MC LEAN BIBLE CHURCH OCTOBER 7, 2012 PASTOR LON SOLOMON

Transcription

1 MC LEAN BIBLE CHURCH OCTOBER 7, 2012 PASTOR LON SOLOMON >> LON SOLOMON: It's great to be studying the word of God together as the entire McLean Bible Church family today. Well, you know, three weeks ago we began a four-part mini-series entitled our salvation in Jesus Christ. And in part 1, we talked about how our salvation works. And we saw that the answer was imputed righteousness. Which means that when we believe in Jesus Christ, we don't really become righteous -- we're still sinners through and through -- but God credits to our account, God imputes to us righteousness, not a righteousness that we have earned by our own effort, but rather the righteousness that the Lord Jesus purchased for us on the cross and that God credits to our account as a gift. And then in part 2 we saw that once we've trusted Christ, our imputed righteousness, our salvation, our place in heaven is eternally secure, regardless what we do or don't do from that point on. In part 3, we answered some practical questions about eternal security. And then last week in part 4, we looked at two great results of our salvation, namely peace with God and access to God because we are children of God. If you missed any of this, I urge you to pick up the CD in the lobby before you go or go on line to our website and download and podcast it. But you know, this mini-series is supposed to be over, except when I was thinking this week about where to go on to, it occurred to me there was one more thing we needed to talk about in order to make our treatment of the subject our salvation in Christ, really complete. And that is the consummation of our salvation at the end of our lives in eternity. So in part 5 of our four-part series -- ha-ha, which is what we're doing today -- we're going to talk about the consummation of our salvation. So are you ready? Yeah. >> LON SOLOMON: Here we go. Our passage is Luke Chapter 24. A little bit of background. Jesus has risen from the dead. He's appeared from two -- to two men walking on the road from Jerusalem to the little village of Emaus. They have gone back and found the disciples, Peter, James, John. And said we just have seen the Lord and he's alive. That's where we pick up the story, Verse 36. As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself appeared in the midst of them and said to them, peace be with you. In John's gospel account, we learn a very important fact about this gathering where Jesus suddenly appears. John tells us, Chapter 20:19, that the doors were locked when the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews. Why is that important? Because it explains what happens next. Verse 37. But the disciples were terrified. And frightened. Supposing they were seeing a ghost. Remember, every way into this room was locked, and yet suddenly here was the Lord Jesus standing in the middle of the room. And he didn't come through the door, and he didn't come through the window. He just appeared out of nowhere. And Jesus said to them, why are you afraid? And why do doubts arise in your heart? Look at my hands and my feet and know that it is I. Touch me and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. Now, what was so special about Jesus' hands and his feet? Well, if this really

2 was Jesus' tangible body, that had been crucified three days before, then there should have been nail holes in his hands and in his feet. And folks, there were. We all remember the story of doubting Thomas in John Chapter 20. Thomas said unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, I will not believe. And Jesus said, Thomas, put your finger here and see my hands. Stick your finger right through the hole if you want to, Thomas. And Thomas didn't even need to do that. Just seeing the hole in Jesus' hand from the nails on the cross, Thomas immediately exclaimed, my Lord and my God. The point, my friends, is that after the resurrection, not only did Jesus have a real tangible body, but it was his body. The same one that had been nailed to the cross. Or was it? You say, what do you mean, or was it? Here's our question: Was this the exact same body that Jesus had had while he was here on earth before he died on the cross and rose from the dead? The answer to that question is, not quite. I mean, this body that Jesus now had could pass through walls and doors. As we just saw in Luke 24. We know from other passages in the Bible that this body Jesus now had could appear and disappear at will. John Chapter 20. That it could levitate. And fly through the sky. Acts Chapter 1. That it shined with the brilliance of the sun. Revelation Chapter 1. And also in revelation Chapter 1 we're told that this body was a body that would live forever more. It was an immortal body, a body that would never die. The point is that the body Jesus had after his resurrection was his -- all right -- except it was different. It had been transformed. It had been trans muted. It had been transmogrified. Philippians 3:21 call it is now a glorified body. 1 Corinthians call it is a heavenly body. Call it is a spiritual body. And here's the best part of all. Bet part of all is that as believers in Jesus Christ, the Bible says that one day in eternity, God is going to consummate our salvation in Christ by giving you and me a body just like this. Listen, 1 John 3:2, beloved, we are now the children of God, and we know that when he, the Lord Jesus, is revealed at his second coming, we shall be like Him. Philippians 3:20, he says for our citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly await our savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will -- watch now -- transform our lowly bodies into -- into what? -- that they may be like his glorified body. So this is what the future holds for us. This is the consummation of our salvation is receiving one of these new glorious bodies. The Bible goes on to tell us a little bit about these bodies. Not a lot. But a little. For example, we don't know all the details -- are you going to get your bald body or the one that had hair? Can't tell you that. Are you going to get your pre or post pregnancy body? Can't answer that question for you. But I can tell you five things about these bodies that the Bible does tell us. And I want to do that quickly. So here we go. Five things about these new bodies. The Bible tells us that they're going to be heavenly bodies, 1 Corinthians 15:40, bodies that are heavenly as well as bodies that are earthly. Right now we're living in earthly body, bodies that are designed for living here on this planet. And as such, we are subject -- these bodies are -- to all the laws of Newtonian physics, to

3 gravity and inertia and the second law of thermodynamics, which is why these bodies over time age and they break down. But our new heavenly bodies will be different. They will be designed for life in heaven. And in heaven the laws of Newtonian physics do not apply. This is why Jesus is glorified, heavenly body could do what it did. It could fly around. It could go through walls. It could appear and disappear at will. Now, according to the laws of Newtonian physics, this is impossible. But remember, Newtonian physics describes life in an earthly body. This was not an earthly body anymore Jesus had. It was a heavenly body. And man, are these bodies going to be fun? Huh? Yeah. These are going to be cool. All right. No. 2. The Bible also tells us that our new bodies are going to be powerful bodies. 1 Corinthians 15:43 says our earthly bodies are zone in weakness. That is when they die and when they're buried in the ground. But they are raised in power. Our earthly bodies are perishable, they're breakable, they're weak. But not our new bodies, friends. Our new bodies, they are powerful bodies. They won't be vulnerable to bacteria and viruses and disease and decay. They won't be susceptible to injury and exhaustion and aches and pains. They're powerful bodies. And this is why in heaven there will be no wheelchairs. And in heaven there will be no crutches. And in heaven there will be no handicapped parking spaces. In heaven there will be no doctors, no nurses, no ambulances, no hospitals, no emergency rooms, no trauma centers. No In heaven there will be no respirators, no hearing aids, no insulin, no pace makers, no antibiotics, no anticonvulsants, no radiation. No chemotherapy. There won't even be Tylenol. Because we're not going to need it. We're going to have powerful bodies. Praise God, huh? How cool is that? (Applause) No. 3, these new bodies we're getting are going to be spiritual bodies. 1 Corinthians 15:44, says our earthly body is sown, buried, a natural body, but it is raised a spiritual body. Now, what that means is Romans Chapter 5 tells us that every one of us in these bodies have a sin nature. That we inherited from our parents. Adam and Eve. But 1 Corinthians 15 is telling us that our new bodies won't have that sin nature. And just think what that's going to mean. It will mean our glorified bodies won't want to do wrong all the time, they'll want to do right all the time. It means when we try to obey God, that our bodies will cooperate instead of fighting us. How pleasant will that be? It means no toddler in heaven will ever say no. How pleasant will that be? (Laughter) These are bodies that are spiritual bodies. No. 4, these body are soon going to be incorruptible bodies. Corinthians 15:42, Our bodies are sown in corruption, but raised in incorruption. The trumpet will sound and the dead in Christ will be raised -- what? -- incorruptible. Our earthly bodies are corruptible. They're mortal, they die. But our new bodies that God is going to give us are utterly and totally incorruptible in heaven. There are no cemeteries either. And there are no funeral homes either. And there are no hearses either, because nobody's dying there. You don't need these things. And finally, No. 5, these new bodies are bodies we must have in order to live in heaven. 1 Corinthians 15:50. Now, I say to you, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. And corruption -- that is, our earthly bodies -- cannot inherit incorruption. That is heaven, for this

4 corruption, the earthly bodies we now live in, must put on incorruption, and this mortality must put on immortality. The Bible is telling us that only an incorruptible, immortal body can live in an incorruptible, immortal place like heaven. This is the great news of the Bible. Is that if you are a born again, justified by faith, regenerated believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, God's going to give you one of these bodies. 1 Corinthians 15:51, for we, that is believers in Christ, shall all be changed for the trumpet will sound and we shall all be raised incorruptible, with a body that we need to live in heaven. Without one of these, can't live there. It's like taking this body and going to try to live on Jupiter. Can't be done. And people outside of Christ don't get one of these bodies. And therefore they can't live there. So let's summarize. What have we learned? We've learned that the Bible says that in eternity, God is going to consummate our salvation in Christ by giving us a brand-new body A. glorified body, just like the one the Lord Jesus got after his resurrection. Number one, it's going to be a heavenly body. No longer subject to the physical laws of this world. Number two, it's going to be a powerful body. No longer susceptible to the infirmities of this world. Number three, it's going to be a spiritual body. No longer in rebellion against God. Number four, it's going to be an incorruptible body, no longer subject to mortality and death. And number five, it's going to be a body designed to live eternity with Christ in heaven. The bottom line here -- and this is what I want you to see today, is that as followers of Christ, the gospel of Jesus doesn't end with our salvation on earth, it ends with our glorification in eternity. We praise God for that. Yes? Amen. (Applause) All right. Now, that's as far as we're going to go in our treatment of the subject. Because we're going to stop now and ask our most important question. And all of you at Loudoun and Prince William and Bethesda and down in the edge and around the world on the Internet and here at Tysons, we know the question. Are you ready? Ready. >> LON SOLOMON: Deep breath helps. Here we go. Nice deep breath. 1, 2, 3. >> ALL: So whether a? >> LON SOLOMON: I messed your timing up, didn't I? That wasn't that good. Come on now, we're going to really do it this time. 1, 2, 3. >> ALL: So what? >> LON SOLOMON: That was much better. You say all right, Lon, I appreciate this. This is cool. But I don't have a glorified body right now. You know, on the beltway I can't just fly up and over top of the cars and -- you know. (Laughter) >> LON SOLOMON: And when my boss is yelling at me, I can t just disappear. So what good is this to me right now? Let's talk about that. My son James, oldest son, went to the U.S. Naval Academy. And he was a plebe there in And as you know, during your plebe summer and your plebe year, there -- they're designed -- they're trying to break you down so they can rebuild you the way they want to. And the people in charge of this are called detailers. They're the ones that yell at you and scream at you and -- and just make your life miserable.

5 Anyway, I tried to write my son Jamie a letter almost every day, to encourage him. And I would always send along a far side cartoon. Because I figured he needed is a yuck, you know what I'm saying? Going through this. And I found a Far Side cartoon once that said how birds see the world. But I scratched that out to send it to him and wrote down how detailers see plebes. And I show you what that looks like. (Laughter) With the little target on top of the head. See what I'm saying? Yeah. Then it's funny. So he put it on his bulletin board outside him r his room and he said he could hear sometimes sat night detailers come walking down the hall, stop for a minute, read the cartoon and break out laughing in the hallway. You know one other thing I sent my son every time I wrote him? I sent him a verse of scripture. And early in the summer I sent him this verse, 2 Corinthians 4:17, for our momentary light affliction is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And later my son told me that he taped this verse into the top of his hat. So he could look at it every day. Sometimes more than once a day. And remind himself that plebe summer would one day be over, and plebe year would one day be over. And if he would just stay faithful and keep his eyes on the finish line, that once he got through it, he would be really glad that he did it. It brought hope and encouragement to him. Now, that's an okay application of -- practical application of 2 Corinthians 4:17, but that's not really how it's used in the context of 2 Corinthians 4. Let me show you. Here we go. 2 Corinthians 4, Verse 8. Paul writes. Even though we are hard pressed on every side, and persecuted, and struck down, and constantly exposed to death for Jesus' sake, we know that he who raised up the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us up with Jesus and give us glorified bodies. And since we know this, therefore we do not lose heart. Here comes my verse. For our momentary light affliction here on earth is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory in heaven. While we do not focus on the things which are seen here on earth, but on the things which are unseen, the things the Lord has promised us in eternity, for the things which are seen are temporary. But the things which are unseen are eternal. In context, 2 Corinthians 4:17 is not talking about making it through plebe summer, not talking about making it through plebe year. Not talking about making it through plebe anything without losing heart. It's talking about making it through life. Making it through life without losing heart. And what these verses are telling us, is that the way we do this is by keeping our focus on eternity. The things that are unseen. The new bodies the Lord's going to give us, the new world the Lord's going to take us to. The glorification he's going to perform on us. This was why Paul said, Romans 8:18, for I consider that the sufferings of this present world are not even worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us. Now, friends, there are a lot of us here today who are discouraged. You say, how do you know that? Friends, I know that because that's what this world does to us. There are a lot of us here today I think who are struggling. Not to lose heart, as the apostle Paul said. Well, friends, the apostle Paul right here in 2 Corinthians 4, tells us that he's right where we are. He talked about being hard pressed and being persecuted and struck down, and even being exposed to death. And he

6 says, but we don't lose heart. He said, because we don't focus on the things which are seen. On our momentary light affliction here on earth. But we focus on things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporary, Paul says. But the things which are unseen, are eternal. Paul is saying to us, the way I keep from losing hope and losing heart is that I keep my eyes on heaven. And on all the glorious things that the Lord has promised me there. And I understand that this is just temporary. But that's going to be eternal. Now, friends, this is how we do it too. And don't get me wrong. I'm not saying we shouldn't pray about our troubles and pray about our difficulties and pray about the tough things in our life. And ask God to intervene and to help us here on earth. To lighten our load. And many times God does that. And that's great. And it lifts our spirits for a few -- a few moments or a few days. And it gives us hope here on earth. But then the world beats us down again. And we find ourselves struggling again. Not to lose heart. That's just the way it is here on earth. And that's why the Lord has offered us something to give us eternal hope. He didn't have to tell us about these glorified bodies. He didn't have to tell us what awaits us in heaven. He didn't have to tell us how different life is going to be. But he did. And once he told us, he said that will give you hope that transcends the things of this world. Keep your eyes on that. You know, my son John, my youngest son, was very athletic little guy. And he loved competing in the presidential fitness. You know what this is. Where you have to do all the different events to get the badge. And he -- he started when he was young. 6, 7, 8, 9 years old. And for each one of those ages, there's certain things you have to do. But one of them is you have to run a mile. And for each age the timing is a little bit different. So I would take him over to Woodson High School in Fairfax. And we'd practice running the mile. When I say we'd practice, what I mean is John would run and I would time him. That's we practicing. (Laughter) The mile. And you know, he would get discouraged. He was 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years old. He'd lose heart. He wanted to give up. You know, he'd be exhausted. And his legs would be hurting him. And he'd be out of breath. And I kept saying to him, all right, John, I want to tell you a secret that I've learned. Here's my secret. When you're running out there, the only thing that you need to be thinking about is the finish line. You can't be thinking about how many laps I got to go. You can't be thinking about how my legs are hurting. You can't be thinking about how out of breath I am, how my chest hurts. You can't be thinking about how hot it is, how cold it is. Can't think about any of that. You just have to think, man, when I cross that finish line, how great is that going to be. And when you come around that last turn, John, and you really got to step it up, and you got to sprint, that last little bit, and everything inside of you is hurting so bad, you got to forget about that and just look at that finish line. I said, it's amazing how much pain you can take. When your eyes are on the finish line. Folks, this is true of us. This is what Paul is trying to tell us. Our eyes need to be on the finish line. And when we are, we can absorb the hits that this world dishes out. We can take it. Because we know that we're going to another place altogether where we're going to be glorified and where the Lord Jesus is going to be with us. Now, people who aren't

7 believers in Jesus Christ, they don't have much of a finish line to look forward to. You know? All they have is a finish line full of fear and uncertainty. And of course we know, judgment -- I mean it's a dismal finish line that they have. It's a dreary finish line they have. I wouldn't be preaching this to a group of people that didn't know Christ. But that's not our finish line. Huh-uh. Our finish line is glorification. New bodies. Heaven. And friends, this is the whole point of the message today, to make sure as believers we are reminded of the glorious finish line that God's given us. And God told us so much in the Bible about it because he wants us to focus on it. Got trouble in your life? Who doesn't? Struggling not to lose heart in this world of ours? Who isn't? Friends, let me tell you what will bring huge hope to your life. Think about heaven and the finish line. And remind yourself that all of this is temporary. It's momentary light affliction. You say doesn't feel that way to me right now. Well, compared to eternity, it is. That's what God says. And let the sufferings of today fade away in light of the glory that one day is going to be ours. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, there are cynics who would say that all we did today is do pie in the sky. That all we did today is do the power of positive thinking or psycho babble of some kind. But that's not true. What we did today is remind ourselves of biblical truth. And then remind ourselves of what you tell us to do with it. Which is to keep our eyes on it. And it will lift our spirits, you tell us. And so Lord Jesus, help us not to pay any attention to the cynics, but to listen to you. For those of us here today who are struggling, we're struggling, Lord, and we got it tough, and we're trying hard not to lose hope. Take our eyes off of our troubles, put our eyes on our glorification to come. Finish line. And use that to infuse hope back into our hearts today. Thank you we have a finish line that's worth looking forward to in Christ. And use the word of God today to make us excited about getting there. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. What did God's people say? Amen. Hope you guys have a great week. (Applause) *** This transcript is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) or captioning are provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. ****