Sermon in Phoenix 11.05.2014

As we pause this evening before God's holy and precious word, let us quieten in prayer and thanksgiving.

Holy and righteous God, beloved Heavenly Father, as we've gathered this evening before your holy and eternal word, we pray, dear Father, that you would bless us according to your holy and righteous will. You know the hearts of each of your children who are gathered here. You know of their thoughts and their concerns. You know of the consequences. You know of the content of their heart. And you know, dear Father, of those matters that might be weighing or heavy. You know of those matters also that are those matters of joy and thankfulness.

And so we simply and humbly ask, dear Father, for your service blessing, that you would divide. Divide your word according to your holy and righteous will. We thank you this evening, dear Father, for the gifts and blessings of this day. We thank you, dear Father, for our mothers, of whom we've remembered today, of that love that they've shown to their children. To their children, that they've shown to their families. That heart that you've given to them. Given to serve in this way, according to your will.

We also thank you for the abundance of other blessings needful for body and soul. And pray, dear Father, that you would continue as you have until this day. Blessing us, feeding us, clothing us, and most of all, carrying us and keeping us as your children. We simply and humbly pray, dear Father, now for your blessing. Amen.

Amen.

I thought for our mutual study this evening, I wanted to read a few words from the end of the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians, beginning with the 16th verse, 16, 17, and 18. And the words are as follows in Jesus' name:

For which cause we faint not, but for the sake of the Lord. Though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. 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. Amen.

We have this evening gathered again before God's word. Amen. And in God's word we find such promises of joy and comfort for the child of God. We find instructions, word of teaching, admonishment, and so on. But this evening we also find ourselves as travelers, as God's children, making those kinds of footsteps. And we find ourselves as children, making those kinds of steps that will one day end in the glory of heaven.

It is a good journey that God has placed us on. It is a good end that waits for the child of God. And into each of our lives it has been given a special place. Little boys and girls have been given a special place. It is a beautiful choice, a joy that comes to them, and a joy that will only last after the life that we have under his control. And the best thing about life will be the perfect life that is eternal.

Sometimes it is a good one. Sometimes it is a bad one. Sometimes it is a Hence- accents political honored words as they have we've just taken each of the words of life or whatever we please best described it as we have been to this country as the people in the last ten years. CRT as the faith. It is that kind of blessing that comes from the hand of our Heavenly Father.

And when we consider even today the theme of text that we have before us, it speaks about how a man yearns for his eternal home in the glory of heaven. The Apostle has written, with those kind of loved ones. We've remembered today mothers and the blessing that those mothers have given to us. There are so many blessings, too innumerable to even mention, as to those blessings that mother has brought.

You children, I'm sure, as I didn't and I still don't, but remember even to consider of how much the mothers have done for us. Mothers have been given a special place also in this life. They've given of their own lives, how well they've served us, how well they've taken care of us. And that mothering doesn't end, does it? Just because we get older.

I'm already getting to be an older man. And I still have a mother. And she still likes to be a mother. She likes to remind her little boys of how things should be and ought to be. And continues to teach about those blessings and those gifts and about those mysteries that come through believing.

So mothers have a very special place. Mothers have a special place. Children have a very special place. But yet all of God's children have a special place.

This apostle that wrote this epistle, Apostle Paul, he also had a special place in God's kingdom, but he hadn't always been a believer. Remember the apostle was that one who had persecuted the believers. He was not a believing man. He was a Christian. And he had made fun of and ridiculed and mocked. And even more than this, remember he was on the way to Damascus and he had papers in his hand allowing him to take Christians back into captivity. And he was doing that kind of harm against the church.

But as he says out of ignorance, he didn't know. He didn't know that those ones that he was persecuting were believers like you and I. And God had a special plan for the apostle. Before he was the apostle Paul, he was Saul of Tarsus. But God had a special plan for him. He called him to be a worker in the kingdom.

This was not an easy chore. It was not an easy task for him in that he had ridiculed and made fun of and mocked the believers. In fact, we remember when Ananias was sent by God to see Saul of Tarsus in that city of Damascus. Ananias asked this question: Is this the same Saul of Tarsus that persecuted us and ridiculed us?

He didn't want to go there. He didn't want to go there. But God told him that he has a special plan for Paul. Paul had that kind of reputation of the persecution that he did against the church. It was so that after Paul's conversion that he went for a period of time, some years in hiding. Perhaps it was so that he went into hiding so that some of those things that he had did would settle down and simmer less.

And then when it was God's time, he allowed Paul to begin that preaching. Many people would have looked at him and said, aren't you that one? Aren't you that one who persecuted the church? And so on. So he would have had that kind of reputation that he needed. And so he would have had that kind of reputation that he needed to live under. But yet, God told him that he also had a special plan for him. He told Paul that he would have to suffer many things for his name's sake.

So when Paul writes these words, he doesn't only write of his own travels. He doesn't only write of his own difficulties. But he also writes in general about that which it is for a child of God to endure as a soldier, as he writes to Timothy and Titus. He encouraged them that they would remain steadfast in faith and doing that work that God had entrusted them with, and so on.

It is that same word of encouragement that we this evening are given as God's children. There are times when we are ridiculed in this world. We are made fun of and mocked. Maybe not so much to our face, but I would be willing to think, willing to bet that you mothers who have had large families, as you've left the clinic, the doctor's office, after a certain number of pregnancies, there would probably be those people wondering and questioning what is it that allows this mother to accept these children as God's gift?

On one hand, there might be some respect. On the other hand, they probably think mothers to be foolish. They cannot live in this world in this moment. In this day that we're living.

There could be many reasons why the believer might be seen to be foolish or to be unwise. It was also that way during the time of the apostle. Not all of those people during their time thought the believers to be wise. In fact, very few of them.

Remember in the beginning of Paul's epistle to the Corinthians when he had just briefly before that left Athens, Greece where he had discussed and debated with those Greek philosophers about those philosophies of their day. Whether there was one God or many gods or a God. But Paul wrote that God in which he worshipped was the living God.

And that would have been a difficult time of discussion and debate for Paul for sure. In the face of man's wisdom it's often the child of God feels very small in trying to relate or confess of that Christian hope that is in your heart.

So in all things we in our day even feel at times to be in the face of man those kinds of travelers that feel the affliction, the troubles, our own flesh and corruption, all of that which we experience.

And so in our text that the Apostle has written and we began the end of this fourth chapter with these words that for which cause we faint not. And he was writing of course prior to this of the ministry in which he had been called.

He was saying that the gospel that is in us if it's hidden us it would also be hid to them that are lost. Meaning that if we didn't preach God's word or allow God's word to be known and seen that there are those who are lost around us who would not be able to see or find God's kingdom.

And it is according to God's word that in order that a man might reach heaven he needs to find God's kingdom here upon earth. And so if our gospel would be hid if it wasn't revealed or spoken to those on the outside of the kingdom how might they find a place of comfort and forgiveness and hope.

Isn't it so that God's kingdom is that kind of a kingdom of hope. The child of God is a child of hope. The apostle writes in one place that we are justified by grace and he also includes hope in that.

Hope is a good thing. Hope is that kind of a desire or that kind of a thought that it gives us courage. It gives us hope. It gives us hope. It gives us that kind of possibility that today is going to be a good day. Or we have hope for tomorrow. We have dreams. We have plans. And this is how God has ordained it to be.

He didn't want us to be those kinds of sullen and downtrodden believers who would not be able to look forward with hope and joy and expectations even in this life. But God wants His own to enjoy this life that He's given to us.

He also wants us with hope in our hearts to look forward to that eternal hope that waits. And this hope in the heart of a child of God is that we are not alone. We are not alone. We are not alone. We are not alone. We are not alone. We are not alone. We are not alone. We are not alone.

Which carries us from one day to the next and to the next. If we had no hope, as the Apostle said, we would be of all men most miserable. But we have hope of that eternal reward one day in the glory of heaven, don't we?

So we say often that our hearts or rather that our feet are firmly planted here in this world. Here in this soil of the earth. But our hearts are far away in the glory of heaven. Isn't this how it is?

We live our lives daily. We experience those joys that come. We also experience the trials, the sorrows. We experience those times when we lose loved ones. We experience those trials of hell. Of health. Of illness. We experience those trials of loneliness. We experience many trials that come in this life.

And this is what the Apostle has written about. He writes of those things. He says, For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

And we have this trial of loneliness. This is the treasure of living faith in earthen vessels. And he says it's for a reason. That the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us.

He's allowed it in such a perfect way that this treasure of living faith is buried in the inner part of man. This is where we carry this treasure of faith. It's in our hearts. And the heart is that most protected organ behind the ribcage and behind all the protecting things that God has allowed it to be.

And this is where we carry this treasure of living faith. And as the Apostle says, we have this treasure in earthen vessels so that the excellency of God would, the excellency and the power may be of God and not of us.

He's allowed it to be that we have this treasure that we carry this treasure of faith in these sinful and earthen vessels.

We remember throughout God's word how so often it is spoken of this that we are both righteous and unrighteous at the same time. It's a mystery how we can be both holy and righteous and on the other hand sinful and corrupt.

In the same body, in the same members, in the same being, we walk through this world with corruption, with sinfulness at the same time bearing about in this corruption this treasure of living faith.

And it's for this reason that God has made it in such a perfect way so that we can't even in any way any small way start to claim goodness for ourselves. To say that oh I'm worthy of this salvation. Or that we're that kind of a traveler that you know we're good enough or we've done good enough or we've traveled good enough that we can say that this is the reason that we're on our way to heaven.

But when we've felt and we feel our corruption brothers and sisters, as difficult as it is, it's a good thing. It's a good matter if we realize the depth of our sinfulness.

God loves the sinner. And of course he hates sin. But God loves the sinner. And when the sinful person finds himself in need, the sinful person, the sinful person, the sinful person, the sinful person, the sinful person, the sinful person, this is what God wants.

Some of you children brought gifts I'm sure to your mother today. And those gifts are special. One of my grandsons in one of his writings to his mother or about his mother at school he was writing about his mother for a Mother's Day gift. He said mother loves me the most.

We all have that kind of hope that our mother would love us the most, don't we? Sometimes we'll bring a special gift to her that she might love us even more than our brothers or sisters. We're that kind of selfish people. At least I am. Maybe you're different.

But I always as a little boy hoped that my mother would love me more than my siblings. I wanted her to love them also but me just a little bit more. So my grandson takes after his grandfather.

And I'm like I'm not going to tell you what kind of gift did you give your mother. There could be many. It could be a card. It could be a gift of money. It could be something special that you made. It could be a list of chores that you would do for them to do for her. Many things you could do for this kind of a gift.

And your mother would love and she did I'm sure love whatever gift you gave her. But what kind of gift would God want us to give him?

I've thought of this because God's going to give us a very special gift at the end of our journey. A gift that we can't possibly understand. A gift that supersedes that is far above any kind of earthly treasure.

Sometimes as little boys and even as big boys we ask what kind of treasure would we like the most? Some of us might like a fancy new car. This would be a nice treasure. Some of us would settle for just a brand new set of golf clubs.

There would be many different kinds of treasures that we might receive that we would feel very fortunate to have. But they pale by comparison. And we with our own minds can't even comprehend what a gift of eternal life will be.

How do you measure that? What is it? You have experienced in your life a time of peace. You have also experienced a time of trial and struggle. You have experienced a time of war. Spiritual warfare that has gone on in your heart.

You have experienced those things because you are a child of God. You have experienced that time of peace that comes when your sins have been forgiven. Haven't you? I have.

When we felt so troubled by sin and the burden of sin that is so close and our conscience has been wounded and we wonder how and where we will be able to take care of those matters that are burning.

But when God sends those kinds of angels it could be a mother it could be a father it could be a brother any kind of believing friend when they come to talk to us and they ask us do you want to have your sins forgiven?

And of course we would say yes we would want to have our sins forgiven. And then that gospel is preached and after a long battle with sin and even the trouble that a wounded conscience brings and when that freeing gospel is heard there is a time of peace that comes.

And it is a peace that only the child of God knows so well. You know it don't you? You've experienced it in your life.

When you feel that there's nothing right now that's convicting you nothing at all and in fact there have been those moments where you say okay come God now and take me home. I'm ready.

We have as Luther says when we have a clean conscience we have a glimpse or a foretaste of heaven. So this gift this treasure that is waiting for us in the glory of heaven is that kind of a gift and how would you multiply?

You know we have a free conscience a clean conscience here. How would you multiply that and how many times would you multiply that to consider that well this might be what heaven would be like?

And how do we know? We don't. It is only through faith that we hope one day to make it to that place.

And so when we've been given a gift we often want to give a gift in return. So what kind of gift then does God want of us?

The only thing God wants of us and we can give to him is a sinful heart. And he's that kind of a God that kind of a father that loves a sinful heart.

If you any one of you brothers or sisters tried to give me your sinful heart I'd say I don't want it. I have one of my own. But this is what God wants.

This is how majestic and powerful and rich our Heavenly Father is. This is all that he requires of us is a sinful heart.

This brings comfort then to the child of God that okay if this is all that he wants we'll give that to him willingly.

This is the reason that he sent his son for us. Because he knows that we are sinners. He knows that we have need of forgiveness and grace.

And this is what God he said he God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. God sent his son into this world from glory to redeem us from sin.

So this is that which God has done on our behalf. But yet we carry this treasure in earth and vessels.

The apostle also says in this chapter that we're persecuted but not forsaken cast down but not destroyed. Always bearing about in the body the dying of our Lord Jesus.

That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. And at the end of this chapter then when he concludes this chapter when he when he's taken this earthen vessel this vessel of clay and the persecution and the struggles that we have as God's children he says for which cause we faint not.

Remain endeavoring brothers and sisters. Don't tire. Don't faint. Don't give up. Don't let God in the battle. But through our outward man but though our outward man perish yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Haven't we seen this also? Even in our most recent days and weeks and months we've seen how the outward man perishes. We weaken and we tire. We get older. It's inevitable. We're born into this world to one day die.

And so this outward man tires and weakens and perishes. But the inward man, this new man in us, this man that is born of the Spirit, this Lord and Savior Jesus Christ that dwells in us, this is renewed day by day.

This never dies. But this is renewed day by day. And how is it so that this inward man is renewed? It is simply by hearing the healing self of the gospel.

How has it been for you, brothers and sisters? Haven't you felt so comforted when you've been able to renew those promises again, day by day, and to hear, even at the end of a long day, a tiring day, or a fun-filled day, that kind of comforting word of the gospel, that dear travel friend, your sins are forgiven in the name and purpose, precious blood of Jesus.

Isn't that inward man renewed and strengthened and encouraged? And with joy, we take those footsteps homeward.

And as the apostle says, for our light affliction, he doesn't say heavy affliction or burdensome affliction, but he says, for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

This brief time that we live on this earth, even if we live to be 80, 90, 100 years old, it is still a blink of an eye in the face of eternity.

And so, this is what the apostle writes, that this light affliction, this trial that we face here, is but for a moment, and one day then, in the glory of heaven, we have this eternal weight of glory.

This is what there is that's waiting for the child of God.

And as he says, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, those things that we see in this life, we want to see them. We won't see them any longer in the glory of heaven.

All of this that we know will be gone. And we don't know, and we can't see yet with our own eyes, those things which are eternal. But this is what faith is for.

Faith functions as a telescope. When we look through a telescope on a starry night, we can see stars that are well beyond human eyesight or even human understanding.

Even when you get to a high mountain in a nice, cold, crisp night with no moon, it's hard to imagine how many stars you can see even with the naked eye.

Yet when you see through a telescope, those stars become closer, bigger, and multiply in number.

And this is how faith functions. Here we see in part. We understand in part. We see, as the Apostle said, through a glass, darkly. Kind of foggy, as I was asking our departed brother, Kevin, only a few days before he passed from this life to eternity.

And how is it now, dear brother? The gospel has been preached so many times. You've had the reassurance of your family and loved ones that you're on the way to heaven. Is it so that you can see heaven closer?

He says only dimly. Yet through faith we can see. And this is the purpose of faith, that we can see those things that are far off up close.

So through faith we can see that which waits for us. We don't understand. We don't see with our own eyes. We don't know with our own minds. But this is that which waits there in the glory of heaven.

And what is that glory of heaven? The Apostle says, 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.

John has written in the book of Revelations about heaven. You can read there what heaven is like. And I've read that many times. It's interesting to read.

And as a young man, I was so intrigued by those streets that were paved with gold and all those gems and minerals and the glory that must be there. This was intriguing.

But for me, as I've grown older, those things have much less significance than this one matter. That one day, in the glory of heaven, there will be eternal rest.

We tire. I don't know about you, but I tire. Not only physically, as a person grows older, but even more. But spiritually.

Do you find yourselves tiring and wearying over that battle that you face from day to day? Do you find that that old corrupt portion of flesh?

Have you ever prayed as the Apostle prayed that that thorn that is in your flesh should be removed? The Apostle prayed three times. How many times have you prayed? Probably well beyond the number three.

God didn't remove it from the Apostle, but rather he said, I will leave it there. For my strength is made perfect in weakness.

And this is what God wants for us. He has allowed that thorn of our flesh to remain there. It buffets us, as he says, as a buffet of Satan.

That we wouldn't become so exalted in ourselves, but mindful that we're weak and faulty travelers. And that we have a better place in the glory of heaven waiting.

But yet we find, don't we, how often the journey is tiring. We often find that the flesh is close. It wants to draw us away from the teaching of God's kingdom. It wants to even cloud the the the and girls.

We're all little boys and girls in God's kingdom, aren't we? You can believe your own sins and faults forgiven in the Jesus name and the precious atoning blood.

And in such a secure way you can go to your night's rest trusting again in God's care and His goodness.

I also at the end of this day ask that can I also hear that same gospel? I so want to believe with each of you. In the Jesus name, Amen.

Let us quieten now and hear the benediction. Where we say the Lord bless us and keep us. The Lord make His face shine upon us and be grace unto us. The Lord lift up His countenance upon us and give us peace. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.