Transcript

Some weeks ago and part of the reason I made the decision to stay with Luke only on Sunday mornings because the number of church-plants and others that are using our internet Sunday morning broadcast for their service and I thought that way to give them a continuum, they won’t have just every other message, and then I thought I’m going to look back at the book of Colossians and pick some messages that I think would be pertinent for the body, and I can’t get out of Colossians. It just keeps grabbing a hold of me.

So go to Colossians 3. Here we have the Apostle Paul exhorting the church at Colossae about continuing on in progressive sanctification, that’s a big word the theologians may use or two big words, but it just means continue on in the reality of what you now are as a Christian. In other words, don’t backslide. So while you turn to Colossians 3, let me ask you a question: where does backsliding begin? Where does backsliding begin? It always begins in the exact same place, in the mind. You backslide here before you backslide anywhere else. It’s in the mind. You see, the mind is the control center for the Christian. When we’re born again, that supernatural mysterious new birth occurs and something changes. Well, as a matter of fact, a lot of things change but the Bible talks about it being a new heart or Christ comes to live in us, or as Paul said to the Ephesians, “You’ve been quickened by the Spirit, made alive by the Spirit.” We have a new transformed spirit but now we are to be in the process and progressing in transforming our minds. Now you’re not glorified yet so your minds aren’t through being transformed and your lifestyle certainly is not through, so now we’re to be committed to work, to be diligent at keeping our minds in tune with our true new identity and our true new destiny as children of God and children of heaven.

Now that’s where we come to in Colossians 3 beginning in verse 1, we’ll go through verse 4. He says, “Therefore,” based on all the truth he’s talked about so far in Colossians,

1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. [here it s] 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

Now there’s a number of practical messages that, Lord willing, I’ll just keep following these one after the other, but the first practical message here is “The Mindset of the Child of God.” The mindset. He says, “Set your mind on things above.”

Now let’s take this a phrase at a time and that’s basically the way we’ll do it, but first by way of introduction, let’s use the phrase out of verse 1 to “keep seeking those things above.” That is, be heavenly minded. You see, we don’t just seek heaven, we are to think heaven. Now the average unregenerate lost man would like to go to heaven. I mean, the average lost guy would say, “I don’t want to go and burn in torment, I want a place of paradise and pleasure and joys.” But you see, he’s just setting his mind on the eternal place, he’s not setting his mind on heavenly thinking while he’s here and there’s a big difference in the two.

This is to be our pattern and that is to be heavenly minded, setting our minds on things above. Now this is a present tense expression that means keep on keeping setting your mind on things above. You don’t just do this one time. Now your new birth was a one time experience and now you have the capacity that’s been given you once and for all to look toward heavenly things and to set your mind on heavenly things, that happened one time but now you’re to keep on keeping on in the lifestyle and in the pursuit of that.

Most of us male guys out there have, at least from our childhood and probably through our adulthood, have had some kind of fascination with jet airplanes, especially war planes and just the amazement of the power and the speed and all of a jet aircraft, and we’ve all seen movies or we’ve all imagined in our minds how they’ll be flying and they’ll be in combat and their radar will lock on a target, and when you’re in the cockpit and somebody else locks on you and that little beep, beep, beep, you’re in trouble. I mean, the rockets are locked on you and you’re in big trouble. Well, that’s what I think of when I think about this phrase. We’ve been changed to have a heavenly mindset. He wants you to lock in on heaven and if you get off, get locked back on again. I think it’s a good illustration of what Paul is saying here. You could say it this way, have this new inner disposition or adopt this new view. We have Christ’s purpose now as our purpose, we have Christ’s plans now as our plans because we function now in his power and not our power. Things have changed. We have our feet on the earth but our head is to be in heaven. Set your mind on the things above.

Now to have the mind on the things of the earth, and let me put it this way, we do have to mind the things of the earth to function here but I don’t set my mind on the things of the earth. Did you hear that? Certainly we mind the things of the earth. We have to be concerned about jobs and bills and clothes and insurance and my insurance just went up a bunch and I set my mind on figuring out, “Really? Does it have to go up that much? Can we do something?” Now we have to mind the things of the earth but we don’t set our minds on the earth because, you know, it wasn’t just a little while after I wrestled with what my insurance agent said that I thought, “Well, praise the Lord, this isn’t my final home.” That’s because there’s something new in here that wasn’t in there 32 years ago and that is a new perspective. I can immediately set my mind somewhere else as a child of God.

Well, we’re kind of like the compass needle, or rather the needle in a compass. I use a compass a lot when I go out into the woods hunting and I’ve noticed that sometimes those needles can, they just sort of dance around on you or they seem to get even stuck at times. You have to be real careful to make sure there’s no metal nearby because that arrow will go right toward that metal instead of pointing toward true north, so you have to kind of move it away from your body and shake it a little bit and, sure enough, it’ll kind of bounce around and pretty soon it’ll be pointing toward true north.

Well, I think that’s the way the child of God is. You’ve got a new magnetic orientation to your heart and mind and as we go through this world, the old needle can get pointing over here and every now and then it gets pointing over here, and sometimes it gets a little stuck and God shakes us, gets it kind of loosened up and we get back and get where we’re supposed to be. As a matter of fact, that’s what happens to you twice every Sunday. Every Sunday you sit under the preaching of the word of God and some of you came in here tonight and north is that way and you’ve been pointing like this, and you got here under the preaching and God just kind of got your mind set back where it’s supposed to be. That’s what the body of Christ is for, that’s what the word is for, that’s what Christian fellowship is for. It’s a part of you keep on seeking the things that are above. So we down here are living under the reign of Christ. I want you to hear that. You’re not under the reign of Obama. You are not under the reign of Bush. By the way, we’re going to honor those in office whoever they are, no matter how crazy they are. We honor their office. However, we’re under the reign of Christ. We’re in a different kingdom and our orientation is to be different.

Well, he gives a lot of expressions here and these are rich beyond comparison. Of course, every time I look at a text of Scripture and I see the glory and the treasures and the wonders that are there, I think, “My goodness, the treasures that are here,” and then I go to another passage and it happens again. But first of all, notice if you will there in verse 1, he says, ” Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ.” Now that phrase means a once and for all event. You didn’t just sort of start the process of being raised. In God’s eternal, settled, immutable decision and mindset, you have been raised with Christ. That’s where you are. You’re not kind of there, sort of there, on your way there, you’re there.

Now there’s a paradox here and a mystery here because I’m living down here not completely in harmony with my position in him there, but in God’s eyes, you’re already there in Christ. That’s why we hold so strong to the perseverance of the saints or the eternal security of the believer, because it’s already in God’s eternal mindset I’m already there. I am raised up with Christ.

Now he says here, “if you have been raised up,” but actually that’s a first class conditional phrase. I don’t know all that that means but what the scholars mean when they tell you that is it’s assumed as true, and you could easily translate that, “since you’ve been raised up with Christ,” past tense verb. Since it’s done and settled, since that’s who you are and where you are, it’s fixed, it’s over, it cannot be altered. Now therefore since that’s true about you, now down here in time and space history where you and I now presently live, let’s begin to purpose to commit to work and be diligent at living out having a heavenly mindset because that’s who I am and where I am in the eyes of God. Time is just going by until I completely get there, however, in God’s mind I’m already there.

Now I just thought about some things we’re raised up from already. You are already raised up from the state of condemnation, that position, that status of being one of the condemned. You’ve been raised up out of that. You see, all the evidence was weighed against you at one time and you were standing there before God and you were declared guilty before him, and without any reservation in the just mind of God, you were under the sentence of doom but through the merits of Jesus Christ, you’ve been raised up out of that. You were by nature a child of wrath. Your very nature cried for the justice of God to crush you in eternal wrath but Jesus by his absolute invincible power, has conquered the enemies against us, pleased the desires of the Father, and appeased the wrath that was against us and has taken us out of that condemnation. Now folks, that’s not something that’s might gonna happen, that’s already happened. Notice this case Paul is building. That’s already happened for you.

Well, not only a state of condemnation, you’ve been raised up also out of a state of corruption. Everything we know in this world is subject to corruption both morally and physically. I mean, anything you want to look at, anything you want to observe, everything is in the process of decay and corruption. I sometimes think my body is trying to get a head start on things, just falling apart on me, and some of you know what that means and I’ve often told you, some of you young guys and some of you young ladies, you’re so tight and strong and handsome and beautiful but everything you’ve got is going to sag, bag, and drag. It’s going to happen because we’re all under corruption.

It’s just going to happen, but Christ has already raised us out of that. Now we’re not realizing the effects of it yet but in God’s eyes and in God’s view, it’s already settled. 2 Peter 1:4 says, “He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises.” What a phrase, his precious and magnificent promises, “in order that by them you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” Now it takes faith because you can’t see it yet but we have escaped the corruption. I mean, Jesus may not come back and the corruptible forces still at work in our fallen flesh bodies may bring us all the way to the grave, but on the other side we’ll be perfected and glorified and healed forever and corruption and decay will no longer touch us because in Christ we’re already raised up out of that.

Well, a third thing I jotted down thinking on this, we’re raised out a state of total futility of life. The idea of total futility means a uselessness; having no profitable result. Do you realize, have you wrapped it into your mind lately that absolutely everything that goes on on this earth will come to a useless conclusion except what’s done for Christ?

I was in the car with my daughter the other day, and as you know, we play ball at my house and we were talking about ballgames and I said, “Sweetheart, do you know what? If God were to allow you to play for the top team in the nation and you won three national championships, once it’s over, it’s over. It’ll be forgotten. But if you went there with the purpose of, ‘I want to be a witness for Christ and I want to impact others for Christ,’ should God allow those things, and He may not, then it’s worth something.” But then if it happens or not, you’re fine too because it was about Christ first, amen, and the event second. But that doesn’t mean we sit at home and meditate and say, “Well, it’s all about Jesus. Nothing matters.” No, go to work. Work hard. Get a degree. Get a promotion. Buy the company. Give money to missions. I mean, go for it but make sure you’re setting your mind on things that are not a futility, things that have a useful eternal purpose.

I mean, you know, who wants to go to heaven and, I’ll pick on Brother Chad over here who’s got a wood business and a good one and he says, “Well, I sold the best wood in the Shoals.” Well, I hope he says the best wood in the Shoals but he also should say, “Yeah, but I use my life for the Lord. I use my business for the Lord. I use my influence for the Lord.” I’m not putting him on the spot, I just thought I could use him as an example and he wouldn’t get mad at me. That’s the way it is for all of us. Is that not wonderful that we can advance our interests and the things here on the earth but ultimately it’s for Christ. It’s for Christ.

So he saved us from that. Can you imagine the horror of exerting your life’s energies and going to the judgment bar of God and know that every ounce of effort was a waste. Christ has raised us up from that. He’s raised us up from that. Do you know what? We need godly men who are laborers, who literally dig ditches and build concrete forms. That’s where I started, and we need godly men who are professionals who run multi-billion dollar business. Wherever God puts you, let’s praise the Lord but let’s do it for Christ.

He raised us up out of just living for this world. Revelation 3:17 says those who are rich in this world, it doesn’t mean just being rich, it means their heart, their hope, their joy is in the riches of the world. That’s the end of their life. Those who are rich in this world are in reality wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked. Wow, what a futile life. What a nothingness.

Matthew 4:16, “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light.” That’s where we were before, the emptiness of darkness. John 1:9, ” There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” That’s what we have, a new enlightenment. Yes, I still get up and, yes, I still go to work and, yes, I still want to make profits or I want to be successful and I want to advance and I want to get a raise. That’s all good and in God’s will, but behind all of that I know I’m here to serve my Christ. That’s why, sure, it’s heartbreaking and, sure, there may be some restless nights, but if you lost your job, you can still say, “I’ve got a purpose and I’ve got a reason because it was all for Christ anyway.” Do you now see how superior this is?

This is sort of a side note but I just wanted to mention this because I thought it was so very interesting. I forgot what I was looking at but I was on a website about psychology and treating depression and this particular writer had studied research, I believe it was a lady, and I can’t find it. I’m sorry, I read it this week and I printed it off and it’s lost on my desk somewhere, I think. She said that we’re finding that counseling therapy is as effective as antidepressants. She said that we’re finding that people who will go through a season of counseling where they are confronted with their wrong thinking, where they are confronted with untrue thoughts and we firmly challenge them and exhort them to change those thoughts and change to proper thinking and true thinking, that they start feeling better. Well, that’s interesting, that’s what God told us to do in a 2,000 year old book. Philippians says to worry about nothing. Don’t be anxious for anything but think on what is true. Transform your thoughts. Get out wrong thinking and get in new thinking. I thought that’s very interesting. I thought, “Well, psychology is just 2,000 years behind the word of God.”

Now there may be a place for some of these medicines but I do want to tell you folks, be prayerful and seek the Lord. These kind of things are wildly over-prescribed in our culture and though a brother or sister may need something for a season, they’re finding that when these people stay on these kind of things, then when they come off, they go right back into the hole again because there are some root things that need to be dealt with. We don’t need to have a condemning spirit toward a brother or sister who is struggling in this area, we ought to love them enough to try to get them some victory and not just depend on the medicines indefinitely. Amen? Would that not be a wise and loving thing to do? And always do it with compassion and confidentiality, but that’s another thought. But that’s where Paul is coming from. He’s saying, “You have the capacity now to get your mind thinking different ways than you used to think, and one of the ways you used to think was just the futilities of this fallen, corrupted, earthly existence and you’re now raised up out of that.”

Well, not only being raised up with Christ, he says something else in verse 1 there. He says, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ,” since you’ve been raised up with Christ, “keep seeking the things above,” we talked about that phrase, now here’s the next one, “where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.” Heaven is where Christ is. So he’s saying your mind needs to be on the place where Christ is, that’s where he is. Christ is seated in heaven. You see, the one most important to us is in heaven. His reign is brought to bear there in the full. Now his reign is not brought to bear on the earth yet to the full, it will be one day but not yet, and those who are regenerate, who are sensing by the witness of the Spirit that they are the children of God, they are those who are looking for that reign to come on earth and rejoicing that his reign is already settled in heaven.

You know, everything in heaven, everything in heaven – listen to me – everything in heaven centers on and submits to the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about that. And do you know what resonates in the heart of a true child of God? When I quote this to you it’s going to resonate if you’re a true child of God, it’s going to resonate, the amen of the Spirit is going to say, “Amen, that’s right,” when I say this. Jesus said, “Here’s an example of the way my children pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And something in your heart said amen. Amen, we need that. We need the kind of full, total, absolute reign that Christ has in heaven to come down on earth and that’s what our hope is, and that’s what we’re looking for. That doesn’t mean that we just go quoting that model prayer sometimes called the Lord’s Prayer, it means that in principle, though, that’s in our heart. We’re wanting our Lord’s reign to be on earth as it is in heaven so we want the church to be strong because the Lord’s reign is most fully and truly seen in the church. So we work for the success of the church. We work for the advancement of the church. We work for the health of the church so that Christ’s reign might be seen more on earth.

So I keep seeking him. He is my King and he is my God and he is my guide through this life, even though the world around me does just the opposite. You feel that often, don’t you? As I strive toward keeping a heavenly mindset with Christ’s purpose as my purpose, Christ’s principles as my principles, I find myself on collision course with this world. I find myself going against the grain. Here’s the challenging part, are you listening to me? A whole lot of folks who profess to know Christ go with the world and you feel like you’re against them too. I wish it was just simple enough that everybody that claimed to be Christians were on the same team but it’s not that simple. From time immemorial, there has always been a professing church and then a remnant church, and every generation, you can study church history, in every generation there’s this massive Christendom and then there are those who are striving to be true followers of Christ, and in every generation the massive Christendom persecuted the followers of Christ more than the world did. So we find ourselves on collision course with professing religionists and the world itself, but I can’t get over this, I can’t get away from this. I do live in this foreign land but I am now settled, set and forevermore a citizen of heaven and I am now in that process of striving and committing to live by the principles and priorities of my heavenly citizenship.

Well, a third phrase I want us to see here and that’s in verse 3, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” So he just keeps building on the premises here of why your mind should be set on heaven and not on the values, the principles, the priorities of an earthling or a worldling, as it were. Now he says here because you’ve died. You’ve died. Now in chapter 2 as Paul is finishing up chapter 2 of Colossians, he just lays the leather on about getting out from under the rituals, ceremonies, legalisms and works of man-made religion, and aren’t you glad of that? He’s saying get out from under those shackles, throw off those burdens, cast off that bondage. You are not in any way to view your standing before God based on religious works, legalism, ritual or ceremony. Your standing is settled in Christ. Period. Plus nothing. Amen? I look not to the man- made stuff that the legalist would impose on me: fast this day; read your Bible that way; take communion at this time; be baptized in that way; do these five do’s; don’t do these five don’ts. Get that stuff out of my way. I know Christ. Don’t take me back into the bondage of law. Now that’s where he’s been so I think Paul still has that on his mind because we don’t have chapter separation in the original Bible. He’s flowing right on through and he’s saying, “Now look, you’ve died to all of that.”

Now you don’t have to say it but what have I taught you is the highest form of worldliness? What is the height of worldliness? Who thinks they remember? You see, y’all don’t listen to me. I’m just gonna quit. No, I see some hands back there. The height of worldliness is legalistic religion because that’s what man comes up with, do these works, but we’re freed from that and also to all the other worldly stuff that tries to draw us in and allure us away and suck us in. Now it doesn’t mean we don’t struggle. We’re like that needle in the compass, we bounce around a little bit but since we’re regenerated we always get back settled on true north. Amen?

Well, he said one of the reasons why is you’ve died to all of that. You’ve died to that futility of life. You don’t have to be enslaved anymore. You’ve died to that being the only thing you have. Sometimes I look at professing Christians and I see what gives them joys and I see what they strive after and I see what their pursuits are, and I think, “My goodness, do you have anything better than that?” He says you’ve died to that shallow, base, corruption of futility and a life with no usefulness and no total or ultimate, rather, payoff.

Someone said that though in our heart of hearts and as our minds are renewed to truth, we get anchored into heaven but our bodies sometimes don’t know it yet. Can I get a witness on that? The old flesh body still gets pulled and allured, if that’s a word, drawn after things that don’t matter. Your body is like old Qaddafi, he’s deposed but he still has a lot of power and influence. Well, the old flesh body has been overtaken by King Jesus and the old body is a deposed monarch. It’s done but he still has some influence for a while. Amen? But his day is coming too. Your old body and all of its lust, all of its desires, and all of its wanderings is one day going to be put down forever and you’ll get a new body that’s in perfect harmony with your new heart and your transforming mind, and everything will be in a perfect flow of honoring Christ. That’s one of the things that makes heaven heaven. Do you know what one of the key things about heaven is? I’ll finally serve my Lord perfectly. Doesn’t it grieve you when you don’t serve your Lord perfectly? Doesn’t it trouble you? Doesn’t it make you just bow your face on the ground and say, “O God, if it weren’t for grace I’d be doomed forever.”

Well, we’ve died with Christ. He says in chapter 3, verse 3, we’ve died to that old futility, we’ve died to the obligation of judgment. You know, the man on death row, he dies because he’s bound to the obligation of judgment beforehand, but we’ve been taken off of death row by Jesus Christ. Judgment is no longer ours. We’ve died. We’re no longer obligated to the process of moral and physical corruption. Though our bodies will continue to corrupt in this fallen world, but ultimately we’ll get a new body in glory. The old abomination is dead, I’m now a new creation. I live now for his eternal incorruptible kingdom so I need to set my mind there. Listen, if I set my mind anywhere else, it’s like putting money in a bank that we know is going under. You wouldn’t do that.

So Paul keeps bringing out principle after principle, precept after precept to challenge us to strive on in setting our minds on heavenly priorities and heavenly principles and heavenly plans for our lives.

Well, number 4, my life is hidden with Christ in God. This is just an amazing statement. Verse 3, “you have died,” last part of verse 3, “and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” I am right now inseparably connected to Jesus Christ. Christ is in me and I am in Christ.

Then he says something interesting here that we have this phrase “in Christ” so much in the Pauline epistles but he adds something here in verse 3, “hidden with Christ in God.” You’re hidden with Christ in God. A. T. Robertson, the Southern Baptist Greek scholar, said, “No hellish burglar can break in there and get you.” Hidden with Christ in God. I’m just so saved, it’s pitiful. This is an absolutely unalterable position I am now in. God’s put me in this position and he keeps me in this position. My life, the totality of what I am is wrapped up in God through the provision and the merits of Jesus Christ.

So it’s a gross contradiction for me to set my mind on a world that is completely opposite of Christ. Remember, to be worldly doesn’t mean you enjoy a steak dinner, or you might like nice clothes. That doesn’t mean you’re worldly, worldliness is more an attitude of the heart. Far too often we fall into this base elementary viewpoint of what spirituality is and it all comes down to a lot of outward show. Be aware of the outward show, guys. I can out-fast you. I can out-deny you. I can out-humble you. I can do without more things than you can do without. I’m telling you, most times that is just full of fleshly pride. It’s not humility at all. Humility is accepting where God put you and having God in the center of all of it, and joying in him and letting him know, “If You take some of it away or give some back, You’re still my joy, Lord.” Amen?

Just get real. Get real about it. If God has given you some nice stuff, praise the Lord for the nice stuff. I can’t tell you how much nice stuff you should have and how much nice stuff you should not have. The Apostle Paul said, “I have learned to live in luxuries,” what the Greek word can translate as, “I have learned to live in opulence,” that’s what the Greek word can be translated but he said, “I’ve also learned to live in need. Wherever God puts me, I just praise the Lord.” Can you do both? That’s maturity. Now try to do good, try to advance, but make sure the Lord is the center of your joy and your treasure and your hope. So we don’t want to live for this world because it completely contradicts the one we’re in, we are hidden with Christ in God.

Well, V. Christ is my life. Verse 4, “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed.” I thought about the Mormons or the Jehovah’s Witnesses who sometimes come to our door and they knock on our doors and immediately they’ve got a plan, they’ve got a strategy, they’ve got a system, they’ve got a works process they want to sell you. They want to convince you if you’ll just jump through our hoops, if you’ll just join our movement and do these things, but you see, folks, that is so radically foreign to who we are because Christ is my life. I’m not living a life hoping to find God one day, Christ is my life and I’m already hidden in God. So in effect for me to do stuff would be me saying Christ has to do it to be pleasing to God. Are you with me?

Do you see how obsolete it makes all the man-made religion of the world? Christ is my life and this is a quality of life I now enjoy. It’s an abundant life but it’s not me, it’s not something I do, it’s not something I do not do, it’s not the law that I keep, it’s him. He is my life. “What a minute, I did some great things and I’ve denied myself these sins and I’ve repented and I’m walking in victory.” Well, hallelujah, but Christ is still your life. “Well, Brother Jeff, I have struggled and I’m ashamed. I wouldn’t want to tell people what’s been in my mind. I wouldn’t want to even discuss with somebody what I’ve struggled with.” That’s okay. Christ is your life and I’m glad that you’re ashamed because you know it doesn’t fit the one who is your life.

Friend, listen to me: Christ doesn’t become your life and then not become your life and then become your life and then not become your life, he’s your life. He’s your standing. He is your righteousness. He is your merit. He is your all-in-all before a holy God.

In Philippians 1:21 Paul said, “to live is Christ and to dies is gain.” To live, to have the life as God intended life to be, a life with an eternal and a rewarding and profitable purpose for all eternity, is to have Christ in you here and now and to fellowship with him here and now and to live under his easy yoke of Lordship here and now, and then have him forever later. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” If you do not have Christ, you do not have the life, you have only a temporal biological existence but you don’t have life.

Think of all he has done to give us this abundant life that also is everlasting life. He paid my sin penalty. He’s removed my guilt by being the guilt offering in my place. He’s enabled me through this to fellowship with him, the true life. Through the person of the Spirit, he convicted me. He wooed me. He’s enabled me to have saving faith that I might believe on Christ. He’s come to live in me and he reveals God to me. He convicts me when I stray from this eternal life, this abundant life he wants me to walk in. He forever and ever intercedes for me and keeps me saved. He’s prepared a place for me in heaven. He’s coming back to get me and he will glorify me on that day. He will make me a joint heir with himself over all the universe and I will reign with him forever.

Last phrase, verse 4, I will be revealed with Christ in glory. “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” Well, that’s the culmination of everything. So he’s given you this one more precept that one day you’re going to be with him and glorified with him and like him, so that’s where your mind ought to be now. Since I am in him, I will experience all that he experiences, and when he appears in all of his glory, I will be glorified with him.

Is that not a marvelous thing? Paul here, now notice it there in verse 4, “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” You see, listen: what Christ gets, we get. What Christ experiences, we experience. Does that not make these folks that would come to us and teach us works and legalism to find God, does that not make that the most foolishness, the most futile arguments in the world? Look, it’s not about what I can do, it’s about what my Christ has done and is doing for me. What he does, I do. What he’s going to experience, I’m going to experience. One day he’s going to return, the veil of eternity that blocks time from eternity will be peeled back and Christ will be revealed in all of his glory and I will be glorified with him. What he gets, I get. 1 John 3:2, “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him.” When? When he appears. We’re going to be like him, “because we will see Him just as He is.”

You see, the church today, we’re in a humbled state. The church today is to be militant. I think the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has sold a lie in this area. They put on a false glory with the elaborate extravagance of their service and of their cathedral and the brilliance and the stone and the gold and the marble and the gowns and the hats. I think what they’re trying to say is, no, the church is glorified now. It’s not. It’s not. It’s not. It’s a false glory. It’s a man put-on glory. I don’t know about you, and by the way, I’ve got some dear friends who are Roman Catholics and I know there are some Roman Catholics who know Christ but their theology is atrocious. Look, it’s wrong. The Evangelical and Baptist forefathers died at the hand of Catholics because their theology is wrong and, folks, it’s still wrong today. I know people don’t like to talk about that and they don’t like to hear that, even though there are Catholics who know Christ, and thank God the Gospel has gotten to them, but the theology adopted and taught by Roman Catholicism is hellish and unbiblical, and there’s this false glory.

You see, the church is not in her glorified state yet. The church bears the cross now. The church fights against the grain of this world now. But when Christ is revealed, as verse 4 says, then he will be glorified and then we will have the glory. And I’m going to tell you, everyone who thought the glory was over there with the pope in Rome, when they see his glory, they’re going to be ashamed that they thought that was glorious. It will be like a 30 watt light bulb compared to the brilliance of the sun.

Lightfoot said this in his commentary, “The verdict of eternity will reverse the verdict of time. The veil which now shrouds your higher life from others and even partly from yourself, will then be withdrawn. The world which persecutes, despises and ignores now will then be blinded with the dazzling glory of the revelation of the Son of God.”

This is a plain indication of God’s righteous judgment so that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which, indeed, you are suffering, for after all, it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in a flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, and these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power when he comes to be glorified in his saints on that day. What he experiences, we experience.

He says there in verse 4, “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” Our preoccupation with heaven now governs our earthly desires in this world now. Paul says be heavenly minded. Look at all the truth, all the precepts about all that Christ has done and he’s in the heavenlies and we are to get up tomorrow morning and as we go to work we’re to say, “I’m going to work for my employer like working unto the Lord. I’m going to honor the Lord and be the best I can be but my values and my goals and my ultimate joy is not in this job, it’s in my Lord. I’m going to keep a heavenly mindset,” and in a thousand other things throughout the day, and do you know what’s going to happen on Monday? About 8:45, your orientation is off, but you know, it takes just a little bit of thinking about your quiet time, quoting a verse you’ve been meditating on and the Spirit of God will let you get right back focused on a heavenly mindset. Then about 10:20, amen? Am I the only one? You get right back on the heavenly mindset.

Isn’t that wonderful? And if the whole thing blows up, there is no bomb on earth that’s going to blow up heaven. I’m still settled in heaven. My life is hidden with Christ in God. “Pastor, we’re in debt 14 trillion dollars. What are we gonna do?” I don’t know what we’re going to do, I guess spend some more money. That’s what they’ve been doing lately. But my life is hidden with Christ in God.