger and welcome thee, or naked and clothe thee? And when did we see thee sick or in prison and visit thee?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to thee?' Then he will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me.' And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

The wise thing is to follow intelligently the sequence here even though now we should go into another hymn. I'm surprised I didn't mention this verse when we were talking about the possibility of God having arrangements for us after this life is over to go further into experiences to make us like Jesus. Maybe there are still questions like that but certainly this chapter is definite and clear that God will make a distinction between those that love him and those who don't love him. He states it very clearly here, whether we like it or not, that some will go away into eternal punishment. You do have to look at that and see that it is there.

If you'll forgive me from plunging right into the sermon, I would say the reason for saying anything here is I brought up to us all Lamentations 3:22, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end, they are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness." You remember I said to you it seems to state very clearly that God's love NEVER ceases; his steadfast love NEVER ceases. I took it further in a way; I said he keeps on loving us forever and it never ceases. So his purpose is that we all should be conformed to his Son’s image and that we should live with him forever and enjoy his love forever. It seems to me if his steadfast love never ceases, then surely that means somehow God will have some way of bringing us all into an oneness with Jesus.

Of course I made the point, as far as I could see God used this present life to show us in what way we are not like Christ and in what way we are not letting him live in us and it might be he would give us future lives like that. I began to think of something that touches all of us. For me it is my brother who did not appear to know Jesus and did not respect him in that way. Of course you all have relatives in the same way. As I said that I also shared that what we were involved in is expounding Colossians 1:5. "Because of the hope laid up for you in heaven." That's what we were expounding last week. What we are doing now is looking at part B of that verse. "Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel." I thought “the word of the truth, the gospel” -- that's the heart of everything; that's the knowledge of anything we have of God. That is what we have to expound this week. It is very important that I am expounding the word of the truth and not maybe wishful thinking of my own.

That's why I am back on this verse in Lamentations 3:22-23, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness." I was saying it is very plain -- NEVER ceases. I think you assumed with me that if his love never ceases, he can always bring about what he wants to do. I think we all left the meeting last Sunday with a general understanding that that could be so. I'd like to pay tribute to all of you for your trust and love of me and your praying for me. Not by any means but by letting Jesus show us all.

I would like to say for the benefit of those dear guys who might be alive if I'm not here, it is very good for us to have our faith in God's creation of his Body and trust he has a set up here that will be self corrective through the Holy Spirit -- IF we will continue to trust each other and respect each other -- which is what you all did with me last Sunday. Thank you for that, because it allows God to work in me and you. That's where I think we left it last Sunday.

Afterwards, Peg and I shared a little. She actually expressed something that I felt too. She said you know that would be great because in some way there is a bleakness in Christians about death. That is exactly right. Often we know heaven is there and because we are thinking of our unsaved friends and relatives or why. Often there is a bleakness, not a happiness. I agree with you.

Then I thought to myself even if these loved ones are not in heaven yet we know we are going to heaven, so there ought to be a brightness about that. I did notice part of what I shared last Sunday was the interest and excitement about the European probe and suddenly realized the size of the universe. It came home to me as I thought of that how God must have a lot of things for us to do. There must be a whole new life out there. So it is important for us to hold on to that truth, whatever we talk about today with our unsaved brothers and sisters. There's no doubt that God has prepared for us a wonderful life or series of lives in a huge universe. But I think that's where we left it last week, that that is the situation.

Was I happy? I'm never very happy when my wife has unhappiness about a thing like my emotionalism. As I am myself, not very happy about it. I'm not very happy that my feeling was very strong and emotional in regard to the love that never ceases. I'm not saying there wasn't any wisdom or insight in it. But it is enough to make me watch it with the emotions. There is only one place we find truth and that is with his dear Word. You have to stick with the word and that is what God has used through the years to keep me. I happened to pick this off my shelf and it is Wesley's “Christian Perfection”. I have written in it 'in memory of a work done 3 October 1964.' There in a room in north Minneapolis the Holy Spirit dealt with me.

Since 1964, I have been expounding this book [the Bible]. That's always been my concern: I have to stay with this book; I have to confirm everything with this Bible. It was especially important when you went out on a limb in Campus Church and Fish Enterprises and all that stuff. It was very important as nobody else was doing it. A few churches had a version of it. So it was very important to know where we were going. It was like a pilot leading the crew with a map. It was clear that Luther [Martin Luther] was right -- you are tied to the Word of God. That's your final 95 theses. So that's why I thought it was important to consider the teaching God has given us here. I began to think the thing through again.

So I got Peg's bleakness mentioned earlier and the probe to give me a taste of God's vast universe. Then I thought it was important to leave God's work to God's work. It's important to see that. I needed to see if all the evidence was in Scripture mentioned last Sunday, still even then I have to leave God's work to God's work. Leave God's responsibility to God. A little light came when I saw: have we the ability to consider where our relatives and friends are going to spend eternity? Have we that right? God seems to have said it isn't our right; it isn't our concern. That's what gave me a little pause in it. I thought I feel the same lightness about it as you do. It isn't so bleak now somehow.

Then I thought, is that because I will see them again. So I am kind of happy. Yeah, that's great. But that isn't quite right I thought. There is a mixture with all the attachment I had with Mom and Dad, all my relatives and friends. I am tying all my happiness at seeing them again into this business of what happens after death. It seems not right. In some way it is mixing up the consolation that God has given us with the future, where he alone is our consolation. That gave me some pause about it. Was I mixing truth about the future with something of the past that I had enjoyed? Was I someway mingling both and spoiling the purity of it? I was a little unhappy about that. With all those thoughts, I then went to this dear Bible.

Of course God is so good -- he knows how stupid we are. I went down to the library and found the theology section which deals with last days. This is only a hint. It isn't the answer. I looked at “The intermediate state by some guy from years and years ago. The Intermediate State between Death and Judgement Being a Sequel to After Death”. I looked through the chapter headings and came to 'A second probation inconsistent with Scripture' heading. God knows how stupid I am and it couldn't have been more plainly stated. Of course it is an old book and who knows what theology or background the guy who wrote it is coming from. It still caused me to pause. I thought thank you, Lord, for that little tap on the back. I haven't read the chapter through but primarily he is dealing with people who have never heard the Gospel, or even babies who die in birth. He's saying nothing happens and I would differ from him there. He was dealing with that particular issue, not the one we have been talking about.

Our issue is with our relatives who have probably heard the Gospel and been responsible with this light. But this caused me to pause – “a second probation inconsistent with Scripture”. So I went to the dear Word. I think one would be in favor of looking at my whole theory that everybody will come. I'll take you to the verses that I saw. Philippians 2:9-11, "Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

That verse implies that every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. What I wasn't really happy with was it can mean what it says: everyone will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, even if he isn't Lord of my life, he is Lord. Obviously Jesus was God's Son. I thought, now it can mean that. It can mean that everyone will see that Jesus is the Son of God. I don't want to be light about it but “you blew it!” Of course, it is more than blowing it; it is serious. Can it mean that? You can think about it yourselves. I think it can mean that and I don't think it is quite fair to swing it the other direction and say everyone is going to admit. So you might say that is still open and maybe it is. I was trying to find some words that very definitely state a person who in this life did not acknowledge Jesus or did not allow him to work in his life that they would be given another opportunity. You may ask, is it still possible? I couldn't say to you, no, it isn't. But this verse did not necessarily prove that. That's just one verse.

Turn to 2 Peter 3:8-9, "But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance." It's very favorable but in fairness the words are “the Lord is not slow about his promise as some count slowness, but is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” In fairness, it is saying that God doesn't want anybody to perish. He wants everybody to reach repentance. But I don't know if that is the same as God wishes that and therefore he brings it about. Because he says, "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered you as a hen gathers her chickens but you would not." Which implies one word from us can frustrate God's wishes.

Now if you say to me, can it be interpreted the other way? Maybe you can. What I am trying to do is make sure I don't mislead you or set you off on a path that may be wrong. So I think you would be the same as me. If you are responsible for other people’s lives, you don't want to run them close to death. You want to keep them well away from death. I feel in my present situation I have to point that out to you. Undoubtedly that verse points to the other verse -- the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. [Lamentations 3:22] God is never glad when anyone misses the way he has set for them. Indeed he yearns for them -- he yearns for the creature his hands have made.

That was the great thrust that came to me from the steadfast love verse. God loves us; he wants us to become like himself so he must keep on and keep wanting that for us until it comes about.

 

 

But, of course, God is the one who gave us free will. He is the one who gave us the right to say “no” to him. What we are engaged in saying is once we have said no -- you have to admit that all of us have lots of opportunities in this life and our relatives too -- it does seem that God does take no for an answer. There you have to think that through yourself. As somebody who is responsible as a watchman of Israel, I can't afford to run you close. I can't afford to say, oh well, maybe that is so. I think each of us has to find out and come to a place of peace for ourselves. That's the second verse.

There is one more. 
 

Romans 11:32, "For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all." What he is talking about is the Jewish nation and its relationship with the Gentiles. The whole doctrine that the whole Jewish nation has been saved, then the rest of the Gentiles will come in. That's what he means when he says God consigning all men to disobedience -- all the world is in rebellion against him. With the exception that he has chosen Israel. All are committed to disobedience; he chooses Israel and then brings Israel in and after that brings in all the Gentiles. That's what he is referring to there. That he may have mercy upon all. I think you can interpret the “all” as the Gentiles, not just the Jews. He commits Jews and Gentiles to disobedience so that he may eventually bring all; that is, the Jews and the Gentiles who accept him. It is not saying all the Gentiles will come in. It's just saying that the Gentiles will be given the Gospel as well as the Jews. You do need to think through those.

But the verses are there. Those are the three verses that I saw. There are a few in the Old Testament that talk about all the nations. Those are talking more about everybody seeing what the Jews have seen -- God is real -- not necessarily accepting him. If you ask me what do you think now, I think we need to stand firmly where we have been all through our lives in regard to this issue. But I think we have to obey God where he says no one knows the time and God himself does not judge; he commits all judgement to the Son. The verse states clearly that God has limited this to his Son and nobody else is in a position to discuss it or talk about it, or to try to determine what will be done on the Judgement Day.

That's why I read Matthew 25 because it is pretty clear there what Jesus is doing. I think the import of Scripture is -- this might be annoying -- it's not your business. In fairness to Peg, it was good for me to see, is my delight and joy as I think of the next life primarily connected to the wonder of the size of God's universe and how much he has for us to do? Or, is it primarily relief that I can leave my brother; he is OK. However unpleasant it is, I have to be straight with myself about that. I have to be clear, where is my peace and satisfaction coming from? Is it what God has arranged for my life and others who love him or is it in the fact that those I loved and still love in a sense will have another opportunity? Are you asking me if I'm closing the door? You know I can't close the door. It is you that has to see the way through for yourself. Because each of us will give account to Jesus on the last day. Each of us will have to settle things with God the Father.

If you say to me what do you think, I'm not sure. I think the safest thing is the way we always thought it. That's the safest. I certainly agree with all that we said last Sunday -- that our Father loves far, far more than we do. Maybe that is the right place. They are in our Father's hands and can I trust our Father with my brother or parent. Can I trust him? Is He where all my trust is or, is part of my trust in my own judgement about things?

You might say and have seen some people use the Bible in a fleshly way. You can use the words in the Bible in a fleshly way. We have a friend who we think does this. She says we know where we are going. It seems to us not the attitude that Jesus had for Mary Magdalene that even though she was so wrong and different from him, you felt he was close to her. So you can use Scripture in a fleshly way and that you are responsible for. OK, I'll keep quiet now.

Irene: It seems to me there is encouragement for praying for them while they are alive and not that they will make a decision for the Lord which is so shallow but that the Holy Spirit, who is always working with them, and responds to your prayers and is always trying to bring them to see it is me or nothing and we do not say anything. Whereas a lot of Christian work seems to be if I just talk to my sister about the right way or show her the right thing, or send her the right sermon, then she will make a decision. Whereas trusting on the Holy Spirit's work in them and allowing him to show you how to walk by faith and be available if they need you for whatever. Faith is believing that 'his mercies endure forever.'

Marty: It seems, Pastor, that we can be in obedience for whatever that person might need whether it is sending a sermon, or just pray. Then God is the judge and we cannot know and we can have the expectation that they are in heaven because they have made a last minute conversion which we aren't aware of until we see them in heaven. Or God who is the judge was so faithful in giving them every chance, his mercy did go on and he respected their free will and they still decided not to. So we can go into heaven knowing God is a faithful Father and he did everything supernaturally possible to bring them in. Perhaps the joy of being with him will take away the sorrow of not seeing them again because his sorrow is so much greater than ours. Sorrow and love flow mingled down. It is a mystery why the sorrow is overrun by the great joy. We know it will be a place of joy.

Pastor: You did well to finish the sermon because I wanted to say what you said a moment ago. Karl Barth has a saying that goes somewhat like this – “who knows whether they have turned at the edge of the abyss?” That was the thing that came to me -- finally only two people know: Jesus and them themselves. We cannot determine they have refused just by what they have said in this life.

Irene: There was an old, old movie with James Cagney where he played a dreadful, murderous gangster who has even killed his own mother. [Angels with Dirty Faces by Michael Curtiz] In it he somewhat befriended this priest -- I think this took place in Brooklyn -- who always went to talk with him in jail and pray for him. At the final shoot out, where he is collapsing and where he says 'Mother of God' it must have been a wise director who flashed to the priest's face at the same time and then it went blank. One never knew whether he had made it but it made a definite impression on your mind. Right up to the edge of death, he could make a decision.

Pastor: You do feel a little uneasy in your mind when you start thinking where the person is because you feel you can't touch this. You don't know and it's not your right anyway. It's a private thing between them and God. You do feel, I'm on holy ground here and I probably shouldn't be on it.

Irene: Even people who have come up to you after sermons and said, “That was great. I really saw when you said such and such.” I'm listening to them and I'm thinking, I didn't hear that. Even you have said afterwards that you didn't think you said that. It's revelation from the Holy Spirit to them for their conscience, their problems and questions they have had.

Pastor: It certainly feels, that's such a bad word to use, but you have used it for our spirits as well. We sense there is something more right in leaving it in God's hands, then a simple cutting of it up into satisfactory bits.

Peg: It's like a screen on the edge of the Tree of Knowledge. Death, we are uncomfortable about it. We have to come to a place finally where we say it. It's so funny how things stick out at you, but one thing when I went to Bill's funeral last week. The fellow who spoke said, "He never got hooked." If something came up to him, he would say that's not my business. That phrase has come back to me over and over again. There are so many things where it is not our business. There's a reason why God has hidden things from us. There are probably thousands of reasons why. It could be our downfall and trip us up and take us away from grace. I don't know.

Pastor: That's right - what you are saying came true. There can be a false reassurance here that makes us walk less free and less joyful, and certainly less dependent on him than you otherwise would be. There can be a false comfort we recreate for ourselves that actually substitutes for the real comfort that comes from God himself.

Peg: I do think the verses in Lamentations are very real and reassuring. They aren't dependent on our judgement but are dependent on his love.

Pastor: You feel that when in the Old Testament in Psalm 136 where it is repeated over and over, "His steadfast love endures forever." It mentions all the things they go through and all the times they have rebelled against him. His steadfast love endures forever.

Colleen: Two thoughts: one was in that verse in Lamentations. I was thinking about my brother's son, Alex. He grew up in a Christian home but he rejected his family for a horrible world. I was talking to Tom and you can't compare but I believe Tom will love him and so Alex dies to him. It's a pain and sorrow for him but it gave me a little light on there is a God who loves us unconditionally right to the end. God respects our free will. If we don't respond to his love, it is of our choosing.

Secondly as I finished Matthew 13, the whole chapter deals in parables. It coincides with what you shared in Matthew 25. The kingdom of heaven will be populated by the weak. Then the parables which mention the good seed and the bad seed side by side, the good fish and the bad fish. The second to the last parable caught me. The kingdom of heaven is like a net which you throw into the sea to catch fish of every kind. I was reading a book which was very helpful by an author who spent a long time translating and studying the parables. The ones who throw the nets are fishers of men. Our role is to throw that net but we can't tell what fish are going to enter that net. He goes on to say in the end it is the angels who get the right to separate the good from the bad. Finally the judgement of Jesus will come. Our place is to keep putting the net out and catching those we can because we know that churches, even Campus Church, have a real mixture of Christians and non Christians. But there was the possibility of hope and life from the Holy Spirit. It's been helpful for me to keep casting that net in whatever way that might be. As Marty shared however God leads us to pray, speak, send to people we come in contact with.

Pastor: It gets back to what you said: trusting his steadfast love. Does he love them more than we do? You get in a very dangerous position if you say to yourself he doesn't. Obviously they are in safer hands, his hands, than they are in our hands. In a sense, it is a way of self-deification to think otherwise. We know best. Probably that's what God gets at us in a discussion such as we have had or thoughts we have had along these lines. He is gently saying to us, now wait a minute, that's my job; that's not your job.

Colleen: Another author helped me in some of the things we were talking about. He said the process of prayer goes like this: The Father wills something, we as his children through the Holy Spirit puts it on our hearts, then the Holy Spirit rises up in prayer in us. We pray it back up to the throne of God through Jesus from whence the thought came from. You mentioned it several weeks ago that the Father wants to work but he isn't going to without us. Therefore, he puts on our hearts different people to pray for, joining the Holy Spirit and Jesus, for the things God wants for them. That allows God to be released to work in that person's life.

Pastor: You can see that it is part of the free will plan. He has committed himself to doing nothing by fiat. He has to have somebody on the earth who is praying and that someone is Jesus himself praying through us. Christ has to get one of us to express that prayer otherwise it gets God using us as robots.

Colleen: That made me realize how powerful we could be even in this horrible national crisis. He puts things on our hearts – every one of us - and we have a great power now to protect our world through our prayers.

Pastor: That's why it is important for us to be empty of ourselves and filled with him so that it is his life within us. Well, what I thought is it is something to be thankful for that God has given us each other and put us in this relationship so that he can work among us like this. It is a great privilege we have. It's beyond words because we all know churches that will allow the preacher to preach what they let him preach in a way. The person who speaks God's word can only speak what the hearers will listen to. So it is very much a twofold ministry that God has called us into. I'm saying that too for the benefit of the dear hearts who will do what I am doing if I ever go, which I have no intention of doing. It will encourage them to see that God will be faithful to us all whoever is here. He’ll be faithful to us and it will work miraculously. What did you say the Scottish think? Robbie Burns says in one of his poems, "The best laid schemes of mice and men go often awry." So maybe my plan of outliving you all will not work. 

 

Let us pray.

Dear Father, we thank you for your great kindness to us and your provision for us. We thank you you'd know a thing before it is done; you know a word before it is on my lips. We thank you for your goodness. We thank you we can rest in your arms that are underneath us and that assures us we are safe and secure. We thank you for your guidance in this dear Word of yours. We thank you for it and we thank you for the humility you graciously give us through your Son, Jesus, our Savior, so that we would bow down to you and to what you have said in your word.

Now we pray, Lord, for the dear hearts we know on this earth. We pray that you will move in their lives and give them revelation and light so that they may respond to your steadfast love that never ends -- that never ceases. Lord, we thank you.

Now the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with each one of us now and evermore. Amen.

Rejoice for the Hope of a Heavenly Home

Rejoice for the Hope of a Heavenly Home

Colossians 1:5a

Today's verse is Colossians 1:5. I think I have attempted to tackle it but I am still working on it. You remember Paul, in verses 3-5, has said we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love which you have for all the saint, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel. So he is thanking God for them because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. Of this you have heard before in the word of the truth, the gospel. Because of the hope laid up for you in heaven.

One of the commentators says it isn't the hope in your heart; it isn't that that he is praying about. You should have faith, hope and love. There should be hope in your heart but that is not the hope he is talking about here. He is talking about a hope, not in your heart, but laid up in heaven for you. It must have been allot of verses back when I came across hope [Romans]. I thought the poor guy or child, he hoped against hope -- was that Abraham -- hoped against hope for a child. I think of that we human beings have of hope. We have some hope, oh, yeah, we are hopeful. It may not rain today, we hope so. It's kind of a last hope. That's really in the back of our minds as human beings; there is some hope for that.

Of course this is absolutely different. Hope in the New Testament is absolutely different. It is a sure thing. It is something that is going to happen. It's something that you know is going to happen. It's like you are on your way to New York and you know you are going to get to New York. So you have a hope of getting to New York -- it's a certainty of getting to New York. It's hope in the sense that it is future. It's not hope in the sense I wonder if that will happen. It's an absolute certainty it will happen. That's what hope is here in this verse. It's hope that is certain and sure; you have no doubt about. It is not something you hope might happen.

You who aren't miserable Methodists will fully understand me when I talk about Arminianism. Some of us would know about it. Arminianism mean salvation depends on your own efforts too. Of course that is true and Wesley used it amongst the poor and outcast people he ministered to. Probably more appropriate would be his emphasis on your life (outward actions) is a picture of your faith (inner actions). You have to will yourself to do and in that sense it is Arminian. As an Arminian, I'm always very reluctant to praise Calvin [John Calvin, Theologian, 1509-1564], but he is a dear guy and a great man. He is extreme in his negative view of predestination but very strong on his positive. Calvin said, "Hope is the constancy of faith." The commentator I was ready said this is pretty much it. Of course it struck me as right. Hope is the constancy of faith. In other words, faith in the thing that's going to happen in the future -- it's undoubtedly going to happen -- you have absolute faith that it is going to happen.

So in the New Testament sense, hope laid up for you in heaven here is sure -- it's a cert -- it's a sure thing. It helped me when I saw the European probe. Of course the Americans were startled by it. Can any good thing come out of Europe they thought? They were set back a little on their heels. We didn't say it but all the television coverage showed surprise in America that the Europeans pulled it off. To me it was the beginning of the space age, more than all the other stuff, more than the space shots. I thought that over the period of 10 years, we travelled through space and we got somewhere over 500 million miles away. It was tremendous. We were out there in space for 10 years. We got to where we wanted to be and the thing was flying itself through thousands of miles an hour and we lit on the top of it. It was a magnificent achievement. For me, it made space smaller. It made it more manageable or it brought home to me this is all there and we are part of all this massive space. We are aware that beyond that there is millions and millions of miles beyond with more and more solar systems. Of course the theory is that it is expanding all the time. Whether it is or not, it is big enough as it is.

Suddenly I realized we are part of that. Then I thought it may not be fountains and gold pavements; it may not be harps and streets of gold; it may be something different. For me, it meant our Father must have alot of plans for us. He must have. Otherwise, why have all that space out there. Even if it is spiritual space and not physical space, it's alot. Our Father must have alot of plans. He must have with all the space out there. Space that wants to rule and fill with himself as he wants to do with this world.

The hope thing for me seems very real. He has a hope laid up for us in heaven. He has a whole life for us that is way beyond anything that we have touched. I began to sense this is something to look forward to -- not just to see Dad and Mom and all the loved ones we had -- it is a life far bigger than this one. We will have all kinds of things to do and all kinds of responsibilities; new lives filled with new activities with fuller satisfaction than we have ever dreamed of.

For me, it took on a much more concrete idea of heaven. I just thought this is great. I think you know what it is to look forward to something -- something that fills you with anticipation and you're really looking forward to it -- sometimes a vacation does but there are other things. That's what I felt. This is something we have to look forward to. It’s going to be something great -- far better than this present world -- it's going to be better than the life we have at present. It's going to be all the things we feel now; we'll feel much more of. It is going to be wonderful. It's something undoubtedly to look forward to. I never felt death was something to be afraid of anyway but I couldn't see beyond it too much. Now I think it is wonderful -- heaven is a hope that God has laid up for us and has prepared for us for.

That's where it came home to me -- why on earth did he make us? Why did he make us? If he has all this space out there and all these planets, why did he make us? That's what brought me back to the verse all things work together for good. [ Romans 8:28] It's undoubtedly the biggest general statement that's made of the purpose of the world. It's one of the best that explains what is happening to us. "All things work together for good to them who love God." The good is the next verse here in Romans, "that they may be conformed to the image of his Son." [verse 29] Of course for me it jumped on to the next conclusion which follows from that. Why conform us to the image of his Son? Undoubtedly he made us in his own image so that he could love us the way he loves his Son and we could enjoy the very best that he has. The very best he has is love for his Son and his Son's love for him. He wanted the very best for us. He made us in his image so that we could enjoy what he and his Son enjoy. That's why he made us in his Son, so that we could have his Son's image. We have a mind like his Son, a will like his Son, feelings like his Son, all those things. We could be like his Son and we could really enjoy their love. That's why he put us here.

The only thing he could not give us what his Son alone was able to exercise for us. His Son was able to exercise will and that's what made love possible. All of us in this room know that. You can't love if you have the will. You can copy; you can be dictated to. You can be domineered and dominated but you cannot love unless you are free not to love. Unless you are free to choose to love or not to love. So, he could not and would not make us with his Son's will. He could only make us in his Son's image and give us a will. He gave us the ability to choose or not to choose. But then that was up to us. He did make us in his own image so we could enjoy him and so we could be fully part of him but he did say, "if you want." I did not want robots; I don't want people who do what they cannot do otherwise. I want you to love me as I love you.

So he did give us free will.

That came home to me that he put us here, made us like himself so that we are free to love him but we have to choose to do it. I think I've shared this a little with you before. How on earth is he going to bring that about? All I saw clearly was that's why he let us do what we have done to this world. that's why he let it go bad so that we would see plainly what life without him was like. So that we would see we can love him or we can be like this. We have the freedom to choose one or the other. That's why he made us and put us in this place.

I don't know if you have really, really seen the lengths to which he is willing to go. The best picture I know that I have created in my own mind is Christ on the cross and then beating him or sticking swords into his side or spitting at him and him saying I will bear this until you stop. I think that's it. I know it sounds ridiculous. I think that's it. I have here the verses that Jesus speaks when he talks about the worm dieth not. It's in the section where it says it's better to be without a hand. It's some of the few verses where Jesus mentioned hell. [ Mark 9:43-48 ]

Every theologian and Christian has to reconcile that Jesus used those words. I do have to say to you there has to be such a theological theory as accommodation. It can be explained to you by this: "Did you see the sun rise today?" That's accommodation. I'm accommodating my saying to your understanding. But you know the sun didn't rise today. You know the earth turned round. But you would think it silly for me to say, "Did you see the earth turn round today?" Even though that is literally the truth. That is called accommodation. So you can say that or one is forced to say that. You have to be very careful with it.

You can't do that with the normal evangelical because he insists you not only believe in hell but you believe in burning brimstone. You are foolish if you get into an entanglement with that. But if you step back from that and you are reading Jesus' words undoubtedly it does have that feel for it. For one thing, it's a bit casual. It's better to get rid of a hand that is sinful than have two hands to throw into the hell fire. It's a little toss, well, it's a little like that. So it is possible Jesus is not saying people will burn in fire or hell.

It seems the attitude of his life and his Father's heart to us is the opposite. It seems the Father and Son are saying to us, "We will bear with you until you bear with us. We will accept what you do until you stop doing it. I will let you have your way until you start letting me have my way." That's the best I know with someone who allows his servants to say, "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases." [Lamentations 3:22 ] I think that's the verse that made me sit up and listen as well as I could to God's attitude to us. It seems to me his steadfast love never ceases. Never is never. It does mean that he is willing to wait and to wait and to wait and to suffer and to endure. His steadfast love never ceases.

I don't know if that's what mansions mean. I don't know if that is what Jesus means when he said in my Father's house are many mansions. I don't know if that's what he means when he says I have sheep of another fold. I don't know. But I can see that it is certainly possible that God keeps at us for as long as he needs. I agree I don't think there will be any fornicators in heaven. Jesus said that. I don't think there will people who oppose his Father's will in heaven. I think that's right. But whether God will give us another chance, maybe many more chances, I don't know.

Certainly you have to reconcile the statement: The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. You have to reconcile that statement with the others that say after this life that's it and yet take into consideration that God is eternally patient and has one desire above all others that is we would be conformed to the image of his Son and would share his love with him. I don't think it takes anything away from the ole purgatory idea which has the same idea. Purgatory is a place where you are purified. Undoubtedly that's what I'm saying in a roundabout way. That God will give us other chances.

So it seems the best attitude we can take is that it is not given to anyone what happens there. In fact, there is strong words where Jesus says the Father judges no one but has entrusted all judgement to the Son. We are not in a position to judge. I think there is hope, maybe that's it. There is hope; maybe it is not our place to decide whether our brothers or sisters go where they go. Maybe it is our Father's loving heart. That seems to me to have something of his tenderness. One has to go gently at it. Undoubtedly God has made us so we can share his love, the love that he has for his Son. Therefore we can be together and enter into a whole wonderful world that he has laid up for us in heaven.

We all know time is just a game and eternity is a forever now. Of course that exists at this moment. It is all around us. Sometimes I think they are sitting on our shoulders. It's all around us. We have wonderful discussions the two of us. Irene was asking what the incentive for evangelism is. Of course, for me it purifies the incentive for evangelism because it's no longer I'm doing this to save people but it is my Father that loves them, yearns for them, yearns for the creature his hands have made and misses them every moment and wants them in his own arms.

Of course that is the greatest incentive for evangelism. That our loving Father who has given everything for us is missing this person and will miss them. Why wasn't he happy with all the sheep, he had a whole fold of sheep? Why bother with that little sheep that is lost? The same attitude with the other parables where he talks about the lady with the lost coin. Obviously the Father's heart misses what his heart yearns for. Of course that's really why we want anybody to know about our Father and isn't that the greatest reason? Do you know what he is really like? Isn't that the tragedy? They think the fellow will throw you into hell if you don't like him. Our dear Lord must weep and yearn for men and women who know his heart and will care about his heart.

We are here to share with Britain or America God's heart; to express his heart because we think when they see him as he is and yield their will to him, they'll love him as we do. Let us pray.

Dear Lord, we thank you for your kindness to us and your patience with us as we blunder our way into understanding you. We apologize, Lord, if we make errors or if we inadequately express your love to each other. we ask for your forgiveness and for your light so that we may speak truly and live truly.

Now we pray, our Father, for all our relatives, friends and associates in business that they would do what we want them to do but that they would begin to glimpse what kind of person you are; that they would catch sight of your heart and that through us they would catch some of your tenderness and your mercy. We pray, Lord, that you would do that with us through these coming days.

Then we do thank you, Father, for the hope that is laid up for us in heaven. We thank you for the part that we have to look forward to; for the Lamb's wedding supper that will be our continual life. We thank you, Father, that we of all people have good hopes. We have the best hopes and we have everything to live for not only in this present life but in the real life that begins.

Lord, we thank you for your goodness to us and for your grace in Jesus' name. Amen.

Do You Love Your Brethren?

Do You Love Your Brethren?

Colossians 1:4C

There is still an important part that I didn't expound properly in the last verse we spoke about. I hope you'll be patient with me. I'd like to share with you what I wakened up with this morning. It's the verse which says, "If my people who are called in my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face; turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land." [2 Chronicles 7:14] I was thinking what can we do in this wasteland which we find ourselves in the present society.

This society which seems to have forgotten the bit of religion they did seem to be practicing in many of the churches. What can we do in regard to revival? Obviously it gets kind of boring me saying, apart from anything else, pray for revival; pray for revival. What can we do? This seems to be the guideline with this verse of what we ourselves can do to enable God or to open the way or to fulfill the conditions that God requires in order for him to bring an enlivening Spirit into our society.

That's obviously what we need; we need a hunger in men's and women's hearts for God; a revelation; a light of the purposeless life that we are now moving into. People are killing themselves because there is no reason for living. People are bewildered not just the older ones who are coming to the end of life but even the younger ones now are drugging themselves to death. So it's a serious situation and we badly, badly need the only one who can change the heart of the society -- that is our Father.

He is saying to us if my people, you are my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face, then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sins and heal their land. It behoves us to see in what way can I humble myself before God. What way can I seek his face? What way can I pray? What way can I turn from my wicked ways so that he will answer me?

That's what I started to do myself. It will tie up with the previous verse. I don't have to look too far; I think you all know how many excuses we can put up before us individually and one another. We put up with it. I have all kind of things to do; I am doing business at this time; I'm doing theology or religion at this time. You can only do so much for so many years. I have kept a place of chaos. I'm sorry for the wife because she comes in to the office and my desk is continually strewn with stuff; yes, I know where everything is. It seems to me that is not the best. I can see some wicked ways I have been a long time turning from and I need to now turn from. I do think there are things like that. There are practical things that are wicked ways. I'm just talking about myself. You have to talk about yourself.

There are certainly ways which are wicked? Yeah, I suppose you don't call them wicked but really I think they are wicked as any other ways. They are not God's best for us. It seems very important that we turn from them and they are practical things. I thought of one that has occurred to me several times over the years. It came to me when I realized I hadn't expounded the second part of that verse. [ Colossians 1:3 ] " We always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus."

We dealt previously with 'faith in Christ Jesus.' That has sunk into a speculative, rational thing as Wesley has said it isn't. "Faith is not just a speculative, rational thing; a cold lifeless assent; a train of ideas in the head." We talked about how it has sunk into that.

Many people believe faith in Christ Jesus is believing Jesus died for your sins so yippee you are free from your sins. They give assent to that intellectual concept. It is the famous substitutionary three of the atonement which we have always defended strongly in evangelicalism as the heart of the gospel. It isn't the heart of the gospel at all. It's often been an excuse for people to say I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But of course it is not IN the Lord Jesus Christ; the Lord Jesus Christ is not in me. I do believe in his death for me and I do believe he has saved me from my sins and enabled me to get to heaven. He is not in me. No fear -- it's my life and I live it. Christ lives in me? No, no I live.

Most Christians live in that concept. They don't believe the Lord Jesus Christ is in them. They don't believe they are in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no connection between their belief and their outward life. Indeed their outward life is not affected by Jesus. So therefore a lack of the Lord Jesus Christ in their life. We talked about that last day.

No, no I don't need deep insight, I just need to remember the dishes need to be in the dishwasher. If I don't put them in, someone else will put them in. It comes home very clearly to me -- have I love for all the saints? -- Yeah, for everyone but the one who has to put the dishes in the dishwasher. It becomes very personal here at home and lots of subtler ways than what I have described. That's an obvious one I can see.

I don't want to canonize the girl here, Peg, but it can click in your mind, oh, Peggy can do that or somebody else will do that. Love for all the saints takes on a real, practical meaning when we are living together like this. I thought you almost have to say, "No, Jesus, you don't have to pick those up. [pounding on his chest] Leave them -- somebody else will get them." You have to pause for a minute -- is that what he is really thinking? -- is that what he thinks? You dare not ask yourself that question because you know he isn't thinking that. It seems to me it gets down to that kind of thing.

It's the same thing as you and I saw in each other's eyes last night when I had a go at this lady. I may have misinterpreted this lady but I don't think I did. I think you knew by the tone of voice, or the wrong comment at the wrong time can break that bond. You and I know it pretty well when it happened again last night. So I think it takes on very fine things; it takes on the obvious things like not putting dishes in the right place or not cleaning the drip on the carpet when you see this is my home and I should do that. That's an obvious one.

I think there are many subtler ways, many of which you and I have solved between us that refer to tone of voice, or when we speak facetiously to the other person, or, we speak a little too quickly or, we assume an authority or right that is not ours. There are many things like that that concern loving the saints. We are either by his love building one another up or making the day a little heavier. Keil Delitzsch is wonderful with his Hebrew. This morning he was dealing with the words that David's enemies were using against him in a certain situation. He expounded the verses that made it very clear to me of words being arrows going into another person which hurt them deeply. I can see often my 'arrows' do that to you and you all bear it very kindly and graciously. I can see how words can be arrows that dig into you. However used to them you may get, I'm trying to correct you in a certain way and it turns out to be sarcastic -- harsh, cutting and caustic way. There are many things like that that concern our love for each other and the love of the saints.

I can see how Jesus within us -- that's always the question -- why Lord don't you bring revival? Because you won't turn from your wicked ways. You still have a tone of voice or an attitude towards another person that is not love. It is not love of the saints. You are still crucifying my Son within you or destroying or repressing/suppressing him. The promise is very real here. "If my people who are called in my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face; turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land." It seems to me that's the answer to the questions, "What can we do to open the way for God to bring revival?" Obviously it will indeed start in our own hearts as we would abide by these verses. Because it seems to me you or I or whoever it is, as you start taking this as your home, not just the home that somebody else looks after for us. God will touch us and will affect us.

There are lots of little ways. I'll say this one if I may because I think Marty was going to do it anyway. I'll say, "Brother, it would be good to light those ornamental deer up from the deck. It will give Peggy a lift." It expressed the love that we have for one another. She put them out there to look at and nobody has done much with them. Where as if somebody lights them and somebody feels it was worth my while doing it. That's part of it. As we do these little things that seem so little but little things that occur to us. Mind you, sometimes we can get so used to living in our own world and not regarding that as love that it doesn't even occur to us to do it. There is that too.

We need to pray for light for our blindness because often we don't see these things. Often we do see them; they do cross our minds but we step gently back from them. We step back from loving all the saints, particularly the ones we live with.

It comes down to either I can be softening the atmosphere so that it is easier to perceive Christ or I can be hardening the atmosphere. That's where light comes in. Often I would say to Colleen I know you have a way of speaking but the truth even if it is an unconscious way of speaking; even if my funny remark is used to correct you, it can still cut the atmosphere like a knife. It can still harden the atmosphere.

It's interesting; even in a sense, it doesn't have to be a conscious sin or a determination to do what you know is wrong. It can be an unknowing doing of wrong. It still brings a hardness and an insensitivity to the atmosphere. That's why God says, "Blessed are they that thirst and hunger after righteousness." [ Matthew 5:6 ] They that want to know more; that want to understand more so they can be like Jesus. That's part of the love for all the saints too. Not just the avoidance of hurting a person but how more can I build them up. How can I do something beautiful or something that will lighten their life or lighten their heart.

I think that is all part of, you might almost say, a Spirit of revival occurs any time someone turns from a hardness that is not of God. In a sense, every time someone turns from a hardness that is not of God. Every time someone turns towards the soft, gentle heart of Jesus himself or herself, every time comes in a freshness of the water of life that is part of the beginning of revival. A revival means 're' [again] and 'viv' [life]; life coming again. Life comes again where there was a deadness.

I think it is important that we see a sense we are living ourselves in a Spirit of revival and in the aliveness and sensitivity of revival or we are living in deadness. That's the way we can facilitate the overall revival that is needed in our society. So I thought those were some things worth mentioning to you and particularly to myself.

Are there ways, Lord, where I can love all the saints more than I am doing? Of course living together like this there are a thousand, thousand ways in which we can love each other anew and afresh. Love is always creative and always a beautiful thing. I think you are aware as much as I am that we are very privileged to be able to talk about these things together. I do not know how many husbands and wives talk about these things. I do not know how many families talk about them. I have a suspicion that in these days very few do. We are very privileged to be in the position we are in that we are still alive and still aware and conscious of these things. We can still listen to each other as we talk about them and encourage each other in our most holy faith. It's a great privilege we have. Let us pray.

Dear Father, we thank you for calling us to such a practical life with so many obvious opportunities to express your heart or to see the hardness and the coarseness of our own hearts. Lord, we thank you for what we would have avoided at all costs. We would avoid living in a fish bowl. We hate the idea of somebody seeing what we are, not only our beauties but our ugliness.

We see, Lord, is it a great privilege that you have given us so that we do not have to wait for a great judgement day in order to see ourselves as we really are. You allow us to do that not simply through other people telling us but through us seeing your beauty in each other. We see in each other attitudes we suddenly realize we don't have; seeing in each other things that are attractive and remind us of you and things we know you want us to have.

Lord, we thank you for the saints you have given us to live with. We thank you for all the blessings that come through their lives. We thank you, Lord Jesus, that there is only one source that they come from and that is you. There is none good but God and no one pure and true but you. You have given us the opportunity to carry you around and to allow you to live and express yourself to our faces, hands and voices. Lord, we thank you.

Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with each one of us today, tomorrow and evermore. Amen.

Faith in God’s Unconditional Love

Faith in God’s Unconditional Love

Colossians 1:4b

The verse that we are studying is Colossians 1:4, "Because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints." I hope to try to explain a little about the love for all the saints. But you remember last Sunday we talked about first part of the verse "faith in Christ Jesus."

Faith is often what Wesley said it isn't, "Faith is not just a speculative, rational thing; a cold lifeless assent; a train of ideas in the head but a disposition of the heart." I think many people reading these Bible verses about how he was glad and giving thanks for the faith they had in Christ. We know what that is -- believing that Jesus is the Son of God and that he has died for our sins and because of that we are forgiven. That is regarded as the gospel in these days still. The statement of the facts that Jesus did, therefore God has done that for our sins and we are forgiven. So we can go on now and live the best we can for him.

But of course faith in Christ is much more than that. You and I have spent much time in that the reality is each one of us here are God's workmanship [Ephesians 2:20]. The world of Christendom doesn't know anything about this next piece. They really don't. "We are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus." They do not believe that. No! You mean Hitler was created in Christ Jesus! That's what they say all in their little religious clubs interpret it plainly. Those people who say they know where they are going; the people who are going to church; the people who are Christians. They are the ones created in Christ Jesus. That's how they have become a new creation. Of course that is the second creation that is the new creation. Those who are truly in love with Jesus they are created in him as a new creation.

This verse is saying what John 1 is saying. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God; all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made." All things were made in him including Hitler; including all the bad people; everybody was made in the beginning in him. The 'in him' and the 'Word' in John 1 was obviously Christ. Of course Colossians says it again later on that all things were made in Christ. Of course the world doesn't believe that. We say we have faith in Christ but it isn't faith that we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus. It's not that. It's faith that we will be saved if we will believe that Jesus died for us.

Of course the faith that is real is the faith that we are in Christ Jesus. There is a closer relationship between me and Marty if I am made in him; as opposed to me believing that he exists. There is a great deal of difference in the two. One is a mental concept and the other is an all consuming sense that I am part of him. Of course that is what faith in Christ is. It's faith that we have been created in Christ.

Of course the sequence of that is everything we do is done in Christ. We are all very glad of that if you think of all the good things we've done. Oh, I'm glad it's because of Christ that I am able to love people. It's because of Christ that I do things for other people. But what about the bad things we've done. Were they done in Christ? That's part of it. Faith in Christ is that we were created in Christ; we were made inside him and our whole life has been lived in him. The things that we do we do in him. The things we do to other people are done in him. They don't only bear them but he bears them too. Faith in Christ is that all our lives are in Jesus.

It makes for a very different attitude to him when you sense that. You realize I don't live like that. I don't live as if when Jesus put this book down, I put it down. Or when I put the book down, Jesus puts it down. That isn't so. I don't live in the sense that whatever I say I force him to say. That isn't true. So, faith in Christ means you begin to realize, wait a minute, I'm part of Christ. Well, I don't have the attitude that he has. I don't feel like him about God. It begins to come in upon us that your attitude is not his attitude at all. His attitude was that his Father had made the world and his Father ruled everything. His Father loved him. You don't have that attitude. It begins to dawn on the person, yeah; I don't believe God has anything to do with my life.

So slowly it creeps up on a person, in various ways, sometimes suddenly as on the road to Damascus, but sometimes very gradually a person realizes I don't have any relationship with God who made this world. They begin to be concerned about that and begin to find out more about this God. They begin to realize they live their life as their own life not as something directed by him and something planned by him. They live their own life and they do whatever they want. Gradually there becomes an awareness in them that they are not living in reality. They are not living as God wants them to. They have a sense that they do what they want to do not what God wants them to do.

Gradually the faith in Christ begins to develop in a person. They sense that God is not their God and they have little to do with him. There begins to come into their minds a sense they need to do something about that. They need to begin to get to know this God and to get to know his Son. Gradually they start to move toward God. He begins to work in their hearts and bring to them a sense that the only way this can work is allowing Christ to have his way in their lives. That's the moment when they face, either an altar or quietly at night at home, they face the issue will I let this Christ have anything to do with my life. Will I let him live in me? If he is in me, will I let him live in me and I live in him? They start to deal with Jesus and then God begins to work with them. Eventually sending the Spirit of his Son into their hearts so there comes a time when they at last say yes, I will let you do what you want with my life.

We often found when helping a person at the altar that people do an awful lot of crying. Then you would realize they were crying because they wouldn't let go of their own life. They wouldn't let go of their own will. The crying often came to an end when they at last bowed the will and allowed Jesus to come in.

Sometimes you would have a situation where you might say to a person, "Well has Christ come into your heart." They would say no I don't sense that. Then they would pray further and God would reveal something of the will that they were not ready to bow to Jesus and then they would bow to it saying yes he's come in. It is that element of will that is the heart of having faith in Christ. If that will isn't there you can call it faith in Christ but it isn't total trust of Christ and total obedience to him. So there is a sense where God tries to send the Spirit of his Son into a person's heart but there is no room because the spirit is set, obstinate and stubborn in the will. Until the will bows the spirit cannot be touched by the Holy Spirit.

There is a real change comes in the new birth when a person bows the will to Christ and allows him to live the life he had planned to live for him in the world. That's the moment of the new birth. The moment when you know the forgiveness of your sins, you don't just believe them. When that comes God sends the Spirit of the Son into your heart and the Holy Spirit sheds the love of God in your heart. That love there is the love he has for other people. It is the love that is supernatural because it comes from God's Spirit into you and through other people. It is the love for all the saints Paul is talking about here in Colossians. "I thank God for your faith in Christ and your love for all the saints."

The love flows out of the faith. If the faith is a real total faith involving the will and the Spirit of Christ coming into you and you giving your own life and will over to Christ, then the Holy Spirit is ruling in your heart. That begets in you; the Holy Spirit sheds abroad in your heart the love of God and the love of other people. You can see that faith in Christ and love of one another are joined together. The one comes out of the other.

Where you have a purely mental, speculative, rational thing there is no real interaction with the Spirit of Christ within and no real dealing with the will. This kind of faith is part of why so much Christianity is shot through with so much antinomianism. Antinomianism is believing in God but acting against him; mainly doing whatever you wanted. 'Anti' and 'nomos' means 'against the law.' It is believing whatever you do, God will cover it up with the blood of Christ so carry on doing your best but you can't avoid sinning at times. That kind of sinning Christianity can't produce any kind of love.

That's where you get philanthropy planted on top. Not that all philanthropy is bad. What you end up with is not real Christian and spiritual love but a kind of philanthropic attitude or sense of obligation towards other people. Often you get two levels in Christianity, mental belief in Christ as Savior and then this do as much good as you can. Much of the good works is done on that level almost on the level of philanthropy. 'Philo' and 'anthropy' means love of man rather than the love of God. It's not a creative spiritual ministry; it's rather something that in a way holds back the power of evil in the world. It's part of the preserving grace of God.

Where you have a real 'New Birth' and people who have a sense of Christ within them and allow that Spirit within to govern their lives, then you get love that is shed abroad by the Holy Spirit which is very different from ordinary love. It is a love that is just bursting out. You are full of it bursting out. You can't hold it back. It's natural; something that becomes natural to you. It's Christ loving through you to them.

The love that is described in 1 Corinthians 13. It is that kind of love which is beyond the ordinary thing we talk about as love which is a mixture of kindness, sometimes guilt and sometimes a desire to help the world to do good. You can see there is an almost automatic connection between real faith in Christ and the love of your neighbor. The one stems from the other. It isn't something that has to be planted on top. The heart of it, you can see, is faith in Christ.

The issue is is the faith in Christ an all consuming, overwhelming, volitional [will] act of the Holy Spirit? Is it a new birth in the Spirit or is it a reformation; a turning over a new leaf in your life and beginning to take an interest in others? The two are connected tightly. This is part of the reason why it is not just ideological or theological or intellectual to define faith in Christ but a total will surrender to Christ’s Spirit. It's vital to hold on to that. That faith in Christ is all absorbing. Wesley used the term a recumbency on Christ; a lying back in his arms because there is nothing you can do yourself; an absolute dependence on Jesus. It is an absolute submission to him surrounding your life and being you life. There is a totality about it that's not present in an intellectual or mental assents.

So the two are very different. It does help you at times in dealing with people to see the difference. Finally it's the Holy Spirit within that can use you to bring them further on. It is the Spirit of God needed to bring revelation that they are living the life that Christ is meant to live in them. This is an absolute slap in the face to their Maker. If they don't see that, then they won't make the complete surrender that is needed for God to send his Spirit into their hearts.

It might help you to see that often you have many people nowadays who believe all the right things or appear to believe all the right things and make a great deal of their surrender to Christ. They believe in Christ, their Savior and they will say those words. But they themselves will not have been touched by the Holy Spirit or made alive by the Holy Spirit. Look at the statement in the Bible where Jesus says the Holy Spirit is with you and in you. We often interpret that one was the carnal Christian and other was a person filled with the Spirit (in the position of the Spirit being in them). But the truth is the Spirit being in you is the Spirit being life to you. Jesus was talking about the Spirit being with you while I am here on the earth but when I go up into heaven, I will send him to you and he will be in you. So an ordinary Christian will have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them.

Now the issue is is the Holy Spirit kicked out from time to time? He will come into you and he will dwell with you and you with him. It is that issue; he dwells with you but will you dwell with him? Will you let him be the owner of the life or will he just be the consultant? That's where the Spiritual vs. Carnal Christian comes in. Anyone who is a Christian the Holy Spirit has regenerated and made them alive inside and is in them. Therefore Jesus' promise is fulfilled.

So that, I think, is some explanation of the strange position we are in these days when so many people say yes I believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior. You can believe in him as a mental exercise and a mental assent but will you let him run your life. That's too often thought of as the extra that comes when you are filled with the Spirit. But in fact to be born of God you can only be born of God if the Holy Spirit has regenerated you because you have submitted your will to Christ. I suppose that's why I bring it to you again and again of the importance of Jesus being in us and of him living our lives and us doing what he wants.

Is that clear? Always feel free to ask questions, I'm always ready to answer any.

Irene asks: Don't you think it is confusing when people say I am a Christian, I am born of God but I am not in the sanctification thing. So they aren't willing to go further in faith with the Holy Spirit. They have gone up to a certain point with their wills and then no further because of their wills. So I think there is some kind of confusion there.

Pastor: "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled." [Matthew 5:6] John Wesley would say, have you a clean heart or are you going on to sanctification or a clean heart. Are you hungering for it? What you are saying is settle down; this is the level of commitment I want to make.

Irene: I have gone to the point of justification but I don't want to go that far. So you can't actually do that. When someone asks are you going on to sanctification and if you are not, where are you going? I remember that quotation, "The love of God is shed abroad in the heart." The Spirit in us is crying 'Abba, Father.'

Pastor: Well, we need to be real with God. Let us pray.

Dear Lord, we know that it is too easy for us to water down your truth and not live in it ourselves. So we would bow before you this morning. Lord Jesus, we would look into your face and listen for your voice so that if there is any way we are not living the way you want to live in us, we would see that and bow our wills to you. We would begin to let you do whatever you want in whatever area of our lives that is. We know, Lord Jesus, that all will be saved if all is submitted to you. All will be touched with your beauty if all is given to you. Lord, we would give our lives anew to you today so that we may have faith in you and love to all the brethren.

We thank you, Lord Jesus, that your life in us is a whole. We thank you that if there is a lack of love in any way in our hearts then you yourself will pour that into us if we are willing to remove our resistance to it. So, Lord Jesus, we would trust you to give us light so that we may see clearly and surrender our lives completely to you for you to do what you want with.

Now the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with each one of us now and evermore. Amen.

Faith is Manifested in Brotherly Love

Faith is Manifested in Brotherly Love

Colossians 1:4a

Please turn to Colossians 1:4 as I'd like to remind you of the verse that we are dealing with today. Obviously I'll only be dealing with a little of it. "Because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints." That's it -- "your faith in Christ Jesus" is the little part of the verse we will be talking about. It's in connection with that that we are reading these verses in John 5. It's part of what faith in Christ Jesus means.

John 5:17-47, "But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is working still, and I am working.' This was why the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God." Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever he does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son, and shows him all that he himself is doing; and greater works than these will he show him, that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and give them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the son, even as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life."

"Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, and has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment."

"I can do nothing on my own authority; as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. If I bear witness to myself, my testimony is not true; there is another who bears witness to me, and I know that the testimony which he bears to me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony which I receive is from man; but I say this that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony this I have is greater than that of John; for the works which the Father has granted me to accomplish, these very works which I am doing, bear me witness that the father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness to me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen; and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe him whom he has sent. You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to me; yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from men. But I know that you have not the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive. How can you believe, who receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; it is Moses who accuses you, on whom you set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"

You can tell yourself even though those words are familiar to you that there is a whole attitude in that chapter there where Jesus is very clearly drawing them into the same experience he has with his Father. He's concerned with their relationship with him as he is with his relationship with his Father. That's what faith in Christ is. I bring it up now so that you will see the value of these readings and be able to think it through. The verse we are studying has Paul rejoicing and thanking them because of their faith in Christ Jesus.

It's so easy to drift right in to the common, shallow, light interpretation to that phrase. "Faith in Christ" -- Oh, yeah, I have faith in Christ. You're saved by faith in Christ. By faith in Christ I am justified." Wesley puts it very well, "Faith is not just a speculative rational thing, a cold lifeless assent, a train of ideas in the head but a disposition of the heart." [John Wesley's Teachings, Volume 2: Christ and Salvation] It seems that is one of the great weaknesses in our present day and has been for generations.

Faith in Christ is so often interpreted just as Wesley says “a speculative rational thing, a cold lifeless assent; a train of ideas in the head” and not as it is outlined here in this chapter -- a disposition of the heart. A relationship with Jesus that is close, deep and intimate and is daily and continuous. It is what governs your life. So often it is expressed here is the secret -- if you're not sure whether something is right or wrong -- think; what would Jesus do? Dear love us; bless our dear stupid hearts, we think that is deep. We say that's it.

Of course if you examine it, all it is is a speculative rational thing. It's an assent. It's saying I remember the kind of life Jesus lived now would he do that. I couldn't imagine him doing that. So I won't do that. It's purely a human thing; purely a psychological inference, an intellectual assent. It is not a thing that comes from the heart. Of course we are busy, whether we are aborting or not aborting; whether we are supporting this subject or that subject. We are playing on that level of the mind; of the intellect and of ideas. Nothing touching the heart of the spirit. No touching of the spirit; just on that level below it.

I would say the greater part of Christendom in the East and West is that. Most things come down to that. It's the old forensic gospel: we should die for our sins, Jesus died for us, and so we don't need to die. It's that. It's that building on that whatever emotion you can. Of course in today's world building on it with whatever political view you think it supports. There's little of the heart of Christ; little of the heart of God in it. Of course when you read chapters like this in John you realize Jesus is not saying to you, "Here this is what you have to believe. If you believe this you'll have eternal life. Believe this little thing and you'll have eternal life." He's saying this is the relationship I have with my Father and you will have this relationship with me, therefore you will be a part of our relationship. So we will all be one together.

It will be a heartfelt, deep attitude that is brought about by his Spirit in us. When you talk about faith in Christ you are talking about something deeper. I came across an old commentary some years ago. Actually I was struck by it because it was such a beautiful set of books. We might have it in our library. It's by Gill. He comments on this verse in Colossians, "We have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus." He says, "This expresses the matter of their thankfulness or what it was they gave thanks to God for -- their faith in Christ. By which is meant not only their hearty assent to the whole doctrine of faith concerning the person, offices and grace of Christ; their soundness and steadfastness in it and their sincere, constant confession of it but the grace of faith in them; the operation of Spirit of God in their souls which had not Moses or any other man but Christ for its object; by which they looked unto him as their Savior, went onto him as such, ventured on him, committed on to him, leaned and relied upon him; that grace which comes from him has him as its author and publisher and returns unto him and lives on him.

I thought Gill was beginning to hit it. That it isn't simply a belief in Christ as God's Son or that he has worked some forensic deal with God over your sins but it is he himself is the one in whom we were made. It is in him and with him we were raised up and made part of his Father's family. Faith in Christ has the very 'IN" strongly in there. If you look up 'in' and its meaning, the emphasis is 'not movement but position.' It's explaining and describing a position in Christ, really part of Christ. So faith in Christ is being a part of him.

If you remember the verse in Romans which says you were 'baptized into Christ." The word there implies into or becoming part of him. So faith in Christ is that.

Then the truth that God made real to me as I thought about this this morning -- this is a difficult one to get over to you -- I can feel it but how do I express that. "Christ where do you want to put that book? Do you want to put it on the table?" That attitude would be right. I know it sounds stupid. But we are in him and he in us. There is no question -- if we go into a shop, I don't trail the wife along or expect my puppy to follow me -- I would ask her, would you like to go into that shop. That truly is faith in Christ where you would treat Christ as a real person inside you.

I don't know that would say your mind would be caught between thinking the thing you were concentrating on and then thinking of him but I think you can exist on two levels. I think your spirit can be in Christ and yet you can deal with the situation here. My plea is that faith in Christ is a real sense that Jesus is inside you -- that this is his life -- that these are his hands. He is in this, here he is today. He is here in me. He is here in me to bring his Father's world under his Father's will and he is in me and these are his hands. He has a say in this. I'm not involved in second guessing by asking what would Jesus do with this book. I feel he is there saying, "I'm here. Why not check with me?"

I think we have grown so used to the other that we miss a lot of the joy of the Savior's presence in us. Of course we miss the mass of the freedom from worry and anxiety that his presence in us brings. Undoubtedly we fall into all kinds of attitudes and tones of voice because we know he is somewhere here. But we haven't much time to wonder about what he thinks about the situation. So I think we miss a lot that our faith includes. We miss a lot in our lives because of it. Of course the world misses badly his touch. I always think that if I am curt or sharp with Marty or Irene. It's really trampling over the one within me who wouldn't dream of being like that. At that very moment, because of his love for us, he is endeavoring to soften it and give you the patience and the forbearance to receive it and still to love me. Of course it isn't just me. We are all involved in it in some form.

It does seem to be faith in Christ is more that. That is what faith in Christ is. I do think that's why the apostles operated as they did. You often wonder if it was both Peter and John who came to the gate and the poor man was with hand out and begging. I always wondered if Peter read it in some book or must have prepared to say that or maybe he just thought how can I get around this guy without giving him anything. Obviously when he said, "Silver and gold have I none...." it was the Savior inside him. He had no doubt it wasn't his hand that was reaching out. He had no doubt that his hand had no power to heal the man. He had no power to heal the man. It was Jesus in him. That's the whole meaning of the resurrection. It's that the Holy Spirit lived now not only in Jesus but he lived in these men who believed in his Son and had received their position from him. So Jesus now lived in them. Faith in Christ means that.

Of course we read in John 15:4, "Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me." Without me you will not be able to do anything. So that in a sense is why we have such a powerless Christendom because there are lots of people going around saying we have faith in Christ but really they don't have faith in Christ as the Bible uses it.

I thought it was important for Communion today because that's what we do. You have to admit it isn't harder for the Father to make it clearer. This is my blood and this is my flesh. How much clearer can you make it to mean? Our faith in Christ means that he is in us and we are in him. In that sense we can live just as Paul said, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith in the Son of God." [Galatians 2:20] So I put this book down -- no, not I but Christ. You may say you can't be holy, holy all the time. No, but it seems to me the more you can remember what reality is, the more really you will operate yourselves and the more realistically you will deal with each situation and each other.

Let us pray.

Now the grace of our Lord Jesus, the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with each of us throughout this day and week. Amen.