Dr. James White: Things That Are Above

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Hey everybody, I'm Pastor Jeff Durbin with Apologia Church. I want to thank you all so much for watching the content right here on Apologia Studios channel.

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So thank you again so much for watching these and sharing them. God bless you. All right, before you forget what you just sang, we're going to have a quick test of honesty.

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A quick test of honesty. And if you're going to put your hand up and say, you know,

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I might call on you to explain it. So you need to be honest. But you just sang

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Here I raise my Ebenezer. Now we have a number.

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Oh, put that hand down. Me, me, oh teacher, me. We have a number of out -of -town guests today.

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And so I know most of you with the church already know this. But since we have out -of -towners and since it is my calling in life to make sure the world knows what that line in that hymn means, and it has nothing to do with a guy named

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Scrooge, because I've met far too many people that were really wondering, how did that get in there?

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And why am I supposed to be raising it is really the question. How many of you know what that phrase actually means?

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How many of you will be honest and go, I don't have a clue. And how many of you sat there and said,

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I ain't putting my hand up. No. No. I ain't that brave.

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It is a Hebrew phrase, Ebenezer, which means a stone of help.

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And it would be something that a Hebrew person, you've read numerous stories,

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Joseph when he has his vision, he creates a memorial, a pile of rocks to help him to remember that this was a specific place where God interceded in his life.

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And so an Ebenezer is a stone of help. And so it is a, here

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I raise my memorial that God has been gracious to me and by his grace has interceded in my life.

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So that's what an Ebenezer is. And that's actually how it's pronounced. And so, you know, we could pronounce it correctly when we sing it, and that would also differentiate it from the guy named

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Scrooge, who turned out all right, as we saw over only a few days ago, but that's a different story and has nothing to do with what the hymn was about.

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Okay. Turn with me, please, to Colossians chapter three. It was only a few hours ago that, well, first, earlier today

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Luke was saying, man, we got a lot of sickness going on in the house, but I'm going to try to make it.

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And I'm like, Luke, dude, I'm supposed to preach next Sunday. Not that I had prepared yet.

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And we can switch and, you know, they'll give you time. You won't be under pressure.

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No, I'm going to make it. I'm going to make it. A few hours later, he's wrapped in two blankets, wearing pajamas, trying to stay warm, and he can't.

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And when you're that sick, the rest of us don't really want him sharing anyways, to be honest with you, in that context, but we will pray for his healing.

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And so what do you do? Well, I would imagine at some point in the many years that I have had the opportunity of preaching here at Apologia, that at some point in time

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I have discussed this text. To be honest with you, sort of like J .C. Ryle's Holiness of God, this is something that we probably, honestly, should have read into our hearing and should study and should consider about every six months.

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Because this particular text of inspired scriptures speaks so directly to what our attitude should be, what our foundation should be.

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And yeah, it's the last Sunday of 2019. And I am not the only person who has has said something along the lines of,

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I just get the feeling that 2020 is going to be a big year. There's there's stuff coming in 2020.

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There really, really is. And we don't know what it's going to be. I'm not going to say.

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We could have packed this place out if we had announced prophecy conference, a special insight into what's going to happen in 2020.

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It would be standing room only, wouldn't it? Isn't it sad that if we said, no prophecy conference, but we'll tell you what each one of us as believers needs to be doing in our own lives, in our discipline, and in our thinking, to be prepared for whatever comes?

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Crickets. You're not going to fill the place up with something like that. But that's what scripture gives to us.

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It gives us that kind of foundation, and it certainly does here in Colossians chapter 3.

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Now, obviously, just in passing, we know that Paul writes this letter to a church that he himself does not found.

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It is a church that has been founded through his natural ministry in Ephesus.

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It's up the Lycus River Valley from Ephesus. And so people have come from Ephesus, and the gospel has been spread.

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And really the next generation is coming into existence. And this is the natural way that the church is to be promulgated.

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And so Paul writes to the church, and he writes because they are well to the east, and it seems like a strange admixture of beliefs are coming from the east, which are including some

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Jewish beliefs and worship of angels. But there's also some special terminology found in the book of Colossians that in the next century is going to be established in a religion called

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Gnosticism. And Gnosticism becomes the primary early enemy of the Christian faith.

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Everybody for hundreds of years writes books against Gnosticism, because Gnosticism was the inveterate enemy of the message of the gospel, and specifically about who

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Jesus Christ is. And so it's not full -blown Gnosticism yet, but Gnosticism was sort of a play -doh religion anyways.

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It would pick up elements of other religions and incorporate it into itself. And so we seem to have the early elements of that.

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And that's what Paul starts out with in Colossians chapter 1. But in chapter 3 now, he has laid down enough of the theology of the faith that he then has, as he does in most of his epistles, the desire to exhort the members of the body to recognize you can have sound doctrine, but sound doctrine always has to have an application in life.

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There has to be an application in life. And so if you recognize that Jesus Christ is the creator of all things,

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Colossians chapter 1, and if you recognize the union of the elect with Christ in his death, his burial, his resurrection, what does that mean?

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It's one thing to have an orthodox profession, but there needs to be an application of what that means in our lives.

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Simply possessing knowledge will puff up. At the same time, if you don't have knowledge and you just simply tell people, well, behave in a certain fashion, and they don't see the foundation upon which those exhortations are based, if they lack that knowledge, then they don't have any way of standing firm in the midst of trials and temptations.

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That's why you have to preach the whole counsel of God. And that's why in the

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Christian faith, we have to be careful of those who do not want knowledge and only want experience on the one hand, and those on the other hand that are always wanting the knowledge, but will not make application in life on the other.

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There is always a temptation for all of us to go one direction or the other. What we need is balance.

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And so, beginning in chapter 3, you have the following exhortation, which

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I think is pretty much the perfect New Year's exhortation.

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And sometimes New Year's sermons are somewhat artificial, or sometimes they're just what

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Paul said to the Philippians, you know, I forget what's in the past and I'm reaching forward to what's in the future.

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And that's an awesome text, but after a while, it does get a little, you know, oh, it must be near New Year's because we're back in Philippians again.

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This, likewise, I think has exactly as good an application as the

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Philippians text does, and maybe even more so. Because there,

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Paul says, and I am not going to be using any one particular translation.

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Normally the ESV is used. I'm going to be giving you a raw Greek translation.

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So if it varies, I'll try to explain that in the process. But most translations will say, if therefore you have been raised together with Christ.

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But the form of the language really communicates since. Since this is the case, these things flow from that reality.

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So, since you have been raised together with Christ, is that a reality?

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That you and I consider and think about each and every day as believers.

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People ask, what makes a Christian different than someone else? And one of the first thoughts across our mind as believers should be, we have died.

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That makes you different than everybody else. That had better have an impact upon how you think about your past, your present, your future, and every relationship that is yours.

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Everything that you are called to be has to be seen in light of the reality of your union with Jesus.

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And so if you died with him, and therefore have been raised with him, what should a person who recognizes that reality in their life, how should that impact how you act and how you think?

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Since therefore you have been raised together with Christ. Now, I simply have to mention in passing that there is an element of theology that lays behind this that is not a major element of theology and in fact is denied by a major portion of evangelicalism.

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And that is in Paul's theology and in Paul's teaching, the reality of the elect lies behind what is said here.

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Could these words have been said to someone who will spend eternity in hell?

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Since you've been raised together with Christ, a person who will spend eternity expressing their hatred for the triune

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God, self -destruction, because they can't hurt the triune

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God. And by the way, hell is a lonely place. It's dark there.

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Jesus said outer darkness. People say, ah, we're gonna be partying down there. It's pretty bright, you know, all the flames. No. You're gonna be alone.

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And the only thing that you can hurt in hell that represents

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God is what? Yourself. Because you still bear his image.

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I don't think God has to expend a microwatt of energy torturing anybody.

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Take one who is made in the image of God and remove all restraint and the hatred that person has for God will be turned upon themselves.

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And so are you seriously suggesting that you could have someone made in the image of God and say to them in eternity in hell, you were raised together with Christ?

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I would suggest to you that such a person would love to be able to mock

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God and say you had Christ die in my place and I destroyed his work.

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If you were raised together with Christ, what's the necessary step before that? That you died with him.

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That you died with him. This is what substitutionary atonement is all about. When we talk, we so easily talk about Jesus dying in someone's behalf.

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But what we're talking about is an atonement that is personal. We sing it in our hymns.

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My name was written on his hand. You mean he knew you'd exist? Yes. You mean the atonement's personal?

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Yes. You mean it's substitutionary as in he took my place or did he take the place of a nameless, faceless group that we get to fill up by our actions?

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No, you see there's a theology behind what Paul is saying. There is an elect people for whom Christ died.

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They are joined with him in his death and therefore they are likewise joined with him in his resurrection.

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And so Paul can say to the church at Colossae since you have been raised together with Christ, therefore all the exhortations we make to our fellow believers, when we stand behind this pulpit and we seek to bring discipline, when we sing to bring exhortation to godliness, there is a foundation.

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And the foundation is not you need to work this up within yourself. The foundation is something that God has done.

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That has been accomplished in history itself. There has been a death, but there has been a resurrection.

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So there is a new life. And so he says to believers since therefore you have been raised up together with Christ, therefore what are you to be doing?

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What's the attitude of the mind that realizes I understand the redemptive work.

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I understand the nature of the one who came. He is the creator of all things. He's the firstborn from the dead.

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And I have been united with him by the grace of God. And I believe in him as a result.

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I've been raised up to spiritual life. It's all something beyond anything that I ever could have done for myself.

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I was absolutely helpless. I am not adding to his work by my actions.

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My actions are the inevitable result of his work and his work alone. It's all to his glory and grace.

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Therefore what should be my attitude? I am to be seeking the things which are above.

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There is nothing more antithetical to the person who understands what it means to be in Christ to have your mind constantly upon earthly things.

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And you know what I'm talking about. There are those times in our lives where it gets quiet.

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Where we don't have people around us. We don't have distractions around us.

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And our mind goes to the things the most important to us.

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What are those things? Are they things on earth? Are they our looks?

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Our clothes? Our possessions? Future activities. Sporting events.

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Money. How other people think about us. What takes up our mind?

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What fills our hearts? Paul says if you realize the cosmic reality of what has taken place in your experience, the result should be you are to be seeking after the things which are above.

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Not the things upon the earth. Be seeking the things that are above.

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Why? Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Christ who is our life.

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Christ who is the one who has given his life in our behalf so that we can have life.

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I'll never forget years and years ago back when

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Jeff still didn't know what kind of pants to wear to passing out tracts to Mormons. Um, sorry brother.

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I'm just so much older than you. Um, I remember it was in one of the earlier years.

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Back when we'd have a lot of conversations. You didn't have to trip Mormons to get them to talk to you.

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And I had these missionaries. And I remember this one young man. I think I had a cross lapel pin or something like that on.

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And we had had some discussion about the cross and and then then he says to me he says, so if you don't believe we're going to become gods, what do you think we're going to do for eternity?

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Just float around on clouds and pluck on harps? That sounds really boring to me.

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Well, I can understand why that picture of heaven would sound pretty boring to pretty much everybody because it sounds pretty boring to me.

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But I remember thinking to myself, given that he has a God who's just an exalted version of himself,

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I can see how he would have no concept of what it would mean to be absolutely absorbed in the worship of the triune

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God as a creature and to find tremendous fulfillment in that. Well, let's face it.

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We live in a secular world. We live in a humanist world. And you and I are bombarded with it every day.

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And so the temptation is for you and I to lose sight of how glorious it is going to be to be in the presence of our

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Savior. Have you seen the pictures that are drawn for us in the pages of scripture?

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Read Romans 4 and 5. Read Isaiah chapter 6. I just got my assignment, in fact, for the

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G3 conference in a few weeks. And I was going to do a certain thing, but let's just say someone with a bigger name than mine wanted to do the same section.

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So I was like, okay, fine. I'll take whatever is left over. And so just a couple days ago, the powers that be contacted me and said, you know, no one's touching

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Isaiah 6. We shouldn't, we can't have a conference on worship and no one deals with Isaiah 6.

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I'm like, I'm on it. I'll do it. Isaiah 6,

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Revelation 4 and 5. We have a little bit of a glimpse.

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The curtain is drawn aside and we see the living creatures and the 24 elders and they are absorbed day and night in the worship of God.

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And you and I struggle to even contemplate that. We struggle to contemplate that.

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We find a couple of hours thinking about his truth to be taxing and difficult and then these weak bodies distract us.

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We won't have any of that. Paul tells us to seek the things which are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

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We are to recognize that there is a beautiful reality.

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Nothing in this world is going to disturb the reign of Christ at the right hand of the father.

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This is, I can assure you, a great comfort to our brothers and sisters in prison camps in China today and in North Korea.

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Oh, from the world's perspective, the world seems to have them right where it wants them.

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The biblical perspective is this is a short life. Eternity is a long time.

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And Christ is seated at the right hand of the father. His work is concluded.

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It is finished. It is perfect. He is interceding for us and nothing on earth can stop any of that.

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And so our minds should naturally be drawn to the things which are above.

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And so verse 2 says, we are to think upon, that's the same Greek term that is used in when

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Paul writes to the Philippians, about having this mind in yourself that was in Christ Jesus.

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And so we are to think upon the things that are above. Well, how can we know about that?

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Don't we need to go down to the local Christian bookstore, buy the newest heavenly tourism book that'll tell us about what it's like up there?

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Because someone went and visited and they came back and sell a couple hundred thousand copies of books about what's going on in heaven.

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No. The way that we think upon the things that are above is we understand the gospel and we apply the gospel.

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We consider the great condescension of the son of God that he entered into human flesh to give himself in my place, knowing how often

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I would spurn his grace, knowing how often I would abuse his grace. He still loved me that in that fashion.

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Think about that. Think on the things above, the great promises that God has given to us, the accomplishment of prophecy, the fulfillment of prophecy.

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Think upon the things that are above, not the things that are upon the earth. He is not saying that we are to be so heavenly minded that we're no earthly good.

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He is not saying that you're not to pay your mortgage and get to the grocery store before the food runs out.

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He's not saying that you should forget about getting the oil changed in your car.

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The idea of thinking upon refers to that which draws our constant attention and we should do those things but we should see them not as an end.

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They should not be the things that give us joy. We do them, we organize, we put energy into getting it done so that we can then think upon the things that are above.

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Yeah, that does raise the question for every one of us. We live in an entertainment age and I have often thought about a line from the

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Psalter where the psalmist says I will set no worthless thing before my eyes.

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Now the context of that was an idol. How much time do you and I as believers voluntarily give to this world to conform us to its image?

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How much time? If we truly derived the joy that we can derive from the contemplation of the things that are above would we spend so much time thinking on earthly things?

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This is the question. Think upon the things that are above not the things that are upon the earth.

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Why? Why? For you've died. You've died.

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You want to know serious Christianity? If you've died that changes you.

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That changes you. The things that once were the source of your joy and happiness can't be that any longer.

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True Christianity is a radical break with the old. You've died and your life has been hidden together with Christ in God.

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Now that that is an incredibly beautiful promise. That's an incredibly beautiful statement.

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Think about it. You've died. The world no longer has any power over you.

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Once somebody's dead so much for everything in this world and your life and there is meant to be an irony in this your life is hidden together with Christ in God.

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You've seen me use the illustration, but we have a lot of visitors. It's one of the most beautiful illustrations of our security in Christ.

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That is not a security that gives us license to sin. That is a security that gives joy to the believer who hates his sin.

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But I always use my ring. You have died and your life has been hidden together with Christ in God.

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Now I dare you touch that ring without going through my hands.

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You can't. You can't do it. Your life has been hidden together with Christ in God.

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Our union with him so that his death becomes our death, his resurrection our resurrection.

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He's seated at the right hand of the father and therefore our life is now in the heavenly realms.

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Do we even get an inkling of what that means? Do we even begin to understand when

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I start complaining against God that I don't have the things that others have?

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That I don't have their looks or their money or their house. Am I not saying to God clearly,

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I don't have a clue. I don't really appreciate the fact of what you've done for me.

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Is that not what we're doing? Think of the privileges that are ours. Is this not exactly why the saints of God have been able to endure such persecution to be placed in prisons and then turn those prisons into glorious places of worship.

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Why? Because they think upon the things above. They recognize that their life isn't here on earth.

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The only thing left down here is a body and God can raise that up from the dead.

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Your life has been hidden together with Christ in God. You didn't deserve any of that and you never will.

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But that's the great privilege of being a follower of Jesus Christ. And so how can

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I ever complain against where he places me in life or what he gives me in life?

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How can I? If I do, I am specifically saying I do not appreciate the privilege that you have given to me of being in Christ in the heavenly places.

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You've died. Your life is hidden with Christ in God. Therefore think upon the things that are above.

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For when Christ is manifested, Christ who is our life is manifested, then we also will together with him be manifested in glory.

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You and I can't even begin to imagine what God has in store for us.

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We can't. All those fake books don't even start to pretend to really understand.

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We are so accustomed to looking down at the mundane things of this earth that to raise our eyes to the brightness of the glory, we want to put our heads back down very quickly.

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Because we just can't bear what we're seeing. And yet when you think about it, what

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Paul is doing here, this is high theology, we're told.

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No, this is basic theology. This is basic because notice what comes.

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Christ's going to be manifested. We're going to be manifested with him. He is our life. We're going to be manifested in glory.

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Therefore, consider your members which are upon the earth as dead.

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You've died. So consider your members which are upon the earth as dead.

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And then he starts talking about what some of these things are. Immorality. Pornia is the term.

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Impurity, passions, angers, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.

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Why is greed idolatry? Because you are setting yourself up as God and the things you desire as God.

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If you're greedy for what somebody else has, and by the way, this is the very essence of the mindset that is being inserted not only into our culture, but into the church by something called critical theory.

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It is based upon greed. It actually helps to work it up within us.

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You need to have whatever anybody else has. No, you don't. That's God's business, not ours.

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Greed is idolatry. But the point is this, because of this great high theology, live in a way that is in obedience to God's law and that honors him.

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Talk about practical. If you're seeking the things above, how can you not then put to death the things that attach you to this earth, which would include immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed?

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For it's because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. You once walked in those things, but there has been a change.

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It's a radical change, and we have to live in light of it.

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And so, my friends, Jeff was just talking about the challenges that are heading our way.

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I think 2020 is going to be a big year. And I don't mean just our church as a whole, though there is certainly going to be that, but for each one of us as individuals.

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There are things that are happening very, very swiftly in this world. How are you and I going to respond when

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Caesar says to us, bow the knee, or I will take away this,

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I will take away that? Remember, the only things that Caesar can touch are the things that are what?

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Upon this earth. And if that's where our attention is, if that's where our hearts are, then

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Caesar will control us. But if we are seeking the things that are above, if we recognize our life is hidden together with Christ in God, Caesar cannot touch our life.

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And that's the foundation that you and I are going to need when we are challenged.

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When we are told, this is what you must do. We have to make the choice, the lordship of Jesus Christ, the lordship of Caesar.

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Every generation has to face that question. Sometimes more boldly and openly.

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We need to have a foundation. If you're a true believer in Jesus Christ, then you've been united with him in his death, united with him in his resurrection, and your life is now hidden together with Christ in God.

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That changes. That changes everything.

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One final word. In the honesty of your heart, not worrying about who's around you, not worrying about what anyone else will think.

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Does any of this make any sense to you? Or can you honestly say to yourself,

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I have no idea what he's talking about. I don't understand what it means to seek the things that are above.

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Every day what I think about are the things on this earth. That's the source of all of my joy and happiness and to be honest with you,

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I want to continue seeking those things. Well, Christianity doesn't have a a middle group where you don't join

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Christ in his death, his burial, his resurrection, where you don't put to death your members which are upon the earth.

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And the worst place to be is in the pews of a gospel preaching church that never says to you, think seriously about your soul.

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Think seriously about what the gospel must mean for each one of us.

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I am not saying that if you find sin in your life, it must mean you're not a

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Christian. The real question is this, do you love it or hate it?

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Do you love it or hate it? You can't be indifferent to it.

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You can't be indifferent to it. One last thing, one thing to take away.

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If your life has been hidden together with Christ and God, nothing has ever touched your life.

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That the father and the son did not allow to touch your life and that the spirit wasn't there to give you the strength to endure it.

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Nothing. That's the theology behind this. God is sovereign.

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You say, you don't know what I've suffered. No, I don't. But God does. And if these words are true, then everything that has ever touched your life has done so for a sovereign purpose.

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There is no purposeless evil. There is nothing that escape the father's notice, escape the son's notice.

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Everything. That's only a promise for the family. That is only a promise for the family and what a precious promise it is.

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Let us truly be thankful for what God's word has revealed to us today. Let's pray together.

43:00

Our gracious heavenly father, as we consider the command of your scriptures, as we consider what your scriptures have revealed to us concerning what you have done for your own glory and what that must mean for those of us who say,

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I am a follower of Jesus Christ. Lord, by your spirit, for we can do nothing apart from your spirit, by your spirit bring true understanding of what your word says to every believer in this room.

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Ground them ever deeper in your truth. Cause them to rejoice in the perfect accomplishment of their redemption by their savior.

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Bring conviction where there needs to be conviction. And if there be any amongst us who have been playing the game, who truly love the things of this world, but have been doing the religious things, singing the words, using the proper terminology, but the root of the matter is not in them.

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May this be the time whereby your spirit, you show mercy, show power, show grace.

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Draw your people unto yourself. Father, as we look at a new year, we pray that wherever we might be, whether it be in this room or somewhere else, if it be under trees in a park a year from now, as we gather in obedience to your command, may we look back and see growth in grace and holiness amongst our people, in ourselves, and all around us.

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This is a great blessing we ask, but it is a blessing that resounds to your glory. And so we ask it with boldness.

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In 2020, though we know what this may well mean, make us more like Jesus.

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Make us more like Jesus, Lord. Do so by your spirit.